I don't really have an excuse other than theres so much more to do with my time then write about what I'm doing. Plus I've been sick the last week. Before that I was busy thinking of all the books I wanted to read in Japanese and only getting 40 or so pages into one of them.
I realized how much I love Spring as its getting warmer here. You can't really enjoy it in Boston because it only lasts a week and its usually when your studying your ass off. I'm going to try and enjoy it as much as I can. I'm thinking of taking a trip to Osaka/Kyoto/Nara for my April break. I want to see the Tower of the Sun finally and visit a friend. I might want to go a little further to Hiroshima or Fukuoka or something since it will only cost me $20 with the Seishun 18 but who knows how long itll take me on a train, maybe a whole day.
I'm putting together a mix of Japanese electro/house/pop. I'll post the tracklisting up here and send it to anyone who wants it when I'm finished. I already have a mix of my favorite japanese songs mixed with some hugely popular and catchy songs. I don't know if anyone even reads this thing though.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
from 1945 to 2131
The bad news: Apparently, the Japanese government announced recently that the number of OFFICIAL characters (kanji) has gone from 1945-2131. Thats 191 new kanji and 5 old ones tossed out. These aren't new kanji, they're just kanji that were not required in order to be considered literate.
The good news!: about half of these come up in every day life and the other half are already common knowledge among Japanese and used in books. I already know about 60 of them perfectly and theres another 30 or 40 that I recognize.
People always say that the amount of commonly known kanji is a little over 2000 so adjustment was just made to more accurately reflect what speakers of Japanese already know. So the only way this effects me is making something I'd learn anyway for reading novels compulsary and the test I have to take will probably include these.
To anyone studying Japanese, these include:
虎-Tiger
熊-bear
亀-turtle
誰-who
捻る-twist
虹-rainbow
膝-knee
串-kushi as in kushi katsu (kind of food)
丼-donburi (food)
酎-as in shouchuu, the alcohol
唄-alternate kanji for song
埼-one of the 2 wonderful kanji in Saitama, the New Jersey of Japan in which I currently reside.
挨拶-introduction (both kanji were added)
韓-Korea
俺-extremely casual or rude way of saying I or me.
尻-BUTT!
Not so bad right? If you can read anything in Japan you'll probably recognize 30% or more of the 191.
The good news!: about half of these come up in every day life and the other half are already common knowledge among Japanese and used in books. I already know about 60 of them perfectly and theres another 30 or 40 that I recognize.
People always say that the amount of commonly known kanji is a little over 2000 so adjustment was just made to more accurately reflect what speakers of Japanese already know. So the only way this effects me is making something I'd learn anyway for reading novels compulsary and the test I have to take will probably include these.
To anyone studying Japanese, these include:
虎-Tiger
熊-bear
亀-turtle
誰-who
捻る-twist
虹-rainbow
膝-knee
串-kushi as in kushi katsu (kind of food)
丼-donburi (food)
酎-as in shouchuu, the alcohol
唄-alternate kanji for song
埼-one of the 2 wonderful kanji in Saitama, the New Jersey of Japan in which I currently reside.
挨拶-introduction (both kanji were added)
韓-Korea
俺-extremely casual or rude way of saying I or me.
尻-BUTT!
Not so bad right? If you can read anything in Japan you'll probably recognize 30% or more of the 191.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Great start to a great day
I had a sock tucked into my pants when I went to work. No one on the train said anything. No one on the bus said anything. A teacher I never talked to told another teacher that it was there and he told me.
That about sums up my morning.
By midnight my day will have been very interesting. That is almost garunteed but my sock tail may only be a fraction of how badly I embaress myself tonight. Socialized drinking with coworkers is nonsense! Lovable nonsense.
Lets hope I can make it to the club afterwards.
That about sums up my morning.
By midnight my day will have been very interesting. That is almost garunteed but my sock tail may only be a fraction of how badly I embaress myself tonight. Socialized drinking with coworkers is nonsense! Lovable nonsense.
Lets hope I can make it to the club afterwards.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
This is what I get for eating 23 beans in a minute last week.
Only 'Smoke them out of their holes' is supposed to be caps locked in my info bit. Something one of my favorite comedians once said. Funny guy but a little too post-modern for me.
The Tokyo gods have been very good to me this week. Not only did I finish reading my first novel in Japanese, I accidentally found out two of my favorite Japanese musicians are playing together.
It's an album release party for Towa Tei but I'm going for two other acts.
The first is Fantastic Plastic Machine. I haven't gotten too deep into the dancing variety of electronic music, in part because his albums completely satisfy the need to shake my ass more than anything else could. All his songs are both fun and intricate. He proved to me that remixes don't have to suck.
http://www.myspace.com/fantasticplasticmachine
The second is Miho Hatori, one of the two girls of Cibo Matto and 'Noodle' in the Gorillaz. Her two EPs under the name Smokey and Miho (with Smokey Hormel) are almost as good as the best Bossa Nova classics. Half are Baden Powel covers and the other half are originals. Her solo album isn't too shabby either. The best part about her being there is that its completely unexpected. She lives in America and there’s no reason to suspect she is part of the Tokyo electro scene. She's more likely to have a show with some hip British band.
http://www.myspace.com/mihohatori
Towa Tei is pretty good as well. I'm not sure what to expect. I haven't been to anything that has both live bands and DJs.
The best part is that its right after Drinking With Coworkers & Superiors part 2. I feel like a kid again.
The Tokyo gods have been very good to me this week. Not only did I finish reading my first novel in Japanese, I accidentally found out two of my favorite Japanese musicians are playing together.
It's an album release party for Towa Tei but I'm going for two other acts.
The first is Fantastic Plastic Machine. I haven't gotten too deep into the dancing variety of electronic music, in part because his albums completely satisfy the need to shake my ass more than anything else could. All his songs are both fun and intricate. He proved to me that remixes don't have to suck.
http://www.myspace.com/fantasticplasticmachine
The second is Miho Hatori, one of the two girls of Cibo Matto and 'Noodle' in the Gorillaz. Her two EPs under the name Smokey and Miho (with Smokey Hormel) are almost as good as the best Bossa Nova classics. Half are Baden Powel covers and the other half are originals. Her solo album isn't too shabby either. The best part about her being there is that its completely unexpected. She lives in America and there’s no reason to suspect she is part of the Tokyo electro scene. She's more likely to have a show with some hip British band.
http://www.myspace.com/mihohatori
Towa Tei is pretty good as well. I'm not sure what to expect. I haven't been to anything that has both live bands and DJs.
The best part is that its right after Drinking With Coworkers & Superiors part 2. I feel like a kid again.
Monday, February 9, 2009
I am a champion
The reason I havn't updated is because I was furiously trying to finish reading my first novel in Japanese. Now I am definetly not one of his huge huge fans, actually I find him extremely overrated, but if you're learning Japanese Haruki Murakami is definetly on the easier side as far as grammar goes and he is nowhere near boring so its not painful or anything. The book was Sputnick Sweetheart and unlike all his other books, this DID NOT have a prostitute that could see the future and it only had one crazy cat bit.
I understood about 95% of the events and about 80% of the grammar but theres about 25 pages of words I didnt know that I'm studying now.
Let's see how the next one goes. After I reread this to make sure I keep all those words in my head. :-\
And since you all love culture lessons in the form of complaints let me feed your need:
I understand trying to save energy. I respect it. Alot. But why the hell is heat the FIRST thing to go. I'm sure the pollution created and energy used from rampant consumerism hurts the environment enough. Is not having any hot water really going to make THAT much of a difference. Sure turning off your heat is a nice gesture but is that really the first thing that has to go? What about all the electricity constantly running everywhere in Japan? What about all those lights in Shinjuku. Yeah I like them too, but I hold heat in winter very dear to me
And open windows! WHY! I get it, "changing the air". Thats a great idea....WHEN YOU HAVE THE HEAT ON! Altruistic gestures are so much less impressive when they are contradicted as soon as company profits are involved. If the department stores aren't worried about conserving the millions of watts of electricity the use every year, I don't see much difference in you killing a couple to keep from BEING SO F-ING COLD.
Once again, America's got its problems too but I am not in America and as a member of the human race I think it's my right to say HEAT RULES. If you want to save the environment destroy......capitalism. If you want to be realistic and save the environment, stop support for things that hurt it the most. This is like a bunch of people using headbutts as an attack against tanks. The tanks being pollution and dwindling resources. Hope you like my metaphors.
Love the Japanese desire to save the environment. Don't love how its done. Love the idea of fresh air, but don't love it when theres no heat or hot water. at all. I AM SO COLD.
If at any point you feel like there is too much bitching, just ask me to tell you something good. There is, after all, so much that is GOOD.
:-D
I understood about 95% of the events and about 80% of the grammar but theres about 25 pages of words I didnt know that I'm studying now.
Let's see how the next one goes. After I reread this to make sure I keep all those words in my head. :-\
And since you all love culture lessons in the form of complaints let me feed your need:
I understand trying to save energy. I respect it. Alot. But why the hell is heat the FIRST thing to go. I'm sure the pollution created and energy used from rampant consumerism hurts the environment enough. Is not having any hot water really going to make THAT much of a difference. Sure turning off your heat is a nice gesture but is that really the first thing that has to go? What about all the electricity constantly running everywhere in Japan? What about all those lights in Shinjuku. Yeah I like them too, but I hold heat in winter very dear to me
And open windows! WHY! I get it, "changing the air". Thats a great idea....WHEN YOU HAVE THE HEAT ON! Altruistic gestures are so much less impressive when they are contradicted as soon as company profits are involved. If the department stores aren't worried about conserving the millions of watts of electricity the use every year, I don't see much difference in you killing a couple to keep from BEING SO F-ING COLD.
Once again, America's got its problems too but I am not in America and as a member of the human race I think it's my right to say HEAT RULES. If you want to save the environment destroy......capitalism. If you want to be realistic and save the environment, stop support for things that hurt it the most. This is like a bunch of people using headbutts as an attack against tanks. The tanks being pollution and dwindling resources. Hope you like my metaphors.
Love the Japanese desire to save the environment. Don't love how its done. Love the idea of fresh air, but don't love it when theres no heat or hot water. at all. I AM SO COLD.
If at any point you feel like there is too much bitching, just ask me to tell you something good. There is, after all, so much that is GOOD.
:-D
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Crime and punishment
I tried to download Rosetta stone, you know, just to see how much it sucks. Well it sucks even more than I imagined. Someone should have told me that aside from not being a functional program; it downloads horse porn to your computer and continuously prompts you to watch said horse porn. Viruses are so last century! Now, this inconvenience may be thanks to some hackers who wanted to fuck with me, but I DOUBT THAT. I'm sure the version you buy in the store does the same thing; maybe even worse. All I know is that all the losers I know that use the program sound kind of like that German dude in Can't Hardly Wait when they try to speak the language they are studying.
Anyone have any free suggestions for solving this? Ad-aware didn't get rid of it.
I am limiting my illegal downloading only to things that are awesome (and not independent). Am I allowed to say that?
Anyone have any free suggestions for solving this? Ad-aware didn't get rid of it.
I am limiting my illegal downloading only to things that are awesome (and not independent). Am I allowed to say that?
Monday, January 12, 2009
3:00 is usually my breakfast so I guess January 16th is my New Years
I'm sorry I'm trying to add you guys as friends or followed blogs or whichever but I guess I'm getting old and losing touch with technology.
New Years is pretty intense in Japan. The 2 week break that kids get in America is almost standard for most Japanese people. Almost every gets at least 5 or 6 days off and working at a school means you never have to grow up. Unfortunately I didn't have money for a trip to Korea, China or Australia that I had hoped for. Settling in cost a bit more than planned, especially when factoring in guitar, bike and electronic dictionary. I forgot that cooking exists for the entire month of December up until last night and that didn't make saving any easier.
Luckily I was treated to a 2 day New Years feast that included traditional New Years food (Osechi), lots of 'western' style meats and side dishes and an Italian dinner overlooking Fuji and the ocean near Kamakura.
Here is a rant that I wrote to myself or whoever about Japanese consumer culture during holidays..
It doesn't take a genius to figure out lots of people are making money out of holidays in Japan. Think American Hallmark holidays only there must be at least 10 a year. From the standpoint of someone who is wary of corporate intentions, it's kind of sad to see how mindlessly people throw their money away for tradition that I'm not so sure started out as such expensive holidays.
This isn't a foreign concept to the US but there’s a huge difference in the national holidays of Japan and those of America. American holidays have always meant very little to me and I know many people who feel the same. On the other hand, despite being completely religiously ambiguous, I still get excited thinking about Rosh Hashanah dinner or the songs I used to sing in temple. It doesn't matter if I believe in the books or not; there was still a sense of community and meaning behind it all. Perhaps some Americans feel that way about Thanksgiving dinner, and maybe someone with a family history in the military could get excited about veterans day but for me those were just days off from school. The the nostalgia that many westerners (including myself) can only feel toward a religious holiday can be felt easily during most national Japanese holidays even for a non-native such as myself.
Japan is the culturally rich place everyone recognizes it as, and if you can get down to the core feelings and meaning behind it, its almost always an amazing feeling; or for the assholes out there, an awesome thing to go home and brag about while showing off your pictures.
The problem is the overwhelming amount of sheep who let advertising rape their culture and tradition and the feelings they bring. $20-200 pastry boxes for everyone you make weekly contact with is a nice thought but no one is gaining as much or feeling as good as the big guys at Marui, Seibu, Tobu or the countless large corporations they work with. Hold off a little on the 社交辞令 and protect the meaningful traditions while they still exist. 20 years from now, you won't remember most of what you bought for any acquaintances on Christmas or New Years, and you won't remember most of what they bought for you. You won't remember most of the giri-chocolate you spent money on or what you got in return during Valentines Day and White day. But you will remember visiting your grandparents grave during New Years. You will remember spending the whole week with the people you care about and praying at the shrine and eating soba and osechi (even if you bought it from a monster like Marui).
Please don't take this as an attack on culture(if you actually read this far). It's just an attack on the companies that try to manipulate culture for their own benefit and my way of making some noise (however small it may be) to try and make someone think before they give their dollar votes away. Before you call me an outsider and question my right to have anything suggestive to say about a culture I wasn't raised in, first question the television and advertisements you fill your head with every day and the motives behind what they are saying and the way they are selling.
I'd like to sincerely apologize for any misinterpretation I may (very likely) have spoken. This is merely a vent for my frustrations with society at large (and certainly not specifically Japan) through a blog that almost no one reads so I hope you are not offended. Remember that as of now, I am essentially a no one who doesn't have to spend hours researching and double checking the validity of everything they say. I would much rather spend that time becoming fluent at Japanese.
If I say something dumb, just call me out on it and let's be friends. K?
love,
z
New Years is pretty intense in Japan. The 2 week break that kids get in America is almost standard for most Japanese people. Almost every gets at least 5 or 6 days off and working at a school means you never have to grow up. Unfortunately I didn't have money for a trip to Korea, China or Australia that I had hoped for. Settling in cost a bit more than planned, especially when factoring in guitar, bike and electronic dictionary. I forgot that cooking exists for the entire month of December up until last night and that didn't make saving any easier.
Luckily I was treated to a 2 day New Years feast that included traditional New Years food (Osechi), lots of 'western' style meats and side dishes and an Italian dinner overlooking Fuji and the ocean near Kamakura.
Here is a rant that I wrote to myself or whoever about Japanese consumer culture during holidays..
It doesn't take a genius to figure out lots of people are making money out of holidays in Japan. Think American Hallmark holidays only there must be at least 10 a year. From the standpoint of someone who is wary of corporate intentions, it's kind of sad to see how mindlessly people throw their money away for tradition that I'm not so sure started out as such expensive holidays.
This isn't a foreign concept to the US but there’s a huge difference in the national holidays of Japan and those of America. American holidays have always meant very little to me and I know many people who feel the same. On the other hand, despite being completely religiously ambiguous, I still get excited thinking about Rosh Hashanah dinner or the songs I used to sing in temple. It doesn't matter if I believe in the books or not; there was still a sense of community and meaning behind it all. Perhaps some Americans feel that way about Thanksgiving dinner, and maybe someone with a family history in the military could get excited about veterans day but for me those were just days off from school. The the nostalgia that many westerners (including myself) can only feel toward a religious holiday can be felt easily during most national Japanese holidays even for a non-native such as myself.
Japan is the culturally rich place everyone recognizes it as, and if you can get down to the core feelings and meaning behind it, its almost always an amazing feeling; or for the assholes out there, an awesome thing to go home and brag about while showing off your pictures.
The problem is the overwhelming amount of sheep who let advertising rape their culture and tradition and the feelings they bring. $20-200 pastry boxes for everyone you make weekly contact with is a nice thought but no one is gaining as much or feeling as good as the big guys at Marui, Seibu, Tobu or the countless large corporations they work with. Hold off a little on the 社交辞令 and protect the meaningful traditions while they still exist. 20 years from now, you won't remember most of what you bought for any acquaintances on Christmas or New Years, and you won't remember most of what they bought for you. You won't remember most of the giri-chocolate you spent money on or what you got in return during Valentines Day and White day. But you will remember visiting your grandparents grave during New Years. You will remember spending the whole week with the people you care about and praying at the shrine and eating soba and osechi (even if you bought it from a monster like Marui).
Please don't take this as an attack on culture(if you actually read this far). It's just an attack on the companies that try to manipulate culture for their own benefit and my way of making some noise (however small it may be) to try and make someone think before they give their dollar votes away. Before you call me an outsider and question my right to have anything suggestive to say about a culture I wasn't raised in, first question the television and advertisements you fill your head with every day and the motives behind what they are saying and the way they are selling.
I'd like to sincerely apologize for any misinterpretation I may (very likely) have spoken. This is merely a vent for my frustrations with society at large (and certainly not specifically Japan) through a blog that almost no one reads so I hope you are not offended. Remember that as of now, I am essentially a no one who doesn't have to spend hours researching and double checking the validity of everything they say. I would much rather spend that time becoming fluent at Japanese.
If I say something dumb, just call me out on it and let's be friends. K?
love,
z
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