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?
Sunday, January 18, 2009
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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