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.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
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
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