Life is Good in Japan

As I walk down to the little market (such cheap food!) I encounter many little treasures. An old woman with a poodle in a baby satchel on her back. Two other dogs of a breed I forget (boxer?) that go crazy when they see me. My little clothes washing place. A small garden/tea house. The woman comes out, wondering if I am a customer. "Oh, it's just that it's beautiful, so..." I say bashfully. I notice on my way back that there is a small basin out in front of the soba shop, and little silver fish are swimming within.
A simple walk to get a drink, and all these reminders: I'm glad I moved here.

Stray Cat

It hasn't come back

Umeboshi-tuna Sandwich (Weird Japanese Foods Series)

Just so you know, I totally fixed the spelling errors 30 seconds after I posted the previous entry, but for whatever reason it didn't take. I'm just saying, I may not be able to spell, but give me credit for using a spellchecker!

Well, I Can Still Laugh at Least

The results of the last school-run fake test are in, and unsurprisingly, I am not going to pass this year. I am getting between 50 and 60 percent on everything. My American upbringing wants to call this total failure (though an "F" still passes 2kyu), but I do have to concede, well, I came this far at least.

If I can't pass during the special test session in July, I will be bummed. I wish I had gone for 2kyu this year, having been in the 2kyu-1kyu class for the last few months, I know I could pass it without any problems, and at least have that on my record, but I had to make the decision on which to take very shortly after coming, and was foolishly optimistic at the time to boot. There is just so much in 1kyu: Kanji, synonyms, homonyms, spoken language, written language, nuance, trick questions (I'm looking at you, listening test) etc. Too much for me.

Anyhoo, perhaps unwisely, but then again, perhaps to some effect, I often have some Japanese shows playing in a little window while I study. Lately it has been Jubei Chan 2, Gyagu Manga Biyori, and what ever movies* I pop in to spice it up, all on infinite loop. I think it may be good listening practice; I am picking up more things all the time that I didn't notice before.
But recently, because it came with a friend's USB drive which he sold me, I watched Age of Heroes. Some pretty CG visuals, great intro song, but the queen or whatever she is, has a bit of a wardrobe issue for me:
Those spikes are... And your henchman's eyes are way too small for his face...
and she is not the only one. Hey lady, you are, uh, missing something...
You may have to zoom...

In the end of the series, the leader woman finally changes outfits, but...
Overall, kinda teh suck anime. I want to make a list of anime that are good for people not into anime (I could arguably be such people), so maybe in a future post you will see that.
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*The Keep and The Flight of Dragons both seem to be movies I can watch repeatedly, I think because the voice of James Earl Jones and the synthesizers of Tangerine Dream auditorily sooth me.

Sticklers

My friend has PDA device with a slick dictionary program. He can transfer files to his computer and auto-generate ANKI cards and he wants with it. He can also save words in various lists, one of which is called HARD MOFOs.
I have my own list kind of like this, made of my daily class mistakes, which I will blog about more in the future, but have mentioned a couple of times recently. There are many words that I have no problem with after input, and they are easily recalled when they show up. Then there are the sticklers. Really basic words that have been haunting me for as long as I have studied Japanese (about 3.5 years now). They show up every day in the deck. Sometimes I finally get over them with Heisig mnemonics (I remember things better when I have the kanji down) or other odd memory stories.
Alex shared some good ideas lately. I find his sentence thing works well, when I have the time to do it.

Guy Punished by Company, Has to Apologize at a Train Station

I am having a hard time hearing it here (I am in the school computer lab once again), but I gather that this guy was late to work ("I overslept" he admits), so he was ordered to go to a train station, get permission to apologize in public from the station attendants, and then loudly proclaim what was wrong with what he did.
I can imagine the conversation with the train attendant.
"You want to what now?"
"I need to do a public apology."
"For being late to work."
"Yeah..."
"Huh. Knock yourself out. I'll be over here, snickering, if you need me again."

When Fan Collaboration Goes Bad

There are many great fan works out there. But for ever one of those, there are ten works on fanfic.com*. Recently I ran across some a PDF of Spelljammer D&D characters converted to 3rd edition by fans. And then I knew I had to share the pictures...

Look out! Space crocodiles love to feast on those who have nonchalant poses!

Prepare to fight!

One distinguishing feature of the colossus race is their tendency to leave their pants unbuttoned to show off their waxed abs.

Click to zoom if you dare.
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*Yes, I am indicating that everything on fanfic.com is bad.

Sentence of the Day

裸の餅つきで餅肌を皆に見せちゃった。
One possible translation:
While pounding mochi in a loincloth, I regrettably showed off my milky-smooth skin to everybody.

The Scottish Play Becomes The Japanese Play

Note on the title:　It is bad luck for actors to mention the play MacBeth by name, so "The Scottish Play" is what they use instead. People who have perused my wishlist may have noticed that I like the Immortal Bard, and I have fond memories of seeing Romeo and Juliet adapted to an early American Spanish colony setting, so I was happy to hear that MacBeth has gotten the Japanese treatment:

All of the story and most of the original language are present, although John R. Briggs' adaptation throws in generous amounts of Japanese references that prove only occasionally jarring. (A handy glossary of words and place names is provided in the program.)

The three witches have thus become three "yojos," whose incantations are delivered in kabuki-like fashion. And when Shogun Macbeth (Kaipo Schwab) sends his assassins to murder Banquo (Ariel Estrada), they are, of course, samurai warriors.

Pretty cool. More info at the original article. Also, info on the theater/production group here.

[via One Big Japan]

So, about those decks

A couple people have pointed out recently that old decks I was offering were no longer online. Hosting services have a tendency to drop content if long periods go between downloads. I was going to upload again, but the thought struck me, and I have to say the thought has a valid point, that it is best to make flashcards your own. So, I am going to have to ask you to go here if you need a basic deck with all the JLPT words you need, and then customize it yourself.

Besides that issue, my decks are increasingly filled with my individualistic shorthand, especially now that I have switched to just studying the mistakes/words I didn't know in all my schoolwork. And what I don't know is quite a lot! I made this video, where I mentioned making 800 cards in one week. It has doubled since then. A large part of my cards go like this: "~ r". This means I just wanted to study the reading/spelling. Others go "f ~" or "~ f", which are questions about what usually goes in front, or follows a specific word, grammar point, or phrase. I also do "~ nu" to indicate that I just need the nuance of something, usually a grammar point. I haven't used my JLPT decks in weeks; they were just getting in the way of what I really need to study, i.e. my mistakes and sticky points.

So in conclusion, make a deck that works for you.

I Eat Grasshoppers! (Weird Japan Foods Series)

Still feeling ill after this.

Operating Without a Brain

It's probably painfully obvious to you readers, but my brain doesn't work anymore. Since I came here, I've noticed my mind wanders at the slightest provocation, often into reminiscence land. This is a bit of a problem during the daily listening schoolwork. Also of late, I ran a few games of D&D and noticed that my brain could not recall ongoing conditions of the game (for which the players were not happy). Also, my simple subtraction speed is down; maybe I need to get a hold of Brain Training DS again.

As for my job, I've noticed my odd tendency to write the end of a word's letters before they are supposed to come has only gotten worse. This is quite annoying, as I am constantly erasing what I wrote a second before while the students look at me and probably roll their eyes. Do we pay this guy? Oddly enough, this writing problem doesn't extend to when I am typing, but in any case I think it is related to my concentration problem. I am not living in the now when I write; I am living in the future of the words and sentences.

The only thing I do seem to remember is Japanese (perhaps my brain has shifted all of its priorities to language acquisition), but like I said, those listening tests are worrying me. I think my mind may wander during the actual JLPT.

I'm going to try to find some ginkgo biloba and see if that helps my concentration and memory. Also, I have to give meditation a more serious try. I do it occasionally on the train when I have nothing else to do, but I think I need to make a point to do it each morning. For that matter, I need to bite the bullet and wake up around and hour earlier than I have been. The world is never going to adjust to my circadian rhythms.

Speaking of the brain and sleep, I recently heard on the Sixty Second Science podcast that our brains shut down in stages, and neuron clusters give up when they have worked hard. This may explain why reading Japanese makes me so sleepy. It may also explain why I am so groggy in the mornings; only part of me is awake, and begrudgingly at that. This morning, I tried something to wake up. I started counting to wake up a few extra brain cells. Then I started singing to wake up another section. Oddly enough, I chose the The Sound of Music song.

You know, I can't remember what comes after "Tea, a drink with jam and bread..." But I did wake up.