Japanese Slang: Unibare

ユニバレ is a combination of two words:

ユニクロ (yunikuro, Uniqlo): a cheap clothing store chain

ばれる: letting the cat out of the bag

Together, they create a new word, which means for someone to notice that you, ohmigosh!, bought your clothes at Uniqlo. This spells social death in Japan, but at the same time, with a bad economy and freeter lifestyles abounding, getting the cheap clothes of Uniqlo is a good way to survive. [source]
Here's Uniqlo, trying to act all cool in a video, but we know they be posers:
It's like Japan is one big junior high, making fun of you for wearing the wrong brand clothes. When I was in the 7th grade, I remember asking a guy if one could buy Stussy at K-mart. All the cool kids had Stussy shirts. This naive bumpkin question of mine became hot gossip around the school, and I was mortified. Why the hell did we all care about fashion at that age anyways? Normal teen anxiety? Or was it just my odd town?

Bullet Point Post: Burakumin

Burakumin may count as an ethnicity in Japan, a social group, a legacy, or it may be invisible. I don't know much about the subject, but I've noticed a few articles lately...

This article says that Burakumin discrimination still exists and the law was recently changed to protect them.

This article is about a minister that is concerned about Burakumin discrimination, and other forms of prejudice, BUT:

He is also mentioned to have written pamphlets about the LDS and Jehovah Witness faiths. This article seems to confirm that those pamphlets are works of religious discrimination, which is ironic considering the religious prejudice which singled out the Burakumin caste in the first place, not to mention he is supposed to be against discrimination period.

I have an axe to grind about people who complain about axe grinding while grinding their own axes. But Burakumin are downplayed as a mere underclass in this article. For the record, I don't think I agree with the author.

Fusuo note collected some links where a guy in the New York Times talked about how a Burakumin may have been blocked from being prime minister, and another guy berated the Times guy.

Finally, it all reminds me somehow of of the invented differences between the Tutsi and Hutu groups.

As always, I'd love to hear from people that know more than my self on this subject.

Pics from the Japanese News: Products and Byproducts

The articles linked to in these picture posts are all in Japanese, but hopefully my summary is enough for those of you that don't speak it.

Setsubun paraphernalia sales are up, perhaps because the economy is down. Using these implements, one can drive out bad luck and invite good, or so the tradition goes. I had a glance at the beans in the supermarket the other day. Not only are they cheap, but they are super healthy source of protein. I made trail mix with them. [article]



There's gold in them thar sewers! The treatment plants have recently confirmed that gold is in the sewage water, and are estimating that 150,000,000 yen (1.65945 million U.S. dollars) worth of profits can be made. The theory is that a lot of onsen water, rich in ores, is the cause. The prefectural governor is thankful that there was gold in those nuggets. [article]



Soumen noodles are spread out to dry in the bitter cold in Hyōgo prefecture; apparently the freeze enhances the flavor. The frames are called hata, which may be derived from kite, but I'm not sure (nothing in the article about that). The noodlers* stretch and separate the cords, which can be around 2 meters long, with chopsticks, and make adjustment depending on the wind. There are approximately 490 hatas this noodle-farming association. [article]



I thought this might be the same story as the soumen noodles at first glance, but I guess they are actually hanging daikons in this picture, for the same cold weather benefits. I'm not sure what the final product is used for. Has anyone ever eaten these sun-dried daikons? [article]


This turtle has been given an artificial fin (hopefully, it's not the tire), and if it can successfully be reintroduced into the wild, it will be the first success story of it's kind.[article]
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Bonus vocab:
物を言う seems to be a variation of 物言う, which is kind of like, to be effective or valuable. Lots of experience as a noodler is quite valuable.
風物詩 means "things that remind one of the season." The four seasons (five if you county rainy season) are very important to Japanese culture and eating habits.
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* Noodler shall be the name of the profession in all English translations from this point on! So decrees I!

Bullet Point Post: Tetrapods

Tetrapods may be bad for the environment, but some people love them. How about you?

One can buy plushy Tetrapods, but they are too rich for my blood.

I had to edit the info on the mantra for the last News Pics Post. Don't you feel enlightened?

You are reading a bullet point post.

I think I will like it better that twittering.

I will soon be in the dungeon master's seat again.

Nerdy bullets like that may slip out from time to time...

Follow-up: The Criticism Yoji

Remember the super rare yoji I posted the other day? I presented it to a teacher here at my school. She had never seen it, but the advantage of going to a school for learning Japanese is that the teachers joyfully look into things for you (the rest of the populous doesn't know a 動詞 from a 助詞). Anyways, when we describe harsh criticism of a public figure by the media, we can use the term バッシング (bashing), which is a suru verb. Also, it appears you can use it the same way you would say "America bashing" or "Japan bashing" in English.

Pics from the Japanese News: Are You Aware? Edition

The links in this article will all be to Japanese news stories; I hope to provide good reading practice to those of you that are interested, as well as interesting pics and bite-size chunks of news for those of you that don't do the moon-speak.

Nurse prevention Rangers-- I mean Preventative Nursing Rangers are teaching old people how to keep healthy. "Talk to people--Jya! Brush your teeth--Jya!" No word on how they handled the giant geriatric kaiju that showed up. [article]


Schools in Niigata Prefecture will start displaying posters encouraging girls to wear longer skirts, with intentionally humorous slogans such as "Whether it be studying or skirts, depending on your willingness, you can lengthen them more!" I offer two simple solutions to the problem*: Make either pants or tights part of the uniform. And I mean nerdy tights. [article]


Remember my manly posts? This is another example of purifying yourself the hard way. The local temple has been leading the meditations for 6 years. The people gathered chant "南無不動明王" (namu (hail)+fudoumyouou (one of the five wisdom kings). Try saying that three hundred times fast! [article]
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Bonus English story:

Kazuo Umezu won his lawsuit, and despite his neighbor's laments, he can paint his house however he wants. I made a vid about this long ago, but the one I did about his movie was even better. [article]
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Bonus vocab: 啓発 (enlightenment) was a word used in both the ranger and school girl articles to talk about the awareness campaigns.
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*:I know short skirts don't sound like a problem to any man that breathes, but theoretically, short skirts lead to sexual attacks and cold bodies, according to the article.

Pics from the News: Horny Lizard Edition

The links in this article will all be to Japanese news stories, to help people study.


An rakugo artist and a member of Morning Musume will be appearing in a play entitled "Cheap is a taboo word" [video link]. They spared no expense on the hat.


A hundred and 111 year old lizard-like-thing (a Tuatara) has just become a father for the first time. His wife is 80. Say, we just had that frisky panda story the other day.



These folks are gathering waribashi in order to recycle them into Japanese-style paper. I'm glad to see some recycling being done; sometimes I feel like I am the only person in this country that uses maihashi. English explanation of waribashi and maihashi* here.



An old farmer has discovered that chickens really like Mozart. They lay about twice as many eggs, and bigger ones at that, when listening; possibly because of a calming effect. They even screech less often. Oddly enough, Enkas had the opposite effect.

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Bonus English story: The humongous Pit family arrives in Japan.

Bonus Headgear story (also English): Becky has started a fashion line. What do you think of her choice of headgear though? Who would win a fight between her and the top story in this entry?

Bonus vocab: 鳴かなくなった (came to not crow) is a very funny phrase to me for alliteration reasons.
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*I just like maispelling better.

Pics from the News: Hose 'er Down Edition

The links in this article will all be to Japanese-language news stories; I hope to provide good reading practice to those of you that are interested, as well as interesting pics and bite-size chunks of news for those of you that don't do the moon-speak.



Firefighters all over Japan practiced for a event on the 26th that I will translate as Cultural Assets Fire Day. In this picture, they are hosing down Nagoya Castle, using a truck with a fifty-meter ladder.


An old man helps a child notch and aim a lucky arrow. There are twelve targets, and depending on whether they get hit or not, predictions are made as to how the weather and harvests will be. This year, ten targets were hit, and a very detailed fortune was told.


There was a protest march suing for peace in the middle east in Kyoto recently. The above picture, however, is actually for an article talking about worries that all the fighting in Gaza is leading to anti-antisemitism.* The above demonstration took place in London. Ah, middle-easterners and their love of shoes...



The above pic actually refers to a video article, of interest even if you can't speak Japanese, of the Nagasaki Lantern festival. I've been to the event twice; and may get around to uploading a youtube video with footage. You know how my video promises go though...

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Bonus English story:
A film about the dolphin slaughters that happen each year in a secluded cove in Japan is a hit. The movie, titled The Cove, may soon bring Japan the amount of shame that seems to be required to get things to change. And good thing too; the dolphin meat is full of toxic mercury!

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*I can't help but wonder if we need a new term, as antisemitism technically means "against Semitic language speakers" (Arabs use Semitic languages too). Anti-Israel won't work, because I think one can be anti-Israel without being anti-Jewish...
Did I just say something controversial?

Bunraku Puppet does an Exorcist Impression

Well this is creepy. More info and pics at Pinktentacle.

Let's Yoji: 口誅筆伐

In this new feature, I'm going to start explaining interesting yojijukugo (hereafter to be referred to as yoji) that I find from time to time, hopefully without stepping on the Daily Yoji guys' toes.

口誅筆伐 (kouchuuhitsubatsu) is made of four characters that one doesn't often see together--making it an advanced sucker in my book.

The breakdown on 口誅筆伐

Kanji:
口: speech
誅: death penalty
筆: writing brush
伐: punish
Frequency: Freakin rare
Impressiveness factor: Too rare! Natives will have no idea what this means (so no dice unless you can write it and explain it).
Japanese explanation: 言葉と文章で激しく批判・攻撃すること。
ある事件や人物に対して、報道機関が容赦なく批判を浴びせる喩え。
English gloss: through words or writing, harshly criticizing, judging, and attacking.
Part of speech:Noun.

So by words and writing, one condemns another. These days, this compound, when used at all, seems to describe the attacks of the mass media on public figures. So why did I choose to introduce such a hard yoji? Because the thread where I found it had a great picture as seen above, and commentary to go along with it that amused me. But please don't criticize me too harshly for the choice, for any yoji can stimulate a Japanese-studier's brain.

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Bonus challenge: Can you use it in a sentence? For that matter, can you find a good example sentence online? Like I said, it's rare...

Obama's Speeches are a Best Selling Source of (I Hope) English Interest

The English teacher in me is well please that a lot of my students, nay, a lot of Japanese people everywhere are buying books about Barrack Obama. Not just his own books, but transcripts of his speeches, complete with translation. I hope they are actually reading the facing English pages.

I sent my students a link to iKnow recently, as my obsession with trying to get them to learn more than for an hour a week and study English grows all the time. Today I sent them a followup link to the iKnow lessons based on Obama's speeches. We'll see if any new terms get bandied about in class. Here's a link if you are curious.

If you would like to read up on the book phenomenon, well, I have a link for that too (MSNBC). I think that it is great so many people are getting interested in American politics over here; I just wish they would take some initiative locally too.

Manly Festivals: Getting Cold and Naked

An English speaker introduces a manly festival in this video. What is going on here? I shall explain a bit.

I think I implied that the first manly post would get a followup, so here it is.
What is more manly than running around with other naked men? Nothing! Actually, 裸祭 (naked festivals) usually don't have truly naked guys. You get a ふんどし (loincloth). But that's about it. Some people seem to get the wrong impression about these things and think that naked=sexuality*, but think of it as purity. Manly purity. In fact the whole thing about being in your starkers in the cold is about purifying your soul.
Speaking of cold, half-naked manliness, you don't get any more wicked cool than these guys. I've heard of meditating under a frigid waterfall, but martial arts training on top of it is just solid.


These gung-ho gung-fu men (okay, karate, but you gotta love alliteration) gather on the coldest day of the year to gather their ki in such concentrations that small animals in the area explode.
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Bonus (Japanese only) reading: Check out these guys, dousing themselves with frigid water.
And an article about the freezing fists above.
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* Some foreigners seem to not get the nudity is not the same as sexuality in this context. But hey, I just wrote a vaugely homosexual-looking post (I am, for the record, a Claysexual).

Girls sometimes participate and wear fundoshi too. But this is pretty rare. Anyways, the "Many" terminology is not meant to be much more than a humorous framework for these posts! A man admits that the women folks be manly too.

My Nets [Meta]

I still don't have the internet in my apartment! KDDI actually gave up on my line! I'll try NTT directly; if that doesn't work, I'll have to go with costly eMobile.
I case you are wondering, I write my current posts at school and spread them out via scheduling. Theoretically, this leaves me lots of time to study when I get home...

Pics from the News: Frisky Panda Edition

The links in this article will all be to Japanese news stories; I hope to provide good reading practice to those of you that are interested, as well as interesting pics and bite-size chunks of news for those of you that don't do the moon-speak. Regular feature gets! Maybe.

Young and big-statured, yet with a dignified, obedient air, the Red Panda Cha'o* is being relocated so that he can get down and make some babies, which scientists estimate will be the cutes things ever.
..What do you do when your temple's statue has fallen into disrepair? Ship it off to an art college to get it fixed of course.
..Yatterman, a classic anime series, is making the transition to a live action movie, and so is the leather costume of the villain, complete with 18cm high heels. Fanboys the world over squealed at seeing the first images of the costume. Claytonians the world over squealed with joy upon learning that Takashi Miike is the director!
..
Why are these men smiling? Hopefully it's because they are on the level, as 16 percent of gnomefish caught in 2007 were illegal. The sea is running out of fish, or so I keep hearing.

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Bonus vocabulary:
Gnomefish apparently have another, also funny name: scombrops boops
横行 can mean "prolific" as in "prolific gnomefish poaching".
網タイツ means fishnet stockings.
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*Cha'o is the best way I could think of to indicate the pronunciation for チャオ. But I'm not sure how people normally handle this...

Japanese Commedy: Snickering Gaki Edition

Gaki No Tsukai is an odd show, to say the least. A lot of their entertainment involves putting themselves into painful or gross situations and trying not too laugh. First up, a scene that was new to me:

The boys try to sleep through a staff meeting, even when doused with hot water, Can be seen here.
And the second part Is here.

Next up is a staff meeting where they have to pay a fine if they laugh at their foreign guest, Bob Sapp:

Arguably, katakana subtitles are actually not insulting transcribing in his case. Don't tell him I said that. Part 2:


Let's finish up with something that likes your life on the Japanophilioblogosphere complete: A playlist of Silent Library.


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Bonus Language Training:
A conclusion to the sleep clips, but it's all speaking in Kansai-ben, so you've gotta be good to understand it. ガンバッテ
Bonus Link Love: This show can be watched legally and crisply if you live in America or have a workaround for Hulu. Apple Otaku has the details.

J commercials: Blood and Soda Edition

I loves me some strange Japanese commercials...

Pretty funny and odd. Is that Bob Sapp?
Next up, an funny Ramen add:

Finishing today, a pretty good Fanta commercial:

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Lecherous Bonus:
Speaking of the Beach, Okinawa, you are coming on a little strong there. And hip is not butt.
Non-lecherous Bonus: The Fanta school series with subtitles. I still love these.

More Than a Little Thought [nihongo]

I can't remember where the statement was made in the nihongo-study-o-sphere, but some seem to be under the impression (I think I've heard it more than once) that one can't say "more than x" in Japanese, where x is a number. 以上 is "equal to or more than", and it's common, so I think this is where the idea that one can't do it comes from.
But I suggest 上回る. The opposite exists too, BTW: 下回る.

There is always a way to say something if you look for it.

1000th Post!

Actually, the number is kind of arbitrary, because I have deleted so many old posts over the years, and celebrating 1000 posts is itself kind of arbitrary, so instead of that, let's use this post to celebrate five years or so of blogging arbitrarity! はーーーーん！If you be feelin me!
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Notes:
Arbitrarity is a word. Now.
Yes, I actually played this video game.

Changes to Those Links in The Sidebar

I have removed some of the links from the Japanese study section of the sidebar on the right of this page. Some of them have become obsolete, in this age of Anki and iKnow. Some are not useful to me anymore; those I think I may personally use from time to time were left up. This blog is for my benefit too after all!
Also, I used Page2RSS to convert some of the links to feeds, and they now appear in my Japanese Study Feeds. Despite not having feeds themselves, if something updates, it will show up. You can even subscribe to all my Japanese study feeds if you want.

Also, I added a "study with me" section, for those that think they can keep up with my awesome brain. Unfortunately, the Lang-8 widget seems to have died (anyone else experience that?)

For posterity's sake, here are the links that fell by the wayside:
Visualizing J Gram
JGram(feeded)
MIT
The Japanese Page(feeded)
日本語ﾚｯｽﾝ
Onomatopoeia
俗語(feeded)
誤語
慣用句(feeded)
Vocab Drills
Many Things(just too darn glitchy)
Speeddanki
Kanji
The Kanji Site
Kanji Test

Squid Stroganoff (not Struddel)

It really was good!

Karaoke Practice: Drink Your Sorrows Away Version

This song happens to be the first enka I learned, and I still sing it about every time I go out. Not only is it pretty easy to remember the words, but I leaves a lot of room for personal interpretation of how it should be performed. Also, singing a love song to your drink is about as Japanese as a foreigner can get, at least by enkai standards, so you will charm your fellow party goers.
I recommend the 演奏 version of the song, where the old guy plays it out on a guitar, giving it an almost Latino flavor.
Here is a live version for the ladies to practice with.

Obama Effigies Invade Japan

I've noticed tons of fake presidents running around Japan lately. First off, there's the creepy masks. Coming to a bank robbery near you soon...

This morning, I saw the horror that is the lifesize Obama doll (we all know it's really an android).

But the best has just come to my attention of all plastic presidents running around: Action Figure Obama has come to Japan!
Check him out under the kotatsu, rockin with mikans and a famicom!

Or how about wielding double katanas!

And there are tons more in a detailed resolution at this site. You know you wanna see Obama fight Darth Vader! Look how many exclamation points I used in this post!
[via AltJapan]

Manly Festivals Part 1

Recently, I was treated to my first mochi-pounding event (a もちすき). Some neighborhoods get together to pound mochi and then offer a couple dollops of mochi (glutinous globs of smashed rice) called a kagamimochi (鏡餅) topped with a relative of the orange (a 橙*). The pounding things with a hammer is indeed very manly, and I may make a video of that, but today I wanted to tell you about a manly event I just discovered recently.
It seems in some festivals around this time of year, men see how far they can carry the platform that the kagamimochi is usually put on.
If I may transummarize** the article I encountered yesterday, leaving out a few details:

In Tokushima prefecture, strong men (and women) from 4 to 45 gather to to fight in a battle of hefting ginormous kagamimochi [or 力もち大会], seeing how far they can carry them, while big crowds look on.

The tradition has been around since the Warring States period [approx. 1467-1568 CE], when a feudal lord endowed with great strength carried a stone monument to the Daisan temple as an offering of thanks for his superhuman muskles, or so the story goes, and the festival has been happening for about 400 years.

The events are divided into four weight categories, with mochi weighing from 10 to 140 kilos, for kids and adults respectively. The warriors are cheered on with clapping and shouts of "endure!" and "you can go the distance!"

32 year old worker Hiroshi has pulled of three successive championships, with a personal record of 42.8 meters. He breathlessly said with a smile that he wanted to continue as long as he has the strength to compete.

Now, knowing my Japan, I figured there had to be other contests of this sort. The following video looks like the same event, but at a different place, where they've been doing it a mere 70 years. Look out for the guy in the loincloth; now that is manly***!

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*interestingly, 橙色 was orange before オレンジ was orange.
**: translate-summarize
***: We'll get into loincloths next time...

Various Depictions of Foreigners in Anime (Funny)

This post has been brewing for a long time; I've noticed all of these videos before, but finally decided to collect them together. These are pretty easy to understand, so you can enjoy the bizarreness.

This vid is from a series called Sakigake!! Otokojuku. Awesome voice acting. And way to make a bottle into a sharp weapon, though the guy does drop it. "Damn it." Lick.
There is the setup scene for that one, with slightly less Engrish, here.
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Then we have three scenes from Azumanga Daiyo, a series with a very Japanese sense of comedic pacing:


Pera-pera, with rolled-r's is exactly what I taught my first years.


Can I carry that for you? All foreigners speak in English (with a foreign accent).


The impressive coolness of English. Some odd nihonjinron thrown in there too.
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Bonus: This is how British people cook! Actually, I expected a mention of chip-fat...

Karaoke Training: Bad Economy Edition

Welcome to the first in a series of posts where I give you interesting songs I've found on youtube with the lyrics attached. Karaoke is an excellent way to learn Japanese and impress the natives.
Anyways, the song and artist are listed as :
泣ける歌「スタートライン」by 馬場俊英(Babatoshihide--boy, I hope that is not a real name). I thought it was a good song considering all the gloom of the recession atmosphere.
Speaking of which, the other day I helped a Shrilankan from our school the other day to look for a job. I don't know why I chose to volunteer when he wasn't asking, but I kinda said, "Let's find you a job, I'll translate," and off I dragged him. But every place we went to wanted a bit of Japanese fluency, and he is yet a beginner. I figured I could get him at least a dish washing job somewhere, but no luck.
In the end, he complained that my country had ruined the worlds economy and I couldn't disagree. Also, he didn't thank me at all, which made me wonder if he was annoyed at me for wasting his time in a futile endeavor (he was pessimistic about getting any job outside a factory, and I don't even know where any factories are, so I just tried bars and restaurants). Or maybe it was a cultural thing :-/

English Help with an Unexpected Accent

So the internet guy finally came by. He did something that took only a minute and left without a word of instruction. Oh well, says I and I tries to connect me nets.
No dice. For one thing, OS X conspires against me at every turn. It tries to use old passwords, and doesn't let me delete things from the key chain (I just deny it's requests when I can). It also changes locked internet settings. Anyways, I had to call the KDDI service center (they didn't wait to see if I could understand Japanese, and transferred me right to the English center, which seemed to be staffed by an Indian woman), then the Mac English service center (only nihonjins there), then the KDDI center again. This time I got a young man with a hispanic accent. After trying everything, he told me to look at my router. It was blinking. That is no good, apparently. He said something odd about the internet being installed just that day, so I had to wait. That line is still blinking. Incidentally, I can send pings to an ISP, but not any websites. And the Mac thinks the internet is working at times, but won't connect.
If anybody else has had an experience of waiting for the stars to align before being able to connect for the first time in Japan, let me know. As it is, I am wondering why I need the internet at all. I've gone six months without it, and the only thing I've missed was emails and being able to use online Japanese dictionaries, ALC, etc. I could just set up filters to forward certain emails to my cell, so why bother with the net? I should be studying anyways...

Well, I say that, but I still crave my net fix.

Slumdog Millionaire - Worth Seeing

This trailer makes it look kind of hollywood, but I found the movie amazing, and it brought back memories of volunteering in Thailand. It makes you want to do something about the way things are!
Preorder Slumdog Millionaire here:

I discovered another Danny Boyle gem recently as well: Shallow Grave. Pick that up if you are in the mood for a thriller, and some goofy fashion of an older era.
Buy it here:
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I have become an Amazon associate. If you want to help me buy study materials, these links are a good substitution for donations!
Or, since I mentioned my Thai experience, any time is a good time to help out your favorite charity. I won't mind if you choose that over helping me! Unfortunately, I'm not sure how to donated to my old Thai orphan charities at the moment, but maybe I can find volunteer Steve's email...

Today's Language Acquisition tip

Ever try to speak a in a foreign language that you can, say, read exceptionally well, but can't actually say things well in? For a lot of us shy people, lack of speaking, combined with lack of good words to say when we finally get a chance to speak, can be frustrating--especially when you've got a complaint about the way something is being inflicted on you, but let's reel in our ranting, self, and continue with the post. However, your speaking skills need not be so bad; today, I exhort you to speak as you study. All too many times, I have had a word in my head. I'd know the concept--sometimes I don't have an English equivalent in mind, I just know it--, and I even have a good idea of the kanji behind it. But it won't come out. Especially if there is conjugation involved. Now you know my frustration when I watch my own recent videos. But if I had started speaking as I studied long ago*, maybe I would be a much smoother orator.

This speaking tip is one I never really used before I read a post by Alex and gave it a shot, but I have found it to be pretty useful. So now here's what I do: As I go through my Anki deck, which ideally happens every night, I speak each word. It is not only useful for a smooth recall in later, real life conversations, but it also cuts down on my studying time dramatically. I usually remember words after I have missed them once thanks to my newly discover auditory memory.

While it will probably provide a boost to everyone, this may not work as fantastically for you if you are not an auditory learner; looking back on my educational career, I always had a pretty good memory about what the teacher lectured on during any given class, with minimal notes. I am even remembering right this moment how a high school teacher got mad at me one time for not taking notes. "But Mr. Fatso"--I'm pretty sure that was his name-- "you said on the first day of class that we should only take as much notes as we feel we need." Mr. Fatso didn't like my infuriating memory that day, or my calling him Mr. Fatso.

So I guess the moral is, as always, study in the way that works for you --and don't forget what way of studying is best for you, because I am kicking myself as I write this post (blame the typos on said kicks)--, try many different ways to study even if they feel silly, and pretend to keep notes to keep Mr. Fatso from sending you to the principal's office.
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*Well come to think of it, I did speak as I studied when I first started out. Have I told that story on this blog yet? Maybe it deserves a reiteration in the future.

ウォッチメン予告編（WATCHMEN Japanese Trailer）

This Japanese trailer has a few new scenes.

Profound...ly Stupid

Folks, I wish I had some kind of great comeback post for you, but I guess you may have to wait until post 1,000 to see some dynamite from me.
I spent the last two weeks fairly internetless. I studied a bit, then got bored. Then I read the novelization of Trick a bit, but got sleepy. I caught up on 6 months of sleep and that is how I spent my winter break. This was all a repeating pattern.

Now the time has come for the resolutions. I think I am going to keep a food/exercise diary. I gots the "metabolic syndrome", as the Japanese might say in their borrowed-wrong-English way.

Also, I'd like to post a bit about studying, to keep up with the Blog Joneses. So I will promise you something like that soon. And stuff about the interesting parts of the language. And maybe some recommendations. Oh and videos too. I've got to get back on that, but my camera is a bit broken...

For now, just let me catch up on my Google Reader. Check out my shared items to the right for the gold.