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Have Japan Rail Pass, will Travel

Posted by harvey in Travel on 07. Mar, 2010 @ 10:47 am | No Comments

Have Japan Rail Pass, will Travel

As many of you know I’m now living in China, but I am going to be visiting Japan again in April. This gives me a chance to give the Japan Rail Pass a try!
The Japan Rail Pass can only be purchased from outside of Japan, as it’s meant to give short-time visitors to Japan a [...]

Study Joyo Kanji on your iPhone with iKIC

Posted by harvey in Gadgets, Language, Media on 12. Feb, 2010 @ 4:55 am | 2 Comments

Study Joyo Kanji on your iPhone with iKIC

Yet another iPod Touch or iPhone App to help you learn Japanese has been released. This one was released my my former school, IUC Japan.
iKIC is available as a free limited download, and as a iKIC full paid version with more content. You can also purchase add-ons for the paid version that adds even more [...]

Rock in Direct Translation with Osama

Posted by harvey in Language, Media, Music on 04. Feb, 2010 @ 6:06 am | 1 Comment

Rock in Direct Translation with Osama

Get ready for Highway Star and Smoke on the Water Japanese Style!

Highway Star in DIRECT translation.
The musician went by the name of Ousama 王様 (king) and was a musician engaging in this style called “chokuyaku rock” 直訳ロック. Here is Ousama on Wikipedia (Japanese). The focus of this music is on the lyrics, because they’re just [...]

More Mameshiba Advertisements

Posted by harvey in Food, Humor, Language, Media on 25. Jan, 2010 @ 7:16 am | 3 Comments

More Mameshiba Advertisements

These are just too funny. Sure I could have tweeted it… but this deserves more permanent placement.
Be sure you catch the Kansai-ben speaking mameshiba commercial that I posted earlier!
- Harvey

State-sponsored Cute: Kawaii Ambassadors

Posted by harvey in Culture, Society on 14. Jan, 2010 @ 3:43 am | 10 Comments

State-sponsored Cute: Kawaii Ambassadors

There’s no doubt that there are some quirky aspects to Japan and Japanese culture, but how about state-sponsored quirkiness?
Meet Misako Aoki (青木美沙子), one of Japan’s three Cute Ambassadors who were appointed by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs February 2009.

Cute Ambassador: Misako Aoki

Misako Aoki, in all her ultra-cute Lolita garb, performs an official function [...]

Meet the Complaints Choir of Tokyo

Posted by harvey in Media on 07. Jan, 2010 @ 2:08 am | 1 Comment

Meet the Complaints Choir of Tokyo

I heard that @Durf translated some stuff for the Mori Art Museum related to this video.
Awesome.

This is awesome. Actually though, I sent my seasons greetings via email. I’m sorry.
- Harvey

Japanese 101: Particles updated with New Content

Posted by harvey in About, Language on 06. Jan, 2010 @ 7:20 pm | 2 Comments

Particles Cover Shot

The Japanese 101: Particles App was updated today, and the download, free for those who already have the app, should be available worldwide in the next 24 hours.
Now there are 20+ new JLPT 3 level particle questions you can study and quiz yourself on. This brings the total number of problems in the [...]

Keep the Men outta the Kitchen

Posted by harvey in Culture on 06. Jan, 2010 @ 12:27 pm | 1 Comment

Keep the Men outta the Kitchen

This is a fun phrase.「男子厨房に入らず」(danshi chuubou ni hairazu).
Literally it means that men should not enter the kitchen. Another variation on the Japanese for this phrase is 「男子厨房に立たず」but the meaning is the same.
A Japanese explanation of the origin of this phrase appears in this Kyodo Shimbun article here:
『男子厨房に入らず』とは、豚や鶏を台所で処理する際、断末魔の声を男は聞くべきでない―という中国の故事が起源とされ、孟子の語録にもある。日本では男性の威厳を保つため、江戸時代以降、実践されてきた。
In translation:
It was said that men should not have [...]

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