Asaba Ryokan – Izu Japan
Posted by harvey in Culture, Travel on 31. Jul, 2007 | 7 Comments
I recently had a chance to stay a night at Asaba Ryokan in Izu Japan, and experience a night of extreme luxury. My wife and I got lucky and won a prize that took us to Izu via the Green Car (like 1st class) on the Shinkansen, and put us up for the night. Just [...]
HUMBURGER
Posted by harvey in Humor on 30. Jul, 2007 | 8 Comments
Well, what have we here off in the distance? Why it looks like a cafe that might have Western food to satisfy my gaijin needs. I’ll hop over and take a closer look. Wait, what’s this? C’omon? Humburger? Beef stake? And… Fast food as a menu item? Aren’t all of these fast food items? The [...]
Becoming Ghetto
Posted by harvey in Humor on 27. Jul, 2007 | 1 Comment
There is a restaurant in Yokohama called “GETTO-KA”. This may be something only I find funny but… In Japanese, you can put the kanji 「化」after a word, to give it the meaning “to change into” or more simply, “become”. Serious uses of this form include… 「深刻化」which means “to become serious” or “escalation” or “to become [...]
JLPT Kanji Study Help – SpeedAnki.com
Posted by harvey in Language on 25. Jul, 2007 | 3 Comments
I stumbled across this excellent online tool to study Kanji specifically for the JLPT. SpeedAnki.com It really is great. It allows you to flip through the Kanji flash cards and mark those you harve already mastered, those you want to review, and so on. It’s never too early to start studying for the JLPT, especially [...]
terebikko
Posted by harvey in Society on 23. Jul, 2007 | 2 Comments
The Japanese have a term for someone who is glued to the television 24/7. They’re called, テレビっ子 “terebikko”. Literally it means “TV child”. Still though, Americans watch twice as much TV as the Japanese… I dunno, maybe it’s cause American TV is better? We’ve got Heroes after all! 関係ないか〜 – Harvey
unspeakable hat
Posted by harvey in Humor on 21. Jul, 2007 | 7 Comments
This family is super happy. Probably cause this kid’s hat is super awesome! I want one! – Harvey
Defending Heisig
Posted by harvey in Books, Language on 20. Jul, 2007 | 1 Comment
Tae Kim over at 3 yen recently said he was skeptic about Heisig’s famous Remembering the Kanji method, and that he wanted to hear from anyone who actually learned how to write Japanese with the system. I left a comment that I thought would be nice to share with everyone. For I have seen the [...]
Wings of Defeat – Tokko
Posted by harvey in Media on 16. Jul, 2007 | 4 Comments
I saw the Japanese trailer for the kamikaze survivor documentary movie I mentioned a while back, Wings of Defeat. The Japanese title is 特攻 (TOKKO) which literally translates to “special attack”, but in Japan, when speaking about “TOKKO” in the context of WWII, most people will imagine the Kamikaze pilots. TOKKO official Japanese movie website [...]
