Contest: Win $25 of TheJapanShop.com Goodness!

Posted on 05. Aug, 2010 @ 8:07 pm by in About, Books Views: 606

Hello everyone!

As you may or may not have noticed, TheJapanShop.com has a new website!

In celebration of this momentous occasion I’m collaborating with TheJapanShop.com to give away $25 dollar TheJapanShop.com gift certificates to 5 lucky readers!

How to Enter the Contest:

Do all of the following:

  • In the comments on this post, let us know which TheJapanShop.com products you would spend the $25 gift certificate on! Be specific! We’re curious to know what you are all interested in.
  • Mention how you like the new TheJapanShop.com website, please be specific if there is something you like… or hate! Brutal honesty is encouraged!

AND/OR!

If you are on twitter, retweet my tweet about this contest for another chance to win! Every person who retweets will have their name added to the pot.

RT @JapanNewbie Win $25 bucks to spend at http://www.thejapanshop.com any way you like! Details here! http://bit.ly/cptrV2

If you do both the tweet and the blog comment I will enter you into my super random winner generator twice, doubling your chances to win! (You can still only potentially win once though. Heh.)

The contest ends on Sunday 9pm Japan-time, so get your submissions in! Winners will be announced on Monday.

To get us started, if I were to enter this contest I would put the money towards the Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar. My Japanese level is beyond most of the content in this book, but my wife is occasionally teaching Japanese to beginners and this would be a great reference for her students. I used an earlier version of book when I was in high school. It saved my life.

Regarding the new TheJapanShop.com site, it’s much better than the previous site. I don’t like how currently the search box defaults with the text “Search” though. Just a pet peeve, would rather it be blank. I bet they’ll get that fixed soon!

Good luck everyone!!!

- Harvey

  • http://freeweb.supereva.com/salmodiare/index.html?p JJLuke77

    Hi!

    Toriaezu hontouni arigatou gozaimasu.
    Tonikaku… I think I’d go with “Kanji Flashcards Volume 1 (Series 2)” as I’m a kinda beginner, and I got to start with the kanji “beginning from scraps”. :)

    My other option would be this one: “Kanji Look and Learn: 512 Kanji with Illustrations and Mnemonic Hints” for quite the same reason.

    That’s pretty much it.

    Again, thanks for the opportunity.

    Dewa mata.

    John

    • http://freeweb.supereva.com/salmodiare/index.html?p JJLuke77

      I forgot to mention the site ;P

      I think it’s quite simple, and nice enough. Nothing “exciting” or “extravaganza”. The burgundy titles, and the green for the items aren’t very readable: maybe I’d have choosen a darker shade.
      So, not awesome, but good :)

      Mata onrei moshiwagemasu ;)
      Johnsan

  • Abhishek Duggal

    Genki 1 Workbook: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese

    I Prefer the 800×600 resolution for websites so that I don’t have to scroll up and down & the site will also look better on mobile devices. Also, the color scheme could be improved to make the site look more appealing.

    http://twitter.com/abhishekduggal/status/20425848750 is the link to the tweet.

    Arigato for the opportunity!

  • http://naraimasu.blogspot.com tonesvenn

    have way too many textbooks and readers (thanks to previous purchases at the Japanshop) so would go for the calligraphy this time:-) http://www.thejapanshop.com/s?searchKeywords=calligraphy&Action=submit

  • Huémac

    I’ve been wanting to get the Kanji Poster for some time now…

    In the new TheJapanShop website I get all the different product categories without having to scroll down.

    Thanks for the oportunity.

  • http://twitter.com/Ephief Ephief

    I would get Kanji Flashcards Volume 1 (Series 2). Although I’m not a total beginner, the Vol 2 would probably be a bit too much. And revision is never bad :)

    On the site I would change the color scheme. For example, link colors are not consistent throughout the site, and they are not always underlined either. Text size could be larger. Also, when I click a book on the flash banner on front page, I expect to get to the page of THAT BOOK, not the general section of the book store.

    Tweet here: http://twitter.com/Ephief/statuses/20428936731

  • http://myanimeshelf.com/ Nataliya

    I would put the money towards White Rabbit Press Kanji Flashcards Volume 2. I’m not quite sure yet, but I’m considering having N2 exam this autumn… and kanji (+vocabulary) have always been the most difficult part for me.

    The new design looks nice. I like the color scheme and the new organization of the menus. And, well… It doesn’t have to deal with the redesign, but what I especially like is that The Japan Shop ships worldwide for affordable prices (since I’m from Russia).

  • Garrett

    I’d probably have to choose between putting it towards the White Rabbit Kanji Cards 3, or a reader. Also, I desperately need to brush up on my keigo (and will be using it heavily in the next year) so the Keigo Expressions book would be incredibly helpful.

  • http://www.ragunaru.com Ragnar

    Awesome!

    Ok, so what would I spend the $25 on? I think I’d get the Genki 1 Workbook and then buy the textbook with my own money. A lot of peeps have started out with the Genki book series so I’ve been thinking, maybe I’d give it a try.

    When it comes to the website. I didn’t even know that the was The Japan Shop. Glad I know now. What I don’t like is the overall sloppy couple-of-years-outdated design. Also the fact that they’re using flash is bad. Flash is bad. Something so easy they could’ve done with jQuery/CSS3 no probs. Typografy is completely off, they use sans-serif font mostly and then there’s the newsletter box which is with serif font. I mean, sans-serif and serif is a good combo but it has to be done properly.

    And looking at the source, I see some nasty things there, too. Being a developer, I hate to see ugly code.

    Brutal honesty, just like you asked! It’s all for improvement, right!?

  • http://www.ragunaru.com Ragnar

    Now that I think about it, the White Rabbit Press kanji flashcards would be really useful to have as well. Hmm.

  • Ken

    I think I’d get one of the graded readers (Level2, Vol 1) found here:
    http://www.thejapanshop.com/b/2359251011

    It provides the best of both worlds: listening and reading. There’s nothing better, IMHO, than to hear the words repeatedly so you can soak in the grammar, naturally, instead of reading a boring textbook by learning grammar first.

    It’s also fun, which is crucial to advancing in Japanese. If it’s not fun, why do it?

  • http://thenihon-suki.blogspot.com/ Mary

    Most definitely the White Rabbit Press Kanji cards.. or even that grammar book mentioned in the blog post. I am intermediate Japanese, but I took time off so a lot of things slipped away. I think the grammar book would be great refresher and good for reference.

    With the new site, I like the new organization of the menus, although I’m not sure that pink goes with the printed back on the main page. The flash is killing me too when i try to see an enlarged picture.. I’m not getting it.. for some reason or another. I’m not a big fan of flash to begin with though.

  • http://www.japannewbie.com Harvey

    Thanks for all the entries! I’ll let it run over night, and then announce the winners tomorrow!

    It’s bed time for us on Japan-time now!

    Good luck to everything :-) And thanks for all the feedback!

    - Harvey

  • http://kanjiwarrior.wordpress.com Kanjiwarrior

    I’d definitely put the money toward the revised edition of the Integrated approach to intermediate grammar. I’m at the point now where I need a good intermediate grammar text.

    I spent about an hour the other day looking over the new Japanshop site I really like the new design. I wish there was a way to sort the books by difficulty, I noticed they all have ratings, but couldn’t figure out how to sort by ratings, but I like the new layout a lot.

  • Jetsi

    I just finished looking at the new site, it looks so much better than the previous version. I will have to test its functionality soon.

    For me, I would spend the money towards a set of graded readers by White Rabbit Press, probably Level 1 or 2, I would have to look at the description a little more closely to see which one would benefit me the most.

  • http://www.japannewbie.com harvey

    Thanks for entering everyone! Contest is now CLOSED! Winners will be announced in a blog post I’m putting together… right now.

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