TINA – I’ll be there
Posted by harvey in Media, Music on 03. May, 2011 | Comments Off
I was introduced to this song back in 1999 when I was living in Japan long term for the first time as an exchange student at Nanzan University. A pretty hip older friend turned me on to it, and later she also introduced me to a similar artist named Bird. I remember I just loved [...]
Japan Fan encourages you to donate
Posted by harvey in Music on 14. Mar, 2011 | 1 Comment
There are many many ways to donate, but here’s another one. If you buy this girl’s songs on Band Camp she’ll donate 100% of the proceeds to Red Cross. She studies Japanese too. Her songs only cost one dollar. Support her dream, support Japan, support a JapanNewbie. What more could you ask for? Go young [...]
Play Hanafuda on your iPhone!
Posted by harvey in Culture, Gadgets, Media on 21. Feb, 2011 | 5 Comments
The popular amine Summer Wars has brought the traditional Japanese card game Hanafuda to the attention of more Japan-heads than ever before. Seriously. I’m not gonna lie. I wanted to learn how to play hanafuda simply because I saw it played on Summer Wars and thought it was a cool aspect of Japanese culture that [...]
How to use Aozora Bunko to get free Japanese books
Posted by harvey in Books, Culture, Gadgets, Language on 13. Feb, 2011 | 4 Comments
Aozora Bunko is an excellent resource for free and legal Japanese reading material. Once you have downloaded Aozora texts you can read them on your computer, print them out, or even load them onto your Kindle. If you like studying Japanese and have an interest in Japanese literature, then I’m sure you will find Aozora [...]
Shing02 Video – Muchi no Chi
Posted by harvey in Media, Music on 13. Feb, 2011 | Comments Off
Here’s a Japanese rap video called Muchi no Chi 無知の知 that I stumbled upon recently. The video is certainly not new, it was done in 2006! I’m late to the party – that doesn’t mean it isn’t still cool though! This video was directed by Shing02, and includes lyrics from him and five other Japanese [...]
Break into Manga Translation with Manga Digital Guild
Posted by harvey in Art, Books, Language, Working on 10. Feb, 2011 | 5 Comments
Lot’s of people who study Japanese hope to get into translation some day. And when it comes to translation, many people hope to do manga or game translation, why? Cause the content is freaking fun! But how to break into the field? A friend recently introduced me to Digital Manga Guild, and it seems to [...]
RADWIMPS
Posted by harvey in Media, Music on 30. Jan, 2011 | 1 Comment
Some J-Rock for ya. RADWIMPS. My brother-in-law introduced me to this band, so I guess it’s the kind of music that 20-something Japanese guys are into these days! RADWIMPS are a four-member rock band with record label EMI Music Japan. Japanese who are in the know shorten their name to RADdo (ラッド). I’m getting this [...]
Listen to Shitakiri Suzume over and over again
Posted by harvey in Books, Culture, Language, Media on 17. Jan, 2011 | 1 Comment
Shitakiri-Suzume, an Amazon MP3 Download When you listen to a story that you know in your target language over and over again, you learn. It’s a proven fact!* So, put said story on your iPhone or iPod and listen to it on your commute, or while grocery shopping. Guaranteed results. Listening to Shitakiri Suzume (The [...]
