Have Japan Rail Pass, will Travel
Posted by harvey in Travel on 07. Mar, 2010 | No Comments
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 [...]
Cherry Blossom Festival in DC
Posted by harvey in Culture, Travel on 03. Mar, 2010 | No Comments
Here is a guest post from Erik who is involved in the Annual Washington D.C. Cherry Blossom Festival Planning!
First a few words from me though. Believe it or not, I have never been to the D.C. Cherry Blossom Festival… I was close to going last year since I was living on the east coast, but [...]
Takoyaki USB Memory Stick
Posted by harvey in Crazy Consumers, Food, Gadgets, Osaka on 20. Dec, 2009 | 1 Comment
What better gift for a Japan-loving Osaka-friendly Kansai-dreaming friend of yours than a Takoyaki USB Memory Stick? Afterall, the best gifts are the things that no one in their right mind would ever go out and buy on their own… but on the other hand would be happy to receive! Yummy.
Takoyaki USB Memory Stick (1GB)
For [...]
Kansai Dialect phrase seyana explained by That Japanese Girl
Posted by harvey in Culture, Language, Osaka on 19. Dec, 2009 | 3 Comments
That Japanese Girl teaches us some Kansai-ben
That Japanese Girl teaches us some Kansai-ben in the following video. Check it out!
For more Kansai-ben language tips, check out our Kansai-ben language lessons here.
You can also try our Kansai-ben iPhone application as well! Other variations of せやな are included in the App. For example, せやけど、and せやせや。It’s a very [...]
Japanese Learner Interview with @sandkatt-part 2 of 2
Posted by harvey in Books, Language, Travel, Working on 08. Dec, 2009 | 4 Comments
Hey everyone! This is Part 2 of our interview with @sandkatt. Be sure to check out Part 1 if you missed it!
Following you on Twitter it’s obvious that you have a firm grip on Japanese. You read casual Japanese Twitter speak, and can reply in Japanese quickly as well. Your grammar is also very clean [...]
Japanese Learner Interview with @sandkatt-part 1 of 2
Posted by harvey in Books, Language, Travel, Working on 06. Dec, 2009 | 8 Comments
Hey everyone, let’s get to know the JapanNewbie crowd a little better. I want to introduce you to @sandkatt. The following is part one of a two-part interview exploring @sandkatt’s road to Japanese proficiency.
@sandkatt in Hiroshima
Sandkatt is a Japanese learner I noticed on Twitter. I noticed her because her Japanese is really good! Surprisingly so… [...]
Japanese 101: Prefectures just hit the App Store!
Posted by harvey in About, Travel on 11. Nov, 2009 | No Comments
Our new Application, Japanese 101: Prefectures just hit the app store!
This application will quiz you on the prefectures of Japan based on their location. I am a strong advocate of the importance of developing listening comprehension skills, so this app also has a listening comprehension component. You listen to the name of the prefecture spoken [...]
Study in Japan at a University or Private School?
Posted by harvey in Language, Travel on 29. Oct, 2009 | 19 Comments
Someone recently contacted me asking for my opinion on study abroad in Japan. This person is current in University and has the opportunity to study at IUC Japan, Nanzan University (or any other large Japanese school with an exchange program), or the Kyoto Consortium.
I have studied at both Nanzan (in 2001) and IUC (in 2007-8) [...]
