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 [...]
Evangelion in Kansai-ben
Posted by harvey in Humor, Language, Media, Movies on 17. Feb, 2010 | 1 Comment
This is quite possibly the coolest Kansai-ben thing ever.
Kansai-ben is an international language. You must learn it.
Near the end it busts into Yappa Sukiyanen by Yashiki Takajin, quite possibly the most famous songs in Kansai-ben ever (except maybe some of Ulfuls tracks).
And… don’t miss part 2!
If you’re curious about Kansai-ben check out our Kansai-ben lessons, [...]
Kana Balls for iPhone and iPod Touch
Posted by harvey in Language, Media on 10. Feb, 2010 | 9 Comments
My good Twitter buddy @papajohn let me know that he had a new Japanese-related application called Kana Balls in the iTunes Store so I gave it a try.
Fun stuff! Despite the possibly awkward name… Kana Balls is a slick application!
This app will help you learn to read Japanese Hiragana and Katakana quickly. It doesn’t teach [...]
PlaySay Revisited
Posted by harvey in Culture, Gadgets, Language on 01. Feb, 2010 | 8 Comments
Learn Japanese Vocab on your iPod-like Device with PlaySay
You may have noticed mention of PlaySay on and off on this blog over the past year so. Recently Ryan, the head Japan-head at PlaySay, contacted me to let me know that PlaySay has really been taking off. You can read a quick article about Ryan and [...]
Santa Ponta’s Journey – a Japanese-English Bilingual Story
Posted by harvey in Books, Language, Media on 24. Dec, 2009 | 1 Comment
Looking for bilingual Japanese study materials? Check out Santa Ponta!
My bilingual-bicultural friend Ayumi Meegan has published a Japanese-English bilingual book called Santa Ponta’s Journey.
You can get Santa Ponta from the official Santa Ponta website, and alternatively for a slightly higher price on Amazon.com… you know, in case you’ve got Amazon Gift Certificates to burn or [...]
Fully Automatic Takoyaki Maker
Posted by harvey in Crazy Consumers, Culture, Food, Gadgets on 17. Dec, 2009 | 7 Comments
Finally, a place where you can buy a Fully-Automatic Takoyaki Maker online and have it shipped overseas. If you still haven’t made that last minute holiday gift purchase for that special Japanese-loving someone, this might be worth a look!
Automatic Takoyaki Maker, not cheap, but awesome!
Did I say “fully automatic?” Why yes, yes I did.
I [...]
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 Particles is out!
Posted by harvey in Culture, Language on 25. Nov, 2009 | 19 Comments
Particles ScreenShot
Our latest, and most difficult app to create… Japanese 101 Particles just hit the app store!
As Thanksgiving is just around the corner, I’m going to say THANKS and give the first 10 people to use these free download codes the app for free.
The free downloads codes will only work if you’re in on the [...]
