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Author Archives: J Sensei
Quick Update
No, I haven’t been finding the time to post here lately. That’s because I’ve become involved with some Japanese native speakers in a project involving a webcomic. I’ll publicize it when everything is good and ready, but communicating with lots … Continue reading
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Japan Cooking: Creamed broad beans and chicken
So sue me – I’m actually using Twitter for once. Thanks to that, I saw this at Asahi.com (the Asahi Shimbun being Japan’s leading paper IIRC) presenting a Japanese recipe for the above dish… in English. Check it out here. … Continue reading
Teaching Japanese Verbs Well
A Successful Experiment For someone not intending to mess with the written Japanese language, verbs, or doushi (動詞), are one of the largest hurdles to forming one’s own sentences in Japanese. Forming sentences is a major positive step for the … Continue reading
Drama: Cutting Off One’s Hair In Japan
An Old Tradition One theme that arises in Japanese drama, be it film or anime, is a character dramatically cutting off her hair. This is signals some kind of dramatic, life-altering change.
Japanese and One Word Statements
A friend commented on my previous post on “ureshii” about how one-word statements are hard on early Japanese learners. He blamed his inability to “think in Japanese.” Well, how about I show you a small part of how to do … Continue reading
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Tagged blog, Japanese, language, learning, one, statements, word
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Ureshii (Adjective: Happy)
Happy Faces The Japanese adjective ureshii (嬉しい、うれしい) stands for “happy”. This is an “i-adjective” that conveys joy, contentment, and fulfillment. In a case like this, it’s easier to convey using pictures.
The Japanese Art of Storytelling
I’ve written my thoughts about this before, to a point, but one of my enduring reasons for liking Japanese culture is the deep tradition of high quality storytelling that I have discovered within it.
Gaijin At Japanese Baths: One Woman’s Story
This isn’t a story of mine; rather, now that the Hiragana Times is following me on Twitter, I looked at the site (I vaguely recalled the publication) and saw this story about a Western woman’s outbreak of shyness and reluctance … Continue reading
Identity: The Group and the Self
A Difference In Perspective Culturally and linguistically, Japan and the West come from different starting points, even though the people on both sides often talk about the exact same things. In the West, when you are selfish, you prioritize yourself … Continue reading