Category Archives: Japan

Japanese Language: I love My Cat (Pronunciation)

Pronunciation Exercise This is a Japanese pronunciation exercise intended for beginners and early intermediates. A girl from Saudi Arabia asked me to create a short sentence that uses all Japanese vowel sounds. I think this works. The English “I love … Continue reading

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Anime Review: Psychic Detective Yakumo, Episode 3

Feeling Yakumo’s Pain Yakumo. Dude. You don’t just see tortured souls. YOU ARE a tortured soul. You. Episode 3 establishes this very strongly, and it is a necessary step for setting up the rest of the show. I don’t want … Continue reading

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Anime Review: Yosuga no Sora, Episode 3

So, The Big Question Let’s get to the big question everyone hearing about this show is asking: Is this anime full, outright hentai??? No, not exactly, but it is the single biggest tease on earth. It shows glimpses of things … Continue reading

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Anime Review: Star Driver, Episode 3

This Episode Rocked. Really. It Did. I am now completely sold on this anime. Details after the spoiler space, but this was great, great stuff, and I wouldn’t come even close to comparing the first two episodes with it. show … Continue reading

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A Certain Magical Index II, Ep 2: Review

Index: Taking A Bite Out Of Crime OK, this is the Index we know and love: when she’s peeved at Tohma (I’ll use that romanization for now), particularly when he gets involved in a perverted situation against his own wishes … Continue reading

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Japan, Deflation and the New York Times

Let’s Get Serious Here. This is about the first of a series of articles in the New York Time; this article is titled Japan Goes From Dynamic to Disheartened. Essentially, the New York Times (hereafter: NYT) is making Japan out … Continue reading

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Early Anime Impressions: Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls

Correct me if I’m wrong, but the first two words seem to amount to hundred flowers blooming profusely. Um, well it’s essentially to the Warring States Period what Ikki Tousen is to the Three Kingdoms era of China: a bunch … Continue reading

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Early Anime Impressions: Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai

a.k.a. “The World Only God Knows” To explain briefly, the main character, known as “kami-sama” (i.e. God) is the god of romance video games, where the objective is to “land” girls through dialogue choices, or put more bluntly, through fictional … Continue reading

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Early Anime Impressions: Fall 2010, Japan

Two Episodes Are A Trend Having caught up on a fair bit of anime watching, I wanted to write some early impressions (as in, they are not first impressions). First episodes can be very misleading in some cases; two episodes … Continue reading

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Japanese Culture: A Monster Hunter’s Life, Pt. 2

The First “Monster Hunt” I’m only getting around to blogging about it now, but I continued my early “hunter” efforts by fulfilling a basic quest for the village elder and, thanks to my previous Monster Hunter experience, I chose to … Continue reading

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