Category Archives: Japan

The Language of Nature, Oct. 15 2011

Changing My Approach Truth be told, the demand for learning Japanese is pretty anemic in the West. I had hoped for more, but more has simply not materialized. What I will do is use language as a tool, prop, sock … Continue reading

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Miyamoto Musashi’s “Book of Five Rings”

A Book For All Times and Cultures Today, I will write a few words about Miyamoto Musash’s “Book of Five Rings,” a book I have read in translated form… as even I have not studied enough medieval Japanese to be … Continue reading

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It’s Like, Cool, Man

イッツ・ライク、クール、マン (This post uses Japanese characters.) 普通には、ライク(like)が「好き」の意味と同じ。しかし、タイトルの場合は違う。英語の「like」は三つの使い方がある。

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Welcome to “Together With Japan”

A New Beginning For a wide variety of reasons, I just feel that keeping this blog entirely about Japanese culture is played out. That is, I am not an encyclopedia; I am a person. I want to write about people … Continue reading

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More Devastation: Typhoons in Japan

Torrential Rain About the only good thing we can say is, at least it wasn’t on the level of the tsunami. This link at the Mainichi Shimbun details tolls of dead and missing; just scroll down a little for a … Continue reading

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The Resilience of the Japanese People

A Nation United by Disaster The March 11 (“3/11”) earthquake and tsunami disaster striking Japan has brought into sharp relief the basic resilience and sense of unity of the Japanese people. Whatever the faults of Japan, this is one of … Continue reading

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Phantasy Star Online 2: Adventures in Fansubbing

So, I’ve Been A Busy Boy. This is not for the faint of heart, but I did the lion’s share/ heavy lifting for a fansub (“fan subtitled video”) of a “media briefing” (in the vernacular: press conference) for the still-in-development, … Continue reading

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Some Things Just Snowball

A Comparison In Pictures A Daruma (doll). A group of yukidaruma . Yuki means “snow,” and “daruma” means, well, what you saw just above. Yukidaruma is Japanese for “snowman.” Japanese snowmen traditionally have one big snowball for the body,  rather … Continue reading

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Using Sushi to Teach Japanese

A Matter of Taste Last Tuesday, I was finally able to implement a plan for a Japanese lesson I’d had my heart set on: using sushi to teach Japanese vocabulary. It was a strong success. Somehow, people just remember things … 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

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