Learn Japanese Online
Learning from a blog is great, but learning directly from a tutor is better. If you are interested, follow the link to Learn Out Live and see what opportunities await you.
Tag Archives: Japan
Origami for Quake and Tsunami Victims
A Goodwill Gesture Readers may recall my post on origami and how origami gained international exposure when a victim of the nuclear bombings of Japan set out to fold 1,000 for the sake of other victims before she perished. Here, … Continue reading
Posted in Blog News, Culture, Japan
Tagged earthquake, Japan, origami, quake, tsunami, victom
2 Comments
Let Our Thoughts Be With Japan Today
There will be a time to place the tragedy of this tsunami in a historical context. Today is not that time. As reports of the damage come in, we can only pray that the death toll is not even greater … Continue reading
Early Japan: Ritualized Duels
What’s Wrong With Ritual? In doing a little research on the history of the yari, the Japanese word for “spear,” I came across a mention that battles in early Japan, circa 700 A.D., were highly ritualized affairs with lone warriors … Continue reading
On Excuses and Apologies
A Culture of Politeness One of my formative lessons in Japanese culture was an old National Geographic article about the cranked up, high stress, high velocity fresh fish business during the mid-80’s, when Japan was booming. It explained how no-fault … Continue reading
Blog Love: Onsen Meijin
I was looking around for some new blogs to look at, and I hadn’t yet discovered Onsen Meijin. A recent poster to my own blog pointed out that “meijin” (名人) means master, and has nothing directly to do with fame/ … Continue reading
Posted in Blog News, Grammar, Japan
Tagged bathing, culture, hot springs, Japan, onsen, Onsen Meijin
Leave a comment
Sushi, Diabetes and Frivolous Lawsuits
Overreach Here in the LA Times we have a story about a man with Diabetes who refused to eat the rice in an “all the sushi you can eat” special offer at a sushi restaurant, wanting only the fish. I … Continue reading
Random Oriental Wisdom, 2-24-11
Wisdom Comes In Various Forms The enemy of my enemy is my cannon fodder. – Random blog Seen in the context of a review of Star Driver episode 20, here. I found it quite amusing… and of real application in … Continue reading
Japanese: Places, Names, Fame and Renown
A Rose By Any Other Name What’s in a name? Today’s subject isn’t any particular place name; it is a term used for famous places as described in an essay on viewing Japanese prints, like ukiyo-e. There is, after all, … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Japan, Tourism, Ukiyo-e
Tagged famous places, history, Japan, Japanese, Japanese prints, language, Tourism, ukiyo-e
7 Comments
Origami
折り紙 The word “origami” is formed of the verb 折る (oru), in an infinitive form, and 紙 (kami), turned to “gami” as the second part of a compound word. I maintain that such pronunciation changes exist simply to make it … Continue reading
On Wars and Japanese Emperors
Losing The Plot So, I was reading another article in the Japan Times, this time on a playwright who is doing a play that examines the origin myth of the Japanese imperial line (which would be the Yamato line, for … Continue reading