How I Study Japanese

I taught two classes today, and although my classroom-related duties are over, I will remain in school for another five hours. I will take this time to make good on my promise of revisiting the goals I set for myself while in Japan, beginning with discussing the resources I use to study Japanese.

I have had an abundance of time to study Japanese at school. For me, I practice speaking and listening as a side-effect of every day interactions (e.g. speaking to students and faculty, going grocery shopping, and watching TV) but learning to read and write come the least naturally, especially kanji. I must read hiragana and katakana in many daily situations, but when I face a kanji in any reading material, I am stuck totally helpless.

For my birthday, the organizer of the English Circle gave me a really cool Japan Times book in the Genki series: KanjiLook and Learn, "512 Kanji with Illustrations and Mnemonic Hints." I also purchased the highly acclaimed but controversial book, Remembering the Kanji by James Heisig from my predecessor, and I must say that Kanji Look and Learn takes a more interesting and realistic approach to understanding kanji. The book provides imaginative drawings for each kanji, alongside sentences that help you remember the more complicated ones.

For example, the kanji for spring is made up of three other recognizable kanji: person, three, and sun. So, they show a picture illustrating the three and tell you, "Spring has come. Three people look at the sun." This totally helps me remember. In comparison, Remembering the Kanji gives you the kanji in a weird order (gall bladder is one of the first that you learn) and not only do you have to remember the meaning, but he also tells you to remember another unrelated meaning that supposedly will help you remember future compound kanji, but I find that it greatly over complicates things in an attempt to provide a shortcut. In addition, Kanji Look and Learn gives you stroke order diagrams, on and kun-yumi readings, and compound words of which the kanji is a part.

I couple use of this book with White Rabbit Press' "Japanese Kanji Flashcards I" for more accessible review, and Kodansha's Let's Learn Kanji to help understand the radicals and practice my writing.

Kanji is but the tip of the iceberg. There are a couple of fun games that I would recommend for reading too. First, a game for the iPhone called Kanji Pop. In this game you are given about 16 kanji, and a time limit in which you have to match these kanji with words that pop up. It is a nice distraction on a train or car trip. Secondly, a computer game called SlimeForest Adventure. It's an RPG type game where the enemies are slimes who throw katakana, hiragana, and kanji at you for attacks and your defense is recognizing them. They present kanji that look similar in a group so you can recognize the differences. The only downfall to learning kanji in this game is that you do not learn the Japanese pronunciation, only the English word.

On my 40-minute+ drive through the mountain pass to two of my schools, I have been listening to "speed learning" audio tapes. Specifically, I have found the Pimsleur method to be very effective. Lessons build upon one another and advance at a reasonable pace. Following the principles of Second Language Acquisition, the audio tapes require listener response and input. Each lesson begins with a conversation, and by the end of the lesson, one can participate in a similar conversation. Additionally, this method encourages listeners to make connections and discover rules for different words and verb tenses based on use in phrases. For beginners, these are a great resource. After every lesson, I think to myself, "If only I had known this when I came to Japan, I would have avoided many of a confusing conversation."

I have a variety of workbooks that I am using in combination. It has been challenging for me to focus on just one. I need to whip through the "Japanese for JETs" book that I have been working on when at the BOE, but the audio portions always take a little while.  I also have Japanese Demystified, and Genki I and II. When winter comes, I will surely snuggle under my kotatsu and put the hammer to the grindstone (is that the expression?) - that is - when I am not watching marathons of TV shows (my favorite embarrassing winter hobby).

As a whole, the time I spend studying Japanese on a weekly basis is like another part-time job, but I have enough down time at work that it isn't a hassle. What I need to guard against, now that I have been in Japan for almost 2 months, is the tendency that people have to give up on studying due to lack of motivation. Besides the functional need to learn Japanese, I will find it beneficial in the future to study for a purpose, like taking the JLPT - (Japanese Language Proficiency Test). That might help better focus my course of study.

Mt. Komagatake Rd. 2

We woke with the sun this morning, and we drove toward Komagatake. Scaling a mountain without knowing the destination of the trailhead was difficult, but we found it with the help of Tom's skillful navigation and my iPhone. Two years ago, I wanted to go back to a home phone and forsake the burden of mobile phone forever. But now, I have been convinced that smartphones are undoubtedly useful in many sticky situations, and essential in Japan where there is virtually no Wi-Fi.

Anyway, back to the mountain. Here's a link to the trailhead we ended up finding.We drove up a path to a parking area where we checked in and began our ascent as early as possible, 9am. For the hike up, there was an ojiisan who declared himself "yama no champion" - The Mountain's Champion, and stayed at least 15 m ahead us so he could be the first to the summit that day. We had no intention of racing him, but wanted to keep our pace. The ojiisan carried his lunchbox in his hand and swung it along with him the whole way.

Here are some views of the summit. The area was roped off, as if to stop us from venturing on to see the view from another peak. It worked. We wanted to continue climbing, but we didn't know if it was safe. Perhaps next time.

Last time I climbed, many children accompanied us. This time, we saw quite a few children hiking up with their parents like champs. I would like to see some of the kids I know in America try to do this, and see if they could keep a positive attitude and fighting spirit. In addition, a bus-tour of elderly people pulled up behind us in the parking lot, all of them scaling the mountain behind us. I am constantly impressed at the physicality of Japanese seniors.

On the way down the mountain, we had a telling lesson in intercultural communication. I asked my husband to guest write about the situation.:

So, when we on our descent of the mountain, we were passing many people who were on their way up. Occasionally someone would give a nod and a konnichiwa, and we'd respond in kind. At one point, we were stopped alongside the side, taking a short rest, enjoying the view and drinking a little water. An old woman, across the path, stopped, looked at me, and spoke a whole bunch of Japanese. I had to say "zenzen wakarimasen, sumimasen" (i don't understand at all, excuse me). Then, she said, "ah, sorry, thank you!" in English. She then looked me in the eye, with a gleam in hers, and said very slowly, "baka no hitotsu oboe". I thought she was trying to teach me, so I spoke it back to her, word by word, she had to repeat it a few times and so did I. I recognized the words baka (fool/idiot) and hitotsu (one thing) but I didn't really understand what she meant, at the time I thought she was trying to teach me "sorry" in Japanese or call me an idiot. 

Later when we got home, I looked it up, apparently it's an expression that means a fool only knows one thing, and so will say it over and over. Literally "Fool's one thought". I'm not sure if she was talking about herself or me, but it's funny in retrospect because I said that very expression to her several times.

 For me, there have been so many times in Japan where communication comes down to the "one thing" I know in Japanese or they know in English, but I think in a foreign language, using the one thing you know is an act of bravery. It takes takes courage to attempt to speak to someone in a language that is unfamiliar to you. Anyway, I thought that it was such a wonderful and true way to learn a Japanese proverb; something I will never forget.

The hike up and back took us about an hour and a half, discounting exploring, eating, and napping time at the summit. I hope to climb many more mountains in Japan!

BONUS: On the way home we stopped at a roadside restaurant and ordered our first ramen in Japan -

Lake Onuma

This weekend we traveled into the deep southwest of Hokkaido for the HAJET Southwest Welcome Party. While the party itself was not photographed (what happens at the party stays at the party), our explorations around Lake Onuma and hike up Komagatake were highly documented.

We arrived at Nagareyama Onsen Campground at 1pm sharp for check-in and only a couple other JETs were there, so we explored "Stone Crazy" - a sculpture garden not far from the campground.

When we returned, a couple more people were there, so we checked in with the help of a gracious Japanese-speaking dude who wrote the kanji on our license plate on the registration form since we are totally inept, but our tents weren't there yet, so we went to a feeding zoo. I just made that up. It's like a petting zoo but you mostly just feed things. Let it be known that I LOVE BUNNIES!

And I also love this progression of photos - Tom sought out the smallest, shyest bunny and made a super cute friend:

There were other animals too, including this aggressive horse with greenish teeth:

Next, whilst trying to find something fun to do (bike rental or a place to swim), we found a great, long path from island to island with bridges. We liked how each bridge was unique, rather than utilitarian and identical.

Back at the Welcome Party, we set up our tent and ventured into the onsen hot bath. Onsens are separated by gender. You bring in a small "modesty towel" and wash yourself thoroughly before entering the bath. My tolerance for onsens is comically low: I can only be in the bath for about 5 minutes before I am dripping with sweat. I especially enjoy the outdoor onsens at night: melting into the hot waters with the cool air on your face. Not only are onsens extremely relaxing and great for your skin, it is liberating to be absolutely naked in front of absolute strangers, sharing in the joy of the hot bath.

The rest of the night was kind of a blur, so I'll leave it at that.

good things come to those who wander with purpose

Why haven't I blogged in so long, you wonder? Well, I have been working long days and exploring in my free time!

My husband and I went to explore the random trail we found, and alas, we did not see a bear. But doesn't this look like a cave where one would live!? After all the research we did about encountering a bear, we were on high alert the whole time and neither of us was brave enough to explore the cave. We reminisced about the good ol' days of youth when we would have charged ahead, courageous and ignorant.

We found these cool shrines and statues, and wondered about the etiquette of visiting a shrine. No one was around, but the door was open. I must do some research. Could we have entered, meditated, left an offering? I have never experienced a shrine, so I don't know!

 And the view from the top:

One benefit of having a car in Japan is that you can take random weekend adventures driving around aimlessly! We drove to an observatory tower at the top of the tallest hill in Yakumo. Japan has gorgeous views in abundance.:

Tom and I set a date to return at the beginning of October when the leaves change, bring a picnic dinner and some wine, watch the sun set, and view the stars from the observatory. I can't wait!

Rotting Daikon, Empathetic Students, Pura, and Bears

Have you ever smelled rotting daikon? Something was stinking up the kitchen. We looked everywhere, even moved the fridge in case something had fallen behind. Then we found the culprit: a daikon radish that we only had for a few days, in the cabinet, fermenting in its own bile. It was too hazardous to even appear in a photograph. Summer in Japan can be quite harsh on produce.

Speaking of vegetables, another productive (as in produce) gift was dropped off at our door: watermelon and (more) tomatoes (a fruit, not a vegetable), with a sign: "I'm happy to get you to eat this." If you read my previous post about the correlation between tomatoes and weight loss, this note makes even more sense.

In class today I taught the 二年生 (ninensei - second grade middle schoolers) from hell. (I changed the font to hell-vetica for emphasis.) This class is a nightmare. Students get out of their seats in the middle of class to do random stuff. There is a boy who makes faces at the JTE while her back is turned. During their self introductions last week, about five of the "bad boy" students refused to give a full introduction, testing their limits with the JTE. They would just say, "My name is ____," and sit down, with obstinate looks on their faces. One boy does no work throughout the entirety of class, instead trying to catch flies that land on him.  Okay, it's not that bad, but some of these kids are starting to piss me off.

After class last week, the JTE said that their behavior was because they weren't interested in English (I don't think that is the root of their misbehavior), but this week she just said "sorry." Later in the day, the JTE told me that a female student had expressed concern about me. She feared that I would get angry at their behavior and never come back to the school, because she had an ALT in elementary school do just that.

Fortunately, I have been around children enough to have learned a +1 Barrier of Patience spell. I also have a spell in my wizard's book which can cause enemies to become stunned, called "Disappointed Glare." I used it today and it was SUPER EFFECTIVE. It is my personal mission to win over this  二年生 class. My final and most powerful spell is "Charm person," which is a spell that takes a little while to cast, but it has a large area of effect and persistent and quite powerful effects. To cast this spell, I must play soccer with students after lunch, befriend them during our five minute morning run around the track, and go out of my way to be kind to them at every opportunity. I'm cool. English is fun(ner than your other classes). Seriously, don't be little pricks during class. I swear I'm not angry.

Anyhoo...my birthday was yesterday! I was happy to get 2 packages in the mail, from mommy and mommy-in-law (having two mommies is double sweet). And extra sweet were the SIX pieces of mega fancy Japanese cake that my husband got me. By the time I got the camera out, the chocolate strawberry ones had disappeared. I don't know what happened.

Here are some other random anecdotes:

Most prepared food in Japan is bite-sized. However, to my chopstick-fumbling dismay, some things are not. For lunch today, we had a fish about the size of a small steak. Cutting things with chopsticks is hard. You have to like pinch 'em together, with force, but with enough control that neither a chopstick nor food goes flying once the pinch off is complete. Sometimes it's okay to take a stealthy bite of something that's too big to put in your mouth all at once (unless you're the bad boy that I sat next to at lunch today who just eats like a savage before we've even said itadakimasu).  My hands are becoming more nimble, but jitsu wa, sometimes I just can't cut stuff with two slippery wooden sticks. And now that I'm thinking about it, it's rude to stab things with chopsticks, and most people do not eat much food with their hands...so try picking up a baby tomato with chopsticks. I dare you. If you can, try holding it for 10 seconds. It's taxing!

And another thing, Japanese trash: there's the pink bag for PET plastic bottles, the green bag for glass bottles, and a red bag for cans. There is a blue bag for burnable trash, a yellow bag for non-burnable trash, a clear bag for paper recycling, and a clear bag for pura. I asked my husband to describe pura just now: "Pura is basically whatever doesn't fit into the other categories. At first, I thought it would be plastic, but it turns out it's like all the things you think of as garbage. Imagine in your mind a garbage dump: all that is pura. Any food packaging is pura." Pura is recyclable plastic.

Based on the sheer volume of pura we produce, my husband's new catch phrase is, "It's all comin' out PURA!" (based on the phrase, "Everything's comin' up roses.") But America could take a page out of Japan's book here, and recycle that page. Because somehow Japan's food companies package food with a type of plastic that their recycling centers are equipped to recycle! There may be some kind of mysterious communication and coordination between these entities. How can this be!?!?!?

Hold on to your britches for this announcement people: tomorrow, I will post pictures from our exploratory adventure to discover what lies beyond the random path entrance that we discovered from the road. It had a small pavilion and incomprehensible sign in Japanese. Bringin' bear bells just in case, but I kind of want to survive a bear encounter so I can tell all these people who think they know what to do in case one encounters a bear the howdy-doody. "Hit some pans together! Pretend you are dead! Run away really fast! Walk away slowly. Chase the bear. Yell. Use pepper spray. Try to be intimidating, like stick your chest out." I will try all of those simultaneously and see what the bear thinks of THAT! Ha!

The Minnesota Vikings & Shrinkwrapped Couples

Just a short heyo...

I follow a photo blog called Japanese Streets, which has been documenting fashion mostly in Tokyo for the last 10 years. I am far from a fashionista, but I enjoy observing the styles - alternative, cutsie, and just plain weird. Recently, a photo was posted of a girl named  Momoka sportin' none other than a Minnesota Vikings jersey! Currently, #14 is quarterback Joe Webb, who I know nothing about because the Vikings have been so terrible the last few years that any news has completely flown under my radar. Anyway, check out the blog and enjoy this 18 year old Japanese girl wearing a Vikings jersey.

There was also a fun article in Tofugu this week about Japanese couples being shrink-wrapped in odd positions for the sake of art. There are many more where this came from if you check out the above link:

Hakodate Virgin

Yesterday, due to the great kindness of a local ALT, my husband and I travelled to Hakodate, the third largest city (after Sapporo and Asahikawa) in Hokkaido. With a population of approximately 300,000, Hakodate was the first port city open in Japan for foriegn (particulary Russian) trade. I will spare you my plagarised history lesson and link you to Wikipedia instead.

Our first stop was the foreign import store in Nanae, where we found (wait for it) taco seasoning and tortillas (Bueno!). Next, we ate at our first conveyor belt sushi restaurant. You can grab anything off the line of your choosing, and more expensive dishes are labelled, otherwise everything is 110 yen. There was whale.

Into Hakodate proper, we stopped at my first recycle store, aptly named:

I don't know why I said aptly...because the store is likely to give you the opposite. It is nothing like U.S. thrift stores: clean, well organized, high-quality stuff. I suppose that's because it's more like a pawn shop than a thrift store, as they will buy your high value items from you. They had an amazing selection of laptops, musical instruments, TVs, etc.

From there, we drove to the bay area and saw the trolleys. Remind you of San Francisco? Me too.

We drove up Mt. Hakodate, which is open to traffic before 5pm and after 10pm, but closed during the winter because of its winding roads and steep inclines. Hokkaido is very much a motorcyclist paradise. There were some amazing views from the top.

More exploring, squid ink ice cream (actually quite tasty!),

and a visit to Cape Tachimachi aka "The Suicide Cliffs" from where, on less cloudy days, Aomori can be seen!

 Last, but not least, I learned about a starling character from Hokkaido named, "まりもっくり" wherein Marimo is algae and mokkuri is a guy's erection. Sorry for all the sketchy content in this post, but this is Japan: