Yamatologic

It’s Kouyou time!

Everyone knows about the 桜 (sakura) time and 花見 (hanami) parties, but the complementary time in 秋 (aki) is the coming of the 紅葉 (kouyou) when the leaves around Japan start to change colors.

If you are planning to visit Japan, I highly recommend autumn, especially if you are a nature person. The weather is no longer blistering hot and the rainy season is over, so you can go outside and do some excellent hiking.

Go check out goo for the 紅葉 guide and you can check how far along the leaves are near you. And, if you don’t live in Japan, we can always live vicariously through flickr.

[Image of Akagi-yama's Kouyou, CC-by 田中十洋]

Technorati Tags: aki, autumn, 秋, 紅葉, fall, hiking, kouyou, leaves, nature, sightseeing

Kobayashi Yuka punches Untouchable Yamazaki

This is a funny little video clip where 坂下千里子 (Sakashita Chihiro) and アンタッチャブル山崎 (Antacchaburu Yamazaki) visit 小林由佳 (Kobayashi Yuka)’s house in search of something to bring back. 山崎さん is fixated on her ヌーブラ (nuubura), but then 由佳ちゃん (Yuka-chan) wallops him one.

由佳ちゃん was the 3rd place karate champ at some point, from what they are saying. All I can say is don’t mess with karate girls.

Technorati Tags: アンタッチャブル山崎, ヌーブラ, ユカちゃん, comedy, cute, 空手, girls, idol, Japanese girls, karate, Kobayashi Yuka, new bra, nubra, punch, Sakashita Chihiro, Untouchable, Untouchable Yamazaki, video, 坂下千里子, 小林由佳

Nico Nico Medal Games (temporary name) is open!

NicoNicoDouga has announced their point system is now open (one of the things added in the 秋 update). NicoPoints are just like WiiPoints in that you buy them and then use them for stuff. The cost is about 1 point to 1円, before tax.

The points will be used for buying clothing (?) for your character in the anime MMO/Second Life game ai sp@ce, but until that starts, the only place you can use them is the ニコニコメダルゲーム(仮称) (“Nico Nico Medal Games (temporary name)”)! Medal Games are a staple of ゲーセン (geisen, “Game Centers”) where you can basically gamble, without actually gambling. So for the NicoNico version, they are currently giving away free medals (which you normally have to buy with points) for the various game. So, I tried them out. What I found after the jump…

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Technorati Tags: arcade, スロット, ニコニコメダルゲーム(仮称), ニコニコ動画, パチスロ, メダルゲーム, betting, bingo, cat racing, cats, cute, gambling, horse racing, neko, Nico Nico Medal Games, NicoNicoDouga, slot machines, slots, web, websites

Lesson: Do not try to make a hi-potion.

So back in 2006, they had a blue potion energy drink that was tied in with the release of Final Fantasy XII. This video is of someone trying to make a Hi-potion by mixing the potion with every energy drink he can find. He throws some energy pills and garlic in for good measure.

Anyway, the subtitles are in Japanese, but just remember, anytime the boat is on the screen, he is vomiting.

Technorati Tags: cooking, energy drinks, final fantasy, hi-potion, nicovideo, potion, video

Usavitch Season 3

OMFG, ウサビッチ (Usabicchi, also known as ), the silly adventures of the Russian Jail Rabbits, is back! I first heard about this show almost a year ago when season 2 was coming out… and now, a year later, it is back. This, episode 27: 1階 (first floor), is the first episode of their adventures in the city!

The STUPID thing is that it was released on ニコニコ動画 (NicoNicoDouga) by MTV Japan, but region locked, so I got this message when I first tried to watch it: 「残念ながら、こちらの動画はアップロードされた地域のみから視聴可能です。」 which translates to “We are sorry, but it is only possible to watch this video from the region it was uploaded in.” This is so not fair for expats like me, or even some people in Japan! Of course, there are ways around this (besides just looking for a bootleg on YouTube). For the Japanese impaired, I have an brief explanation after the jump.

If you have never seen ウサビッチ before, you should catch up. It won’t take you long since each episode is about a minute and a half long and there have only been 26. Add it up, it’s like watching one episode of Lost. And the only thing that is actually in Japanese are the titles of the episodes, but those aren’t really essential.　I’ve included YouTube links to catch you up after the jump.

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Technorati Tags: anime, うさぎ, アニメ, ウサビッチ, cute, mtv, mtv japan, rabbits, scary, Usabicchi, usagi, Usavitch, video

Keep going until you cry Anki!

Some people ask me, “Jeshii, how do I learn Japanese?” I then hold back the urge to scream, “MOVE TO JAPAN!!!” and give them the following advice:

1. Download firefox and rikai-chan. Use firefox to visit Japanese pages that interest you.

2. Download Anki. It’s a fantastic flashcard program that will automatically add ふりがな.

3. Everytime you use Rikai-chan to look up a word you don’t know, hit “c” on the keyboard. This copies it to the clipboard.

4. Go in to Anki and paste it in a card.

Voilà, you are now building an extremely relevant flashcard library!

Technorati Tags: anki, firefox, flashcards, Japanese, language, learning, rikai-chan, rikaichan, software, study, 勉強, 日本語

Tokyo Game Show Babes Round-up

‘Tis the season for booth babes, or as they are called in Japanese, “Companions.”

So here is the round up of galleries so far:
- @nifty has probably the best set so far.
- Yomiuri’s Gallery. They say they are introducing the booths themselves, but when you see the thumbnails, you’ll know the truth. While this Capcom girl is probably my favorite, I gotta say, this Square Enix chick is hot!
- Kotaku‘s collection seems like it was taken with an iPhone. But they are posting newer, better pics all the time on their flickr stream.
- Jiji.com’s collection so far is pretty fetching.
- Joystiq has yet to post an obligatory babe collection. For shame.

Technorati Tags: コンパニオン, blogs, booth babes, Companions, conventions, events, games, girls, Japanese girls, photo gallery, photos, tgs, tgs08, tgs08girls, tokyo, tokyo game show, Tokyo Game Show 2008

Tokyo Game Show!

Tokyo Game Show begins today (10/9 JST) for businesses in Japan, and opens to the public on Saturday!

I was just thinking, “Wow I can’t believe one year has gone by already.” And then I was thinking, “You know you are pretty far gone when you measure years by TGS.”

It’s actually very affordable at 1,200円 (yen) per day, assuming you don’t have to tack $1000 for air fare. >< ;

For the rumors, go check out Kotaku’s round-up. What I really want to go see is the GMT music show going on Saturday night. With しょこたん (Shokotan) and YMCK… It’s going to be ヲタク (otaku) paradise.

Watch the videos after the jump for a taste of the artists.

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Technorati Tags: ASIA ENGINEER, Aural Vampire, エイジアエンジニア, オーラルヴァンパイア, スチャダラパー, games, music, SCHADARAPARR, shokotan, TENORI-ON, tgs, tgs08, tokyo, tokyo game show, Tokyo Game Show 2008, video, video games, YMCK, 中川翔子

Monkey Izakaya

宇都宮 (Utsunomiya) is all over the blogs recently! First for destroying art, and this time, for monkeys working at an 居酒屋 (izakaya). Well, I wouldn’t really call it working, unless you call it work when your dog fetches your slippers (our dog does water bottles actually). But everyone seems to be getting something out of this: customers get a cute server, monkey gets 枝豆 (edamame), and the internet community gets a chance to make some awesome puns.

[Thanks TokyoMango and co.]

Technorati Tags: alcohol, animals, bars, beer, edamame, izakaya, lol, monkey, puns, Utsunomiya, video, 宇都宮, 居酒屋, 枝豆

Oh no! The Gyoza Statue!

It is a sad, sad time for 餃子 (gyoza) lovers everywhere. The statue of liberty of the 餃子 world was destroyed today when workers were trying to move it for some construction work.

The 餃子像 (gyozazou) as is like the ハチ公 (Hachikou) of 宇都宮 (Utsunomiya) station. 宇都宮 is the big town in 栃木県 (Tochigi-ken), the next door neighbors to my ふるさと (furusato), 群馬県 (Gunma-ken). The gyoza there is excellent, and as an honor to the excellent gyoza there, this statue was erected sometime in the mid-nineties.

And now it is gone. I doubt they will repair it since it isn’t even noteworthy enough to have its own Wikipedia entry. Oh well, at least there still will be good 餃子 there.

The image here is of my pilgrimage to the statue. Maybe we can all do the Care Bear stare and repair it with love.

If you can stand the sight of the broken statue, go read the Yomiuri Online article. I can hardly bear to watch…

Technorati Tags: art, care bear, Chinese food, 田舎, destroyed, 餃子, food, gyoza, inaka, sad, statue