NicoNicoDouga of the Drunk Foreign Minister
Written by Jeshii on 2009.02.19 – 00:56 -
【ニコニコ動画】中川昭一財務・金融相のG7会見(ノーカット)
So, if you have been following all the Japan blogs, you know that 中川昭一 (Nakagawa Shoichi) was totally drunk/high at the G7 and got himself fired (technically he resigned, but we are talking about Japan here). But, if you haven’t seem the ニコニコ動画 no cut version, you haven’t seen the whole thing. The comments and subtitles are just so good.
Tags: alcohol, マスコミ, drunk, foreign minister, funny subtitles, G7, high, Japanese government, Nakagawa Shoichi, nicovideo, sake, video, 中川昭一
Posted in entertainment, government | No Comments »
Zoni Soup on New Years
Written by Jeshii on 2008.12.31 – 14:00 -
Happy New Year everyone! While you are enjoying 紅白 (Kouhaku), I hope you are also eating お雑煮 (ozouni)! In fact, I bet I can predict the shape of the mochi and the broth of the soup you are eating… if you are in Japan that is.
What in the Sam Hill am I talking about? Well, depending on what part of Japan you are in, there is a statistical probability as to how your mochi is cut and what soup broth you have in your お雑煮. Yessir, there is even a line where people have round mochi on the one side and cut square mochi on the other.
関ヶ原 (Sekigahara) is the location of the decisive battle between East and West Japan that lead to the 250+ year 江戸時代 (Edo Jidai). This lies on the line! Also, people in East Japan and West Japan stand on different sides of escalators. There’s a lot of differences between east and west Japan that seem to lie on this line. I’ll leave a more complete list for another entry.
If you want to make お雑煮 for yourself, you still have some time! Go check out Cookpad and get cooking!
Tags: お雑煮, お正月, cookpad, edo jidai, Edo Period, escalators, 関西, 関東, 雑煮, food, kansai, kanto, New Year's, ozoni, shogatsu, soup, zoni, 正月, 江戸時代
Posted in food | No Comments »
Christmas Cake
Written by Jeshii on 2008.12.26 – 00:10 -
Traditional Japanese Christmas Cake (and yeah, I’m using the word “traditional” is the lightest sense possible) is generally what they call a strawberry shortcake. American’s sometimes get confused that Japanese shortcake is nothing like the biscuit-like shortcake in America, it is more of a sponge cake in the usual English sense.
I went to Mousse Fantasy on Sawtelle yesterday to go get a slice of JP cake. I saw this cake in the case for $40! But, it is totally what I imagine a Japanese Christmas Cake to be like.
Tags: ケーキ, baking, cake, dessert, 苺, food, Los Angeles, Mousse Fantasy, Nichibei, shortcake, strawberry, yelp link, 日米
Posted in food | 2 Comments »
1930s Japan in Color
Written by Jeshii on 2008.12.07 – 16:17 -
Here is a brief review of the 1935 and 1937 documentaries, Modern Tokyo and Floral Japan. These videos show a Japan that is so distant from the アキバ candy pop we love so today.
I have a feeling the clip shown was probably from some NHK special. I wish I could find the whole thing. I wonder what future generations will think after watching some of the videos people are taking today. How long until it is hardly recognizable any more?
Tags: 1930s, 1935, 1937, color film, documentary, floral japan, modern tokyo, NHK, nicovideo, old japan, Traveltalk, video
Posted in society | 2 Comments »
Watch out for Gunma Girls
Written by Jeshii on 2008.12.02 – 16:47 -
I hope she wasn't inspired by the colors of autumn...
Well, a 14-year old girl living in 東吾妻 got arrested for setting fire to her house. Wow. Apparently she needed an anger release. Very glad to hear no one was hurt in the incident. Sad to hear the house was burnt down. Funny thing is, I betcha I know the girl’s English teacher!
Anyway, I don’t normally like to post about JP crimes since it gives a skewed view that Japanese people are crazy. But I’m making an exception because I love hearing about my old digs… even if it is about the local teenage arsonist… @.@;
Tags: arson, 群馬, fire, girls, gunma, higashi-agatsuma, Japanese girls, odd, teen angst, teenagers, wtf, 東吾妻
Posted in society | 2 Comments »
Rirekisho @ John Turningpin’s Mad Tokyo
Written by Jeshii on 2008.12.02 – 15:40 -
One of my favorite blogs about life in Tokyo is John Turningpin’s Mad Tokyo. The guy is an old YD watcher who I found through this inane network of JP blogs. He’s got a way with words, which is why I feel bad that I’m not linking his story about headbanging coworkers or his disdain of… well, just about everything, but rather his most educational entries, Know your rirekisho and Writing the rirekisho.
Really, this is the best English language guide to the process I’ve ever seen. For those of us used to resumes, no matter how bilingual we may be, writing the 履歴書 (rirekisho) is a hair-from-roots kind of adventure. The rule of thumb I’ve always heard is that if you have any desire to work in Japan at all, get used to making a 履歴書. Also, in my experience, Japanese companies in the US will swoon when you bring this in with your resume. It saves everyone from that awkward silence when the interviewer guy is trying to decide whether to speak to you in English or Japanese and proves you are in it to win it.
Anyway, go read it. And read it well.
Tags: blogs, employment, jobs, jobs in japan, John Turningpin, links, resume, rirekisho, 履歴書
Posted in blogs, society | 1 Comment »
loltastic Fanta commercials
Written by Jeshii on 2008.11.12 – 12:00 -
This video has been very popular on my facebook, so I may as well post it to the ol’ blog. I saw it on a random blog a million years ago, so I’m very sorry I can’t credit it. ><;
I think my favorite is ツッパリ先生 (Tsuppari-sensei) because he puts 「吐露非狩古鬱」 (toropikarufurutsuu, “Tropical Fruits”) on the board. I’m a big fan of crazy 当て字 (ateji) like that.
BTW, the poor kids! And watch for the “orz” in the Chinese subs. XD
Tags: Ateji, ツッパリ, ツッパリ先生, commercials, fanta, food, japanese commercials, lol, school, soda, teacher, teachers, Tropical Fruits, tsuppari, video, 吐露非狩古鬱, 当て字
Posted in food | 2 Comments »
Obama is beautiful world!
Written by Jeshii on 2008.11.05 – 21:49 -
Obama wins the election. Thank goodness. I’m very excited to see what he can accomplish.
It is an odd feeling for me. I’m such a Japanophile, that I’ve hardly ever been proud to be American. But today, I feel good about it. It’s a strange, unfamiliar feeling, to be sure. So, I turn to the Japan blog community for reactions…
- Free Beer in 小浜市 (Obama-shi).
- Some relevant ニコニコ動画 videos.
- Video round up from Japan Probe.
- Speaking of Japan Probe, they also collected news stories about Obama and the far east.
- The fun Obama is Beautiful World video:
And last, the Japanese news paper picture from this awesome list:
Lastly, I bought this coffee just in case I had to be bitter about the election. Luckily, I didn’t need to!
Unless you count California (and numerous other states) writing discrimination into their Constitutions. Oh boy. But, what about gay marriage in Japan? According to this site, it is in the constitution that marriage is between a man and a woman and there are currently no laws for civil union cases when both are the same gender.
We still have a ways to go, I guess.
On the plus side, at least California is getting a 新幹線 (shinkansen)!!!
Tags: bitter, coffee, election, gay marriage, happy, music, obama, Obama City, president, president elect, prop 8, video, 同性結婚, 小浜
Posted in government | 2 Comments »
Lang-8, a bittersweet way to learn
Written by Jeshii on 2008.10.23 – 16:45 -
Ever since Tofugu‘s EXCELLENT entry on free ways to learn Japanese (which did not include Anki BTW ><;), I have been hooked on Lang-8. Basically, it is a social networking site designed for people learning other languages.
The way it works is that you choose a language you are trying to learn. Then you write entries in that language, and native speakers will come along and correct it. The BEST thing about it is that people really do come along and correct your entries. Withing 2 minutes of my first posting, someone had make some corrections.
While that is the sweet part, it is also bitter. You sit there and really see how much you SUCK at the language you are trying to learn. This is not a site for people who can’t take constructive criticism. You just have to swallow your pride and learn. That’s what’s so awesome about it.
And then, you can also go and correct others entries. When you make corrections, you can cross out, make bold, or change the color to blue or red to emphasize your points.
Another AMAZING feature on the site that I noticed is that is has the same functionality as rikaichan built in! I don’t know how many languages this works for, but at least Japanese has it.
I already have 3 friends. Yay! I think the funniest part is that the OLs correct my Japanese differently that the サラリーマン (sarariiman) do. The OLs seems to just do little mistakes, where as the サラリーマン seems to cross out my simple Japanese and add 漢字 (kanji) compounds.
Anyway, I’m in love with this site. This is now my Japanese blog of choice.
Go ready my Lang-8 blog!
Tags: blogs, Internet, Japanese language, learning, sns, social networking, study, 勉強, 日本語
Posted in blogs, language | 1 Comment »
Rajio Taisou!
Written by Jeshii on 2008.10.20 – 16:44 -We’ve all heard of Japanese people doing calisthenics before work and school. The reality is while I was in Japan, the only time I ever actually saw anyone doing ラジオ体操 (rajio taisou) was just before the 運動会 (undoukai) at school.
ラジオ体操 is basically just a song and a set of basic calisthenics that you do to the song. Yes, it’s old as hell, but it’s actually a lot of fun. It is played every morning on NHK Radio #1 at 6:30am. And it is not the only kind of music calisthenics. My personal favorite has got to be the やきとりおじさん (yakitori ojisan; On YouTube or ニコニコ動画).
Of course, the discovery of 初音ミク (Hatsune Miku) doing ラジオ体操 has prompted this entry, but if you want to follow along in a more informed way, read the Japanese explanation here, or my brief English explanation after the jump.
Tags: ラジオ体操, calisthenics, exercise, explaination, 説明, Hatsune Miku, health, NHK, nicovideo, radio, radio calisthenics, rajio taisou, society, video, 初音ミク
Posted in society | 2 Comments »
