Yamatologic

Shin Yamato Damacy Ep. 3!

It’s here! The new episode of Shin Yamato Damacy has arrived! In this episode, Luka is wandering the streets of Takasaki (Think Ep. 1 or Ep. 3 of YD) asking some awesomely random questions. The results are pretty amazing.

RANDOM!

Technorati Tags: blogs, DrLuka7, gaijin, interview, Luka, random, shin yamato damacy, Takasaki, video, vlogging

Shin Yamato Damacy’s The Mountain

English Version:

Japanese Version:

Speaking of Luka, looks like I totally missed the upload of a brand new production of Shin Yamato Damacy! “The Mountain” is a search for gold atop… The Mountain. That’s the name! Really, my guess is that it is filmed on 妙義山 (Myogi-san), which really is the scariest mountain EVAR. Yes, it is also a famous ハシリヤ course, but the hiking is also freaking epic. This is the only mountain I’ve ever climbed that gave me nightmares.

Anyway, there a really awesome tie-in to something else in here, but I won’t ruin it for you. Check it out! There is also a Japanese Dub on both ニコ動 and YouTube.

Technorati Tags: ザ・山, blogs, drift, friends, gaijin, gunma, hiking, Mt. Myogi, racing, shin yamato damacy, The Mountain, video, vlogging, 外人, 妙義山

Rirekisho @ John Turningpin’s Mad Tokyo

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.

Technorati Tags: blogs, employment, jobs, jobs in japan, John Turningpin, links, resume, rirekisho, 履歴書

Miku Fan dot Com

Yep, 初音ミク (Hatsune Miku), the fantastic character developed for the Vocaloid software singing voice has her own fan blog, Mikufan.com. This place is awesome… I dunno if they saw the ゆっくりしてね (yukkuri shite ne) video yet, but that’s going to be my first submission.

I’m excited to find this blog because they have a lot of good ミク stuff (way more than I do), including a link to this awesome 初音ミク cosplay. At the same time though, I’m a little sad. I was hoping that ミク was relatively unknown in the English speaking world. And now I know better.

I was kind of like when I first saw a friend put up a 東方 Project character on their AIM icon. It shocked me. “Whoa, they know about 東方 too?!” But, really, I think it is just that I’m late entering this game. The two year hiatus from JP culture has made me feel like a total n00b!

Oh well. I should swallow my pride and you should go check out Miku Fan for more Vocaloid goodness.

Technorati Tags: blogs, cosplay, fans, girls, Hatsune Miku, Internet, Japanese girls, miku, mikufan, mikufan.com, music, project shrine maiden, touhou, vocaloid, 初音ミク, 東方

Yamato Damacy @ Yamatologic

So, I finally finished making all the pages for Yamato Damacy here on Yamatologic. I will be trying to get a redirect script up at the old domain, but for the time being, if you have an episode of Yamato Damacy you want to link to or share, please use the http://yamatologic.com/yamato-damacy/ link please! [Update] A redirect script is up on the old site, so you can link to http://yamato.revecess.com/ or http://yamatologic.com/yamato-damacy/! Yay!

There is also a torrent link for the avi files on that main page. So feel free to download those. I have my torrent seeding as we speak and will try to keep it up as much as I can.

Sorry again to all the old fans… I shouldn’t have taken so long to do this! But it is getting done, albeit slowly. Makes me wonder when I’ll actually get around to digging out the old footage for the lost episode(s). Hmmm…

[Update] Hmmm… comments don’t seem to be showing up for the pages… I’ll have to fix that. ><;

[Update] Comments work! Now to import the comments from the old site!

Technorati Tags: blast from the past, blogs, jeshii, rahman, video, video podcast, yamato damacy

Lang-8, a bittersweet way to learn

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!

Technorati Tags: blogs, Internet, Japanese language, learning, sns, social networking, study, 勉強, 日本語

Shin Yamato Damacy Ep. 2.5 – Blind Date Part 2!

It is out! Episode 2.5 of Shin Yamato Damacy! Brian and Mariko go out for 刺身 (sashimi) and then カラオケ (karaoke). (Also available on YouTube.)

Go see the first part of this Blind Date episode if you haven’t already.

This episode it a little long, but totally worth it. I remember using pen and paper a lot to when my wife and I first started going out. なつかしい！

Luka’s style really comes out in this video. Luka is way better at letting things happen and filming it. I was more of a gonzo journalist. So I could have never made an episode like this.

Not to mention that sound effect. Whenever I hear that sound effect, I think of Luka. If you don’t know what I’m taking about, go see The Legend of Ultraman or Vanity Project 2.

Excellent episode. I can’t wait to see what’s next for SYD!

Technorati Tags: friends, gaijin, girls, gunma, Japanese girls, shin yamato damacy, video

Shin Yamato Damacy: Ep. 2 – Is love really blind?

In this latest installment of Shin Yamato Damacy, Luka follows Brian and Makiko on a date!

Brian doesn’t know much Japanese, and Mariko seems to be refraining from too much English, but its off to a good start as Brian shows himself to be a capable, かっこいい (kakko ii) guy!

From the previews, I see some similarities in this date to me and my wife’s first date. Could this be love?! Can’t wait for the second part! XD

(See also Ep. 1. This episode is also available on YouTube.)

Technorati Tags: friends, gaijin, girls, gunma, Japanese girls, shin yamato damacy, video

Shin Yamato Damacy: Ep. 1

My excellent friend Luka has started Shin Yamato Damacy, which you could say is a spin off of Yamato Damacy. In their first episode, they ask people (I think around Maebashi station XD) who they would want to be.

I can’t believe Doraemon lost to Kitajima.

See also my response:

Technorati Tags: friends, gaijin, gunma, shin yamato damacy, video

Yamato Damacy

If you know anything about me, you know that I lived in Japan for 3 years and that I made a series of videos while I was there with my friends Rahman and Luka.

The name comes from 大和魂 (yamato damashii), which is a phase roughly translated as “Japanese Spirit,” and is generally a nationalistic phrase. You’d never hear a 外人 (gaijin) saying it… which is why we used that name. It goes along with the surprise everyone had at us foreigners speaking Japanese.

It was a lot of fun. And people seemed to like it. But since I haven’t been able to do anything nearly as big, it makes me feel like a total internet-famous has-been. ><; The best episodes are as follows:

Episode 9: Setsubun

This episode was the BEST. Dressed up as an 鬼 (oni), I ran out of a phone booth to scare people.

Episode 3: Karaoke

This episode was funny just for the end, if nothing else.

Episode 10: Vanity Project

On the whole, we usually would just do interview videos. But in this one, we were fed up showing others, and just made a short film featuring us. It turned out okay, but people really seemed to like it.

Episode 29: Vanity Project 2

This episode was the prequel to Episode 10. The editing and cheesy dialogue make this a classic.

You can see all the episodes on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=40EA472A4F34B0AD

You can also check out the Revecess Wiki entry for even more info.

[Update] I now have pages set up for each of the Episodes here at Yamatologic. Go check them out!

Technorati Tags: blogs, friends, gaijin, gunma, japan, jeshii, rahman, video, vlogging, yamato damacy, 外人