Lend a Hand to Japan

Everyone I know in Japan is alright, but there still is great damage to Japan and many people have lost their lives. Even though buildings were made to withstand an earthquake the flooding from the resulting tsunami is very bad, especially in the area near Sendai (close to the epicenter).

I donated to the Red Cross to help those in trouble. If you can help, please donate by texting the word REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10. Or by visiting this link: http://is.gd/fGUWVE

Last night I made the above poster to help with the situation in Japan. Because I am so far away, I feel like there is not much I can do to help. Hopefully many people will see this poster and they will help by donating as well.

You can view the poster here: http://is.gd/ro3Yjc . Please share it with your friends.

One Thousand Items

I have finally studied 1,000 words in Japanese on Smart.fm. It has been about 2 and a half years of studying Japanese and I have sure come a long way, far more than 1,000 words could ever begin to express. I think this is a great opportunity for me to reflect on what I've learned and where I've been.

The beginning:

To be honest, like many other Japanese learners, anime got me into Japanese. When in middle school, I watched Dragon Ball Z and Gundam Wing, everyday. It was dubbed in English and I knew it came from Japan, but back then I was more interested in anime than where it came from.

In high school, anything that was animated was clearly uncool. It was just time to grow out of "cartoons".

Some years later, after starting college, I decided to return home for the summer and, bored out of my wits, Naruto happened to be airing on television. It reminded me of the action and dynamics of DBZ, with a whole lot less charging up. Once the reruns kicked in, I wanted more and the only way to get more was to watch them in Japanese.

The subtitles picked my interest and I began trying to match the English text with the Japanese audio. And what are the easiest words to learn? Curse words! When character makes a short exclamation, it's easy to pick words out and gather their meaning. My first words in Japanese? Sugoi, baka, and Ikuzo... valuable to this day. Luckily, it got me into bigger and better things.

Today:

I came to college to study graphic design and I have a passion for the visual arts. With this new found interest in Japan and the language, it only made sense to combine the two. Japan has some incredibly stunning graphic work, and even though I still watch anime from time to time, it is graphic design that enabled me to visit Japan and what keeps my interest in the language.

My school has an exchange program with a design school in Osaka, so I applied and I got accepted. The semester prior to leaving, an introductory language course was required, and I am sure glad I took it. I had unsuccessfully taken Spanish classes in high school and didn't learn a thing, but this on the other hand, was the best educational experience I've ever had. I learned that when one has the will and purpose for learning, they can learn anything. The class gave me the framework that I would later put to use in Japan, making all the difference in the world.

During the spring and summer of 2010, I started school in Osaka. All my courses were taught in Japanese, the students and staff spoke Japanese, my host family spoke Japanese. There were very few people who spoke enough English to have a conversation or even help me when I needed it. With that consideration, I spoke Japanese. I wasn't good or particularly sophisticated, but I could be understood and to my surprise, I could even have entire conversations in Japanese. It is the most satisfying experience to chat with a new person, only to realize afterwards, that you hadn't even used a word of English.

Now that I am back in the States, I have continued my study of Japanese. To prepare for going to Japan, I focused on survival. Now, I have the time to invest into the long-term study of the language. Thus, I've been dedicating time to reading Japanese and learning the kanji, which takes time. In addition, I've established a group to keep up my spoken aptitudes; something that's hard to do outside of Japan. And luckily, a friend I made in Osaka was able to experience the exchange the following semester, at the school I attend in the States. She's been instrumental in keeping up my studies, because she's the only one who's native language is Japanese; like a little piece of Japan, far away from home.

In the future:

I hope to return to Japan one day, and now that graduation is looming, those decisions will soon have to be made. I've met a few people who've had good experience with JET and although it is a consideration, that's not my goal at the moment.

On the other hand, I am using my design skills to create work using the Japanese language. What I've been studying in college is something that could make a path to Japan, either professionally or to continue my studies in grad school.

But lately, I have been expanding my interest in Japanese graphic design and turning it into more formal research (a blog called Gurafiku). A professor of mine was able to conduct research in Japan on a Fulbright scholarship and that is an opportunity I would love to work towards.

Either way, this is only the beginning. I'll make it back one day, on my own terms, when the time is right. Here's to the future and to many thousand new words and new experiences. Banzai!

A Measure of Proficiency

日本語うまい
にほんご うまい
nihongo umai
Your Japanese is good

Today while visting Nara, I popped into a calligraphy shop and picked up all the necessary equipment to do some serious calligraphy. Japanese calligraphy, shodou in Japanese, is something I've been dabbling in since arriving in Japan. After a few months practice, I thought it was time to try the real deal.

It was a small shop in Naramachi, an old part of town, with an elderly gentleman selling his wares. I explained to him, in Japanese, that I like shodou, but that I'm not very good yet (mada jouzu ja arimasen). I've been using a basic brush pen, the Pentel Pocket Brush to be exact (a great pen all around), but I want to buy a beginners set.

Displaying his many years of experience, he proceeded to arrange all the materials I needed. He explained, in Japanese, that I'll need two brushes, one fat (futoi), to write the main characters, and one skinny (hosoi), to write your name. Also, a simple ink stone (suzuri) and a small ink block (sumi). Additionally, it turns out one also needs a writing mat (shitajiki) and a paper weight (bunchin).

I told him that I had been studying graphic design in Osaka and he threw in an extra brush. I thanked him politely (arigatou gozaimashita) and on my way out he complimented my Japanese. It was motivating to hear this. Being able to navigate through everyday situations and to have the ability to learn from and about other people is one of my greatest accomplishments.

It set me back 7000 yen, but it showed me that perhaps there are other ways of measuring ones proficiency in language rather than an exam and a pretty piece of paper. Although, when I get back to the States, I'll give the new JLPT 5 a try.

がんばります

Ganbarimasu

I'll do my best!

Vocab:

書道

しょどう

shodou

calligraphy

筆

ふで

fude

calligraphy brush

Ryan the Wired is going to Japan

Above: These will be my classmates. I’m in for a wild ride!


I'm going to Japan! The interview to study abroad went really well. I introduced myself in Japanese (a surefire way to impress the panel) and got a lot of good advice. Primarily, be open to new experiences and take advantage of all the resources available to me both at Sozosha (Soh.zoh.sha) and my home school. Also, another student, Tara, who's an illustrator, is going as well. We've form a small band of language learners and speakers, working with a tutor, Rio Sensei, and one of my Japanese obsessed instructors, on the side.

For Japan, I'm planning on going out at the beginning of March, Spend about a month in Tokyo so I can adjust to the culture, and take a language class to really immerse myself in the language to prepare myself for school. I'm going to stay with a host family, rather that trying to navigate a month in hostiles and the like. It will also give me time to scope out the Japanese creative scene. One of my instructors has a connection in Tokyo at a design and animation studio called Tokyo Lab. They don't specifically do what I do but the founders were both educated at American design schools and work bilingually. They'll be a good insight into what its like to be a creative in Japan and help me know who I need to know.

Then I'll head out to Osaka at the beginning of April to start my design classes at Sozosha. There, I'll also be staying with a host family, who will be indispensable in navigating my way through my time there. Let me tell ya, I'm looking forward to some good Japanese eats. I'm going to approach it with an open mind and try as much as possible. A vegetarian open to new things; a flexitarian. Our group went to a Japanese restaurant, the most delicious in town, and Rio taught us manners. I had what is called a Donburi. They vary in ingredients, but mine consisted of a bowl with a bottom layer of rice, with tempura vegetables piled on top. Osaka is known to be the place for food and the place for the arts; a perfect combination. Classes at Sozosha go until August. Then I'll fly back to home and start up classes again at the very end of August.

Hard work is paying off; cant wait to jetset to the other side of the globe.

Elementary Japanese 101

Tomorrow marks the first day of my institutionally structured journey to better understand the Japanese language. I will be taking Elementary Japanese 101 at a local liberal arts college, in addition to my current education at design school. The course is a requirement in order to study abroad, yet one that I am looking forward to.

We will be using the Nakama Japanese textbook and workbook. Together, they were over $100 used at the bookstore. Hello Amazon.

In my self guided study, as well as working with my Japanese tutor, we worked with the Genki textbook. Genki was accessible and tried to make learning the language fun, overall a good textbook. Solely judging by the cover of Nakama, it looks strictly business. Hopefully as we progress, it will open up a bit.

Looking forward to meeting my fellow classmates and studying hard.

As usual, がんばります！(I'll do my best!)

Japanese Designers.

Japanese designers, architects, engenieers, creatives, and thinkers from Kenya Hara’s book Designing Design
shigeru ban
masahiko sato
kengo kuma
kaoru mende
kosuke tsumura
naoto fukasawa
norihide imagawa
tadasu ohe
akio okumura
kaoru kasai
kanji hayashi
mayumi miyawaki
shin sobue
toyo ito
shuhei hasado
yasuhiro suzuki
shunji yamanaka
keiko hirano
masayo ave
reiko sudo
kazunari hattori
/

See more progress on: Learn Japanese

Graphic Design Terminology

For all you Smart.fm users, I created a list on graphic design terms in Japanese. These terms a very helpful when searching for Japanese design. One can get a good view about what is happening in Japanese design by googling in the native language.

The list encompasses basics like:
グラフィックデザイン - Graphic Design
フォント - Font
ロゴ - Logo
ポスター - Poster

To more esoteric terms like:
バウハウス - Bauhaus
ポール・ランド - Paul Rand
スイス・スタイル - Swiss Style
ヘルヴェチカ - Helvetica
ビジュアルコミュニケーション - Visual Communication

All the words are in katakana, because they're loan words or foreign names. Basically sound out the English word with Japanese pronunciation.

がんばって！

Purikura. Sticker Pictures on the iPhone.

I recently referred to the Sticker Picture craze among young Japanese women and came across a handy iPhone application for customizing your very own Purikura.

The application is called STICKi PICi and it allows one to decorate their iPhone pictures with hearts and star bursts, so ubiquitous on the Purikura scene.



Their website describes Purikura:

These popular asian photobooths are also known as purikura プリクラ (from Japanese pop culture lingo purinto kurabu プリント倶楽部, meaning print club).

As a student studying the Japanese language it is always fascinating to learn about the origins of a word. It is especially interesting to see how English loan words are pulled and blended together creating something uniquely Japanese.

I wish I was part of the print club, alas I have no iPhone. For those of you who are iPhone endowed, you can be part of the illustrious print club (プリント倶楽部 - purinto kurabu).

Check out STICKi PICi's features:

- Over 40 frames to choose from!
- Over 100 stamps to decorate your photos!
- Works with both portrait and landscape photos.
- Moving and scaling every stamp on your screen
- No object placement is permanent. Just select your drawing, stamp, or bubble to move and scale it!
- Choose from several fonts when typing in your chat bubbles.
- Choose your colors for the gel pen and the text in the chat bubbles.
- Airbrush your photos with the soften feature.
- Choose between having your creation in color, sepia, or black & white.
- Auto-saves your photo session so your work isn’t lost when you need to exit the application or you get an unexpected phone call while drawing.

The Japanese Otaku: Studio 360 in Japan

Roland Kelts describes the essence of Akihabara and goes into detail about Otaku culture, their characteristics, and why they're so dang geeky.



This particular episode reports on the Japanese youth's sticker picture craze, the Japanese school girl and the identity of young Japanese women, in addition to a report on the Japanese Otaku and the geek's paradise that is Akihabara.

Studio 360 is a program hosted by the Public Radio International and they often run shows related to Japan and Japanese culture.

Do your best! Ganbatte! がんばって！

Ganbatte - Do your best! Ganbatte - Good luck!

One word that fascinates me to no end is the word ganbatte (sometimes written gambatte). It is a saying used to encourage people to try hard or used before a performance to say good luck. Ian Thomas Ash has an excellent write up on the various conjugations of the word ganbatte. It starts to get pretty complex, but think about all the ways you can encourage people to do their best!

Don't forget to support our friends in Japan!

How to write ganbatte:

頑張って (がんばって)
Ganbatte: Do your best

The word ganbatte stems from the verb ganbaru:

頑張る (がんばる)
Ganbaru: To do one's best

Here are some other ways to use this handy verb:

頑張ります (がんばります)
Ganbarimasu: I do my best

頑張れ (がんばれ)
Ganbare: Do your best

頑張ってください (がんばってください)
Ganbatte Kudasai: Do your best, please. (formal)

頑張った (がんばった)
Ganbatta: I did my best

頑張りました (がんばりました)
Ganbarimashita: I did my best (formal)

頑張れます (がんばれます)
Ganbaremasu: I can do my best

頑張れる (がんばられる)
Ganbareru: I am able to do my best

頑張っています (がんばっています)
Ganbatteimasu: I am doing my best

頑張りたい (がんばりたい)
Ganbaritai: I want to do my best

頑張っていた (がんばっていた)
Ganbatteita: I was doing my best

頑張らなかった (がんばらなかった)
Ganbaranakatta: I did not do my best

頑張りなさい (がんばりなさい)
Ganbarinasai: you had better do your best

頑張ってくれ (がんばってくれ)
Ganbatekure: do your best for me

One instance where I find ganbaru useful is when I'm talking about my understanding of the Japanese language. I'll say, "私は日本語がちょっと分かります、でもがんばります！" (Watashi wa Nihongo ga chotto wakarimasu, demo ganbarimasu!). Which means, "I understand a little Japanese, but I do my best!".

頑張って！

(がんばって！ - Ganbatte!)
Do your best!

Visit a Shrine in Japan and Learn About Japanese Culture.

I recently watched video about visiting a shrine in Japan and the ritual traditions behind it and to me its quite fascinating. Without knowing I would probably walk in there aloof as always, yet the video describes the process of purification involved in visiting a shrine.

It is quite interesting and valuable to learn about the rituals of other cultures. We tend to take our own for granted because its such a common part of our life, yet when visiting a new place it brings on an appreciation of not only a new culture, but also your own.



A video by japanesepod101 about how to visit a shrine in japan.