When I first came to Tokyo, the fashion absolutely baffled me. Seriously, I just could not understand the color coordinating, style-coordinating, layering, or anything else that seemed to be outlandish. Heheheh, I remember those days… the days of having “American…
From Live in Japan Source
カタカナ
Japanese has three alphabets: Chinese characters or kanji (漢字), hiragana (ひらがな) and katakana (カタカナ).
Hiragana and katakana are phonetic syllabaries made up of 46 characters. The first five characters of both hiragana and katakana are the vowels a, i, u, e, o. The rest of the letters are a combination of a consonant and a vowel, for example, ka, ki, ku, ke, ko and n ン - the only singular consonant.
Katakana is literally “fragmentary kana” and is square and angular in shape in comparison with the more rounded hiragana.
Katakana is often taught in Japanese kindergarten and, along with hiragana, is learnt before children begin on Chinese characters in the first grade of elementary school.
Katakana is usually used in the following ways:
* to transliterate foreign loan words from English, Chinese and other languages such as television (テレビ - terebi), radio (ラジオ - rajio), fried rice (チャーハン - chaahan), Chinese noodles (ラ-メン - raamen), part time work (アルバイト - arubaito) etc.
* foreigners’, except Chinese, names are written in katakana such as Smith (スミス - sumisu), Brown (ブラウン - buraun) etc
* for the names of foreign countries, regions and cities such as “America” (アメリカ - amerika), England (イギリス - igirisu), Vietnam (ベトナム -betonamu), London (ロンドン - rondon), Asia (アジア - ajia) etc.
* in advertising and on signs for emphasis, here katakana acts much like italics, such as garbage (ゴミ - gomi), spectacles (メガネ - megane), pervert (チカン - chikan), coffee (コーヒ - koohii) etc
* animal, fruit and plant names are often written in katakana such as monkey (サル - saru), dog (イヌ - inu), apple (リンゴ - ringo), persimmon (カキ - kaki) etc
* onomatopoeia, words representing sounds or movements, for example, bowwow (ワンワン - wanwan), lick (ペロペロ - peropero), scratch (ポリポリ - poripori), squeak (キシキシ - kishikishi)
* some Japanese company names are written in katakana, such as Toyota (トヨタ), Sony (ソニ), Honda (ホンダ) etc
Katakana was developed in the Heian Period (794-1192) from parts of Chinese characters as a kind of shorthand, supposedly by students studying Buddhism.
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From Live in Japan Source
Baseball was imported to Japan from the Unites States as early as 1872 but wasn’t organized until 1934 with the creation of the Greater Japan Tokyo Baseball Club. The Japanese Baseball League was formed in 1937, consisting of eight teams, played until 1949 (except 1945, presumably because WWII). Starting in 1950, the Japanese Baseball […]
From Live in Japan Source
On Thursday morning we walked to the bullet train and headed for Tokyo. It was a nice ride on a comfortable train and I was able to see a quick look at Mount Fuji. We met a guide (Micki) and had a half day city tour. It was excellent. She showed […]
From Live in Japan Source
A recent survey shows that the amount of Japanese who connect to the internet via their game console has dropped - in particular for the PS3.
The larger version of the above results here showing comparisons taken in June 2007 and December 2007 - yes I just noticed “junes” but cant be bothered to fix it ^^;
The Wii, NDS and PSP also takes a drop in the amount of people connected to the internet but not as much as the PS3 as you can see. The number of online XBOX 360 users has hardly changed.
Another chart from the survey shows why the users connect to the internet through their game console.
Most seem to connect to get the firmware updates. 360 owners seem to connect to play online games while Wii and PS3 owners connect to buy games.
Whats interesting is that 39% of Wii owners use their machine to browse the Internets - 31% of PS3 owners do the same.
Before I used to hate turning on the PS3 because every time I did it would ask me to download an update which is not automated so you cant just click a button and have it done for you - it asks stupid questions which you have to agree to and wot not.
What I do like about the PS3 though is that you can download some decent demos. I downloaded Ninja Gaiden which made me decide to go and buy it and I recently downloaded Devil May Cry 4 - but I pre ordered that last year - should arrive tomorrow ^o^
As for the Wii’s internet facilities - never really used it. If Axelay is available to buy then I would connect and get it.
is your game machine connected to the Internets and do you use its online facilities? (online gaming/updates/store etc)
View results for the following poll on this post
Do you use your gaming machines internet facilities? (updates/online gaming/updates etc)
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From Live in Japan Source
東大寺、奈良
Todaiji in Nara is one of Japan’s most famous and most-visited Buddhist temples.
The main hall - Daibutsuden - is considered to be the largest wooden building in the world, though this 1709 reconstruction is a third smaller than the original structure which was completed in 752.
The Daibutsuden contains the awe-inspiring Daibutsu (Great Buddha), a colossal bronze statue of the Buddha Vairocana first cast in 746. Parts of the present statue were later recast during the Edo Period (1600-1868). The statue is 16.2m tall and consists of 437 tons of bronze, 130kg of gold, 75kg of mercury and 7 tons of vegetable wax.
The designer of the original Buddha was a Korean artist from the Paikche Kingdom, Kuninaka-no-Kimimaro. The building is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Todaiji is the headquarters of the Kegon sect of Japanese Buddhism and Vairocana Buddha is considered by followers of the sect to be the spiritual body of the historical Buddha - Gautama Buddha or Sakyamuni in Japanese terminology. After achieving enlightenment in what is now the small town of Bodh Gaya in Bihar, northern India, the Buddha sat for a week in deep meditation and it is this pose that is represented in the giant statue.
Just in front of the Daibutsu is a 4.5 meter tall, Nara Period, octagonal, bronze lantern which is classified as a “National Treasure”.
The temple is approached through the large Naidaimon Gate (Great Southern Gate), first built in the Nara Period (710-784). The gates contain the fine wooden sculptures of two Deva (Nio) guardian kings carved in the 13th century and considered some of the most beautiful wooden statues ever produced.
The temple grounds are inhabited by deer, which are allowed to wander freely. Please be careful if offering them food!
Images © Perrin Lindelauf & JapanVisitor
Access
Todaiji
Tel: 0742 22 5511
Todaiji is around 15-20 minutes walk from either JR Nara or Kintetsu Nara stations. Nara is an easy day trip from either Osaka or Kyoto.
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From Live in Japan Source
So far I’ve written a lot about Japan and my memories of our last stay and now it’s time to reveal the reason that I will be coming to Japan….Baseball!Baseball took me to Japan from 1994-1998 and now it is brining me back. I loved living in Japan and I feel so lucky to have […]
From Live in Japan Source
There is a growing demand for miniature vegetables in Japan, and sales of these delicacies are booming not just in local stores but also on the internet. Some of the mini veggies that are quite popular in Japanese homes are daikon, cucumber, bok choy and Japanese cabbage.The vegetables are really considered miniature — for example, […]
From Live in Japan Source
My post is mainly about Cherine Anderson, a beautiful and talented Jamaican actress/songstress who has grown and evolved over the years on Jamaican entertainment scene. I like her music and she has played excellent roles in movies the most memorable being Dancehall Queen and One Love.
Cherine co-stared in One Love with Ky-Mani Marley
Britney Spears ft Cherine Anderson - “Piece of Me” Reggae Remix
I know what you are thinking .a Britney Spears related post on Jamaipanese.com?!?!? Britney has been in the news for all the wrong, crazy and downright weird reasons for the last few years and I will not even get into details on those. I really wish Cherine had sang on this track instead of DJing but the song has grown on me and big up to Sly and Robbie for an excellent track I wonder if it will blow up? Visit Cherines Myspace page to listen to the piece of me remix and click here to see the original songs video on youtube.
Cherine on the Rise
Lately Cherine has been making massive strides on the local and international reggae music scene with a string of solo and collaborative hits and to me is ranked right up in the top five best female entertainers right now with the likes of Alaine and Queen Ifrica. Songs like Good Love, Cookies and Coming Over are massive hits here Jamaica all well deserved and excellent songs.
From Live in Japan Source
Well on JapanNewbie, you ask, and you receive.My poor wasabi plant.Finished.Rotten too. He’s stinky. He’s outta here. Really. It rotted at the core.In fact. The picture looks greener than it actually is.If you’re gonna buy me a present. Don’t buy me a plant.Unless it’s a virtual plant.I’m sorry Mr. Wasabi! Next time I eat a […]
From Live in Japan Source
