しあわせ

I got a nice email from the author of futurefire, a blog about Japanese study written in German, so I went to check out her site.
I can’t read German but I’m sure it would be useful if you can. As you might expect from someone studying design the graphics are interesting. Check out the article on a re-design of the Tokyo subway map and one on furoshiki.
Also have a look at thephotographs on Wanda’s main site.

A good friend of mine, MiCAさん, has opened her brand new online fashion and accessory store, Regentag.
In Japan it’s customary at a shops opening for people to send large flower arrangements, and for the complex relationships and levels of patronage to kick in in supporting the new enterprise. To be honest I’m not exactly sure how it works.
But I thought I’d write this post and encourage readers at least to go and have a look, maybe give her a moral boosting blip on her site statistics. The merchandise isn’t the usual tech stuff I’d be interested in but is much more girly jewellery and accessories. I do like the colourful slippers/shoes (which I doubt would fit me!), and the bottle holders look very useful too.

So drop in and have a look.
I wish MiCAさん all the best in her new business.
よろしくお願いします。

I never learn, so “once more unto the breach..”

I am interested in how people learn and the problems of kanji and language in particular.
The topic rises again and again on forums so I’ve been thinking a bit more about it. Instead of a long post into threads that have strayed and grown too long I thought I’d make it into a post here.
It has stayed in draft form for a long time but between a comment about Heisig on this blog recently and trying to catch up with half finished posts, I’ve revisited it. Hopefully this will put Heisig to rest for me, it becomes a little frustrating to have my kanji studies defined in reaction to a method developed 33 years ago by someone who self-admittedly knew nothing about Kanji or Japanese when he first developed it.

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These books have the usual unwieldy titles of so many Japanese books.
1行読んでおぼえる小学生必修1006漢字—低学年500漢字 and 1行読んでおぼえる小学生必修1006漢字—高学年506漢字. The idea behind them is quite simple though. You read one line per kanji to memorise if not all, at least most of its important readings. It’s similar to books written for Japanese second language learners like JLPT3 Kanji by Examples and JLPT2 Kanji by Examples.
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Tsutomu Yamaguchi, who managed to have the bad luck to endure, or good luck to survive, both atomic bombings in Japan, passed away on Monday. He was only recognised officially as a dual survivor in March 2009. He was one of only 9 dual survivors and the only one to be officially recognised.
As these bombings start to pass from living memory it’s important to not forget the terrible effects of nuclear war and press on with global disarmament.

I found some more information about the new JLPT exams starting in 2010.

Firstly it seems not every exam centre will have twice yearly exams. It looks as if only centres in Japan,China and Korea will definitely offer it twice a year. SOAS in London seems to be keeping to December only. It’ll be worth checking with your nearest centre. It may also help them gauge interest and encourage them to offer it biannually. Hopefully the Japan Foundation will update its listings soon.

More interestingly, although official workbooks won’t appear until 2012 according to the official JLPT site, Bonjinsha already has a few textbooks available for the new JLPT specifications. They aren’t part of the full listing on Bonjinsha’s site. However I did find them under their (unweildy) Japanese title 新しい「日本語能力試験」ガイドブック概要版と問題例集 (New Japanese-Language Proficiency Test Guidebook: An Executive Summary, and Sample Questions).

Finally, although this isn’t exactly new, Ireland now has it’s own JLPT exam centre at DCU. Although they have the typically rubbish websites common to a lot of universities.