しあわせ

This year’s kanjikeiten will be held on Sunday 31st of October at SOAS UCL London.
They have a Google webform this year for candidates to request application forms. The deadline is the 28th September. You can sit more than one level if you want but this year I’ll only be attempting 8 kyu. It may take me a few years to reach my 5 kyu goal of the 1006 primary school kanji. It’s not the kanji so much as the vocabulary and usage.

Be aware that British Summer Time ends on the 31st, so make sure you turn up on time for the test!

(I had a rather interesting search term in my blog stats today. “Heisig classes in Tokyo” Good Luck with that, Heisig seemed very anti-teacher and only an individual could manage his method. And only the Internet has kept his book in print… )

Also open for applications is the 2010 JLPT held at SOAS. This year they have online application and are again limiting candidates to 1000 across all levels. I must get back on track with JLPT. The leap to 2 was too daunting, but now there is the intermediate N3 I should give it a go. Just not this year!

Ninagawa returns to the Barbican Theatre London for 4 days in May (5th to the 8th) in what might be becoming an annual event I hope. I’ve seen the two previous productions, Coriolanus and the kabuki version of Twelfth Night. This time it’s not Shakespeare. It’s a play about the famous swordsman Musashi, the author of the Book of Five Rings.
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Yesterday I sat the kanji kentei 漢字検定 in London. There were surprisingly few candidates there. Less than 30 for all levels by my reckoning. This is a real pity as it’s an interesting and challenging test of real Japanese reading and writing ability. I hope the numbers are sufficient to keep it being held regularly in London.
Probably because of the smaller numbers it was much more smoothly run than JLPT at SOAS in my experience. They would actually do well to tell those doing the JLPT about the Kanken and keep an email mailing list to remind past applicants about forthcoming tests.

Anyhow… Read the rest of this entry »

If you have ever read about Buddhism you are certain to have come across the writings of D.T. Suzuki.
I was recently contacted by a director of a film about Suzuki’s life. There are screenings in the UK in November. While the film isn’t in Japanese, I think it will be of interest to people interested in Japanese culture and Buddhism. I’ll let Michael Goldberg tell you himself after the jump.
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Frank Chickens will be at the Japan Matsuri in Spitafields Market on Saturday 19 September. They expect to be on stage around 1:20 until 1:50.

Practice your singalong with this video of We Are Ninja (Not Geisha) on YouTube.

A season of films by Oshima the director of the infamous Realm of the Senses (愛のコリーダ), and the notable Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (with a famous soundtrack) is playing at the NFT London from today until the end of October. Details on BFI’s website.