This blog (or 日記 if you will) is intended to chronicle my experience in Japan at the Yamasa Institute in Okazaki, Japan from July to August, 2012. I have always wanted to have a journal, though, so I will try to get into a habit of writing frequently about the things important to me in my life. Besides, I plan on returning to Yamasa to participate in the AIJP after I get out of the Navy! These are the Espelancer Chronicles.
Erica is also blogging about the trip, and you should totally check it out. It is The Marvelous Misadventures of Schneewittchen link over on the sidebar.
I sure did pick a really bad time of year to fly to Japan, but it really couldn't be helped (I had to work around the Navy's schedule and Erica's summer break). Regardless, both mine and Erica's plane tickets to Nagoya, Japan are paid for, and there is no more turning back now. I knew international flights were expensive, but after a grand total of $4650 (2 people) for the flight alone, I am really feeling it. The flight alone costs more than our tuition at Yamasa! On July 16, 2012, I will be flying around the world to spend a month studying the Japanese language at the Yamasa Institute in Okazaki, Japan.
Lanterns floating down river during the Bon Festival
The reason why the flight is so expensive, other than it being the busiest vacation month of the year, is because of the Bon Festival. The Bon Festival is a Buddhist tradition in which Japanese families get together to welcome and celebrate the spirits of their ancestors. The date of when it is celebrated varies from region to region, but it lasts 3 days and is celebrated around July 15 (close to my departure) or August 15 (close to my return). I'm not sure what holiday to compare it to in the States, but I would say it is most like Thanksgiving since families get together and employers give everyone time off for the holiday. I will have the opportunity to experience the Bon Festival just before I leave (it is August 12 - 15 in Okazaki), so I will do another write-up then.
All of my preparations are complete with just 6 weeks left before I leave, and I can hardly wait. Really, this trip is going to give me a taste of what my life will be like after the Navy, since I intend to return to Yamasa as a full time AIJP student after I separate from the Navy.
In this segment I will divulge upon you some things that I have learned about the Japanese language -- basically short little lessons from one student to another. I might try to make these posts a regular thing.
Now, I am in the Navy, and being in the Navy means that I go out to sea quite a lot. One usually does not have a whole lot of privacy on the ship, and there are not really any places to sit down and quietly study, so I usually end up studying my Japanese in an open lounge where any passerby can see what I am doing. Now, very few people study Japanese in the Navy (the people that I have met have all either been stationed in Japan for a long period of time, have a Japanese wife, or in many cases both), so it naturally piques the interest of the casual pedestrian walking through the ship's corridors when they see me studying. I usually get a variety of responses from the ignorant "How do I say this (insert bit of American slang) in Japanese)?" to legitimate interest in studying the Japanese language. I am going to cater to those who actually want to dive into learning Japanese.
Learning Japanese is just like anything else -- it may seem difficult to get into, but if you take it milestone by milestone anyone can learn. The biggest obstacle I think most people have is getting started, especially if you are forced to study on your own due to lack of other options. The first skill any Japanese language student needs to acquire in order to be successful is mastering ひらがな (hiragana) and カタカナ (katakana).
ひらがな (Hiragana) Chart -- Start here.
Written Japanese consists of 3 different writing systems. The characters that most people are familiar with is kanji. Kanji「漢字」are characters imported from the Chinese language, and they represent actual words and ideas. They are those tatoos you see people get because they "look cool", even though some of the time they have no idea what it means. You will need to learn kanji at some point, but don't worry about it in the very beginning.
The other 2 writing systems are completely phonetic. ひらがな is used in Japanese words, and any kanji can be expressed in ひらがな. カタカナ is used in words originating from foreign countries (such as any of the many English words incorporated into the Japanese language, like ハンバーガー), or for placing emphasis on words normally written in ひらがな. If you learned your ABC's as a child, you can learn ひらがな and カタカナ. It's only 46 characters. I posted a ひらがな reference chart above that teaches you how to write
each character. The best way to learn is to practice reading, writing,
and sounding the characters out.
美文字トレーニングＤＳ -- Great for writing practice
Good penmanship is a habit you want to get into sooner rather than later. Remember when you were learning your ABC's in grade school on that special paper with the huge lines and the dotted line in the middle? Take it slowly and deliberately. Follow the stroke order -- it will make your characters look a lot more balanced. Attention to detail pays off as well - get in the habit of ending your strokes correctly (pay attention to whether the stroke hooks, stops, or runs off as the pen is lifted). Also, Japanese characters are all designed to take up the same amount of space, unlike the English language, so use graphing paper to make a grid and try to keep all of your characters the same size. If you have a Nintendo DS, you can import a game called 「美文字（びもじ）トレーニング」 (Beautiful Letters Training). It is easy to use even with no knowledge of Japanese, and you can use it to practice not only ひらがな, but kanji too. It'll show you how to write each character and grade you on how well you write, as well as showing you how to correct your mistakes (you can usually figure out from the visual aid if you don't understand the Japanese). You can find it on Amazon used.
For reading, the best way to familiarize yourself with hiragana at first is using flash cards. Just get a stack of index cards, write the hiragana on one side and the romanization on the other, and practice. Repetition is the key here. You can also practice using online flash cards at this website. When you feel comfortable reading individual characters, try reading ひらがな at a few Japanese ひらがな-only websites (I have a few links at the end of the post).
Here is a video that has the ひらがな song. This will help you remember the ひらがな and how to pronounce each character. If you scroll over each character at this website it will sound out the character for you, as well. Practice pronouncing the character when you use your flash cards.
Well, that is a wrap for today's Japanese lesson. One last thing I would like to mention for iPhone users -- you can get an app that allows you to practice reading, writing, and pronouncing ひらがな and カタカナ called Kana Complete. It's pretty cheap (only $3) and portable, so you can practice wherever you go. Remember, perseverance is the key to accomplishing anything that is challenging -- がんばって！（Don't give up!)
Well, my blogging project here is already off to a rocky start, as I have not written in over 2 weeks! I am trying to get into the habit of writing routinely -- after all, I do not want to disappoint my 18 historical pageviews! Today I am going to talk about a Nintendo DS game that I recently imported.
Ni No Kuni DS's Packaging
Now, I heard about this game completely by accident. I am a fan of the JRPG, and usually games like this don't slip under my radar, but this one did. 二ノ国 (Ni No Kuni) is a game co-developed by Level 5 and Studio Ghibli. You may be familiar with Level 5 if you have ever played Dark Cloud or White Knight Chronicles, but the real name here is Ghibli. This is the first video game developed by the anime studio famous for cinematic masterpieces such as Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Ponyo, or any of their other 15 films, and there is just as much heart to be found here.
Furigana AND voice acting? OMG!
Other than Studio Ghibli being the name behind Ni No Kuni, I was also highly interested in importing this title in order to improve upon my Japanese. As you can see to the right, the text has furigana. For those of you not familiar with the Japanese language, furigana are the tiny hiragana (Japanese phonetic characters) written above the kanji (Chinese characters) that enable one to determine how the word is sounded out. This enables me to be able to look up unfamiliar kanji (of which there are many I do not know) in the dictionary directly, rather than counting the strokes and trying to find the kanji in my kanji reference book. Also, this game contains a significant amount of voice acting, which enables me to read along with the words as they are spoken. As you can see, playing video games can be a very effective tool for learning the Japanese language!
To say Magic Master is the most beautiful book I have ever seen packaged with a video game would be an understatement. It even trounces Working Design's ace hardcover full-color manuals for games such as Arc the Lad Collection or Lunar: Silver Star. It isn't just there for looks, either -- you actually need to reference it to play the game. It contains important things such as the spells you will need to use, a comprehensive bestiary detailing every enemy in the game, an full inventory and description of every item, beautifully detailed world and local maps, local legends and character backstories that breathe life into this vast world, recipes for the cooking system, and many more things. It has everything a player guide would have except for an actual walkthrough, and it is packaged with the game. For someone who cares much more about the box and manual than the game itself, Ni No Kuni is a dream come true for me.
Now, it goes without saying that such an extravagantly produced game is highly unlikely to ever be released in the United States, however that does not mean the game can't come to our shores! You see, there is also a Playstation 3 version of this game. It has the exact same story arc, except it was made completely from scratch with its own gameplay and beautiful HD graphics designed to imitate Ghibli's art style. The good news for anyone who is excited about this game in North America is that Namco Bandai has confirmed that an English version will be released sometime in early 2013.
Before you get too excited, though, you should know the most ironic thing about the PS3 version: Magic Master is referenced in-game and does not come as a physical copy. It is funny that the portable version gets a huge tome whereas the console version is completely digital.
I will leave you with the DS trailer that sold me on this game, as well as the official English trailer for the PS3 localization. I also promise to write more frequently -- after all, I really do want to have a quality Yamasa blog when I leave for Japan this summer!
To say Magic Master is the most beautiful book I have ever seen packaged with a video game would be an understatement. It even trounces Working Design's ace hardcover full-color manuals for games such as Arc the Lad Collection or Lunar: Silver Star. It isn't just there for looks, either -- you actually need to reference it to play the game. It contains important things such as the spells you will need to use, a comprehensive bestiary detailing every enemy in the game, an full inventory and description of every item, beautifully detailed world and local maps, local legends and character backstories that breathe life into this vast world, recipes for the cooking system, and many more things. It has everything a player guide would have except for an actual walkthrough, and it is packaged with the game. For someone who cares much more about the box and manual than the game itself, Ni No Kuni is a dream come true for me.