Ask our reporter in Japan!

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No! I don't mind, it's very interesting. Thankyou :D

I know in this country there's always a big thing about leaving your dog in a car in summer but you don't often hear about baby's!!
 
Chris said:
Hope thats helped. I do tend to rattle on a lot- I haven't spoken/written English much lately except for here, so when I get the chance I go off on one! Sorry!
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Yes i agree with Miaka-chan, you can talk as much as you want because it really is very interesting. I can't believe that people do that so much (kill there kids), i think thats the kind of thing that would make big news here.

What you were saying in your last post about not having spoken/written english for a while brings me too my question.
How often do talk and write in English now?
and i heard that learning to write in Japanese is very difficult, how easily did you learn and how long did it take you
 
Hi Chris, this is my first q for you and I hope you can help me out.

I simple need to know where this place is:

Japan Vipassana Centre - Iwakamioku, Hatta, Mizuho-cho, Funai-gun, Kyoto

The only reason I ask is because I don't know if it's one giant address, or there are multiple centres in these different places?!
 
Japan Vipassana Centre:
It is just one long address, there is only one centre. I just checked the maps on Yahoo Japan. It's in a pretty remote area :shock: In Kyoto, very close to the border or Kyoto-fu and Hyogo-ken.
This is the address in Japanese: (hope you can see it on here)
〒622-0324京都府船井郡瑞穂町八田岩上奥

English/Japanese:
I'm on a break from my job at the moment- I'm getting a new job next month so I took a holiday- I'm going to France next Tuesday (19th) for 9 days and having a job interview in Paris. So, I haven't spoken ANY English in about 2 weeks. I e-mail my mother every few days but thats about it. The only other time I write English is on here :)

Writing Japanese is really not all that hard, it didn't take me long. I picked it up from e-mailing my wife, family, and friends. Handwriting Kanji in Japanese is a little more difficult. Like most Japanese who are in their 20's to mid 30's, I was brought up in the digital age- we use mobile phones and computers to write more than using our hands. So, I can read more Japanese than I can actually handwrite but, I can write ANYTHING using WP, computers, mobile phone. This has become a problem because it has caused a deterioration in the level of handwriting skills in most people.
Schoolchildren still have to learn a lot of Kanji at school and university, and the older generation, mid-to-late 30's onwards are not as badly affected. The "danger group" are those in their 20's mainly because they were at the right age for the "mobile phone boom" that is still happening now.

I really need to practice handwriting Kanji more, but computers are a lot faster :wink:
Writing is not all that hard if you know the basic rules, basicly in what order do you write a kanji. Once you know the "kakijun" it's a LOT easier and your writing looks nicer.

Actually the main reason I got into reading Manga was to practice reading kanji. If its a manga aimed at younger people (i.e. not hentai or ultra violent stuff) you have "furigana" above the kanji, so if you don't know how to read the kanji and you can read hiragana and katakana (easy as p*ss) you just read the furigana and remember it.
I watch a lot of Korean dramas and movies too (yes, I am sadly caught up in the "Hanryuu"- see my personal gallery from my profile on the members list, I think I'm on Page 3 of the list). I only speak a few words in Korean, so I have to read the subtitles. It's good practice :D
 
Going on a jaunt to Paris for a few days, for business and pleasure.
Be back on the 27th.
PLEASE leave me a load of questions to answer when I get back :!:
Love and hugs to all!
 
Thanks for you last information Chris, i found it very interesting, i was wondering though concerning you being able to read and speak Japanese fluently, and i'm not sure if it's a bit of a weird question, but it's the kind of thing i will think about for ages. Now that you've been living in Japan a long time, when someone speaks to you in Japanese or when you read japanese do you think of the words in english in your head or japanese, i'm not sure if that makes sense.

Also i was wondering, we all know the Japanese are famous for sleeping on the floor, but not all do. Is it a matter a tradition or money (as in a bed can cost alot of money), and has bad backs ever been an issue in Japan because of this....because i know one time quite a few years ago i had to sleep on a matress on the floor and it had caused me quite alot of back pain as i remember.
I think my question always seem quite random
 
Had a very cool time in France! Went to see my friend who lives in Alsace- she's VERY famous and makes the BEST jams in the WORLD! Also met another friend in Paris who's also MEGA famous in the world of food and had a groovy time. I brought her a lot of fruits and veg from Japan, that you don't see in Europe. Her husband is the boss of my best-friend, and also MEGA MEGA famous- Vogue Magazine called him "the Piccasso of Patisserie".
Also, went on jaunts to Nancy and Strasbourg. Feels great to be back in Japan though. Went with ANA, and had the most boring 25 hours of my life (13h going and 12h coming back) since the movies they had on were all the kind that I'd rather deep-fry my tender areas than watch.
I leave Japan for a few days and all hell breaks loose. Appologising to China AGAIN (what is it now... the... er... 13th time?!). China piss me off, bloody hippocritical country. They go on about Japans wartime aggression and the school textbooks, but seem to FORGET to tell their own people about the tens of millions of their own people they killed in the cultural revolution, and lets not get onto the topic of Tibet shall we.
Then, there was the train crash in Amagasaki. Can you believe, that almost as soon as I arrived back in the country, my old job called me up and asked me to go there (for almost double money since I no-longer worked for them so I would get free-lance pay) and do translating for the UK/US media. Was a bit disturbing to say the least.
The first carriage was originally 20 metres long- it got crushed to just 7 metres :!: There was a bit of a strange story of a girl who was going to meet her boyfriend and was about to get on the train a few stations before the crash when an old woman grabbed her arm and yelled at her that she shouldn't get on the train, and dragged her away. A few minutes later she heard the anouncement that there had been a bad accident and when she turned to look for the old woman, she had disappeared :shock:

I only got back home yesterday- I'd got back to Tokyo on Wednesday :cry:
Anyway...

Japanese:
When I read/talk/hear Japanese, I don't translate it in my head anymore. When I very first started I did, but for the last 4 years or so I haven't. Most of the time whan I think to myself or have dreams it's in Japanese. I guess it's because I use it all day every day.
It's one of the best ways to become fluent. For example, when you look at a dog and think "inu", inu = inu is better than thinking, inu = dog. Sometimes when I talk to my mother or friends back in the UK I have trouble using words. One time I remember is when I was talking to my mother about a business trip I was going on to Okinawa, I wanted to say "domestic flight", but I couldn't remember the words, so I just said "kokunaibin". Then after a rather understandable "you what?", I had to try to explain what I meant by saying "you know, one of them planes thats the opposite of international".

Floor sleeping:
Many people still do sleep on the floor, but not straight on the floor, they put down a mattress. I've only ever done it once, at a hotel. It's not really to do with beds being more expensive, rather to do with space. Many people live in small appartments or one-room appartments. There's not enough room to have a propper bed, so they use a futon because they can put it away after using it and so free up a lot space.

Your questions are great Charter, keep 'em coming :D
 
Chris said:
There was a bit of a strange story of a girl who was going to meet her boyfriend and was about to get on the train a few stations before the crash when an old woman grabbed her arm and yelled at her that she shouldn't get on the train, and dragged her away. A few minutes later she heard the anouncement that there had been a bad accident and when she turned to look for the old woman, she had disappeared :shock:
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Insert Twilight Zone music here - creepy!

OK! I've got one of those strange anime related questions but life related!
I've always wondered about cram schools. If a child goes to school all day and then attends cram school, what do they learn at cram school that doesn't interefere with lessons at school, making school boring?
Is cram school for stuff they don't learn at school? or just for revising what they learnt at school? it's just that you see different kids from different schools there and surely they can't be revising exactly the same things!! (Hope that makes sense?).
 
Cram schools:
They're mainly for learning a lot more and deeper than what they learn at school. For example, if you're not good at maths or history etc... you can go to a crap school and learn more there. Many schools have a system where one teacher teaches only a few students (8 at the most, I think). The kids sit at usually individual desks and the teacher sets them work- from textbooks and stuff, and goes around to answer questions/check work/give advice. Some cram schools, "juku" in Japanese, have special courses that children can take from primary schools onwards that will give them the correct curriculum and training for them to get into the big universities. The curriculum taught in normal schools and in private schools is almost always not enough to get into the famous uni's, so the kids go to juku.
Japanese universities are VERY hard to get INTO and rather easy to pass the degree's (the opposite of in the UK). When I worked at a juku I tried some of the university entrance exams' English tests for the 3 biggest uni's. I think I got about 70% :shock: They're REALLY HARD!!!!!! Last year on a TV show they got 3 English professors from uni's in America, they got 58%, 65% and 77% or something like that and said "why can Japanese people pass these tests to get into university but can't speak English?!?!?!".
Juku's do a lot of good work to help kids pass these almost impossible entrance exams, they also have tests for changing from Primary, Middle, and High schools too. So, kids who go to juku's are a lot better equipped for the tests. They study like crazy too. Most kids I used to know used to start school at 08:30 or something and straight after school(15:00?) went to juku and left at 21:00 :!:
I could never do that, Jesus, I used to be home as quick as possibleand used to hardly ever do homework! I remember a teacher asking why I didn't do it one time and replying "Because I was watching The Mysterious Cities of Gold". She wasn't impressed.
 
Chris said:
you can go to a crap school
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I'm assuming that was a spelling mistake :lol:

Thankyou Chris, it's all clear now (as mud anyway :wink: ), no seriously thankyou. Makes a lot more sense now, it was always the braniac Ami in Sailor Moon than went to cram school and if she wanted to be a doctor, I guess that's why, University and all that!!
I was dreadful with homework as well, but my excuse was I had to get a train at 7.45am and I didn't get home until 5pm, so I had other things I wanted to do (I went to a Grammar school - before they were nearly all closed down!!).
 
Wow , I knew education was a big deal over in Japan , but how kids stick to such a tough regime is beyond me really.
I was utterly useless at school throughout , particularly at high-school I rarely did my homework.
 
to Miaka-chan:
Yes it was a spelling mistake. I've been so tired and these last few days have been hell :cry: That last post took me about an hour to write- I kept writing words in the wrong order, e.g.- work= wokr, tests= etsst and about 60 others :cry: I need another holiday :wink: If I can get some time off later this year I'm going to go to Hong Kong (one of my friends is head chef at a restaurant there) or Korea (my love of Korean TV drama's has a pull on me- I feel like a middle-aged woman).
I need large amounts of absinthe, vodka, and chocolate I think.

education:
Yeah, they do have it a bit too extreme don't they. But, when I have kids I'd want them to go to juku. It's hard but most kids seem to enjoy it. Although, any child born of me and my wife would probably dispise study. When I was at college I used to not bother going most of the time and used to hang around in the central library and read books all day; and my wife used to go off to art galleries instead of going to classes at uni.
 
You seem to be very well acquainted, and acknowledged in your work Chris.

You know i think i'm the worst out of all of you as i'm what you would call a high school drop out. I used to be good in class and with homework, but you know it's pretty hard to find motivation at school when your made to feel alienated by both the teachers and your fellow class'mates', and all your friends turn into townies. The more and more time i spent there the less i cared and the less i actually went to class.
I don't think i would do very well in Japanese education, but maybe i would because at least the teachers wouldn't try and be everybodies drinking buddy
 
I can be quite hardworking once kickstarted, it's quite funny actually because I gain a reputation for being 'dedicated' but actually I just work to get it of the way as soon as possible (although admittedly last week finishing my project report was a bit of a last minute thing, though not as bad as a friend of mine who wrote over half of the report the night before).

Chris, I have a few questions:
- What's the deal with large riding birds (e.g. chocobos) showing up so often in anime and games? Does the idea originate from anything particular in Japanese culture, or is just a case of writers/developers copying each other?
-Are horses rare in Japan? (just interested as my mum breeds horses)
- I saw something on Anime News Network about there being a manga adaptation of Kiddy Grade- have you seen/read any of what's been released?
 
I've been very lucky and to be honest, I've got to where I am, not from my education- as it's incredibly normal, no-degree etc...-, but from connections. I know loads of people who have a good deal of sway in various areas.

Chocobo's etc..
I'm not sure there's anything to do with Japanese culture. The only ledgend I can remember with a bird in it is "suru no ongaeshi" which is about a Crane. It's probably just about making something cute :?

Horses:
You don't see many horses here- probably because I live in the Tokyo area :? Horse racing is very popular though, and if you go into the countyside there are a few places that have them, but not on a scale as in Europe.

Kiddy Grade:
I've seen the manga being sold in a few used book stores before for a few hundred Yen, but I've never read any. I think they're published by Kadokawa. If you take a look on:
http://www.kadokawa.co.jp/
Type in the name in katakana, and you should see them there. However, the site does say that they're out of print.
They do have the Kiddy Grade VS1 and VS2, Reverse, and Conclusion in stock though.
 
Hi! Chris
I know Natsu means summer and Haru means spring but could you tell me what autumn and winter are please?
Thankyou :D
 
If i was to say rubbish in japanese, as in something is rubbish, would it be gomi or dasaku, or would that only refer to rubbish as in litter
 
Autumn = Aki
Winter = Fuyu

There is also another way of saying the seasons:
Spring = haru = shun
Summer = natsu = ka
Autumn = aki = shuu
Winter = fuyu = tou

When you say, "the four seasons" it's "shiki" (4= shi, season= kisetsu/ki). You can also say "all seasons" or "all year round"as "shunkashuutou"


Rubbish:
Gomi (rubbish/trash/garbage) is OK, you could also use:
kuzu- " ningen no kuzu"- the scum of society
heta- "omae no Nihongo wa heta da ne!"- your Japanese is crap, isn't it!
"Heta" means: unskillfull, poor, bad, etc...

Another word that is close to Dassai (un-cool) is "kakkou warui/Kakkowaru!"
I wouldn't use the word "Dasaku" as it's hardly ever used by young people- In fact I have never heard anyone under 35 use that word :shock: Most people use Dassai now. I found dasaku in my Jap/Eng dictionary (for some strange reason, my uncle back in England sends me one every year or so, even though I don't nead one :roll: ) Re-inforcing my belief that all dictionaries are written by 70 year old's who have been out of touch with society for the last 20 years.

You could use the ending "-ppoi", which is similar to putting a "-y" at the end of a word in English.
E.g.
"gomippoi"- like rubbish (rubbishy)
So you can also use:
hetappoi, kuzupppoi, etc... A good example of this that you'll probably find in a dictionary is:
"Iroppoi"= Sexy

Argh, I did my rattling on thing again :oops:

Any more questions? :wink:
 
Chris said:
Autumn = Aki
Winter = Fuyu
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Thanks Chris! We don't mind your rambling, it's interesting, but I doubt I'll remember much of it!!

Strange thing about the seasons, I have heard all of them, except winter, used as an anime character name (Wonder why that is!).
 
Thanks very much Chris, now i've just got to try my best to remember it.
One more thing, how do you pronounce "-ppoi", i always have trouble with pronunciation, and so i'm wondering how i should say those two 'p's together?

Oh and another thing, you said that when you went on holiday to France you took your friend some fruits and vegetables that we don't have over here, what did you take, if you don't mind me asking
 
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