Japanese Diary - Japanese Lessons!

Since coming to Japan, I knew one of my main goals was to become better at Japanese, so of course the obvious thing I needed to do once I got here was join a language class. I was lucky enough to be introduced to some free, volunteer based Japanese lessons pretty quickly, and although I was originally prepared to pay for classes I'm so glad I have these now instead!

The format seems a little strange at first; the class is run by volunteers and is for learning both English and Japanese. So Japanese residents are there as well as foreigners, and mostly they are teamed up to talk to one another and learn from one another. Although, most of the volunteers do speak both languages, so in my case I was paired with a volunteer, Soma-Sensei, and she teaches me a little more formally (print outs from work books and kanji drills etc.). It's pretty good, especially since she used to be a teacher before. She also kind of chose me, as she loves England, which is cool. She lived there for a couple of years, in Reading too! So she was really excited when I said I lived near there (even her email address is her old Reading Postcode!). As well as that though, every other week there are slight changes to the format, where people are asked to form small groups and talk about a specific subject etc. which is great from a getting to know new people side, as well as being forced to communicate with people who may not share English as a language!

In all, I think these lessons are great for me! I'm already learning a lot, and the chance to talk to natives who are really interested in talking to me, as well as talking to other Japanese learners at a similar level to me is really helping me to cement concepts such as grammar patterns, which I struggle with! Now to just cram vocabulary in my own time and I'll be good... eventually. I really want to aim for N4 in December, maybe I can do it! (Or not...)

This is kind of a short one, but I thought it was an important thing to talk about, if you know where to look then finding quality language lessons is possible!

But for now, またね〜 From Osaka

My Time in Japan, Part 1!

So, is everyone ready to hear about my amazing adventure in Japan? For those unaware already, this past summer I travelled to Yokohama in Japan to study at Yokohama Design College, where I attended Japanese language and culture lessons for one month! I had the most amazing time of my life, despite the humidity, typhoons and bugs! I met some amazing friends, ate some amazing food, had some amazing experiences and brought back a load of amazing souvenirs!

Day 0 in Japan: So long, England! See you in a month! #travelling #japan #adventure

A photo posted by Jazz Thornton (@roverandomness) on Jul 7, 2014 at 4:15am PDT

The flight was an insane 12 hours... I was pretty lucky to get a direct flight though! I think I watched the lego movie twice, and slept some, also made friends with the guy sat next to me which definitely made it more bearable! Funny story, in the lobby before boarding we were both taking selfies with the plane and laughing at each other, and it just so happened that on a plane of 500 people we ended up being sat next to one another!

Day 1 in Japan: Well, I made it! #japan #travelling #adventure

A photo posted by Jazz Thornton (@roverandomness) on Jul 7, 2014 at 7:21pm PDT

The only other event of the flight though, a much less enjoyable sudden ear pain that I had gotten... I had been suffering with an ear infection prior to flying out that I thought I had gotten over, apparently I hadn't and it turns out that the next week of my life, no matter how amazing in Japan, was going to be incredibly painful. I'm still mega grateful to Robbie though (The guy I was sat next to!) as he managed to get me some painkillers and checked I was alright throughout the flight! Once we landed, I had a few hours to wait for my lift from the airport, and Robbie had a couple of hours till his conecting flight to Okinawa, so we had a nice breakfast (dinner? Lunch? Time zone confusion) together, I went to 'bagel and bagel'! It was sad when we had to part, and I still regret not getting some contact details to keep in touch since :(

Day 2 in Japan: Today I went exploring Yokohama, my accommodation is right next to a 24 hour mcdonalds... Also went to the Pokemon centre and got a new phone case! #japan #travelling #adventure

A photo posted by Jazz Thornton (@roverandomness) on Jul 7, 2014 at 3:50am PDT

After settling into my fairly quaint student accommodation all by myself, I decided to start exploring Japan immediately! I was super lucky, actually, that through this very blog I managed to meet a fellow Brit (Infact, the only other English person on the same course) before we both left for Japan! I met with Nikki for the very first time this day in Japan, as well as Svilen from Bulgaria. And these were just the first of some amazing international friends I found. Together, we explored the main centre of Yokohama, including the pokemon center! This was my first of many trips to this and other pokemon centers whilst I was in Japan, but this was the time that I got my AMAZING phone case! I also found that my accommodation was near a 2 hour McDonalds, which I ended up frequenting...

Day 3 in Japan: Today was the first day of school! We had a placement rest which was difficult and then orientation but that was it for today. After a few of us went to look around some shops and on my way home I may have stopped at mcdonalds... I have a new respect for foreign students, ordering mcdonalds in another language is hard! #japan #travelling #adventure #mcdonalds

A photo posted by Jazz Thornton (@roverandomness) on Jul 7, 2014 at 10:35am PDT

I think the caption for this day pretty much sums it up, the placement test was extremely long though, and some bits were so simple whilst others were complex, there wasn't much of a middle ground.

Days 4 and 5 in Japan: oops I forgot to photo yesterday, sorry! Yesterday was the first Japanese lesson, I think it was too easy for me though! I also had to go doctors yesterday boo! Today however was Mount Fuji, and Fuji-Q highland Theme Park! That roller coaster was crazy! We went on it first :p #japan #travelling #adventure #fujisan

A photo posted by Jazz Thornton (@roverandomness) on Jul 7, 2014 at 7:19am PDT

Day 4, my first Japanese lesson, which I was late too, as I had to go to the doctors first thing that morning. I think I should make my experience of being ill in Japan into its own post as there was a lot going on around it. It was exciting to start my first lessons though although the class was much too easy (though that was improved on in later lessons). Mount Fuji day and Fuji-Q Highland were something else though. I had already been to Mount Fuji before, the first time I'd been to Japan, but that was almost 6 years ago now! This time was just as busy with tourists, school coaches and day trips as I remembered though! It was a shame that it was such a cloudy day, when we arrived at the rest stop we couldn't see any of the peak at all, but there are so many shops and shrines up there that we still had plenty to do, I started off my collection of kit kats that day, with mount Fuji strawberry Cheesecake flavour. There are none left now. Fuji Q was pretty intense, our tickets included 4 free rides on whatever we wanted, I actually only ended up using 3 I think, as my ear infection was so painful I couldn't go on more rollercoasters, but I did make my first stop the "FUJIYAMA, the "KING OF COASTERS," which boasts world-class specs, including a maximum speed of 130 km/h (81 mph), a maximum drop of 70 m (230 ft.), and a maximum height of 79 m (259 ft.)" which was so incredible I could have done it 15 times in a row... There was also EVANGELION WORLD, which I was so excited about! Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of my favourite animes of all time, though I did get majorly freaked out by the giant life-size Unit 01 head going berserk, the gift shop for that was also a thing of beauty!


Theres more to come on my adventures in Japan, I thought separating it out would help with the sheer amount, but the more I think about tit the more I want to share and talk about! It's also maing me incredibly nostalgic, and now all I know is I have to make it back to Japan sometime! 'Til next time~ またね〜

久しぶり！(Long time no see!)

Well hello everyone! It has been a long time, hasn't it?

Seems I got so caught up in things I rather started to neglect this blog again... I even have so many unpublished drafts that a lot of them are a little outdated now which is a shame!

A lot has happened in these few months though, most notably, my month in Japan (Which, as expected, completely flew by!) so really I have an awful lot to talk about on here, and hopefully I can get back into the habit of blogging again, though I now have a completely full time job! I have decided to aim for fortnightly blog posts, which I hope will be achievable, though I haven't set a day just yet as my days off are actually quite sporadic, though I'm anticipating that it will be Fridays.

So, maybe you are wondering what I got up to in Japan? I actually kept a daily instagram whilst I was there, with little stories of what I got up to, so hopefully my next few blogs will be talking a bit about that and the sort of things I got upto in Yokohama. I'm also going to work on a few drafts that aren't outdated to mix things up a bit, hopefully I can keep motivated this time, so keep an eye out for me!

'Til next time~ またね〜

Yokohama, and Yokohama Design College

こんばんは、みんな！

I wanted to talk a little about where I am planning on staying and studying when I visit Japan this summer! I've talked a little about Yokohama city before, but not in great detail, and I think I've only briefly mentioned the school I will be studying at, Yokohama Design College! 

I found out about this college through gogonihon.com, a site I was originally looking at to do their own summer course, and potential year-long Japanese course at one of the many schools they are linked with, and when looking through all the potential language schools I could go to, Yokohama Design College really caught my eye.

I didn't actually use Go Go Nihon to book my place on the summer course though, I actually got into contact with their international correspondent to ask a few questions about the course, and when I was finally ready (after she answered all my questions) she booked my place on the course, and sorted out my accommodation for me! Now, although I haven't seen the accommodation, it is a single flat in student accommodation, so I won't have to share a room with someone I don't know (and potentially don't share a language with) but I should still be around some of the other summer students should I make friends! I have been told the flat is 5 stops/20 minutes away from the college, I don't have the address yet though and I'm actually uncertain whether that is by train or bus, haha!

As you may be able to tell from the name, Yokohama Design College is not just a language school, but also an art college. Attending an art college now, and being as interested in illustration and other artistic subjects as I am, this was a big factor into my division to study at this college. As part of the summer course, language students get the chance to join in with some of the design lessons going on in the rest of the college. This includes subjects like badge making, illustration, manga techniques and translation, and I'm actually really looking forward to trying some arty stuff out. There are also Japanese culture lessons scattered in through the language lessons, and they include things like shodo (Japanese calligraphy), a tea ceremony and trips to Japanese temples and shrines, as well as a trip to disneyland and the sky tree that are listed on the itinerary! I don't know if I'm actually mostly excited for Disneyland now!

I will be in Japan for a little over a month, I intend to leave England on the 19th of July, and Leave Japan on the 23rd of August, even though the simmer course runs from the 22nd or July till the 15th August. I wanted to give myself a day or so to adjust when I arrived, and possibly find out how to reach the college, and I thought an extra week after I've finished to do some touristy things would be a perfect idea!

I'm really excited and terrified actually, and some of the things I am worried about are completely stupid (like, what do I do about cutlery and plates when I get there?!). This will not only be my first time living alone, but also my first time travelling abroad alone and I'm not going to know anybody at all.

I am glad I chose to stay in Yokohama for this trip. The more I research the area and watch videos etc. the more I think it was the perfect choice for me. Although at some point I would like to go and stay around the Chūgoku/Hiroshima area, I think around the Kanto region is the kind of area I would be most comfortable in. I have always grown up near the sea for one, and Yokohama really reminds me of Plymouth, in South West England where I currently go to University.

Yokohama is a beautiful seaside port town, the first port and harbour built in Japan to accommodate foreigners bringing in trade from across the sea in the 1800's. Since then, the city has grown dramatically, and now is great tourist attraction for both foreigners and the Japanese. There are hundreds of shops and restaurants along the waterfront, and possibly my favourite bit, Cosmo World, a theme park on the waters edge that boasts the worlds second largest ferris wheel (which is also the worlds largest clock!). I don't know if I will be too afraid to go on the wheel (certainly I will be by myself) but theres also a roller coaster and various other attractions that I am sure I will be visiting. The other great thing about Yokohama is the proximity to Tokyo! An hour on the train and you can be in central Tokyo, and exploring Tokyo is definitely something I am looking forward to a lot.

I hope my strange ramblings have made Yokohama and the design college sound like idea places to visit and study; I am certainly looking forward to going and I just wanted to share my excitement with you all!

Enjoy this cute tourism video I found of Yokohama! Till next time, またね〜

Kinda irresponsible of me...

I appear to have taken a very long and very unexpected hiatus, and for any readers who actually read, for that I am very very sorry!

A lot has happened in the last few months, hopefully over the next few days/weeks I will write up a whole load of posts to document everything evenly.

Probably the most important thing being however, I have been accepted into the summer school at Yokohama design college! All fees are paid and ready to go! I will make a much more detailed post about this at some point, but I just thought I should start now trying to get back into blogging! I have a whole load of things I want to talk about so hopefully I can make it pretty regular again!

'Til next time~ またね〜

Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu!

So yesterday I had my first session of Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu, or Ninjutsu! I have really wanted to get into some kind of martial arts for a while now, and this one seemed like such an interesting one to practice! I've never really been interested in karate or those kind of common martial arts that I know a lot of people do, not because I'm awkward or anything, but I know a few people who do them and I never wanted to be the one who was less good at it because I started late! 

What is Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu?

The Bujinkan, or "Divine Warrior House" is the Martial Art system bought to life by Dr Masaaki Hatsumi the current soke of 9 authentic Japanese Ryu. "Martial School". Within these schools, we get a complete self protection system, that is as effective now, as it was all those years ago on the battlefields of Japan.

Soke Hatsumi has spent his life both studying and teaching the arts passed down to him from his teacher, Toshitsugu Takamatsu. Hatsumi has travelled the world to pass on his knowledge so that we all can get to no the true art, and the very essence of Ninjutsu.

My first session was really great, I had so much fun and I am looking forward to going back next week! I'm going to buy my gi next week and hopefully some tabi soon. My arms are so sore though, I guess I'm going to be covered in bruises for the next few months at least...

I need to try and get my head around all the terms too!

At the end of the lesson, everyone kneels, bows and claps and recites this with sensei:

[ 四拳 波羅蜜 大光明 ] しけんはらみつだいこうみょう

 Followed by どもありがとうご ます.

The Things I want to do...

It's always important in your life, to have a plan for the future. Until a few weeks ago, I had no plan, no idea what I wanted to do, and I feel like I wasted so much time trying to pretend I did. I'm not saying it's bad if you don't know what you want to do yet, but everyone always wants you to know, and I think I kind of panicked and went to University because I thought it was the right thing to do. I was kind of interested in Photography when I started, and I am grateful for all of the experience I actually have gained in the field (I think I can take a pretty picture now!) but all the course really taught me was that I don't want to be a photographer. I found the stuff I was good at and the stuff I was bad at and the stuff I liked and the stuff I didn't, but I only really got interested in photography in the year before I started my course. There are loads of thing that are just passing interests. Maybe I would have continued photography as a hobby anyway, who knows? All I know now is I don't want to be a photographer and I don't want a career in photography. I like editing, but that's different and I am probably better off doing it on my own anyway, my degree doesn't even really teach it!

I have one year left, the final dissertation year, so there's no point in me quitting now. I'm probably going to pass the year, I know what to do I just don't enjoy it any more, but at least I'll have a degree. But anyway, the point of this is I know what I want to do with my life now.

I was inspired when I found this website, gogonihon.com. I have always wanted to live in Japan. There have been fluctuations of what to do and why but the one constant has always been to go. It started with me considering JET, that was what I planned to do for quite a few years. Then I just went through different phases of why I wanted to go, and then I kind of gave up hope. I thought there would be no way I'd be able to do it. But one thing I never considered was to study! Somehow! After discovering the Go Go Nihon site, I realised as long as I could get the money together, it is completely possible that I would be able to go for a year!

I have a friend, Emily, (She can be found here!) and she is going to University to study Asia Pacific Studies. Her third year is a placement in Japan, and I am so jealous, it's all I've ever wanted, and I wish I had discovered this before I started mine (but I also had a thing about not wanting to move immediately to the other side of the country). She has really inspired me too, being able to talk to someone, physically talk to them when they want similar things to you can get you so motivated! It was also inspiration from her to start this blog! Reading hers just made me want to write, even though I don't think I'm very good, except at rambling!

The school I have fallen in love with in Japan is Yokohama Design College. At the moment, I am saving up to go to their summer school next summer 2014, then in a few years when I have more money I will be applying for a 1-year long Japanese course at the same place. This is actually my dream, and it looks like it's finally coming true!

So this is really the long back-story behind my blog, if you read it all, thank you so much and I hope I didn't bore you too much! There are going to be a variety of different styles of posts on this blog as I have said before, it's a really personal thing for me but telling people about it makes me happy, so thank you, reader, for being involved!

'Til next time~ またね〜

The First Steps to Learning Japanese! - Lesson 1 - Kana!

So, sometimes the first steps in things are the hardest, but personally, my experience with Japanese says that's not true :p

I has been a long time since I first started learning Japanese, and I have had a lot of breaks and off-time in between, which I now sincerely regret but, that's all in the past, now I'm determined to never give up! And here's the first of my mini lessons to keep myself motivated!

Of course, the most basic step in learning a foreign language is getting to know the alphabet they write in. Japanese actually has three alphabets (Hirigana, Katakana and Kanji!), and this can seem really intimidating at first to beginners but never fear! Two of them are actually phonetic which makes them easy once you've learnt the characters, and they are Hiragana ひらがな and Katakana カタカナ! They basically consist of all the same sounds, 48 different ones in total, although a couple aren't used often in morden Japanese any more.

The sounds of the alphabets are actually quite simple, once you get around the pronounciation differences of the letters!

There are 5 main vowel sounds, which are A, I, U, E and O.

'A' is pronounced as in 'hat'

'I' is pronounced as in 'ski'

'U' is pronounced as in 'moo'

'E' is pronounced as in 'bet'

and 'O' is pronounced as in 'go'

There is also the sound 'N', which is hardest to describe but it's a one off character that's like a 'nnhhh' such as the beginning of 'never'.

And after those first 5 sounds, all the other characters just have a different consonant on the front, for example, the hiragana and katakana alphabets, along side their romaji (Romaji is the Japanese word for the Western or Roman alphabet, so simply, Japanese spelled out in English!

-->

あ	い	う	え	お		ア	イ	ウ	エ	オ
A	I	U	E	O		A	I	U	E	O
か	き	く	け	こ		カ	キ	ク	ケ	コ
KA	KI	KU	KE	KO		KA	KI	KU	KE	KO
さ	し	す	せ	そ		サ	シ	ス	セ	ソ
SA	SHI	SU	SE	SO		SA	SHI	SU	SE	SO
た	ち	つ	て	と		タ	チ	ツ	テ	ト
TA	CHI	TSU	TE	TO		TA	CHI	TSU	TE	TO
な	に	ぬ	ね	の		ナ	ニ	ヌ	ネ	ノ
NA	NI	NU	NE	NO		NA	NI	NU	NE	NO
は	ひ	ふ	へ	ほ		ハ	ヒ	フ	ヘ	ホ
HA	HI	FU	HE	HO		HA	HI	FU	HE	HO
ま	み	む	め	も		マ	ミ	ム	メ	モ
MA	MI	MU	ME	MO		MA	MI	MU	ME	MO
や		ゆ		よ		ヤ		ユ		ヨ
YA		YU		YO		YA		YU		YO
ら	り	る	れ	ろ		ラ	リ	ル	レ	ロ
RA	RI	RU	RE	RO		RA	RI	RU	RE	RO
わ				を		ワ				ヲ
WA				WO		WA				WO
ん						ン
N						N

As you may have noticed, there are a few minor differences in pronunciation with a couple of characters. Shi, Chi, Tsu and Fu don't fit in the pattern, but they do lead to easier pronunciation of some words this way!

It's also important to point out that the RA line (RA, RI, RU, RE, RO) aren't exactly pronounced as RAAAAHHH, but the R is more subtle and rolled, halfway between an R and an L. Maybe if people like my lessons, I might make a video about pronunciation!

In my opinion, it makes the most sense to start by learning hiragana. Then, once you've got the sounds down, katakana seems so much simpler, as it can be tricky trying to do both at the same time!

Hiragana is generally used for most Japanese words, spelled out phonetically of course. It can be used for entire words and sentences, or intertwined with Kanji, the third alphabet that I think I might save for another lesson! Words like Kawaii かわいい, Konnichiwa こんいちは and Sakura さくら can be written in Hiragana. Katakana, though sometimes used for Japanese words, is most commonly used for foreign loan-words, like cola コーラ, ice cream アイスクリーム　and cake ケーキ and also foreign names (my own name, Jazmin ジャズミン ) and onomatopoeia in manga ( キラキラ (kirakira) = sparklesparkle etc.)

Kanji is tough. I won't go into detail here, but I will give you a brief outline now, for those who are curious! There are thousands of kanji characters, borrowed from Chinese, and usually a single Kanji or a compound of two (but occasionally more) signifies one word. They range from super simple 日 to really complicated looking 語, and most have multiple meanings and readings. This probably sounds really daunting and scary now, but that wasn't my intent! I just wanted to prepare people!

I hope you have enjoyed this, the first step to learning Japanese, and my first attempt at writing a lesson! Hopefully next time I will have a few followers to suggest things, if you like what you've read here, please do leave a comment! 

I hope my next post will include some useful learning resources and maybe a little vocabulary!

Have some adorable charts to help you out! One you get the hang of the characters, it teaches you some cute words too!

And you can even download them as PDF's to print out at home by going to these links (Here and here!)and clicking this: PDFをダウンロード