American Gaijin
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J-Pop vs K-Pop
I will not say that I am a huge fan of K-Pop, nor am I a huge fan of J-Pop, but I am more familiar with J-Pop than K-Pop. But I find myself very impressed with the K-Pop groups I have seen. The other day I saw a “Girls’ Generation” cover of “Dancing Queen” –…
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Why I study Japanese
A previous commenter, as seems to be the case a lot, got me thinking about why I study Japanese. In all truth, I am somewhat of a misanthrope. I’m not usually very fond of people. I am pretty good at interacting with people in a competent way, and I do not dislike everyone, but in…
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Why I Could Never be Japanese
A couple of weeks ago and a few posts ago, I wrote about a part of Japanese history and culture that really bothered me. Nothing in it was unfactual to the best of my knowledge, though I was perhaps a little harsher than… No. No I wasn’t. That was a topic that I was actually…
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Sudoku
I’ve been recently learning how to do sudoku puzzles, and it turns out that I’m really good at it with the right hints, and really bad at the harder ones otherwise. But I can’t help but to find some similarities between sudoku and the Japanese language. Both of them – particularly the harder sudoku –…
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Uncomfortable
Note to Japanese readers: if you are not prepared to accept a rather harsh criticism of your culture, please stop reading now. A couple of days ago, I learned about the behavior of the Japanese in the second world war, and it rather shocked me. I didn’t really understand why the Japanese were (and to…
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Japanese is Not a Straightforward Language
Every now and then I’ll hear someone say that Japanese is pretty straightforward. I’ve said that a couple of times, and in limited contexts, it’s true. The rules are pretty clear, and most of the time if you follow them you’ll do okay. See the catch in that sentence? “Most of the time.” Let me…
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Commitment
Learning any language, particularly Japanese, for most people is a major commitment. There are some people who seem to be able to pick up languages very quickly, and don’t hesitate to make sure you know that, but their tricks don’t work for everyone, and I’m pretty sure their knowledge is broad but shallow. But I…
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Complexity
One thing that many people don’t know about me is that I’m fairly competent on the piano. As with Japanese, I am only now learning exactly how much I don’t know in that discipline, but I can hold my own. If I really want to learn a piece, even if it’s difficult, I usually can. But…
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Hagibis and “Black Companies”
As I have said previously, there are many things to admire about Japanese culture, and quite a few things not to admire as well. I have always strove, in this blog and elsewhere, to look at Japan with an unflinching lack of bias – acknowledging the good, acknowledging the cultural differences that are legitimately morally…