Haunted Mirror

Today I am keeping a rolling blog, open to questions about Japan, in honor of the Tennou Heika.

I'll be posting answers to questions here in this entry, linking to other random About Japan posts I come up with today. Feel free to frolick in the comments.

Ready? Let's celebrate!

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A post on useful phrases below...
The second question of the day posed by Rosalee Luann.

And Chris Kastensmidt will start us off with questions for the morning:

"How do meals work in Japan? How many per day? How often do people eat out vs. at home? What are the typical meals?"

A fun cultural tidbit:
People will eat out for lunch a lot at a noodle shop. There are lots of little hole-in-the-wall or mom-and-pop shop noodle restaurants because its something you'll just step out with your friends to do at your favorite place.
I'm pretty sure some people tour other places revolving around the different noodle places they see.



"And another: do you know people who have studied Japanese later in life? How long does it take for someone to learn enough to hold a decent conversation? To understand a movie? To read a comic book?"

I knew of lots of "JETs" (exchange teachers), some who could carry on conversations because they'd decided to master Japanese. Otherwise, it was easy to let the Japanese use their English.
One man was very famous (Dan something...) because he spoke the nearby backwater city's dialect perfectly. He was making a living on television.

I think with immersion it could be about two years to a decent conversation. But then...it keeps on building, and language is one of those things. I peaked out the day we landed in the US for good.


What are your favorite parts of Japanese culture? I'm a video game guy, so I've always been fascinated by that part. I enjoy books and movies a lot (translated, of course). Which of those do you like and what other parts do you find interesting? How would you compare their output vs: The US, England, France, China?

My favorite part of Japanese culture are their temple gardens, the funky way they've integrated Western culture just as they integrated Chinese concepts and writing systems, and the way once the "Asian" filter is off they have such different faces, shades of brown hair and eyes.

I think they have a hold on horror movies for themselves, and they pretty much dominate the none DC/Marvel style comics world, as far as I can tell. Novels I'm not sure what the scene is. I've read a few, but the state of the art in the culture? I'm not sure.


Rosalee Luann asked, in my "sounis" community alert:
Ok, heres my question. What is the coolest thing you know about Japan that you want to tell all of us? :D


 I lived in a city that grew up basically when a lord was exiled after Sekigahara, a very important battle you may just see mentioned again sometime in your life if you ever read about Japan's history. The old city, the streets part of the actual feudal town as established by the Uesugi lords (blacksmith street, etc...) are Never Straight.
 That is, they go crookedy so no road goes directly into the heart of the town...where the castle was.
 I believe that in the castle I visited in Osaka (the museum Osaka Castle) the floorplan exhibited a similar tactic.

This was a standard practice, the unstraight streets so armies couldn't come at the castle easily.

 I was just reading a really good [in Japanese fashion=tragic] historical "fantasy" called Across the Nightengale Floor.
 Apparently there was also such a thing in Japan as a "nightengale floor" which was built so that everywhere you stepped on it, it made a note of some kind. This was a preventative measure, so that no one could cross it undetected.

 I think that's pretty cool stuff...

which sounds rather like a Japanese person's title, in a funny way...
What can I say? My experimentation with English has only multiplied since I lived among much Strange non-native speaking. ^_^


I'll probably add to this while I think of new ones, too, but for starters...
Onto Japanese Phrases to Endear you to your Hosts, Overuse on every Occasion, and Get you Out Of Many Scrapes!!!

Gomen!
This is sorry, without the formalizing part. (Gomen nasai.)
To be really fluent sounding, you will of course say,
Ah, Gomen!

Yabai!
Also known as yabee to the masculine/very slangy.
Use a glottal stop (cut it off in your throat) at the end of the word to sound as emphatic and fluent as can be.
This means Uh-oh. Or Yikes. Or I'm-In-Trouble...

Iya da!
This is really easily pronounced. "Yadda", if you make it slightly more stuccato, more true to the "d" sound, sounds just right.
This means I don't like it, or Yucky, but is used to mean Stop it! Gross! No way!

So far these have all been implying a negative experience to respond to.
Let's take a turn to the positive.

And delineate love.
Sukii.
This is pronounced "ski" with an elongated "ee" sound. They often cut off the "u" after an S.
It means "like". It can be a mediocre kind of rating, actually; it can also mean a friendly affection for your friends, a taste for a food, and a positive experience if used in past tense.
Dai sukii
Make it one word.
If you are around teen girls at all (and an exchange English teacher certainly is...) this is what you will hear. A LOT.
It means great liking, transliterated, but is used as in "I Love that!" "Love you lots!" "Will you go out with me?"
(Teen girls are quite empowered to ask guys out, thank you very much. After that, it all goes to pig's teeth, but they feel quite confident of pushing things along a little.)
Ai  (suru)
This is not used the way we use love, since there are the two less formal ratings.
I'm not sure I've ever heard it used person to person, though in comics I have, so I assume it's not an archaism no one uses.

Tomorrow's Emperor's Birthday's Eve!

I will be having fun with a rolling Japan-themed blog for the whole day.

Any questions about Japan? Let me find answers for you!