From Uninspired Images to Dream Fluency

April 5th Link Post - iPad my bag so Easter eggs don't break

From uninspiring images to dream fluency this week has really had its up and downs. This month has too, but I'm going to avoid any biblical references, and just mention that anonymous says hello.

Two really ingenious design related things from Japan I noticed in my feeds this week. The first is an office waste paper recycling plant that turns your TPS Reports into toilet paper. Don't forget to add the cover sheet. The second is a floor mat that adapts to you as lounge about on the floor. The design makes a lot of sense when you consider that most of the action in a Japanese house happens on the floor.

The bitter*girls bring us tilt-shift sumo, the Japanese tradition (Hat tip to pinktentacle). The bitter*girls also had a dream, Fireworks like Rorschach inkblot tests. We all have a theory, and it's good to share your thoughts.

One of my favorite J-bloggers recently appeared on Twitter, Mari Kanazawa (follow @watashi_tokyo) she's the real deal. I'd like these weekly posts to be as eclectic and curious as Mari's are, I doubt I could post with such consistency however.

To get an idea of how I roll when blogging here is my version of floor culture. It's either seated, standing or rocking, but rarely a chair in sight.

Thanks for following, I mean that.

Join in the conversation on the Rainbowhill Facebook Page, or follow me on Twitter, it's kind of like an AA meeting for internet junkies.

I leave you with footage of a guy smashing his iPad to pieces for a slice of internet notoriety.

Japanese iPhone Apps and Black Ships to Mixi

March 1st Link Post - Ureshii Hina Matsuri

As mentioned two weeks ago, posting about iPhone apps is a sure way to get hits. It looks like Yonasu is on to a good thing here with 5 Japan-related apps for your iPhone. Once again anything that contains the three keywords iPhone, Japanese and Twitter gets hits big time.

Lee from Tokyo Times asks is it wabi-sabi or just way-off? Tough question, but just like horse-radish it is a an acquired taste. No, that's wasabi!

While you were all learning how to read Japanese manga, Nick Simmons (son of rock legend Gene Simmons) was learning how to draw it. Too bad he didn't give up the tracing habit before he took someone elses work to the publisher and passed it off as his own. Shame on you Nick. You can see for yourself the blatant theivery here.

I'm all about finding new study techniques for Japanese, so I was interested to see just how many people clicked on the Leitner flashcard system link from wikipedia. It's just like an SRS but for your bookshelf. If you are interested in kanji flashcards of the paper variety watch this space, I'll be featuring cards from White Rabbit Press and the techniques you need to use them here on this blog in the next couple of weeks.

In the meantime you may want to find out how to get into mixi without a Japanese cellphone from Tofugu, I hear there is a also a giveaway for flashcards if you check out the video.

If you want more linked up goodness, make sure you follow me (@rainbowhill) on Twitter. The links alone are all available as a feed on bit.ly.

Thanks for reading, I mean that!

Image: OrigamiPod : icPod for everyone by hawkexpress, on Flickr

Urban Myths to Reverse Chocolate Valentines

February 14th Link Post - Happy Valentines Day!

There must be something in the water that J-bloggers are drinking this week, and it's not Eromanga. Pink Tentacle offers up another Japanese urban myth that the small South Pacific island of Eromanga (Iromanga?) has sunk beneath the waves. While you and I both know Eromanga is a small town in South West Queensland, in fact the furthest town from any ocean.

One for all the music lovers, Yonasu shows us how to use the Japanese interface of iTunes, opening up functionality not normally seen in the US version. I'm not an iTunes user myself, but every time I mention iPhone apps for Japanese on Twitter my bit.ly clicks go off the dial.

Kirk used his blog Jamaipanese to promote efforts to raise relief funds for Haiti through a moving music video "Rise Again". Kirk has donated money and a couple cases of water through the office where he works, good on you mate. Make sure you chip in this year to help make his savings targets for Operation Visit Japan.

Define expat. Define successful. Alex raises all sorts of interesting questions about what it means to be non-Japanese in Japan with his list of top 10 successful expats in Japan. At least it does show the changing face of Japan. To put a slight twist on it Curzon on the Mutant Frog Travelogue shows us some white faces with Japanese names. I'm not confused, I'm an Australian who speaks Japanese at home, in Oz.

Happy Valentines Day, I was looking forward to a home baked chocolate cake but my son likes apples so I got trumped. All's good though, there was absolutely no mention of reverse chocolate.


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From Friendly Demons to Eromanga in South West Queensland

Sunday, February 7th Link Post

It might  have been fitting for the week of the Japanese festival setsubun that j-bloggers explored the demonisation of foreign populations. Deas posted a photo of a protest placard denouncing unwelcome American bases in Guam, Okinawa and Japan. It seems people have short memories. Japan was a brutal occupying force in Guam, not to mention Manchuria and the Korean Peninsula.

Japanese xenophobic policies persist even today, with Japanese born children of foriegn-born parents being expelled from the country. In an excellent guest post on LoneleePlanet Scott Jeppesen explored a time when the shoe was on the other foot for Japanese in Peru. Perhaps we should be welcoming our demons in!

On this blog I released the slides from my most recent eduFire class on how to ace the JLPT, while people were celebrating (or comisserating) their 2009 results on Twitter. Now it's time to get your read on, and learn how to put the fun back into your study. Self paced learning is the way to go, over the next few months you'll hear lots from me on putting your social network to work for you. Meanwhile pick up a few tips about quality items for your SRS from Liz.

You ought to be thinking about quality learning techniques, because as this post shows, you can never rely on machine translations. As they say, the only constant is change, what you learn today might be out of fashion in 10 or 20 years so please don't stop learning. It really would be tough to be dumped from your job in eikaiwa and forced to live in a blue tent, but maybe it's just that kind of immersion you really need to accelerate your Japanese.

At least you can read about it, and I'll be exploring these themes in the lead up to my learn to read manga class on edufire with natsukigirl. Don't get the wrong idea about eromanga though, Eromanga is really a town in South West Queensland. Follow me on twitter. Who knows, I may be able to trade my twitter follower count in for a discount on ramen next time I'm in Japan.

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From Fanlation to Failed Biometric Security Measures

Saturday, January 30th Link Post

Last Sunday I reviewed Andrew's simple kanji index, QuickKanji which provoked some interesting discussion about the accuracy of crowd-sourced translations. This is something that might be worth exploring further. It seems to be working for some people. There is a good definition of terms here including 'fanlation' which is a relatively new term for crowdsourcing free translations through a fanbase. (Follow @l_andrew_l on Twitter).

Most of you already know that it takes no less than 100% comittment to learn a language. Take a few tips from 19th century renaissance man Sir Richard Francis Burton who mastered 29 languages in an age without television or the internet. (Hat tip to Alex on Victory Manual).

Or how about these insights into the Japanese sense of honour at the Japan Subculture Reasearch Center? Author Jake Adelstein learned everything he needed to know from the yakuza or the cops, and still has five fingers on each hand. Follow @jakeadelstein on Twitter, or check out his book about his experience as a reporter on the police beat in Tokyo. (Secret handshake to Our Man in Abiko).

Jamaipanese got into the festive spirit with the Japanese Culture and Calendar Exhibition 2010, including more plastic sushi than you can poke a chopstick at. Earlier this year Jamaipanese launched Operation Visit Japan, something that he has been planning for over a year. Now you can ChipIn to help him meet his savings targets and experience the real thing. I first blogged about Kirk in this post from June last year about seven J-bloggers far from Japan. (Follow @Jamaipanese on Twitter).

I really appreciate getting mentions on other peoples blogs, especially when it leads me to great content like this post on using Twitter to improve your Japanese by @zonjineko or more on Manga translation by @Alpharalpha. Posts like this motivate me to dust off my other twitter account @jrfiction and get tweeting in Japanese. (よろしくね　@dandanbatakeさん)

And finally, Joe Jones over at Mutantfrog Travelogue has some interesting ideas on what to do with Itami Airport. If they did away with Osaka's third airport, perhaps they could save some money on their expensive and ineffective biometric immigration screening systems.

Image: DSC00114 by muzina_shanghai, on Flickr

Chocolate Beer and Fast Food Rodents in Japan

Friday, January 22nd Link Post

I've put this together for no other reason than it's good to look back and see what got clicked over the week. Even if I don't get enough time as I'd like to comment on blogs, I do make a habit of scrolling through my feeds for Japan related content. Stuff I find interesting then gets thrown out to Twitter, where you guys vote with your mice. No not those mice.

image: PinkTentacle: ‘Ririkan’ fast-food mystery meat

I only learnt about @lloydvincent and his blog Nihon Shock in the last couple of weeks but he has some good posts. There are many ways to say 'I' in Japanese, and each one paints you in a slightly different light. Not satisfied with watashi (わたし) or boku (ぼく) when referring to yourself? Why not try uchi (うち) or ore (おれ) for a slightly harder edge?

Michael Werneburg discusses the troubles he has living with a foreign name in Japan. on @reesan's loneleeplanet blog. An interesting discussion of bureaucratic blindness and a rigid syllabary ensue. There are also some helpful tips for making sure you don't get trapped with something that is unworkable.

When we got married my wife took her name (はせがわ) and mine (ファイフィールド) to ensure the kids could use either. We haven't had too much trouble. After reading this post about Google's "auto-suggest" feature and Japanese marriage I'm glad I don't have search history turned on.

You've just got to love urban myths, the best ones gain traction because they have an element of truth, they are slightly believable and are easily transmitted. They also rely on irrational fears and suspicions. Exploring this quirky side of human nature as they do so well, Edo @PinkTentacle is blogging weekly on Japanese urban legends. The ‘Ririkan’ may be fast-food mystery meat, but there is no mystery about the hard labour at McDonald's in Japan. I suppose it's not too much too ask for a dignified discussion of the issues on LetsJapan?

On a slightly lighter note, we've come back full circle to Nihon Shock, where Llyod has some flavor success with chocolate soda. At last! It was difficult to watch him pour Sapporo's chocolate beer down the sink. Probably not more difficult than drinking it however.

That's me closing out this post! If you want all this linky goodness feed to you intermittently through the day follow me on twitter, it's fun!

Weekly Links 21 June 2009

This weeks links are a little out of left field. It has been a big week.

• Why Japanese are negative regarding love | 世論 What Japan Thinks
  It makes me a little sad to hear that Japanese people report they have no self confidence. Maybe it's because they're never taught what it means. There are benefits to this attitude that are less apparent when seen through the lens of a Western mindset.
  
  
• ‘1Q84′, the new bestseller by Haruki Murakami
  I'm really looking forward to getting a copy of this book. I'm currently reading ‘Kafka on the Shore′, about a boy who runs away from home but is haunted by dreams and the death of his father in peculiar circumstances.
  
  
• Learning a language is like having a pet
  A fun analogy to run with (or to pun with) from Thomas at babelhut. You can also follow Thomas and Peter on Twitter.
  
  
• Tadpoles falling on Miyagi: witness
  Is some strange coincidence that I just so happen to be reading a book where fish fall out of the sky? What does it all mean?
  

Weekly Links 7 June 2009

Here are just a few of the places I found interesting on the web over the last week. I had a fairly productive week blog wise, and I'm constantly surprised by the quality content out there, enjoy.

• Ajax IME: Web-based Japanese Input Method
  This is an oldy but a goody. It's a Japanese input method when you aren't in control of the machine you're sitting at. Perfect for updating your Japanese friends from the internet cafe or a work computer ;) Recently updated with a bookmarklet to turn any input field into a a Japanese text box.
  
  
• J-BLOGGERS - jibtv
  Danny, Clay Anna and Martin launched their new blog this week. I don't know much about JIBTV, so it will be interesting to see how this develops.
  
  
• Good Beer and Country Boys: A Wet Start to Weekends in June!...
  This blog is fun, I always look forward to catching it in my feed reader to lighten my mood on the bus home from work. It's not your typical J-blog, and that's refreshing. Oh, and it's about beer.
  
  
  
• The Wabi Sabi of a Japanese Table Setting | Nihon Sun
  I've seen quite a few posts on Wabi Sabi and the Japanese Aesthetic over the past week or so. Shane demonstrates that you can find this aspect of Japanese culture permeating everything, even the simplest table setting.
  
  
• Right-winger Bus For Sale « JapanSoc
  We all dream of doing a road trip in Japan, so imagine the stares you'd get in a full blown right winger bus with tinted windows and speakers blaring.
  
  
• Cup Noodle Monsters : Pink Tentacle
  I love the colours and shapes in this post.
  
  
• Néojaponisme » Everybody’s Fujoshi Girlfriend
  Otaku culture is typically male, but do the girls get into it in the same way? Are media representations of this phenomenon misguided?
  
  
  
• Practice Kana, Kanji, and Particles with Nihongoup | Tofugu
  About a month ago I wrote a review of Nihongoup for Philip, I'm glad to see his really handy software getting some more exposure, don't miss out on a free copy.
  

So there you have it, this week's links.

Weekly Links 16 May 2009

Just a brief link post of interesting things from the week just past. These links come from Diigo. Andrew introduced me to it a couple of weeks ago, so I'm giving it a bit of a run. I have imported most of my delicious links there, and I'll slowly be going through them for favorites to share with you.

• LangId - Identify any Language from Text
  Also available as a twitter bot.

• Japanese Counters (the Free e-Book)
  A quick and dirty book on learning Japanese counters (via @tofugu)

• Gallery: AnnaTheRed's Best Geeky Bentos
  This gallery of bento was also featured on Wired.com, available on Flickr too.

• How to Choose the Best Japanese Dictionary
  The article I wrote for eduFire last week.

• AnnaTheRed's bento factory
  Otaku bento and cosplay for good measure

• 51Japanese Characters
  A flash glossary of subcultures and their place in society.

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