JapanNewbie

Have a Kindle? Want to use it to learn Japanese? This eBook might be a good place to get started. Learn Hiragana on the Kindle TheJapanShop has an inexpensive Kindle eBook available that will teach you Hiragana from scratch. I highly recommend Hiragana as a starting place in your quest to learn Japanese. Once you [...]

The next podcast recommendation is Nikkei Veritas Moyamoya Talk by TV Tokyo Announcer Oe Mariko. Moyamoya Talk with Oe Mariko とーく！！！ Just a quick Japanese print culture lesson. Seeing とーく, with it’s と and く in Hiragana placed around a katakana vowel extender ー thing may seem a little weird. Basically, this is トーク which [...]

Profile! I'll never be featured on this Podcast... This podcast is called 上田の仕事人名鑑　プロファイル! Basically, the host will go out somewhere in Japan to find hardcore Japanese people working. I don’t mean soft cushy desk jobs, I mean 70 year old men who jump into chest-deep waters with a basket rake tied around their waist and [...]

Last week I noticed a sign for a CosPlay convention happening here in Kunming China, so I decided to take a peek. Despite living in Japan for 7 years, and also having lots of Anime-loving friends in the States, I had never been to a CosPlay convention before checking this one out. From the pics [...]

Got great feedback from the first Podcast Recommendation post, so here’s another one! A podcast for your artistic side This video podcast will introduce you to the ancient Japanese poems, Manyoushuu. You would have to have incredibly advanced Japanese mad skillz to understand the language used in the actual poems the first time around, but [...]