It's been just over a year since my Asian vacation and I haven't really updated my progress on learning Japanese.

I had studied Japanese for about six months previous to going my vacation, but I found that I wasn't enjoying it as much as I thought I should. For this reason, when we got back from Japan, I pretty much stopped my lessons and put it out of my mind for three months.

Since then I've decided to hit the books using a different method and I've been enjoying it a lot more.

I read that one the best ways to learn a language is to mix up the learning methods you use. Now I use a combination of books, videos, and pod-casts. Lately I've been able to add a real live Japanese girl to the mix! She recently moved into our small town, which is extremely rare. She was nice enough to be our impromptu Sensei.

So I figure I know about 300-500 words right now and I'm just about finished learning all the different Hiragana. There's still a long way to go but I'm having a lot of fun and there's a great sense of satisfaction in learning a new language and culture.

Here is a list of the different tools I'm using:

• Japanese Step by Step
• Genki - Elementary Japanese
• JapanesePod101
• Lots of Toshiro Mifune movies

Ganbatte!

Labels: Japan, Japanese

In order to help with my Japanese speaking and comprehension I've started looking for a Japanese pen pal. I hope to find someone who I can exchange emails with and they can help me with Japanese and in turn I can help them with English. I don't know how to write in Japanese so everything would have to be done in English and Romaji. If you're interested or know of someone who is, please drop me a line at team@teamunited.com Domo arigatou gozaimasu.

Labels: Japan

It looks like I'll be heading off to the the Far East this November. One of my stops will be Japan so I've decided to learn as much Japanese as I can. Plus, it gives me an excuse to watch the entire Shogun series again. I've been fascinated with ancient oriental culture since I stumbled on the game Nobunaga's Ambition for the equally ancient Nintendo Entertainment System. I remember scouring (as in - vigorously searching, not as in - livestock diarrhea) the little Book Mobile that would pull up by our school, looking for any books on ninjas, samurai, or the Bushido code. That first love has never gone away. Recently I devoted a lot of time to the art of Bonsai. After killing everything I touched, I decided that the region I live in is clearly not hardy enough for my elite Bonsai skills. On this trip I hope to gain some design inspiration. The Japanese style of minimal clutter to deliver maximum impact really appeals to me. We'll see if any of it can rub off on me. At very least it will fulfill a life long dream. By the way, if you hear about a Japan wide die-off of Bonsia trees sometime in November...

Labels: Japan