Tae Kim's Blog, page 3

This is pretty much racism…

For crying out loud, I don’t want to write about political BS on my blog but this is just too ridiculous. Here’s a news article about a Korean textbook that had pictures of Japanese people in it. OH MY GOD! Somebody needs to go to jail for this!! The kids might think Japanese are like normal people with families and stuff!!!

OMG, are these guys like real people?!

I mean, seriously this article is pure racist garbage. The article uses words like “문제” (problem) and “실수” (mistake). Imagine if a textbook in the US had a picture of a German family instead of an American white family. Guess what, we won’t give a shit because WW2 is like a lifetime ago and most of the people involved are almost all dead from at least old age. On the other hand, Korean automatically take this is a “problem” and a “mistake”.

The last line in the article is pure gold. It’s some bullshit about how elementary school textbooks are for teaching a proper and happy lifestyle to 870,000 kids.

초등통합교과서는 기존의 바른 생활, 슬기로운 생활, 즐거운 생활 등 3개 과목을 합친 것으로 1, 2학년 87만 명이 사용한다.

What is this insinuating? That the Japanese are the devil that will somehow corrupt kids just by basically existing??

Korea, your obsession with hating Japan is ridiculous. If you weren’t personally harmed by the occupation, it’s time to let it go. (psst… by the way you have a slightly larger problem just slightly to the north)

PS I’m Korean.

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Buying Japanese import games

I’ve been taking a break these past few months to get back into video games. I’ve been buying a lot of import Japanese games I missed out on when I stopped playing (and couldn’t afford to buy) games in college. Unfortunately, I should have done this while I was living in Japan because buying import games can get expensive but really I was too busy at the time with stuff like you know… living in Japan!

But you know what my pet peeve is? People bidding up used games I wanted to buy past the price it would cost new on amazon.co.jp! Look, don’t bid $40 for a used game you can buy new for 3,000 yen. Since the yen is finally down to reasonable levels, let’s buy some games direct in Japan!

For example, instead of paying $38 for Final Fantasy Type-0 or $39 on play-asia or for $45 USED on ebay (duh), let’s buy it for about $30 bucks NEW on Amazon Japan using these (not so simple) steps.

Create an account on tenso.com, a forwarding service that gives you a Japanese address you can ship items to. There are other potentially cheaper services but I found that this one was the cheapest for EMS, a really fast way to get your stuff with tracking (let me know if there’s a better service). There’s a link to the English version of the site on the upper-right.

*Due to some new law in Japan or something, you may have to upload an image of identification with your name and address. No big deal, I just uploaded a picture of my driver’s license on the website.

After you sign up, you should get an email with your new Japanese address. You’ll need that later obviously.
Search Wikipedia for the game so that we can get the Japanese title (right next to the English title in parentheses).

Go to amazon.co.jp and copy+paste the title on the search bar （in this case ファイナルファンタジー 零式）. There’s a tiny link “In English” at the top right to get the English version of the site. None of the product information will be translated but it may help you for creating an account and checking out.
Select the game you want (It’ll have the console name next to the price so you know you’re not getting an artbook or something). I’m gonna pick the budget ultimate hits version because screw them. I bought the first print of 3rd birthday only to find the bonus DLC had an expiration date like 2 years ago. WTF
Go through the usual checkout process. Amazon will take care of the currency conversion for you. The only trouble I had was fitting the massive Tenso.com’s address within the maximum length requirements. Here’s I arranged it so that it all fit.

Fitting the forwarding address is a bit tricky

You should get an email once the order arrives at tenso and you can go to their website to pay them to then forward it to you. I paid with my credit card via Paypal to avoid a foreign transaction fee.

In retrospect, I should’ve bundled more games.

There’s a shipping calculator on the bottom of the page on tenso.com. If you put the weight of a PSP game (about 170 grams), you can see that it will cost about 1,690 yen to ship.

So about $23 for the game and $18 for shipping means you pay $41 for a new game. Wait, isn’t that MORE than play-asia? Yes but usually, you want to save on shipping by buying in bulk. For example, I bought 3 PSP games and paid about $24 on shipping so only $8 for each.

Also, try to pick items that ship from amazon so that they can send all the items together. Tenso.com can consolidate multiple packages for you one time (and you should for multiple packages) but they will charge an 800 yen service charge.

Why don’t they localize more of these games?

I wish they would as it often drives down the demand for people like me that actually want the Japanese version and not simply because it’s the only one available.

I got a Chinese copy of Jeanne D’Arc off ebay, which would have really pissed me off except the game itself is completely in Japanese. Only the cover and manual are in Chinese. Weird, I’m not sure how that really makes any sense but I guess Chinese people are flexible enough with English and Japanese to deal with it??

On the other hand, Americans complain like babies if they have to, god forbid, read any subtitles, which is why everything has to be dubbed often with disastrous results. If people say they prefer the Japanese voices, they get comments like, “OMG, why would you want to READ the dialogue??” and get called stupid stuff like “weeaboo”.

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Saturday morning

It’s allergy season and my nose has been acting up.

This morning, my almost 2-year old daughter pointed at my nose and said, “hana”.

I replied, “Yeah, hana.”

She replied, “One, two.”

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I blame facebook

So long, Google Reader, we’ve had a good run. Along with iGoogle, Google is systematically killing how I organize and consume information on the Internet. They claim they are culling the less popular products but make no mistake, this is a deliberate ploy to get more information about you (and hence more money). I don’t like Google+ and Facebook because they are very invasive, constantly trying to find out about my personal relationships. I have no interest in disclosing my personal information and activities offline to the rest of the world. And the rest of the world isn’t interested in what I do offline either except for, of course, advertisers.

But hey, nothing in the world is free, eh? The price of getting information is selling information, in this case, about yourself; information that can be all too easily leaked via security holes.

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A few of my favorite things (in Japanese)

Learning a language is very similar to exercise in many ways. The best type of study is the one that you’ll do regularly. Which is why finding things you enjoy doing in Japanese is so important. So here’s a list of some of my favorite stuff in Japanese.

Good Friends

Things like 鍋パ with friends is a blast. Japanese people actually stop and listen to you when you talk. Something which seems far too rare here in the States.

Music

My favorite Japanese artist is 椎名林檎. I also love the band 東京事変. Please get back together and make more songs!

I’m also amazed at the collaborator efforts of amateurs online such as Vocaloid and 東方.

Movies

タンポポ – Oh man, this film is so awesome. Just watch it.

Other films I liked:

Departures

After Life （ワンダフルライフ）

Sanjuro – My favorite Akira Kurosawa film.

Man, Woman & the Wall – Creepy, sexy, funny (not for kids)

Trick (TV series and movies)

The Great Happiness Space – Not really a Japanese movie but still a fascinating (and disturbing) documentary.

Is it just me or do Japanese movies all seem like either art films or crazy horror?

Books

I definitely need to read more books so please give me some suggestions! Of the very small number of books I’ve read, I liked:

涼宮ハルヒの消失 (my favorite out of the series)

Manga

Dragon Ball – I first read this in Korean back when manga was virtually non-existent in the US. I didn’t really know what was going on but it was still awesome (by the way, my dream job was to work at a 만화방). I also watched Dragon Ball Z in English on Adult Swim (Vegeta’s voice was pretty good). I have since read parts of it again in Japanese, and it’s still good, after all these years.

Others I enjoyed:

One Piece

Azumanga Daioh

Anime

Ghost in The Shell: Stand Alone Complex – My favorite anime of all time.

Others I enjoyed:

Serial Experiments Lain

Soul Eater

Darker Than Black

Spirited Away

Steins;Gate

涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱 (Season 1)

Games

My first Japanese console is a PS2 so I have not played that many games in Japanese. I am meaning to replay classics like Chrono Trigger in Japanese when I get my hands on it. Until then, of the limited games I’ve played so far in Japanese, I liked:

MG3 Snake Eater – Metal Gear Solid is my favorite in the series but Mei Ling’s English voice was annoying. Hoping to try it in Japanese sometime.

Disgaea (haven’t gotten to 2,3,4 yet)

What’s on your favorite list? Got lazy with the links halfway… Google is your friend.

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My favorite Japanese stuff

Learning a language is very similar to exercise in many ways. The best type of study is the one that you’ll do regularly. Which is why finding things you enjoy doing in Japanese is so important. So here’s a list of some of my favorite stuff in Japanese.

Good Friends

Things like 鍋パ with friends is a blast. Japanese people actually stop and listen to you when you talk. Something which seems far too rare here in the States.

Music

My favorite Japanese artist is 椎名林檎. I also love the band 東京事変. Please get back together and make more songs!

I’m also amazed at the collaborator efforts of amateurs online such as Vocaloid and 東方.

Movies

タンポポ – Oh man, this film is so awesome. Just watch it.

Other films I liked:

Departures

After Life （ワンダフルライフ）

Sanjuro – My favorite Akira Kurosawa film.

Man, Woman & the Wall – Creepy, sexy, funny (not for kids)

Trick (TV series and movies)

The Great Happiness Space – Not really a Japanese movie but still a fascinating (and disturbing) documentary.

Is it just me or do Japanese movies all seem like either art films or crazy horror?

Books

I definitely need to read more books so please give me some suggestions! Of the very small number of books I’ve read, I liked:

涼宮ハルヒの消失 (my favorite out of the series)

Manga

Dragon Ball – I first read this in Korean back when manga was virtually non-existent in the US. I didn’t really know what was going on but it was still awesome (by the way, my dream job was to work at a 만화방). I also watched Dragon Ball Z in English on Adult Swim (Vegeta’s voice was pretty good). I have since read parts of it again in Japanese, and it’s still good, after all these years.

Others I enjoyed:

One Piece

Azumanga Daioh

Anime

Ghost in The Shell: Stand Alone Complex – My favorite anime of all time.

Others I enjoyed:

Serial Experiments Lain

Soul Eater

Darker Than Black

Spirited Away

Steins;Gate

涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱

Games

My first Japanese console is a PS2 so I have not played that many games in Japanese. I am meaning to replay classics like Chrono Trigger in Japanese when I get my hands on it. Until then, of the limited games I’ve played so far in Japanese, I liked:

MG3 Snake Eater – Metal Gear Solid is my favorite in the series but Mei Ling’s English voice was annoying. Hoping to try it in Japanese sometime.

Disgaea (haven’t gotten to 2,3,4 yet)

What’s on your favorite list? Got lazy with the links halfway… Google is your friend.

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Games in Japanese

One of my favorite games of all time is Parasite Eve. The story, scary atmosphere, combat, weapons, leveling, everything about it was awesome. So naturally, I was super excited to play the sequel, which I bought off eBay in college. I got the Japanese version because I was studying Japanese and was kinda hoping it would work on my Playstation (of course it didn’t). So I held onto it for years until I finally bought a PS2 while living in Japan. Man, what a let down. The worst part of the game was the awful Resident Evil style movement. The only other game with a sequel almost as inferior is Chrono Cross.

Anyway, now that I can read Japanese, I’m thinking of replaying classics like Chrono Trigger and ones I missed like Earthbound in its original form. However, figuring out what game is available and in what language is a big chore and often times confusing.

For example, the JP version of Chrono Trigger for the DS has both English and Japanese. But does the US version have Japanese? I can’t find the info anywhere, can anybody verify this for me?

I don’t buy anything from Nintendo anymore because they love to lock things down. Everything is region-locked except for the DS (3DS however IS region-locked). I guess it makes sense because their only region-free system did terrible (ie, fastest-selling handheld game console of all time).

Thankfully, Sony has seen the light as the PS3, PSP, and PS Vita are region-free, which means you don’t have to buy one for each region (BUT why, oh why did they switch the X and O buttons around?!!) Unfortunately, while some games use the language setting of the console, for the most part, you still often have to import the games for Japanese. Some games have dual audio options but don’t allow changing the text which is bizarre to me. In the end, it’s a big and confusing mess though I guess it’s better than the old model of everything being locked down.

Games with full Japanese support

If you have any games that have Japanese language option, please let me know! I like to play games in their original language (English games in English) so I’m more interested in games from Japanese publishers.

Resonance of Fate

I’m waiting for my copy to verify but this game sounds like it supports both Japanese text and audio.

Star Ocean: The Last Hope International

Allows choosing between English and Japanese voices, as well as, a larger list of languages for the game text. I just started playing and it looks good for the price. My first annoyance is that ship has too many screen transitions so it takes forever to get around.

The Last Remnant (PC)

The PC version (not XBox 360) has both Japanese voice and text options. I only played the very beginning. The graphics are pretty good but can’t seem to use the mouse to control the camera. It’s on sale now for $8.99 so I can’t complain too much.

Half Minute Hero: Super Mega Neo Climax Ultimate Boy

Called 勇者30 on the PSP, I got this PC version on sale for $5.99. The Japanese text uses too much Hiragana for my tastes (no audio) but it is strangely entertaining.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma

Need to set your console’s language to Japanese. It took me forever to beat the first boss so I haven’t touched it in a while but can’t hurt to get it for the price.

Resistance

Need to set your console’s language to Japanese. This kind of game is better in English anyway given the setting and genre but I listed it anyway. Have not tried 2 and 3 yet.

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A year and 300+ words later…

Wow, it’s been over a year already since I started tweeting a new word a day (almost daily minus weekends). So 300+ words later, let’s take a moment to reflect.

Looking back, it’s kind of shocking how many words I didn’t know. But then again, I’ll probably feel the same way looking back at the next 300 words I learn. For example, I tweeted 「処方」 back in 2011/11/2 and I had a Skype conversation (via mixxer) recently with a 「薬剤師」. I can’t believe I didn’t know those words till last year.

I also recently remembered 「男尊女卑」 and I see that I tweeted this way back in 2011/11/11 so I’m pretty happy about that.

I always learn new words in context and so I got to catch up to quite a bit of culture by searching for additional usages online. These words originally come from books I’m reading (huh? you mean on dead trees?), chatting locally and online (wha? like with… people?), games, shows online (Hulu/Youtube), and various podcasts.

For example, I learned the expression 「二進も三進も」 while playing FF13 (I used my phone to save the word). Much later (in this case several months), I look for other stuff online from my list that uses the same vocab like this.

Catching up on culture

Here are some highlights from my Twitter feed.

そばかす – Song from the 90s

(Lots of) Vocaloid and 東方 music

SKE48, AKB48

ニコニコ

Minecraft

Anime

Manga

TV

Weird commercial

Politics

2012 was a leap year

Looking back, 300+ words is actually a pretty small list. I still have over 600 stocked up that I have learned to various degrees in the last year. Us language learners have to do a lot of memorizing.

I feel sorry for those learning from just flash cards, classes, and textbooks. Real life is so much more interesting.

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Don’t README

This post is about how you shouldn’t be reading this post.

Still here? Tsk tsk.

Lately, I’ve been wrestling with the ratio of how much English vs Japanese to use in my guide. The more Japanese I can get you to read, the better. But if there’s too much, it will be too difficult and overwhelming, having the opposite effect.

I’ve noticed that many websites for learning Japanese use WAY too much English. You can spend hours reading pages and pages of English text on how to learn Japanese (which seems ironic to me). This blog is mostly in English as well, so really, you should stop reading this and spend your time on something more productive.

I’ll try to keep it short, then. If your Japanese study material consists of reading a lot of English, you might want to try something else that has more Japanese text. Oh, I dunno, maybe something like this? (I know, totally no bias here).

As a fellow Japanese learner, I should probably be writing this in Japanese too… でも、めんどくさいからやめとこう。

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Best site for learning Japanese

What do you think is the best site for learning Japanese (excluding dictionaries)?

Earlier this year, I’ve been trying to add more content and tune my site to rank higher for searches on “learning japanese” not just “japanese grammar”. (You can compare which searches are more popular with Google Trends). When I did some ad hoc testing at the time, it ranked somewhere around the 40-50s.

I still have quite a bit of work to do on the content side but here’s the results from the last few months. Unfortunately, the data doesn’t go back farther and it’s not representative as over half of the search queries do not provide the search keyword (unless I become an adwords customer apparently). As it is, the site ranking has been improved to an average of 6.8.

I expect the CTR to be miserable until the site ranking goes up to at least around 3-4. Lately, I’ve been concentrating on my own studies, but I’d like to eventually get back to working on the complete guide soon. In the meantime, if you think my site is useful for learning Japanese, any inbound links with the phrase “learn Japanese” would be appreciated.

Oddly, the most common search query was “katakana”, about 2-3 times more impressions than “learn japanese” and “hiragana”. I wonder why? Maybe I should beef up my Katakana sections?

Research indicates that page load time is also critical for traffic. So I also installed Boost for my drupal installation to speed things up a bit yesterday. The results are inconclusive but it does seem a bit snappier to me.

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