So You Wanna Speak Japanese

Chances are that after several years of watching anime, and/or reading manga you have gotten to the point that you can easily understand a few Japanese slang words and phrases as you most likely hear them repeatedly in the medium. Words like "Ohayou Gozaimasu" and "Ja ne" and "Moshi Moshi" and even "Doku desu ka" are some fine examples of everyday language that one will pick up on when watching their anime subbed, and listening with the Japanese audio enabled.

Learning a new language is a great achievement, and one that takes a lot of hard work, and much practice. This isn't at all like riding a bicycle, because if you DON'T use it, you will LOSE it.

Learning to speak Japanese is one thing, but learning to read Japanese is a totally different monster. Much like English has Upper Case letter and Lower Case letters Japanese has something almost similar, but used often-times in a different contrast.

Then to complicate matters further, there are the ported Chinese Kanji that are whole words represented by a symbol or symbols. To further complicate the language there are these particles that are used to string the words into a sentence that define the flow of the conversation into something more than just base words and subjects.

It's easy in the American fandom for fans to get a sense of what sounds right and what isn't right when they've listened to a language enough, but the real trick is in the translation.

Many fans assume that there is only one literal translation for a word, and this couldn't be further from the truth. In the sense that we have words like "See" and "Sea" that obviously mean two totally different things but are pronounced the same.

Or take "No" and "Know" also to similar sounding words that have completely different functions.

To complicate the learning of Japanese, their alphabet does not contain some letters that are more prevalent in English, such as "L" and "Q". Because the Japanese language is a phonetic language that does not change the way a letter is pronounced it isn't difficult to learn pronunciation, an "A" will always sound the same no matter where it is placed in a word, and a "O" will always sound like an "Oh" and not a "Uu" when there are two of them placed side by side as in "Soon".

Probably the three most difficult things to learn about Japanese is:
1) The Alphabet
2) Sentence Structure
3) The various Forms of Speech (Polite, Proper, Casual)

Also it's good to remember that instead of there being multiple similar sounding words that have different meanings, there are multiple words that sound nothing alike, that have the same meaning.

Now for those of you that think you can learn to speak Japanese simply by watching imported anime, and Japanese Cinema, well you are sadly mistaken. First of all, much of the dialog in a film or TV show is going to use a more general form of the language, unless the characters are using a specific type of language, or honorific direction.

This means that there are totally different ways of speaking and addressing people given the social encounter. Much of the language in an anime is between two or more friends that toss around silly nick-names and childish honorifics, that if were used in a public forum, or Professional institution would result in much offence and probably some insults.

Another thing to remember is the "Ga" "Wa" "No" "Ka" of most sentences. These are like verbal punctuation and subject indicators. "Wa" usually indicates the topic, and "Ga" is the subject. Not to mention "Wa" and "Ga" are some of the hardest things to grasp about the Japanese language.

Where one describes something, the other specifies what or who.

I am reminded of something I mentioned yesterday about the new anime Kuroshitsuji and that the English title is Black Butler. The question was why did they use the name Black Butler for this anime and manga, and I explained, because THAT was the actual name of the series.

In its most simplest definition "Kuroshitsuji" means Kuro (Black) and Shitsuji (Butler). Now instead of running both words together, why didn't they just do the normal thing and perhaps use "Kuro wa Shitsuji' well that wouldn't make much sense, since the Black is not a Butler. Also "Shitsuji wa kuro" wouldn't work since the Butler isn't really the color black. so then it's more of an expression, that means the Butler is dark, black, sinister, severe, or other. And thus the name is devoid of subject indicator and topic marker.

Just like making sense of the English language, there is a good chance that if you do not take your study of Japanese seriously, you will fail to comprehend anything, or even worse, make yourself look like a moron in front of someone.

You cannot learn everything there is to learn about Japanese by online translation pages, or from watching anime. It is a good start, but it isn't a reliable resource. To really learn a language it takes patience, time, and dedication. Study manuals that offer multiple lessons, and don't just stop at basic greetings. It will do you no good to learn how to say hello and where is the bus station, if you can't hold a conversation. Or answer about yourself when asked what you do for a living, and where you are from, and what sort of work your family does.

There are some online tutoring places that offer people a chance to meet-up and learn from one another, but be careful as there are also a lot of places that just want to have you spinning your wheels endlessly.

A good balance of reading and speaking is the best solution to learning a new language. Because aside from finding out where the Supermarket is, what good will it do you to ask for directions, if you can read the product to buy something?

Start with learning to read and comprehend hiragana and katakana... these are the two basic alphabets of the language, and then try your hand at learning kanji.

Japanese Americans!

It's official: I'm typecast as a walk-on WWII era American MP, at least according to Japanese cinema.

If anybody actually bothers to read this hack blog you may've stumbled across a story about a previous outing I had in the movie I Want To Be A Shellfish (私は貝になりたい Watashi wa Kai ni Naritai, 2008), starring Yukie Nakama (Shinobi, Trick) and Masahiro Nakai (SMAP), directed by Katsuo Fukuzawa.

I did another film role yesterday, for 16 hours at the stunning, historic Tamioka silk mill in Gunma - just over 2 hours from Tokyo - for an upcoming TBS TV series called Japanese Americans (橋田壽賀子ドラマ) also directed by former rugby player Fukuzawa.

This time the stars were Nakama alongside SMAP's Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Death Note actor Kenichi Matsuyama, and veteran actress Pinko Izumi - who kindly offered donuts to me and Jon, the only other gaijin on the set.


Apparently this blog's ol' fave Kiichi Nakai is also starring in the show, but sadly he wasn't in the scenes they shot with the other actors (above) yesterday.

Yep, I'm an MP again - this time at the beginning of WWII, shepherding Japanese Americans into a detention camp. When will they figure out that my accent is all wrong for these rolls?

And, in the grand scheme of things, what's it all about anyway?

Well, this autumn TBS plans to broadcast the five-episode drama series, written by screenwriter Sugako Hashida, to coincide with their 60th anniversary. It apparently is set to focus on a Japanese family who emigrated to the United States around a century back and their tribulations with the advent of the Pacific War. You can read more about the plot HERE.

Crazy time as usual, particularly six MPs (none of whom were really American; think instead one Aussie, one Brit, and four fill-in Japanese crew members) lining up in formation and marching around a compound for a couple of hours on end - in the late evening in what felt like sub-zero temperatures, but probably wasn't... quite.

Ahhh, the things we do for art - and a fistful of yen. Go figure.

End Of Year 2009/10 Top 10 Shenanigans

Well, I kind of had no choice, what with the plethora of Top 10 lists that currently bamboozle the senses, all focused on the decade known as the Noughties, the Naughties, the Aughts, the 00s, the 2000s or the Zeros, depending on your cultural upbringing or sense of humour; it seems everyone and his dusted-down and/or bedraggled dog is conjuring up one list or another, and I keep expecting to read one that highlights the ten best kinds of staple (I'm talking stationery apparatus, not food product) over the past 10 years.

In that case my vote goes with Zebra, the Japanese stationery manufacturer established in Japan in 1897, since theirs are the only ones I've actually been able to use over the past 8 years anyway. And I have a soft-spot for the name still, exactly a decade after I was editor of a little magazine of the same moniker back in Melbourne.

What a somewhat mad 10 years it's been over the intervening period.

For what it's worth - which is likely extremely little in these circumstances - here's my ¥2 worth of Top 10 inanity, even if these tens don't exactly restrain themselves to the past decade but count towards something in the atmosphere at least (maybe they've tainted the water supply?):


TOP 10 JAPANESE ARTISTS
Seiji Fujishiro
Yayoi Kusama
Yoko Umehara
Shirow Masamune
Maharo
Yoshitomo Nara
Yumiko Kayukawa
Takashi Murakami
Aya Takano
Ryoji Arai


TOP 10 JAPANESE FILM DIRECTORS
Seijun Suzuki
Akira Kurosawa
Yasujiro Ozu
Mamoru Oshii
Satoshi Kon
Ryuhei Kitamura
Takashi Miike
Hayao Miyazaki
Mamoru Hosoda
Shinichiro Watanabe


TOP 10 JAPANESE ELECTRONIC MUSICIANS
Hifana
Takashi Watanabe (DJ Warp)
Tatsuya Oe (Captain Funk)
Toshiyuki Yasuda (Robo*Brazileira)
Shin Nishimura
Shuji Wada (DJ Wada)
Kenji Kawai
Gadget Cassette
M-Koda
DJ Krush


TOP 10 JAPANESE MOVIES IN THE 2000s
Millennium Actress
Spirited Away
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
Battle Royale
Azumi
Casshern
Zatoichi
Tekkon Kinkreet
Tokyo Marble Chocolate
Mind Game


TOP 10 ANIME SERIES 2000s
Ghost Hound
Fullmetal Alchemist
Paranoia Agent
Gankutsuou
Samurai Champloo
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Samurai 7
Wolf's Rain
Le Chavalier D'Eon
Zenmai Zamurai


TOP 10 JAPANESE FOODS
Takoyaki: Octopus balls swamped in mayonnaise, special sauce and dried bonito flakes
Ikura don: Salmon rose with wasabi, chopped shiso and Kikkoman soy sauce on rice
Yakitori: Grilled chicken and the bird's assorted parts on sticks
Mori soba: Chilled buckwheat noodles served on a bamboo mat with a dipping sauce
Ramen: Noodle soup, especially tonkotsu (pork broth)
Fugu sashi: Blowfish served up super-thin and raw with a lip-smacking ponzu dip
Hachinoko: Bee larvae snack, great with beer. Really.
Basashi: Raw horse served sashimi style, often with ginger and daikon radish
Ikayaki: Grilled squid, often served with lemon and Kewpie maynonnaise
Tsukemono: Japanese pickled vegetables


TOP 10 TOKYO PLACES
Tokyo Parasite Museum
Tsukiji Fish Market
Nihon Minkaen Open-Air Folk House Museum
Jiyugaoka cake shops
National Film Centre
Nakagin Capsule Tower
Tin Toys Museum
Yakitori Alley, Yurakucho
Yamamoto-tei Tea House
Shibamata

TOP(PLING) 10 JAPANESECULTUREGONOW! SPOTLIGHTS
The quirky culture of Sake consumption
RX-78-2 Gundam statue terror
Tokyo's Postmodern (architecture) Purge
Shikinejima: Flying Fish Island
I was an MP in Post-WW2 Japan*
Tokyo Tower vs. Tokyo Sky Tree
Crow Castle
Toho Studios
Panda! Go, Panda! - the zaniest anime ever made?
Godzilla vs. Mothra

Japanese film posters

There's nothing quite like seeing a brand new flick advertised here in Tokyo with fliers in which the boring Roman alphabet is expunged (or at least expanded upon) in favour of kanji, hiragana and katakana characters.

It makes it all so... Blade Runner, or at least You Only Live Twice. Yum.