Plot

Kai Yuuki (Satoshi Tsumabuki) is in his senior year at university studying social welfare psychology. At present, he is in the middle of job-hunting season. He is finding it difficult with no job offers so far. One day, he meets a girl who is playing violin in the campus. She is Sae Hagio (Kou Shibasaki). In marked contrast to her beautiful tone and attractive looks, her personality is somewhat impertinent. And to top it off, she communicates through very vulgar sign language. Four years ago, she lost the most important thing for a violinist – her hearing. As a result Sae closed off her inner self from the outside world. Kai finds himself on a date with Sae, in place of his best friend. Unexpectedly, he comes into contact with Sae’s private side. Love, job-hunting, friendship… Setting a campus in spring as a dorama`s backdrop, it’s the start of a glittering youth drama.

Opinion

I have to say I really did like this show for multiple reasons. First it showed, to some degree, how some Japanese deal with disabilities. There was also good emotion and kind of took you through the thought process that one might go through if they were to lose their hearing.

I think one of the coolest things in this show was the sign language used. Since they had sign language they had to do a lot of Japanese subtitles. Having the subtitles in Japanese and in English was a lot of fun because I could look at the kanji and the sentence try to read it then read the english one real fast if I missed it. Was a fun show for working on your Japanese with.

Another point I liked is when people actually said things directly a few times unlike other shows where they are too Japanese and try to talk things out the round-about way. Also I have to say they had the best kissing seen in a Japanese drama I have seen to date.

So over all I would recommend this show for sure. Give it a watch I don’t think you will be disappointed it. Good story, good actors and good for helping with your Japanese, can’t really lose.

Images

More images can be seen in the flickr set (Orange Days Flickr Set

Doing a panel at a con can be a bit stressful if it is your first one, heck anywhere if it is your first. So here are a few tips to help with doing a panel on Japanese language if you have never done one before or just want to improve.

1) Plan – This is fairly straight forward you need to plan. A good idea is for say a 50 minute format plan 4 items you can bloviate for about 10 minutes on leave the last 15 minutes for discussion and Q&A. Yes that math doesn’t hold up, but you will usually talk faster than in your prep and will usually get done quicker so there is extra time.

2) Bring materials – Bring books you have or friends have trying to bring several things you can pass around that show ways of practicing the language. Bring some fun stuff too.

3) Teach something, usually basic introductions are enough – Teach some Japanese so people are able to say at least something. Explain the significance of the introduction along with how to properly say it. Also get them to say it too.

4) Teach a few common anime words – your at a con so lets face most people watch anime. Try to break down a few common phrases and words that you hear a lot, but don’t necessarily catch the meaning of easily. ex: kowai vs kawaii

5) Speak Some Japanese – Lets face it you need some authority, unless you are Japanese, so start out the thing by saying a few sentences in Japanese then translate it.

6) Have a Japanese person present – This one is more difficult than the rest, but can really add to it if you can nab one, importing japanese people is usually hard fair warning. However, they can answer a lot of questions since they are fluent by living the language than most fluent by learning the language.

7) Discussion/Q&A – This can be awesome or fail. If you have an enganged audience you can answer question for hours. However, you can also have a dead audence that is just there to listen and won’t ask a thing or say a thing unless prompted. So, have some questions ready and try to get the audience moving a little.
Handout with lots of resources – Usually there are going to be a couple of serious learners present or serious to be learners. Most people are there because they want to learn the language quick or are intrigued. Always aim for the serious learners so come up with a handout that has bunches links and description of why they should go there.

9) Give an untranslated book away – I know personally when i started I was constantly looking for untranslated stuff to consume and get an idea of what is going on with this crazy language. Giving away an untranslated manga or book can really have a boosting effect in helping people to learn because now the have genuine Japanese material. Plus, it is fun to get free stuff.

10) DO NOT talk about Japan – Heresy right? Well the quickest way to derail a good conversation about learning the Japanese language is to start talking about japan. Remember most people there aren’t truly concerned about learning the language and those are the ones that will incessantly ask about japan if you start talking about your travels there. While learning culture and about Japan is important you are in a language panel.

What are some things you can suggest to help others with doing panels at conventions?

Japan has a lot of family names and it kind of makes it hard to remember names because I haven’t grown up with them. However, it is important to start learning names to better remember names and get along using the language. The Japan Times released an article with the top 100 most common family names in japan.

Here are the top 10 please visit the the article for all the rest.

1. Sato
2. Suzuki
3. Takahashi
4. Tanaka
5. Watanabe
6. Ito
7. Yamamoto
8. Nakamura
9. Kobayashi
10. Kato

The Ainu are considered the natives to Japan, similar to Native Americans being the original peoples to the United States. They are actually very similar to the Native Americans because their culture/economy was based around farming, hunting, fishing and gathering; along with having their own language, culture, and religious distinctions.

The Ainu were originally concentrated throughout the Honshu and Hokkaido islands. They called Hokkaido Ainu Moshir, which was annexed by the Japanese in 1868 to prevent the intrusion of Russians. This fact alone is interesting because according to a historical census in Russia there were over 1000 people that claimed Ainu as their main language. This means the Ainu not only were in Japan, but also parts of Russia as well, even though now most Ainu do live in Japan. Now, most Ainu live in Hokkaido on the southern and eastern coasts.

There are probably less than 100 people whom speak Ainu left, so basically the language is about to go extinct. The Ainu language has next to no correlation to Japanese and is part of the reason the language is going extinct because most people try to record the language using a Japanese writing system, since there isn’t one, and words are getting changed because of it.

There are a few distinctions in the culture too. For one the Ainu tend to be more hairy, I am guessing this is because they live in a colder climate longer the hair helps keep them warmer, total speculation on my part. This is mentioned because after a certain age the men stop shaving, and grow out there beards and mustaches. The women on the other hand keep their hair trimmed around their shoulders. As for food, ironically enough, all their food is cooked. They don’t eat raw foods like sushi, which in my ignorance would have thought is where Japan started eating sushi. I do have to say their system of accountability is quite intriguing and should maybe be incorporated again, in some places. Basically, a group of people, like jurors, sit in judgment of an action and the only punishment is basically how severely you get beaten. However, if you murder someone your nose and ears were cut off and the tendons in your feet where severed.

The religion is animist, which one can construe as Shintoism that most Japanese favor today. Basically everything has a spirit or god, similar to Greek mythology. The most important of spirits is fire, or earth. Most Ainu believe they will ascend to kamui mosir (land of the gods)

With all this said the Ainu haven’t exactly had the easiest of lives. To roughly sum up they were forced into assimilating into Japanese culture with a law made in 1899. Under the law they were denied the right to continue traditional practices and forced to learn the Japanese language. Biggest hit of all was they were only allowed to have 0.15% of they land they originally had. Basically, look a bit at American history with Native Americans transplant that onto the Japanese and Ainu. It wasn’t until 1997 that the Ainu started getting some rights back, and are still discriminated against. Finally, in 2008 the Japanese Diet officially recognized the Ainu as the indigenous people of Japan and rescinded the laws of 1899.

I hope you enjoyed this post. I have a strong passion that understanding history of a region helps you better understand the modern culture. I plan to do more history posts in the future. Please let me know what you think and how I can improve as history is not my strong point.

And you thought all old people sat in wheelchairs all day. This is interesting and proves something I have thought and consider true. No matter the age if you take care of yourself you can do anything you want.

Japanese weightlifter Tsutomu Tosuka won first place in the seniours above 70 category in the 21st anneversary Japan Masters Bodybuilding Competition. What makes this interesting is he didn’t start bodybuilding until 40 which is when quite a few people end. So keep up the good work Tsutomu-さん.

This story is particularly interesting to me because I am interested in bodybuilding on a small scale. I don’t intend to go pro at it, but I have a feeling if I truly wanted to I could. Every so often i get the Bodybuilding bug and I’ll loose a bunch of weight and start to bulk up for a while. There are some interesting things to know about Body Building.

Here are some interesting facts:

• Pro-bodybuilders will eat 10,000 calories a day of food
• For a competition they will get down to about 3.5% to 4% bodyfat
  • You die at below 4% body fat for more than a day
  • 8% bodyfat you see 8 separate ab muscles
  • 10% bodyfat you see 6 abs (six pack)
  • 20% bodyfat is love handles
  • 32% bodyfat is clinically obese
• They have HUGE belly guts they just hide it well
• In order to make vains pop during competition some competers eat vodka injected oranges
• 60 to 70% of bodybuilding is nutrition

Hopefully I can be as fit as him when I am old.

original news source – dailymail ]]> http://dumbotaku.com/2009/09/23/74-year-old-japanese-man-wins-bodybuilding-competition/feed/ 2 http://dumbotaku.com/2009/09/17/boy-scouts-in-japan/ http://dumbotaku.com/2009/09/17/boy-scouts-in-japan/#comments Thu, 17 Sep 2009 06:25:29 +0000 DumbOtaku http://dumbotaku.com/?p=718

The title is a bit misleading, but serves our purposes as a starting point. First I want to bring up that I am an Eagle Scout in the “Boy Scouts of America” and strongly believe in the values, skills and life lessons I have learned in Boy Scouts having been in it for almost 20 years now. Now that you have a bit of perspective of why I am writing this lets look a bit into “what” scouting is about.

What is Scouting

If scouts could be summed up in a couple a few sentences I would have to say it is a program that offers youth an opportunity to learn about the world and interact with others from people their own age to adults. Skills in outdoors, communications, and leadership are developed over several years of interaction with all types of people and through the school of hard knocks. It helps prepare young people to better prepare themselves for the future by presenting similar situations to them that they would come up against later in life.

To illustrate how Scouting can better prepare you for the future i’d like to call on a personal example instead of trying to rely on some abstract explanation. In scouting you must serve in a leadership role be-it a small group or the whole group. I served a few terms as the senior youth leader in which I had to plan and run the meetings and delegate accordingly. This involved more paper work and co-ordination than anything else. I had to make sure I found who could do what and helped to co-ordinate so they could do what they needed, usually teaching something. This is not unlike running a company you spend more time doing administrative tasks over what your business actually does.

So how has this helped me for the future. Well the easiest example would be that I am currently helping to start a Japanese Language Club at my local college and it is mostly paperwork and coordinating with people to make sure we are doing things right. I can easily step into this role and fulfill it because of the direct benefits of Scouting.

Hopefully that helps you gauge an idea of the benefits of scouting. So lets move on.

History of Scouting in Japan

Pre-World War II

The first Boy Scout Troop was formed in Japan in 1909 at a school, but quickly disappeared when the teacher left that school. Many more troops sprang up here and there accross japan for the next 13 years, but there was no real guiding force behind them. In 1922 Boy Scouts of Japan was officially formed and became a true organization. Scouting in Japan came to be noticed by the public after the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923 when Scouts help to rebuild, and the statesman who was incharge of the rebuilding process was able to bring word of Boy Scouts to the general public during his travels around Japan.

World War II

Scouting almost died during World War II and shortly there after during the occupation as former military personal were scrutinzed and not given much lee-way in what they could do. Later though things relaxed and Scouting flourished in Japan once more with membership growing to 80,000 members in only a few short years.

Today

SAJ celebrated its 75th Anniversary of founding of the National Scout Association in 1997, and hosted the second Asia-Pacific Regional Top Leaders’ Summit Conference in Gotemba and Tokyo.

Scouting in Japan has grown steadily and established an eminent place for itself in social education for young people. The aim of the Scout Association of Japan is to help young people become responsible humanitarian citizens, who can appreciate and practice loyalty, courage and self-respect in an international perspective. With the support of volunteer leaders, the Scout movement in Japan provides fun filled, challenging programs, with an emphasis on developing each young person’s character, health, abilities and sense of service to others.

The Scout Association of Japan is a non-political, voluntary movement, with open subscription. The geographic structure of Japanese Scouting is the Council, generally conforming to prefecture boundaries. Japanese Scouting also exists abroad, in communities with large native Japanese populations, such as Amsterdam, Netherlands and Singapore.

Earlier I said the title was a bit misleading. I say that because Boy Scouts of Japan re-named to Scout Association of Japan, and abbreviated as SAJ. SAJ then opened the doors to the girls/female youth in all Sections in 1995.

Structure of Scouting Program in Japan

The United States as 3 sections to it. Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Venturing, with venturing being a bit of a side thing more than an integral part. However the SAJ has 5 parts to it.

Beaver Scouts
This is for the youngest group. It mostly exists to form new relationships with others and have fun learning basic skills and team work. A couple of activities might be basic arts and crafts to visiting the zoo with fellow Beaver’s.

Cub Scouts
Cub Scouts is for the bit more mature so might extend activities to include more complex arts and crafts along with camping skills at a basic level and start to introduce them to things they will come accross in Boy Scouts.

Boy Scouts
At this point the scout has a basic understanding of camping skills and other related skills along with the ability to participate and accomplish things with others. So now starts the path of learning leadership and further develop camping skills beyond setting up a tent and eating.

Venture
This is more advanced part of scouting where you will take everything you have learned and usually start to lead larger groups of people in various activities as you work towards Fuji Scout. You learn to deal with all kinds of people as by this age many people have matured to a point where attitudes are easily distinguishable. Along with all this you will probably start participating in activities going beyond just camping in the woods from white watering kayaking to Extended Backpacking trips, or even Mountain Climbing, via cliff faces.

At this level you work towards Fuji Scout which is the highest rank in SAJ equivalent to Eagle Scout in the United States. As I understand it not many Scouters are able to earn the rank of Fuji Scout much like the rank of Eagle where only 2% of all total scouts earn Eagle Scout. I read somewhere that as of 1998 only 3000 people had earned Fuji Scout. I was unable to find information that I could read regarding total numbers of scouts in Japan.

Rover
This level is a personal growth section where one grows through service to scouting, their family, and their community.

Scout Motto, Promise/Oath, and laws

The scouting program in Japan is broken up into 2 distinct parts. Cub Scouts and “Regular Scouts”. Cub scouts are your elementary age kids (Beaver and Cub) while Regular Scouts are Middle School to High School aged (Scout, Venture and Rover). Each level has a motto which is something that is quick and meaningful that you should try to do everyday. The promise, or oath, which is something that you will strive to do in life. And laws which you should follow to be the best you can. I’ll list these now.

Scouts

Motto

• Be prepared

Promise

• On my honor, I promise I will do my best to do my duty to God/Buddha and the country, and to obey the Scout Laws, to help other people at all times, and to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.

Laws

• A Scout is
  1. Faithful
  2. Friendly
  3. Courteous
  4. Kind
  5. Cheerful
  6. Thrifty
  7. Courageous
  8. Thankful

Cub Scouts

Motto

• Always, Be in High Spirits

Promise

• I promise to behave honestly and steadily, and to follow the pack laws

Pack Laws

• Cub Scouts
  1. Obey
  2. Look After Themselves
  3. Work Together
  4. Help Younger Ones
  5. Do Good Deeds

Ranks

Each rank builds on each other and are merit based. You must earn the ranks they are not awarded based on age. Here they are in order.

1. Tenderfoot (Tenderfoot)
2. 2nd Class (Ni-kyu)
3. 1st Class (Ikkyu)
4. Chrysanthemum (kiku)
5. Fuji Scout (Comparable to Eagle Scout)

Noteable Scouts

• Ryutaro Hashimoto, the 82nd and 83rd Prime Minister of Japan
• Yukio Hattori, the fifth president of the Hattori Nutrition College, commentator on the Japanese cooking competition program Iron Chef
• Soichi Noguchi, Japanese astronaut
• Makoto Raiku, mangaka (Zatch Bell!)

Conclusion

There is much much much more detail I could go into, but I think this is a good overview to go beyond the general boy scouting is for youth explanation. The basic structure and purpose is important to understand to really understand what scouting is about. There is one thing to remember though, at the end of the day beyond all the politics beyond all the bickering that may happen; at the end of they Scouting is about one thing and one thing only helping the youth of today become good responsible adults in the future. That is a truly noble and great goal for all.

Culture

Misunderstanding

Pop Culture

‘Manga’: heart of pop culture
Coffee Japan’s favorite soft drink
Why Japanese Love Watching Celebs Eating
Man Stole for Money to Enjoy a Few Things

Books

100 Books for Understanding Contemporary Japan

Travel

Getting Around in Japan
Riding the Rail
Have you seen these signs?
Tokyos Rush Hour Rudeness
The Three Most Scenic Spots in Japan

Foreign Relations

Nihonjin I Presume
The Gaijin Debate
Not Fitting In In Japan
No Pets

History

Watch the Growth of Shinjuku from 1969 – 2004

The Humorous

How Asians Take Pictures

Technology

Mobile spam very discomforting for three in five Japanese
Ninja Typing Speed

Here are some more interesting links around the English/Japanese bloggosphere. Most of the links I try to get are to help better understand the culture in Japan as understanding the culture is a good way to understand the language. I only make these posts when I find 20 links I think are more interesting than others.

This time around I want to make a special thanks to The Nihon Sun and Turning-Iwatean. You all are making some great culture posts, so many in fact I can’t post them all.

Architecture

What $510.00 usd Apartment in Central Tokyo looks like

Cosplay

Cosplay Battle

Culture

Cost of living in Rural Japan
Yanki Boy
Youth Never Had it So Good in Japan
Hungry for Fish? Local Fish Markets Across Japan
What I think of School Uniforms

Foreign Relations

Top 10 Things NOT to do when Visiting Japan.
Studying and Working in Japan – Resources
Prejudiced?

History

Japanese Myths and Mythical creatures: Tanuki
Kimono
Noren Elegant Entryway Curtains from Japan

Marketing

Japanese Outdoor Media Innovations

Photography

The tuna auction at Tsukiji fishmarket
Fuji Five Lakes Hiking…
Around the neighborhood 9
Inohana Koen
Saturday Picture Post: Old Signs

Relationship

Happy Dates and Lovers Secrets

Technology

Cable Internet Rather Popular in Japan

Yakuza

Japanese Yakuza Hit by Recession

History

The TV Tower was built in 1957 and cost 170 Million Yen. (Approximately 1,700,000 USD) It is used as a repeater which is an antenna that receives a signal boosts it and pushes it back out to another area. It isn’t a main broadcast tower.

The signature digital clocks on all 4 sides were introduced in 1961 to draw attention to the tower and the town, and seemed to work. It was installed 65 meters up so all could see it easy. Amazingly it has only had to be fixed 2 times in 1998 and 2006.

Here are some more interesting links around the English/Japanese bloggosphere. Most of the links I try to get are to help better understand the culture in Japan as understanding the culture is a good way to understand the language.  I only make these posts when I find 20 links I think are more interesting than others.

Architecture

A flat in Tokyo

Culture

You know you’ve been in America too long when… From a Japanese Perspective
About Kimonos
Japan, Nihon, Nippon, Jipangu, Yamato
Wrestling the Silk
Thoughts on Work Ethic in Japan
Japanese Banks

Food

Natto in Mito
Melonpan

Learning

How to Shorten Your Japanese
Raising bilingual children takes time, huge effort — and lotsa money
10 Best Japan Blogs for English Speakers
Japanese Particles [Cheatsheet]
Learning Japanese is like sitting on a Cold Rock

Misc.

Japan financial crisis

Photography

Views of Japan – March 31 2009
Tokyo Photo Walk 4
Random Photo Shoot 6

Relationship

What men cannot hope to understand about Japanese women
Japanese Women: Gold Diggers or Victims of Society?