resources September 2011

via U.Colorado-Boulder newsletter:
 
Blogger in Japan. National Geographic's Digital Nomad touched down in Japan. Andrew Evans, the National Geographic Traveler's Contributing Editor and blogger who covers every corner of the world, landed in Japan for his three-week travel through the country. To follow his travel blogs, tweets, and videos, visit http://japantravelinfo.com/andrew/index.html.
 
"Japan" – includes a Google Earth tour

tourism - critical views

teenage students of Japanese language offer their views on the video pitch at http://www.jnto.go.jp/

Students did a Think-Pair-Share and had a short class discussion on the positive and negative aspects of the video because
Here are some of their comments.

Pros
-introduced different places in Japan and was overall set a happy tone
-people will see what Japan is like
-famous (good-looking) people showed the places (pop culture)
-the video gets attention
-a theme (maneki neko) ran through the whole ad
-good for tourism; people will want to visit Japan
-the places shown targeted older people by showing historical tourist places while the actual navigators appeal to a younger audience (wide age range in audience)
-it showed that Japan wasn't all affected by the earthquake
-it showed that the country is doing okay after the disaster
-it was funny
-it showed cultural things such as celebrations, traditions, and food


Cons
-targeted demographic too narrow in using pop idols (appeal only to young girls)
-high cost of money to make and showcase video
-glossed over situation and didn't touch on the nuclear problem, which is what tourists would be worried about
-it was cute but did not seem like a tourism video
-there were too many cats
-it was weird
-unnatural at times as the famous people were paid to look like they were having fun
-seemed a bit too desperate to get the tourists


Suggestions
The classes also discussed ways in improving the video. They talked about having other famous people like professional athletes and female idol groups, but had difficulty in coming up with Japanese people who would be recognizable and liked by everyone. They also felt that as it is a promotion for foreigners, it was strange for a Japanese group to be going on domestic travel. Rather, it made more sense for famous Japanese people to be showing around a world-famous person such as a Hollywood actor whose works had been translated into numerous languages.

Also, students criticized the manner of delivery, in that it was a video being shown only at central locations such as London Station and New York Times Square. The target audience would then be limited to people who accessed areas of high traffic in central cities. Also, the actual website viewers are referred to had no mention of the CM video itself. I checked again today and alas it is there now!! http://visitjapan.jp/eng/top.html
http://www.jnto.go.jp/message_from_japan/
The students thought it would be much more useful if the video was on internet sites such as Youtube that would be spread by word of mouth by social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter where they could track the number of hits. Other suggestions were to buy ad space time on major TV networks (which would then incur additional costs).  

kana practice, learning of Go game, self-study advice

for players of Go, see www.Go-Nation.Org (online Go Tutorials, Go Teaching Aids, and Go Promotional Aids)

for memorizing kana, see the Kana Match card game - www.KanaMatch.com

for self-study of Japanese (of oral/aural, at least):
I once tutored a high school student who started with me already speaking Japanese quite well. When I asked him how he learned Japanese, he told me it was all Pimsleur. If speaking and listening is sufficient, I think Pimsleur is very good.

streaming radio from NHK

New service to keep up with current events. Teachers and students can improve their listenting practice daily:

streaming radio on NHK called 'rajiru-rajiru,' http://www3.nhk.or.jp/netradio/

* due to the international copyright law the streams appear not to be available outside Japan

** workaround: picture is small - like a keyhole, but if you want to listen to Japanese radio live this is a great service. It is free and has several stations on it. http://www.v2p.jp/video/english/

3 dvd set from Mizusawa (Tohoku region)

Menus and titles (screenshots) of the Chapters on all 3 of the DVD disks

Earlier this summer I previewed the 3-dvd set of videos centering on the town of Mizusawa in N.E. Japan. It is the research location for the long career of ethnographer Dr. Keith Brown. The DVDs tell all sides of this long engagement with local people for many decades. The project introduces his research subjects, but also reveals important points about how outsiders relate to the townspeople and develop friendships. One DVD focuses on the personal story that unfolds across the decades. Another DVD has the several topics separated into short 12-15 minute stories. The third DVD will interest students and teachers of Japanese because it takes several episodes of unscripted, “live” dialog between native and non-native (Dr. Brown) speakers of Japanese.

In August the teacher guides to each DVD were released at the website, http://cantgonative.com/

http://cantgonative.com/Can't_Go_Native_Teachers_Guide.zip
http://cantgonative.com/More_About_Mizusawa_TeachersGuide.doc
http://cantgonative.com/Conversations_in_Mizusawa_TeachersGuide.doc

As for the title, “Can’t Go Native?,” perhaps it has three meanings:
a) Foreigners should not let go of their home country roots and “go native,” and/or
b) Foreigners should not fool themselves into believing they can be fully Japanese
c) Foreigners can indeed become part of the local ecosystem of the society.

There are several audiences for the language-centered DVD, "Conversations in Mizusawa":

--exchange students (both those to Japan and those from Japan) from high school to college:
predeparture - while in country - upon return, should see the main movie and other segments.

--high beginner and Intermediate students would enjoy the live conversations, as well.

--all those Japanese teens and college students who are studying English might enjoy the DVDs, either to consume in pleasure, to work on for language learning, or to scrutinize within a critical and historicized frame to see how the gaze and organic relationships of scholar and local community affect each other and have contributed to the published materials.