mythology website

part of the cultural literacy in learning Japanese:

official site of mythology made by Shimane prefecture, http://www.japanesemythology.jp/
<2012 is 1300th anniversary of Kojiki>

practice listening to Japanese

[keep up with live, spoken Japanese] nice short podcasts of interviews on business and other topics: http://www.nhk.or.jp/r-asa/

paper craft (PowerPoint) slides for guidance

[thanks for JFLALC's Watanabe-san]

Free download site for paper crafts using PPT. Lots of stuff for New Year events, Setsubun, and so on.
http://www.pulsedesign.jp/test/ms/pipc/html/officelife/template/kodomo_1.html
All files are set for A4 size as default. Make sure to change Slides Size to Letter Size at Design -> Page Setup, before printing them out.

nengajo New Years Cards online

[Thanks to S. Renovich]

  The Post Office website also allows you to make a slide show of your year called Watashi Nenkan, 

a hanko stamp based on words or pictures, and brush calligraphy. 
You can easily download the images to use in other projects as well.

Yubin Nenga, http://yubin-nenga.jp/index.html
Yahoo Nenga, https://yahoo-nenga.jp/
Canon, http://cp.c-ij.com/ja/event/nenga/index.html
Nengajou.com, http://www.nengajou.com/links6.html
Rakuten Greetings, http://greeting.rakuten.co.jp/event/nenga/

reading materials in Japanese (AP classes)

http://nihongo-e-na.com/
---reading articles appropriate for level 3 and AP and IB courses.

apps & learning Japanese

recommendations from W. Branchflower.

iPhone: at little or no cost for Japanese learners. 

     Apart from the quizlet app, highly recommended for teacher created lists, I would also recommend the 'Imiwa' app as a fantastic free dictionary, one of the best I've seen and certainly the best free dictionary app for Japanese learners.

---cf. Android devices: "Kabuto" instead of Imawa

Cooking mama Lite is also a great recipe app for budding gourmands with good Japanese skills

Hiragana Test and Katakana test are both good for script building skills

iKana touch is one of the best paid apps for learning Kana, lots of good features ($6?)

Momo teaches Japanese makes good use of the draw-on-screen capabilities of the iphone

Shin Kanji is good for more advanced learners

fun activities online

--thanks to S. Renovich:
 
Here is a page of links called "For Fun" on the Fun Japanese website, http://www.members.shaw.ca/renovich/funjapanese
 
Many are sites for creating and editing images with Japanese fonts like
Image Chef,
Banner Koubou,
Portrait Illustration Maker and
Muryou Shoujou (Certificate maker)
Voki allows students to record their voice or to type in texts for computer-generated sound.

Doubutsu Uranai (horoscope) is fairly accurate and I've used it as reading and dictionary-skills practice with senior students.
http://www.doubutsu-uranai.com/free_experience.php

The Usoko Maker links and Nounai Maker take katakana names, as well, and are purely for fun.

using infographics for language learning

http://infographic.jp/ has several examples for "scavenger hunting" of facts and details by students.

games for hiragana; katakana

games, activity ideas for teaching hiragana, katakana

Sun Oct 7, 2012 1:11 pm (PDT) . Posted by: "J M"

Each student has a different color dry erase marker. In each group, student one must have the same color. Each student 2 the same color and so on.

You give 2-3 hiragana and each student makes just one stroke before passing the board.

It's a race. You can also do this on paper with colored pencils. It's even more fun with kanji.

The next person cannot fix the stroke of the previous student, but they may erase the stroke and hand the board back for that student to try again.

scenes from west Japan & far west China

Students of Japanese may be curious to see how far their knowledge of kanji goes when it comes to Simplified Chinese in the slideshows gathered together about Chinese language (below). And they may like to see the photo sets from Japan, too:

a) Posted signboards all around the International Youth Hostel near KIX

b) Other examples of Japanese "in the wild" that I viewed around Sakai-city and also Fukui-ken

Here are the photos overall, http://bit.ly/echizen2012

Photos by theme/topic are grouped at http://www.slideshare.net/anthroview/presentations

The China photos (mostly around Urumqi, but also some from the silk road town of Turpan; also from up north: Altay prefecture)

are online at http://bit.ly/altay2012xuar

And the photos by theme/topic are also at http://www.slideshare.net/anthroview/slideshelf

Five short summer videos - Fukui-ken

Five short video segments of the land, language and look of things middle July in Fukui-ken.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/7661305558/in/photostreamJuly 2012 at Kono-mura on the Fukui-ken coast of the Japan sea. This was Wednesday, but the summer weekends are flooded with people on beaches, roads and water. The two women searching the rocks (speaking something other than Japanese) appear to be poaching 'sazae' -not good for the ecosystem.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/7658524106/in/photostreamValleypanorama of Japan's main island west coast, Fukui-ken (July 15). Note the land use patterns: neat rice paddy irrigation system, electrical power cables, Hino River levy, homes concentrated to maximize productive spaces.

Buddhist temple bell ringing, http://youtu.be/MVS4JFWXtzUThe 7 a.m. bell at Daihou-ji, a Jodo (Pure Land) Buddhist temple, in Echizen-city, Fukui-ken in July 2012. In Japanese: includes lesson on how to achieve maximum sound when striking the bronze bell. Since nearly all such metals were melted for the Pacific War effort, this present bell dates to post-1945. Note the deep reverberation that follows the ringing.

1 minute 38 seconds

Buddhist temple interior, Jodo sect, http://youtu.be/Vi3d60gMuUYTour of hondo (main hall, 1858) of Daihou-ji in Echizen-city, Fukui-ken in July 2012. Mostly in Japanese.

6 minutes 09 seconds

Train line to Kyoto from 25 km north, http://youtu.be/hagj3YgCfREShort train window video segments on the JR West line into Kyoto from the north, along the west shore of Lake Biwa in Shiga prefecture in middle July 2012.

2 minutes 38 seconds

Five short video segments of the land, language and look of things middle July in Fukui-ken.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/7661305558/in/photostream

July 2012 at Kono-mura on the Fukui-ken coast of the Japan sea. This was Wednesday, but the summer weekends are flooded with people on beaches, roads and water. The two women searching the rocks (speaking something other than Japanese) appear to be poaching 'sazae' -not good for the ecosystem.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/7658524106/in/photostream

Valley panorama of Japan's main island west coast, Fukui-ken (July 15). Note the land use patterns: neat rice paddy irrigation system, electrical power cables, Hino River levy, homes concentrated to maximize productive spaces.

Buddhist temple bell ringing, http://youtu.be/MVS4JFWXtzU

The 7 a.m. bell at Daihou-ji, a Jodo (Pure Land) Buddhist temple, in Echizen-city, Fukui-ken in July 2012. In Japanese: includes lesson on how to achieve maximum sound when striking the bronze bell. Since nearly all such metals were melted for the Pacific War effort, this present bell dates to post-1945. Note the deep reverberation that follows the ringing.

1 minutes 38 seconds

Buddhist temple interior, Jodo sect, http://youtu.be/Vi3d60gMuUY

Tour of hondo (main hall, 1858) of Daihou-ji in Echizen-city, Fukui-ken in July 2012. Mostly in Japanese.

6 minutes 09 seconds

train line to Kyoto from 25 km north, http://youtu.be/hagj3YgCfRE

Short train window video segments on the JR West line into Kyoto from the north, along the west shore of Lake Biwa in Shiga prefecture in middle July 2012.

2 minutes 38 seconds

online WAKA scroll

At Seattle Art Museum. Here is a shortcut to the full URL,
http://tinyurl.com/deerwaka
Most of it won't be readable by beginner or intermediate students, but it does illustrate the idea of illustrated waka and the vast length of the scroll genre.
 
-Guven Witteveen, sjmi@hotmail dotcom
Fulbright Specialist 2012
Xinjiang Normal University June & July
 

resource files from Sensei-Online yahooGroup

Lots of resources, including movie study guides to Japanese greats for language teaching, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/senseionline/files/
You probably need to login to the yahoo group first to get to this page.

young people in Japan 2012

cross-posting from Japan Foundation newsletter:

LIGHT UP NIPPON: Introducing Young People's Challenge to Energize the

Devastated Areas in Tohoku Region through Fireworks

The Japan Foundation produced a documentary film that featured challenges by the
young Japanese people supporting Tohoku's recovery for the purpose of presenting
a vivid image of today's young generation in Japan.

http://www.jpf.go.jp/e/culture/commonness/lightup-nippon/index.html

conversion from Chinese characters to several E.Asian readings

http://www.cojak.org/ gives the Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Japanese, both onyomi and kunyumi, for nearly all characters according to today's electronic list for Korean Studies

Peace Park in Nagasaki (text)

There is a nice description of the statue at the Peace Park in the May edition of Anthropology News, online public access during this month.

NAGASAKI PEACE PARK mentioned in the article URL for the whole article with photo and the following long caption:
http://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2012/04/26/on-happiness/

Japanese youth visiting the Nagasaki Peace Park a short distance from ground zero. The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and its horrible consequences are part of the Japanese national education curriculum, including field trips to those cities' peace parks. In the background is Seibo Kitamura's ten-meter bronze "The Peace Statue," which was erected in August of 1955 by the citizens of Nagasaki "as an appeal for lasting world peace and a prayer that such tragedy would never be repeated." According to the interpretive plaque, "The elevated right hand points to the threat of nuclear weapons, while the outstretched left hand symbolizes tranquility and world peace. Divine omnipotence and love are embodied in the sturdy physique and gentle countenance of the statue, and a prayer for the repose of all the souls of all war victims is expressed in the closed eyes. Furthermore, the folded right leg symbolizes quiet meditation while the left leg is poised for action in assisting humanity." Photo courtesy Barbara Rose Johnston
photo alone, http://www.anthropology-news.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/anw-Johnston-apr121.jpg

fastfood images, prices, words

http://www.burgerkingjapan.co.jp/campaign/index.html

Each of the links on that page accesses a bold, high-resolution flier from
one of their recent "campaigns." The fliers include big, easy-to-read
text, prices, katakana, and other potentially valuable materials. 

exhibit 2012 on Sakura theme, Washington, D.C.

Sakura: Cherry Blossoms as Living Symbols of Friendship

March 20–September 15, 2012

In a century-old act of friendship that forever enriched the nation's capital withsakura (cherry blossoms), the city of Tokyo gave 3,000 cherry trees to Washington, D.C., in 1912. Springtime viewing of the blooming trees that ring the Tidal Basin quickly became a cherished tradition and a signature cultural event in the United States capital. Today, the National Cherry Blossom Festival draws more than one million visitors annually from the United States and abroad... [excerpt from http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/cherry-blossoms/Pages/default.aspx]

Photo (screenshot) source, http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/cherry-blossoms/Pages/SlObjectList.aspx

documentary, "Sushi - The Global Catch"

cross-posting from the e-list for East Asia Anthropology, EASIANTH

In this meticulously researched documentary, filmmaker Mark Hall traces the origins of sushi in Japan to its status today as a cuisine that has spawned a lucrative worldwide industry. This explosion in demand for sushi over the past 30 years has brought with it problems of its own, as fish stocks have steadily depleted, threatening the balance of the ocean's ecosystems.

Through extensive interviews with prominent industry representatives and environmental activists, Hall carefully presents the various solutions being proposed to the vexing issue of overfishing. Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 2011 Seattle International Film Festival, Sushi: The
Global Catch raises some pressing questions that all sushi lovers should seek to address.

See the trailer at http://vimeo.com/23332161 or learn more at http://kinolorberedu.com/film.php?id=1244

cf. investigative journalism TV at 60 Minutes (12 minute segment) on the Japanese blue fin tuna market & sushi ("The King of Sushi in Trouble"):

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4423723n&tag=contentBody;storyMediaBox

latest textbooks, Beginning & Intermediate Japanese

The full announcement by Tuttle Publishing links to related media (workbook and so forth). Here you have the two textbooks.

The tables of Goals include chapter by chapter targets for kanji, culture, grammar and so on.

Tuttle is pleased to announce the availability of Intermediate Japanese: Your Pathway to Dynamic Language Acquisition. In this second book of a 3-volume series, authors Michael Kluemper and Lisa Berkson continue to teach Japanese through an engaging storyline that emphasizes real-life situations in contemporary Japanese culture and authentic written, visual and oral materials. By the end of this second book, students will have mastered a cumulative total of 300 kanji, well on the way to AP- and IB-level proficiency.

...To download the introduction to either textbook immediately, just click here for Beginning Japanese or here for Intermediate Japanese.

database of lesson plans, culture notes, etc

University of Pittsburgh announces a Teacher Portal. Search the Teaching Materials Database to download the lesson plans and culture notes, read the study tour blogs, and view and/or download photos in the Photo Gallery.

http://noborders.ucis.pitt.edu/nctalib/ 

USA HighSchool Students - JET Memorial Invitation Program

Opportunity for US students in grade 11 or 12 who now study Japanese.
[forwarded from EASC at Indiana University]

JET Memorial Invitation Program (JET MIP) for High School Students

The JET MIP program provides 32 high school students with the opportunity to go to Japan for two weeks as a group to meet Japanese students, experience Japanese culture, and study the language. It was created in 2011 in memory of the two beloved American teachers of English who lost their lives in the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011: Taylor Anderson(Ishinomaki, Miyagi) and Montgomery Dickson (Rikuzen-Takata, Iwate). The program is open to 11^th and 12^th graders who are currently learning Japanese, and it seeks to honor the principles which Taylor and Monty valued during their lives.  For more information, please visit http://www.jflalc.org/jle-12-jet-mip.html.