Learn and Teach Japanese: 2013

There have been many videos about 3.11 but this one is simple and "home made" so I think it is very powerful; cross-posted with the permission of Hatasa-sensei. He has supporting materials for teachers of Japanese, too (see URL below).

"Kyo-o mamoru" (Resilience - Protecting Today, 2011)

This documentary film depicting lives of people in Rikuzentakata after 3.11 earthquake and tsunami is now available as teaching material.
Director/producer, Ms. Yuka Kan'no, interviewed people in her hometown (Rikuzen takata), including her mother, her childhood classmates, and their parents after the 3/11 disaster. As a local, she was able to bring a unique perspective to the experience. The film was presented at the Yamanashi Film Festival in 2011, and has been shown throughout Japan.

Please feel free to contact Professor Kazumi Hatasa. (khatasa@purdue. dotedu)
Details and the subtitle project are available at http://tell.fll.purdue.edu/hatasa/protect-today/index-e.html

A shortened version (7.5 minutes) can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzETwmxFE4M
Kazumi Hatasa, Purdue University; Director, Middlebury College summer Japanese School

amusing videos from Yamaha Motors:

The company apparently collaborated with a local culinary institute and ryokan in Shizuoka to introduce bento showcasing Yamaha vehicles. The one for Japanese New Years' Day would be useful in introducing osechi ryori.
http://www.yamaha-motor.co.jp/global/vehicle-bento/

Mr. Nagakawa (永川優樹) and his incredible work... great shots of what it is like to walk through different parts of Tokyo.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL17E318160C710C64

Browse for more of his work at
http://www.youtube.com/user/egawauemon/videos?view=1

2013-04-03

learning to type in Japanese

Google Japan demonstrated their "patapata"; input method.
Google 日本語入力パタパタバージョン http://youtu.be/HzUDAaYMNsA

2013-03-26

video - Fukushima disaster +24 months

Two years on: this 5 minute youtube video includes many comments by local people (with subtitles).

Cross linking from full article, http://japanfocus.org/events/view/177

LINK, http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vhm_mpXTQKE

Context: Dr David McNeill is the Japan correspondent for The Chronicle of Higher Education and writes for The Independent and Irish Times newspapers. He covered the nuclear disaster for all three publications, has been to Fukushima ten times since 11 March 2011, and has written the book Strong in the Rain (with Lucy Birmingham) about the disasters. He is an Asia-Pacific Journal coordinator.

2013-02-13

art exchange 2013 - elementary & middle schools

In a few weeks my town hosts an annual art exhibit: the USA children's artwork from fall 2012 is paired with summer 2012 artwork from our sister city in Shiga-ken. Then we sent art to Japan for display in their town library in summer 2013. Among Michigan's sister city interchange of student art, this is the biggest. A small sample of the artwork from elementary grades 1-6 and a few pieces from middle school are online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=HE4TABaj2Fg
Other years are recounted at http://mishigan.blogspot.com

2013-02-10

clearance: Japanese Teachers' NET

http://www.japaneseteachers.net/ will end service on February 28 with collected resources

to migrate over to a colleague's site, http://www.japteach.com

This process may take many weeks, so the quickest way to browse and save materials from J.T.net is to visit before the Feb. 28 closure date.

2013-02-05

fun online media links (updates)

thanks to Sachiko R. for this:

The media links page on the Fun Japanese website is divided into the following categories: TV, newspapers, radio, magazines, videos, web-based sites, facebook and twitter, and blogs. http://www.members.shaw.ca/renovich/funjapanese/

<> The NHK for School site has clips (1-2 minutes) with clearly pronounced Japanese that might be useful for a starting point of a discussion.
<> Fuji TV has an especially large section on games in the Fujiterebi*Puranettsu section. Older cultural games are still available on the website at
http://www.fujitv.co.jp/game/land/index.html (Click on Seasons)
<> The children's newspapers have furigana to help with the kanji. Yomiuri Kodomono News Weekly seems to have a short manga with each article that could be used as a visual aid.
<> NHK Radio News lets you choose between different speeds to build your listening skills. The NHK News Web has the written version so that you can listen and read at the same time. (Though the intonation on the NHK News Web stories seem a little bit off, or is that just my perception?)
<> Brad Kremer's "Hayaku: A Time Lapse Journey through Japan" is highly recommended.
<> The Japan Forum's Click Nippon website has been renewed with the current focus on fashion in Japan.

2013-02-02

U.S.A. high school students to Japan - J.E.T.

...application for the 2013 JET Memorial Invitation Program for U.S. High School Students, please make sure to have your candidate registered by then.

There are three important dates for this program:

1. February 8th, 2013 (5pm Eastern Time): Applicants, through their Japanese language teacher, must sign up for the 2013 National Japanese Exam (NJE) organized by AATJ. If you are not a member of AATJ, you will need to become a member first and there is a $40 membership fee. The 2013 test is required for applying to JET-MIP.

2. March 1st through April 10th, 2013: Teacher must administer the online exam to the candidate and then print out their scores.

3. April 17th, 2013: JET-MIP applications, including NJE scores and transcript, must be mailed by the applicant's Japanese language teacher to JFLA by this date (NO FAXES or EMAILS).

For more information, please visit the 2013 JET-MIP page and if you have any further questions, please contact the program coordinator below.
http://www.jflalc.org/jle-jet-mip.html

Thomas Lin
2013 JET-MIP Coordinator
5700 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 100
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323-761-7510x109/105

2013-01-29

JP gov videos, diverse subjects

thanks to Sachiko R:

...promotional videos about Japan. [examples]
http://nettv.gov-online.go.jp/eng/index.html

Japan. Tomorrow Starts Here is a 3-minute video about highlighting Japan's direction for the future.
http://nettv.gov-online.go.jp/eng/prg/prg2913.html

The Emperor and Empress' visits to various countries including his first visit to Canada and the US in 1953.
http://nettv.gov-online.go.jp/eng/prg/prg2654.html

Souvenirs of Japan Contest, http://nettv.gov-online.go.jp/eng/prg/prg1784.html
Iwako Erasers, http://www.iwako.com/
Irodori Edo Kiriko, http://www.edokiriko.com/irodori1.htm
Kenji Kumakura Channel, http://www.youtube.com/user/kikukagome?feature=watch

2013-01-27

healthy school lunches in Japan

thanks to Dan C. for these two links,

On Japan's school lunch menu: A healthy meal made from scratch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9chwTD-fOJg AND
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cefa8S6aRBY

2013-01-22

website, 400 years of British - Japanese relations

cross-posted from H-Japan at www.h-net.org

2013 marks the 400th anniversary of Japan-British relations. King James l sent Tokugawa Ieyasu and Hidetada presents and a letter, which were
received in September, 1613. The letter survives in Tokyo University.
Ieyasu received a telescope - the first ever sent to Asia - and Hidetada a precious cup and cover. The Shogun reciprocated with two suits of armour
(which are extant), and Ieyasu gave five pairs of gold screens (lost) and a shuuinjo, which survives in Oxford University. A vast number of events is planned for 2013, including a major show at the British Museum which will open 400 to the day after the date of the shuuinjo. We aim for '400 connections for 400 years',

http://www.japan400.com

2013-01-19

2 ways for browser to do kanji look-up

Thanks to S.C. for the first mention:

Google Chrome is an alternative browser (others are Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari, and so on) known for it's speed and security as well as "extensibility" - it supports apps, extensions (in browser functions), themes, and a webstore for finding these tools.
Furigana Injector from Akira Kurogane is an extension to Chrome that (on a click) looks up the readings for kanji words and inserts them inline as furigana.
It also provides quick dictionary lookup (mousable), supports kanji levels (based on "most common kanji" count.
You can find Google Chrome at http://google.com/chrome
Once you install Chrome, you can add the extension by visiting the Google Chrome Web Store
- search for "furigana";
- look under the extensions tab
- install Furigana Injector from (Akira Kurogane)
- the Injector waits for a Japanese Language page before "volunteering" to help

And thanks to S.T. at Asia Pacific World for reply with even better alternative:

There is another plugin with similar functionality called rikaichan. I have used it for several years, and rather prefer it to Furigana Injector. Rikaichan was created for Firefox, but now there is a version for Chrome called Rikaikun.

After using Furigana Injector for just a few minutes, it is easy to see that rikaichan is substantially smoother and less glitchy. And even within the first few words of Furigana Injector's "welcome page", you can see an advantage of rikaichan / rikaikun. In the sample Japanese text there, Furigana Injector separates 医学生 into 医学 and 生, providing a separate pop-up translation for each part, whereas rikaichan / rikaikun recognizes the whole thing as one word, and translates it as a whole.

2013-01-11

links page, "fun in Japanese"

Thanks to S. Renovich:

...a page of links called "Language Learning" on the Fun Japanese website.

http://www.members.shaw.ca/renovich/funjapanese
see also http://members.shaw.ca/funwithwordsinjapanese/

Nihongo E-na made by The Japan Foundation Language Institute in Kansai has a wealth of information about various websites and new sites are added on a regular basis. I also like the fact that the feature website and e!Kore Q & A changes each time you click to go to the website. The introductions to the websites are very useful in getting an overview to the sites, especially if you are visiting for the first time.

AJALT's website has an interactive section called "Life in Japan Mitokotto" which was quite entertaining. You can explore so many places in the town and watch real-life situations such as asking for directions, listening to train announcements, and ordering food.

For Japanese textbooks that have study material on-line, you will find their links.

On the Teachers page, I have also added a link to Tachibana-sensei's "Nihongo Ganbatte."

2013-11-19

2013-11-09

2013-11-04

2013-10-29

2013-09-11

2013-08-29

2013-08-19

2013-07-22

2013-06-21

2013-05-22

2013-04-06