Huffpost at it again…

The Huffington Post may be a popular site with good articles on occasion,  their health section is often filled with ‘woo’ (i.e. articles with little to no scientific basis). Generally I ignore these, as I don’t need the stress and irritation. However a recent article by Dr. Douglas Fields entitled “Rudeness is a Neurotoxin”  has compelled me to write, for two reasons:

1. The comments are closed for the article, thus preventing anyone to take issue with it on the site.
2. It compares the social standards of Japan and the US, therefore making it within the purview of this blog.

Dr. Fields makes the case that modern Americans are rude (not going to argue with that) and Japanese are polite (also generally true) and then makes the case that the rudeness of Americans is detrimental to society, and that we would be a lot better off to be polite, the way the Japanese are.

I get the impression that Dr. Fields knows very little about Japanese Culture. Granted, I’m by no means, an expert, but it seems that he is missing a lot of information in that article. He sounds like someone who vacationed there, rather than someone who actually deeply experienced what it means to live in the Japanese culture.

More after the fold…

The nail that sticks up….

I’ve heard a lot about the dark side of the Japanese culture, but now I’ve got it resting on my doorstep.  It’s been very educational, in a certain sense, about the strong necessity of compliance to social norms. In America, we tend to hold famous people to a higher standard than others, Tiger Woods is a good example. When information leaked out of his affairs, the public went wild, practically demanding as much information as possible, for no real goal other than gossip.

Not that Americans have a corner on the market… The British practically have an entire segment of their media economy based on gossip and innuendo, as well as many other first world nations. Now think about this…What if a bunch of random strangers, from points all over the world, suddenly took that much of an interest into your life? And by interest, I mean, scouring the internet trying to find out EVERYTHING they can about you, your family, or anyone close to you? Spreading lies, innuendo, threats, and general harassment, simply because, in their eyes, you stepped out of line of the social norms that they decide.

Why? For the simple reason that they didn’t agree with you, and they decided to post on 2chan about it…

Toilet Talk

When the dog decided to do his business on the carpet, my mention of it became a discussion of the ways of pronouncing poop. If this is a subject you are not comfortable with, please move on… Otherwise, continue reading.

Japanese Super Powers

I’m not referring to Power Rangers, or anime character’s ability to be punched and sent through a thick stone wall, which then collapses on them, and they stand up with a few scratches. I’m talking about sensory perception, the kind that we americans, as a whole seem to lack.

1. Smell - This is probably the most heightened og the senses, and why Japanese say that westerners smell so bad. I am amazed daily at my girlfriend’s and daughter’s abilities so notice minor scents. In many ways it’s also a curse for them, living in America, where we seem to revel in strong perfumes, colones, deodarants and our own sweat. Rarely does a day go by when I don’t hear one of them exclaim “kusai” (smells bad). It’s especally bad for her daughters at school, where the popular trend for young men to practically bathe in “Axe” bodyspray, or other similar products.
2. Taste – Apparently western food kills your tastebuds, and yes, they tell me that a lot. They are shocked at how I can miss subtle flavors in cooking, and that it is do to a diet high in sweets, and artificial sweeteners.
3. Hearing - her daughters were wondering if I was sick, because I was breathing too loudly through my nose. They have noticed it quite often, but never mentioned it before. I can’t hear it at all unless it’s completely quiet.
4. Reading Expressions – I’ve heard that Japanese couples often communicate without speaking, and I believe they can do this through facial expressions. No slight muscle movement is ever missed, they will know what you are thinking. Never play poker with a Japanese person, just saying…

Blood? Really?

Perhaps someone can respond to this.  I really don’t get it.

This is a blog about learning Japanese language and culture, granted it’s a somewhat limited audience. I was never expecting to have a large following. But after looking through my stats, something caught my eye.  As of this writing the most popular post on this site is…

‘Blood is thicker than water‘ with 666 total views (no I’m not making that up).  That is more than 6 times the page views for the number two spot.

I was curious as to why that singular post was the most viewed. It wasn’t better written, or more funny, or more novel.  It didn’t really stand out from any other post, then I started looking at search terms…

Here are the top three search terms that brought people to my site:

blood              556

hirigana         35

blood cells    20

Also in the list are ‘blood images’, ‘blood cell’, ‘blood pictures’, ‘images of blood’, and ‘blood picture’.  I’m sure the ones looking for a picture were disappointed, just a small thumbnail for their trouble.

Makes me wonder how popular phlebotomist’s blogs are…

So perhaps I can help? If you have reached this blog searching for blood you aren’t going to find much here, may I suggest:

American Red Cross (Donating Blood)

Food Network (Bloody Mary Recipe)

Blood+ (Anime)

Hematology Library (Science-y blood stuff)

Urban Dictionary (Slang meanings for blood)

Fantastic Free Japanese Free Resource

I found this free Japanese learning resource that teaches the top 2000 Japanese words at smartfm.com, there is also, for more advanced students, the next 6000 words, as well as 2000 kanji and hirigana and katakana for beginners.

Definitely try this out, it’s free and it does a good job with repetition, and also has time based practice games to help increase your speed.  you can select to learn 5 or 10 words per session, I choose 5 because I am an あほじじ。。

one of the things I really like about it is that it drills you in both the hirigana and the kanji, and you have to pass a quiz several times before you are really considered to have learned it. So far, it is the best free resource I’ve found.

I’ve been a bad blogger.

Well, it’s been 5 months since I’ve last posted. Wayyyy too long, and so much has happened since then. In mid-December my girlfriend and her kids were victims of an immigration paperwork error, and during a regular appointment, they were all arrested and were told that they would be deported. They were sent to a family detention center in PA, and had to spend xmas there, but her lawyer managed to get everything straightened out, and they were back before the end of the year, but it was a really terrible experience for them. I didn’t feel much like writing when that happened, or afterward. Then my job contract ended, got a new job and moved. Things seem to be calming down for the time being.

Anyways, I don’t always have the time to blog, and not as much to write about. When I have the time and something that requires a longer post, I’ll add it.
But for shorter updates that are more frequent, please subscribe to my twitter feed at http://www.twitter.com/nihongobaka

Jingle all the way…

Thanksgiving went well, and the girls ate a lot and enjoyed everything. I actually liked the cranberry salad (a first) and we all had plenty to eat.

There was a lot of laughter at the table, but the most laughter came from a simple misunderstanding. We were talking about Christmas, and I asked the girls if they knew “Jingle Bells”

Her oldest daughter said “What?!?!” and started laughing hysterically, the rest of us sat there staring at her wondering what the joke was. After she calmed down a bit, she said “Did you say　ちんげのべろ　(chinge no bero)?”

At which point the other two began blushing and laughing (and I’m guessing those of you reading this who understand Japanese are also at least smiling a bit)
meanwhile I was still clueless…

Thanksgiving as a foreign concept

My girlfriend and her kids haven’t really had a “Real” Thanksgiving, so this year I’m making a big meal, so they can see what it’s all about.

I’ve already discovered that a lot of the concepts are lost on them.

I mentioned that I’d be putting the turkey in the oven at 5 am, so it would be done in time, and she said “What? We have it for lunch, not dinner?”

I said yes, (I honestly have a hard time waiting that long to eat, once the smell of turkey is in the air) and she said, “Then what do we have for dinner?”

I replied that it was kind of an all day event, you eat, get full, rest, eat some more, rest, eat, etc, all day long.

“What? The same thing for dinner? That’s terrible!” And then she called me “saitei” a “horrible person” for expecting them to eat the same thing for lunch and dinner..

“Well,” I said, “It’s more like one big all day meal. you make lots of food and eat it all day long.”

“I don’t understand. Why would you do that?” She said.
It was a phrase I heard over and over the more I tried to explain it.

Now, I LOVE turkey, and everything that goes with it (except cranberries) and for me, Thanks giving is a special time to enjoy all of it, and I’ll eat leftovers for every meal, including breakfast and snacks, until it is all gone. Needless to say, from her point of view that borders on insanity.

All in all, I expect this to be a difficult holiday for her. she doesn’t care for most of the food that I’m making, and she’s making cranberry salad, shrimp, and pound cake with chestnuts for dessert (she doesn’t like pumpkin pie, either) and worst of all, is that I’ll be in the kitchen, which she will openly say is Her Domain, and no one else belongs there.

We’ll see how it goes…

To everyone reading, I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving, and eat at least as much as I’m going to!

Off topic… and off my rocker

How to know how old you really are: Decide to tag along with a group of coworkers around half your age when they decide to take the stairs to go up 9 floors, and start with the premise that you can keep up with them.

I was taking the stairs 2 at a time and was in the middle of the group, until I hit the 4th floor, when every part of my body said, in unison, “OK, you’re DONE NOW!”

 

I was determined not to give up, and finish what I had started, walking very slowly up the stairs, one at a time… By the time I was at the 7th floor, the guys had left me far behind and were at the top waiting. I was having to take breaks every few steps, and thinking that I was (seriously) going to die in a stairwell…