Rocking in Hakata

Japanese Tongue Twisters in an American Podcast?! Cool! I was listening through my daily dose of podcasts, which I tend to do during my daily perusal of RSS subscriptions, when I heard this one queue up in the playlist. The topic of discussion was something familiar to readers of this blog. Take a listen to this clip I’ve isolated from the show, and see the credits underneath the clip, please. Without further ado…

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This was lifted from HowStuffWorks.com’s majorly popular free podcast, Stuff You Should Know , released on February 6, 2009. Check it out! Also, check out the accompanying article.

Just for the record, the two tongue twisters attempted in Japanese during this audio excerpt are as follows. (I translated the tongue twister differently in my oooold post. I still think I’m right. I’ll verify and go back through that document for republishing. It’s years behind my current Japanese level, and kind of embarrasses me.) I recorded myself attempting these – feel free to giggle.

カエルぴょこぴょこ三ぴょこぴょこ合わせてぴょこぴょこ六ぴょこぴょこ。
Kaeru pyoko pyoko mi-pyoko pyoko awasete pyoko pyoko mu-pyoko pyoko.
A frog bobs along; 3 hops plus 3 hops makes 6 hops.*

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この釘は引く抜き難い釘だ。
Kono kugi wa hiki-nuki-nikui kugi da.
This nail is (one that’s) hard to pull out.

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* – the fellow in the podcast says “croaks,” but I think he’s mistaken…can anyone confirm or deny in the comments section, please? There have got to be some Japanese masters out there.

If you’re a fan of tongue twisters and verbs like “pull out,” then you should give this one a go, too: 引き抜き難い挽き肉は引き抜き難い温い肉だ。It’s gross, sure, but it’s kind of like the more difficult older brother of the nail tongue twister tried in the clip. For folks who can’t read Japanese just yet, here’s the romanized phonetic guide: hiki-nuki-nikui hikiniku wa hiki-nuki-nikui nukui niku da. That’s right, it means, “Minced meat that is hard to pull out is hard to pull out warm meat.” Eeew. Ok, ok, here’s me trying this one too.

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And yes, I will be emailing the podcast guys about this!

Deas Customary Drivel, Humor, Unsolicited Commentary, 日本語

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Ok, folks. So now I’m an Open Water Diver with a mere 9 dives under my belt. These pictures were taken with crappy disposable underwater cameras, so forgive the lousy quality – I’ve cleaned them up as best as I could. Anyway, I’m looking for my next dive, hopefully in Japan. My question to you is, do you have a suggestion for where should I go next? I hit the Dive Japan website for some starter clues. But I thought I’d throw out this question for my readers too – especially for any fellow divers. Word of mouth always trumps websites in my opinion.

The principal at my base school told me that his friends who were fond of diving really enjoyed their time at Kochi Prefecture’s Paradi dive center. Kochi and Ehime share a border, so I’m really darn close. That makes it an attractive option. The website also makes it seem like an ideal spot for a quick long weekend type trip – maybe 2 or 3 days for about 6 dives.

Should I finally go all the way out to the Ogasawara Islands? (I once mentioned these islands ages ago in passing as a potential whale watching destination.) They’re extremely isolated – and yet they’re technically part of Tokyo. The idea of a place you can only get to via a 30 hour long ferry ride is appealing in and of itself for some reason…

Okinawa is probably the most obvious option – it features the mysterious underwater Yonaguni Monument or Yonaguni Ruins, which were originally brought to my attention with a great video that Ryan aka “freedomwv” submitted to JapanSoc. I don’t really think it’s Lemuria or anything, but hey – how cool would it be to see those big geometric shapes underwater? Or, elsewhere in Okinawa, if I didn’t wimp out, I hear I can see loads of hammerheads…

So, what do you think? Do you know of any other dive spots I should consider? I’ve heard people say that the Izu Peninsula has some neat spots. Anyway, I’ve got some time to look into it. It’s still too cold to dive in anything but a drysuit. I’ll wait for 5mm weather.

Deas Customary Drivel, Media, Photos, Trips

Ah, the anti-sentimental, consumerism-celebrating, Big Candy driven wonder of that classic Japanese giri-choco. Obligation chocolate, for those who are scratching your heads. Chocolate that is given due to obligation, not a desire to express fondness. Chocolate that makes the giver feel safe – as though they’ve satisfied their low-level societal duty, and makes the receiver feel depressed – as though they are pitied for being unattractive. It’s a tradition that seems unlikely to stop in Japan.

Those of you who’ve been in Japan during Valentine’s Day in years past may have received, or even given, giri-choco. The comic you see to the left was found in my local city’s news pamphlet. Hats off to Mr. Yamamoto, the artist. Sorry about the print – it’s nearly impossible to read, I know. I tried! It just doesn’t scan well. But fear not! I shall reproduce the text entirely here.

The sign on the wall behind the old man says 営業一課 – eigyou ikka, or Business Division. This frame is odd, because the woman on the left speaks first. She says 「残ったチョコは誰の」or “nokotta chyoko wa dare no.” It means “Whose chocolate is this leftover one?” The woman on the right replies 「アッ　課長さんの」or “Ah – kachyousan no” which means “Oh! It’s the boss’s.”

The section chief has 「エッ」written in bold next to him. It’s more of a guttural sound than a word, so I guess that’s why it’s not in the speech bubble. (It’s not like the “Oh!” from the last frame.) The sound is pronounced like you might say “Ehh?!” and communicates surprise or shock, uncertainty, and perhaps a lack of grace when accepting a gift. The section chief then says 「僕に！いいの」or “boku ni! ii no,” which means “For me! Is that really alright?” This might be thought of as 建前, tatemae, or the Japanese concept of “public face.” He’s expressing humble gratitude for receiving this gift.

Now we get to see the section chief’s 本音, honne, or “private feelings.”「義理チョコで」he mumbles. Giri-choco de means “But it’s obligation chocolate.” He’s let down that nobody gave him genuine chocolates. He is fully aware that the only reason he was recognized was due to an obligation that the office ladies not leave him out. It’s like being told you were picked last for kickball. You weren’t picked – the team just got stuck with you. He continues by saying “icchya~ warui ga yasusou na chyoko de…“「言っちゃ〜　悪いが　安そうなチョコで…」It means “I’ll say it. It’s bad (of me to say), but it’s cheap-looking chocolate too.” This implies that even if he has come to terms with receiving nothing but obligation chocolate, he still feels shafted because the giri-choco he did get was crappy.

「おまけに連名ときてる」or “omake ni renmei to kiteru” means “And it’s a joint gift, to boot!” This reveals that it’s the only box of giri-choco he’ll be getting this year, because it’s a joint gift from all of the office ladies. Uber-shafted.

I’ve been there, buddy. Most guys have. Ha ha. Don’t worry about it! Enjoy the cheap chocolate! At the end of the day, you came home with candy you wouldn’t otherwise have. And in that sense, it’s a good day. Sure, you’re a pitiable, unattractive older dude. Sure, giri-choco brings that to the foremost point of your consciousness. Sure, it’s not even good. But hey, at least gyaku-choco hasn’t caught on fully yet! Ha ha ha. (Gyaku-choco, or “reverse chocolate,” is a new marketing ploy to get men to buy chocolates for women on Valentine’s Day AND buy something else on White Day. Suckers. For a great article about gyaku-choco, see Shibuya246’s blog post, and while you’re at it – go Soc It for hipping me to it.)

Deas Customary Drivel, Humor, 日本語

This post is basically a guide, aiming to help you decipher your school’s whiteboard(s). At all of my high schools, there is a whiteboard (ok – at one it is a blackboard, cause they kick it old school) with just about every piece of information you could possibly want to know written on it. It pays to learn how to read this magnificent map of minutia, because sometimes people forget to give you a personal heads-up about what is going on. This is especially true if you speak Japanese and it’s known around the teacher’s room.

The first step in decoding this thing is to cut it into bite-size pieces. I’ve segmented the whiteboard of my base school as an example. It splits roughly into about 9 sections. We’ll tackle each section individually. Continue reading for a whiteboard Rosetta Stone guide. Obviously, you’ll likely encounter a totally different layout in your situation, but it helps to deconstruct one with help before trying it on your own. Read more…

Deas Customary Drivel, Media, Photos, Unsolicited Commentary, 日本語

Sorry folks – I was sick on Monday and most of Tuesday, and a website outage killed my ability to update yesterday. Things look on track for the rest of the week, and today I’ll just offer you a quick link. We’ve got a new Google Group up and running – started by the folks who regularly participate on JapanSoc. If you’re curious about building a better Japan-related English-language blogging community, then do yourself a favor and visit JapanSoc.Org, and join up!

Deas Customary Drivel

Theme: FOREIGN FOOD
Deadline: Sunday, 22 February 2009, 11:59 PM JST
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Well, folks, it’s February – time for another Japan Blog Matsuri. If you missed it, go check out January’s edition of the Matsuri, hosted by Bill Belew at the Rising Sun of Nihon, where 11 bloggers chimed in to answer the prompt “How will you resolve to make the most of your stay in Japan?” Hats off to Bill for doing a great job.

This month I am hosting the Japan Blog Matsuri. I announced the topic yesterday at the first online J-Bloggers Conference. (If you’re interested in joining the next conference, watch this space for details.) So, let it be known, the topic for the February Matsuri is: FOREIGN FOOD!

Anything related to FOREIGN FOOD is acceptable. We obviously prefer fresh entries over stale entries, but even old entries are ok. The theme is open to a bit of interpretation – and remember that you don’t have to be in Japan to participate! Anyone can participate. In fact, I want us to expand this time. I am hoping to have collected 20 or more entries for this edition. To encourage this, I am making an offer. Encourage your friends to participate, or submit entries from their blogs yourself, and I will leave a hat tip link to your own blog alongside that entry. If you submit your own entry and one other person’s entry (or persuade them to participate), you’ll have (up to) 2 links on the matsuri. It’s not much, but it’s something!

If you write a post and submit it to me by midnight of Sunday, February 22nd, I will include your entry in the compilation that will go up on the 24th. You can either email me directly (deas-at-rocking-in-hakata-dot-com) or submit your entry using the widget after the break.

Ok, go get writing! Go get your friends involved! Let’s build this thing!

The Japan Blog Matsuri was originated by Ken Y-N at What Japan Thinks, and has been revived by Nick Ramsay at the JapanSoc Blog. Read more…

Deas Announcements, Culinary, Customary Drivel, JBMatsuri