Rocking in Hakata

If you live in Japan, then Christmas to you means hearing Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas is You and Wham’s Last Christmas (pop-up video!) about seven million times apiece in the month of December. But this year is different. EXILE has released a cover of Wham’s seasonal tune, in Japanese. What to do with that? How about learn all the words and sing it at karaoke? I mean, you’re going to hear it seven million times anyway – why not make it educational? Below you’ll find a karaoke-style video (also still currently available on YouTube thanks to user ghislain03091981), the full text of the Japanese lyrics AND a reasonable translation, as well as links to the iKnow video list that I created. And I tried to make it good – there are 30 vocabulary words, they all have lyrics from the song associated with them, and I even recorded myself speaking the lyrics so that you can do dictation practice if you want to. Go try it out and rate it. Then let us know how you performed at the karaoke box in the comments. Of course, all other comments are welcome, too. Oh – and yes, this post was also submitted to the special Christmas 2008 edition of the Japan Blog Matsuri, hosted by the community driven JapanSoc Blog! While you’re over there, check out the main page of JapanSoc, the Digg-style social network for the English-speaking Japan-related web.

Last Christmas 今はまだ思い出になんてできないよ
でも愛はもう ここにはいない this year
Last Christmas ふたりなら 願いはかなうと信じてた
まだ越えられない 君は今でも special

Last Christmas – I still can’t call it a mere memory
But love – you’re already not here this year
Last Christmas – if we were together, I believed my wish would be fulfilled
I still can’t get over it – you’re still special, even now

出会って気づいたよ 本当は僕も淋しがりやだと
ねぇ君は覚えてるかい？ ふたりで交わした初めてのキス
思えば僕は 君にはたぶん重すぎたよね
わかったふりの強がり 張り裂けそうな my beating heart

We met and I noticed, the truth is that I’m a lonely person too
Hey, do you remember? The first kiss that we shared
When I think about it, maybe it was too serious for you
You pretended like you knew, it was as though my beating heart would burst

Last Christmas 今はまだ思い出になんてできないよ
でも愛はもう ここにはいない this year
Last Christmas ふたりなら 願いはかなうと信じてた
まだ越えられない 君は今でも special

Last Christmas – I still can’t call it a mere memory
But love – you’re already not here this year
Last Christmas – if we were together, I believed my wish would be fulfilled
I still can’t get over it – you’re still special, even now

悲しみもせつなさも 僕たちが生きてる証
失ってみて 初めて知った 大切なもの 大切なひと
もうあの頃には戻れない 君のほほ笑みは戻らない
(Show me your smile)
Ooh ooh この胸の痛みを覚えてる

Our grief and pain are evidence of being alive
When I tried to lose it, I realized for the first time, that it was important, that you are important
I can’t go back to that time, your smile will not return
Ooh ooh – I remember the ache in this chest of mine

Last Christmas 今はまだ思い出になんてできないよ
でも愛はもう ここにはいない this year
Last Christmas ふたりなら 願いはかなうと信じてた
まだ越えられない 君は今でも special

Last Christmas – I still can’t call it a mere memory
But love – you’re already not here this year
Last Christmas – if we were together, I believed my wish would be fulfilled
I still can’t get over it – you’re still special, even now

もうあの頃には戻れない 君のほほ笑みは戻らない
Maybe, next year!
だけど今でも 君は今でも special

I can’t go back to that time, your smile will not return
Maybe, next year!
But even now – you are special even now.

Ok – now that you’ve seen the goods, go try out the iKnow video list! If you want to jump right in and you’re already an iKnow user, you can click one of the buttons below to start the iKnow study application or the iKnow dictation application immediately. DO IT!

This was my first attempt at making a list, and I think I botched at least one thing. There are an equal number of sentences to words, which is messed up. In total there are really only 12 sentences. I pulled the 30 words from them. But I wanted to link the sentences to the words, so I created sentences on each one. It works for studying, but the Dictation gets really repetitive really fast…which might be good if you’re attempting to memorize the song. Yeah….that’s the ticket… But seriously, if you have any list-building experience in iKnow, and you want to help me out, please let me know how I can avoid this problem in the future. Thanks!

Deas Customary Drivel, JBMatsuri, Media, Music, RIH Entries, Video, 日本語

Hey all – I’m back from my insane almost month-long period of excursion after excursion. (Seriously…it’s the 26th and this is my first post this month…wacky…) I’m settling back in, getting over a wicked chest cold, catching up on my RSS subscriptions (and the Olympics and U.S. [Biden?] and World [Russia - Georgia] politics). MAN am I out of the loop. While I’ve been gone, some really cool stuff has been going on. The biggest deal would be the reintroduction of the Japan Blog Matsuri, started by Ken Y-N at What Japan Thinks. This month’s JBM was held by Shane over at the Tokyo Traveler, and was focused around the theme “Impressions of Tokyo“. Go check it out and start to think about whether or not you’d like to contribute to next month’s matsuri, which will be hosted by Tae Kim. I know I’m in. I just gotta find something coherent to write about.

Also – I discovered this really cool tool cleverly called Keiken [Japanese] via Bryan at A Walk in Hachioji. (Curiously, the specific post I found it in is no longer on his page…but it existed in the RSS feed earlier…hmmm.) Here’s a map of my experience of Japan so far. It includes shenanigans from my time studying abroad all the way to present day. And while I’m sad that I’ve still not been to Okinawa, I think it’s sadder still that I’ve not been to Tokushima… Ha ha ha. I’m not sure if the Javascript is actually working, so I’ll try to replace it with a self-hosted image later. In the meantime, the link does work. How many points do you have? I’m currently at 107! Wahoo!

Deas Announcements, Customary Drivel, JBMatsuri, Trips

Well, it’s finally time for the April edition of the Japan Blog Matsuri, so gather around the glowing monitor, kids. I’ve been granted the hosting privileges this month. For this month, I chose the theme of tourism due to the timing of the matsuri. Surprisingly, we actually did get a couple of good articles and posts about tourism and Japan. By a few, I mean precisely 3. Golden Week proved to be a bigger attraction than writing about tourism in the end, which took not a soul by surprise. I hunted around for some extra stuff to round out the collection and pulled out a few good, but unrelated posts. In then end, I hope you all enjoy the collection of links that this round has brought. Let’s hit it.

1) First up, a bit of shameful shameless self promotion. I wrote a piece on Virtual Tourism. In it, I talk about technologies that make it possible for us to take trips through the internet in lieu of real world travel. It’s really cool to see the possibilities that are just around the corner. Take a look to see what I mean.

2) What Japan Thinks has some interesting tourism-related poll results. What is it that homeward bound Japanese folks harbor hankerings for? He lists the foods that they want to eat the most after returning from an overseas trip. I learn so many things from this site. As a brief aside, I noticed one thing that did not make the chart.

3) Next up is Japanprobe, which also featured some culinary curiousities related to travel – only these were Shinzo Abe Omiyage. That’s right, folks, there is a market for omiyage bearing the likeness of Shinzo Abe, the new Prime Minister of Japan. Is it weird? Yes. Would you not buy some just to prove that it exists? I would. It probably tastes the same as all other omiyage, but the novelty is worth it. Find out where to get your hands on some.

4) Alex over at Victory Manual has written a post about the lines between Tourists, Hosts, Overstaying Your Welcome. It’s similar to a classic “dating” and “after the honeymoon” pattern. Are you a long term or short term visitor to Japan?

5) He said I could, so I am including this vlog entry from Clay(tonian) – our friendly neighborhood Hopeless Romantic. In it he goes over his Golden Week shenanigans (like encountering a ginormous statue at a temple) and translates part of a theme song for our enjoyment. It’s worth a watch – if you like it, check out his other vlog entries – I hear his YouTube subscriber count continues to climb.

6) Around the corner at Q-Taro, Roy talks touring car dealerships for free stuff. Learn about how to make car salesmen seem like Santa Claus thanks to Golden Week.

7) Japanprobe proves that Cool Tourism is easy to come by in Japan. The bulleted list on the post says it all. It includes an earthquake simulator, an onsen for man’s best four-legged friends (dogs, people, sheesh), and a capsule hotel.

Japundit wrote about Travel During GW, and linked us to the Kyodo News Agency’s coverage.

9) Japanprobe pulls off a hat trick this month thanks to a video about Otaku Tourism, a quickly growing industry in urban Japan. Lately this “subculture tourism” has been attracting more and more foreign tourists. ‘Tis a fire that Japan intends to feed.

10) Lastly, Jon at Life is Random has put together a nice entry serving the dual purposes of recording his own personal Golden Week escapades as well as providing some cool random facts about his Golden Week to the reader. He took his free time as an opportunity to play pachinko, for instance.

There you have it folks, a few stretches there, but I wanted to include a couple of buddies. (If you host you’re allowed to do that. I’m pretty sure.) I hope that this month’s was as good as last month’s – I’ve got to say that Bill did a nice job, even though his oyaji gag made me wince. For those who missed them, here are links to the first, second, and third Japan Blog Matsuris. That ought to do it for this month.

It was not what I expected, but I want to offer my thanks to those that I drafted as well as the few who actually submitted your entries. There is no word yet on a volunteer for next month. If you’re stoked about hosting the matsuri and you have an idea for a theme floating about in your head, please contact Ken Y-N and volunteer. If we can get more people to participate, we’ll have greater quality in the articles, and a tighter Japan-blogging community. I’ll retire from the soapbox now, and let you read in peace. Thanks for stopping by my site. Feel free to leave me links back to your sites in the comments. I’m always looking for new online haunts. That’s what this whole thing is about, after all.

お疲れ様でした！

Deas Announcements, Customary Drivel, JBMatsuri

This is the LAST DAY you can submit entries for the Japan Blog Matsuri. Please refer to the original posting for instructions. Entries are encouraged, because this month looks pretty light so far. Tell your fast-typing friends. (Actually, tell everybody.) Remember, the point is to help us in the Japan blogosphere discover one another’s blogs. Please feel free to submit anything related to this month’s theme: TOURISM.

Deas Announcements, Customary Drivel, JBMatsuri

It seems like many things are going digital as they gain importance. Banking, commerce, personal communications, and more have already taken the plunge. When it comes to seeing a corner of the world where you’ve not yet been there are already a few options available. Let’s take a look at the growing possibilities for virtual tourism. Read more…

Deas Customary Drivel, JBMatsuri, RIH Entries, Trips, Unsolicited Commentary

Please get your entries in, everyone. Start writing and cranking out the matsuri love. I want to make this a great Japan Blog Matsuri! Here’s a link to the original post, and a quick and dirty breakdown for the link-through lazy.

April Japan Blog Matsuri

Theme: Tourism

Deadline: Monday, May 7th (due to Golden Week holidays)

Submissions:

Official Page

Widget @ WJT

Email to deas (at) rocking in hakata (dot) com

Remember, tangentially related things are fine. Creative angles are encouraged! Multiple entries are ok for this one, but don’t submit blogspam. It will be weeded out. Tell your Japan-related blogging friends about it and try to get everyone involved. The more the merrier, guys.

Deas Announcements, Customary Drivel, JBMatsuri