Japanese Core Language / Must Have:
The Japanese Spoken Language (JSL) Series by Eleanor Harz Jordan and Mari Noda

This is the official textbook that was used in my OSU Japanese classes and is used in many other universities such as Cornell, Yale, etc. I actually had the privilege to attend some classes that was instructed by the author of the book herself, Mari Noda.

Pros:
Probably the only Japanese books you would need

Cons:
Not much vocabulary, focuses more on grammar.

How To Use:

Each section includes conversations that you memorize, and by doing so you learn proper Japanese. Learn a new phrase each day, and go over the listening and speaking drills that go with it. The question and answer supplement is optional.

Free Japanese Audio:

All of the book’s conversations and audio drills are available free online at The Ohio State Language Lab. Try it out and listen to a few files. Even if you don’t buy the books, this is still a great resource; but the audio files were specifically made for use with the book so you would learn better having both.

Books That Are More Fun Than Helpful:

Kanji Pict-O-Graphix by Michael Rowley

Although the pictures are really fun and interesting to look at, the memorizing technique the book uses is a bit off. Many graphical interpretations of the kanji are very complicated, and some don’t even look like the kanji at all. It may be good for learning how certain kanji and radicals originated, but don’t expect to learn how to read Japanese from this book.

Japanese For Busy People by AJALT

This book has great grammar tips, but JSL covers it all and with greater detail. The nice thing about this book is the vocabulary it offers.

Conclusion:

If you’re serious about learning Japanese, the three JSL books are a must and really the only ones you need. You can have more fun reading some other books like Japanese for Busy People or Kanji Pict-o-Graphix, but don’t expect to gain fluency.

Now this is pretty funny. It looks like the guys printing out the billboards in China didn’t know any English to verify the translation. You would think that a red flag would be raised once the same translation started to show up for every single word.

Don’t let the looks fool you. These beat-up and paint splattered jeans go for a cool $285 dollars. Why so much for a pair of jeans you ask? Because they were woven on 100-year-old Japanese mills. Duh

BTW, here is the place where you can get real Japanese Jeans.

It seems these days a lot of people want to go to Japan, especially young people. When I say young I mean anywhere around the ages of 12 to 25. I figure it must be because of all that anime they’re feeding kids with over here.

Nevertheless, there are some certain things to consider before going to Japan and potential situations to be realized. The following may not apply to all, but it applies to the majority. Let’s assume the majority is 15, male, and middle-class American.

You probably know little to no Japanese. Sure you’ve picked a few phrases and words here and there from tv, but if you were to sit down at a Japanese cafe and try to eavesdrop on a conversation you couldn’t do it. I know this sounds silly, but consider actually learning Japanese before going to Japan.

Something that also must be realized as well is that although cultural immersion is an excellent method for language learning, it is not a substitute for hard work and studies. I get the feeling that a lot of people think that when they come to Japan they will automatically learn Japanese, like they will absorb the language from standing on the soil. If you’re not going to take the time to study kanjis here, you’re going to have to take the time to study them there. So again, learn Japanese before you go~!

The Majority: “I don’t care, I want to go now!”

If you want to go to Japan without knowing the language, that’s fine too. You’ll survive, and probably have a good time. I would recommend going with a friend though, especially for lengthy travels. Because when you find yourself in a land that you can’t understand and amongst people you can’t communicate with, it can get lonely pretty fast.

One of my friends has a Japanese stalker that has been bothering her for about two years now. His efforts to contact her are unrelenting. He emails her everyday, declaring how me he loves her and needs her, but she just ignores the messages as spam. Last year he even said that he bought a plane ticket to the United States just to see her, scaring her enough to call the cops.

Recently he has been contacting her friends, and threatening to kill himself unless she pays attention to him. With the suicide rate being so high in Japan I wouldn’t doubt that he is speaking the truth.

She says this all started when she briefly met him at a party. Since then he hasn’t been able to take no for a no. Honestly, with billions of other people in the world, is it that hard to meet someone else? Especially when you don’t even know the girl in the first place.

• tabemasu - eat
• nomimasu - drink
• ikimasu - go
• kimasu - come
• dekimasu - to complete; to be able to do; be possible
• wakarimasu - understand
• tukurimasu - make; construct
• simasu - do
• tigaimasu - be different; be wrong
• kaimasu - to buy

Note: These verbs are in the polite form because they end with masu , so they are safe to use with strangers and adults.

One of the cool things about Japan and some other countries is that you can drink in the streets.  This was something that I was happy to experience while I was there.  But recently I find out that walking while drinking is rude, and that is something that I remember doing very specifically.

Too bad I didn’t know that at the time.  I’m not sure that it is rude to do in Korea too, but I would bet that it is.  Oh well, now I know.  And now you know too.

I’m unhappy to see that the protests have turned violent. Since I’m going to be in Seoul within a month and working right at the heart of where the protests are taking place, I’m beginning to fear for my safety. Of course, I will do my best to avoid the protests as best as possible, but I’m not ruling out the possibility that I could be harassed. Seeing that the protests have now turned violent only solidifies my feelings that I may experience a form of harassment.

Although I do not approve, I will avoid the protests and respect their right to protest. Being an American and in their country, I don’t have any other choice.

Then we were walking around and heading towards going to the bars right next to the park and we ran into Kristen and her one Asian friend. They invited us to go to this bar dance party they were going to and we said yeah. When we first got there, there was no one there. We waited a half hour or so and after a while there were a bunch of people. I guess Sean felt uncomfortable about dancing so he left. I eventually drank enough to settle my fears of dancing and went out and danced with Kristen and her friend. They were pretty much trying to dance with one guy the whole time, a kid in red that was a pretty smooth dancer. When they left to go somewhere I started dancing with some girl in a black and white dress.

After that we all wanted some food, I Taco Bell and they Flying Pizza. I didn’t want any pizza so I went to Cane’s and brought it over to Flying Pizza to eat it with them. After that they dropped me off and that was pretty much the night.

It was a really fun day.