Kanji Flashcards

Studying kanji is painful.  It is an endless journey full of frustration and torment brought on by repeated failures of one’s memory.  So anything to make kanji’s elusive meanings and readings easier to remember is always welcome in my home.  Over my three years of studying kanji I have tried everything from internet games to manga, but the one tool that I’ve found most effective has been the simple flashcard.  However, for most people – including myself -  the idea of making 2000-plus flashcards to learn the Jouyou kanji is overwhelming and not worth one’s time and effort.  The best solution to this problem is to simply buy the flashcards.

A company called White Rabbit Press makes and sells excellent study materials for students of Japanese.  I have purchased several items from them, but none more valued than their kanji flashcard sets.  There are three sets that are sectioned off based on JLPT test levels.  The kanji that appear in levels 3 and 4 come in the first set; level 2 kanji come in the second set; and level 1 kanji come in the third set.  The cards are sturdy and difficult to stain, as well as numbered to help keep them in order.  The card’s value is undoubtedly in their comprehensiveness, as each card contains the following:

a large picture of the kanji

2 to 6 example words using the kanji along with their corresponding readings and meanings

the kanji’s stroke order

1 to 2 pictures of similar looking kanji

the kanji’s Japanese and Chinese reading(s)

the kanji’s meaning(s)

a line to track your progress through the set

Given their clarity, quality, and thoroughness these cards are better than anything most people could ever produce.

There is one catch in that they are not cheap.  Set one is $25, set two is $48, and set three is $64.  But for serious kanji students, I cannot recommend them highly enough.

For those interested, here’s the link.

Also, here is a link showing what the cards look like.

~Matt

Sporcle: Mind Stimulating Entertainment

Since most of us reading this are Engish teachers in Japan, I thought I’d point out Sporcle, a website that touts its mind-stimulating entertainment.  Most relevant to our ilk is the “language” cateogry, where you can find games testing generic and questionably-useful topics relating to the broad category of “language”.  I found a game that reviewed animal names in Spanish and another one that wanted you to list out the top 100 “commonest” English words.

If you’re not secretly a fan of language games, no need to fear.  You can embarrass yourself by failing to remember all 50 states or challenge yourself to learn every country in the world.  Or if you’re really want to stretch the idea of “mind stimulating” you can play a variety of “remember all of the —” quizzes, which span from Harry Potter books to Disney villians.

If you’re looking to do a little more than just stimulate your brain, you can also check out freerice.com, where you can play similar games, but also donate rice as you play.  We wrote about it previously here.

Understanding Cold Medicine

Have a cold? (Hab a cold?) Intimidated by the drug store? Here’s a bilingual guide to getting cold medicine in Japan.

First, while you’re treating a cold with medicine, remember to take preventative measures to keep from spreading the cold to others or making it worse. In addition to the ones listed in the link, you should wash out Nalgene water-bottles or thermoses you use with hot, soapy water. (Can’t hurt to do your laundry, too.)

総合かぜ薬(風邪薬）
On the wall of OTC medicines, look for “General Cold Medicine”(sougoukaze gusuri or just kaze gusuri).

By the powers of Western medicine and Chinese herbs combined...

The kind I got was　Wダブル配合 ダイヤル3かぜ課料 (W daburu haigo daiyaru san kaze karyuu), or W Double Composition Level-3 Cold Granules. This particular medicine promises you the combined powers of 漢方　(kanpou), Chinese herbs, AND 西洋薬 (seiyou gusuri), Western medicine, as a 総合感冒薬 (sougoukanbou gusuri), a general common cold/influenza medicine.

If you’re in a pinch, you can usually guess at what the medicine targets by looking at the picture on the box. This medicine’s box has stars over the forehead, nose, and neck of the figure on the box. The front of the box lists the target symptoms: 発熱 (hatsunetsu), fever); 鼻水 (hanamizu), runny nose (literally nose-water, yum); and 筋肉の痛み (kinniku no itami), muscle pain. On the back of the box, it lists other targeted symptoms: 鼻づまり／鼻つまり (hana-zumari or hana-tsumari), stuffy nose;　くしゃみ (kushami), sneezing; のどの痛み　(nodo no itami), sore throat; せき　(seki), cough;　たん (tan), phlegm/post-nasal drip; 悪寒 (okan); chills; and 関節の痛み (kansetsu no itami), joint-pain.

This is a long post, so click the link for usage guidelines, a list of ingredients, and my experience taking the medicine.

The 35th Grand Minyo Festival

The following post is a guest post regarding an upcoming cultural event, courtesy of dipstar.

Photo Source: Visit Toyama

This is a little known all day event which will take place at Kanazawa Kangekiza next Monday. Performers from 13 different folk song/dance schools from Ishikawa will perform various different local and country-famous Minyo songs and dances in an effort to promote and preserve these beautiful traditions for generations to come.

Tickets are 2000yen (2500) at the door, but dipika has a limited supply of tickets available for 1000yen. Please PM her via the j-talk forum or e-mail her if you would like one.

When: Monday November 23rd
Time: 10:30 onwards (probably till mid-afternoon?)
Where: Kanazawa Kagekiza (Next to 21st C Art museum, opposite Pref. Library/MRO)
http://www.kagekiza.gr.jp/

For more information, JETs can also contact dipstar via this topic in the J-Talk forum (you must log in for it to be visible).

Wajima Crab Festival

Get your fill of fresh crabs in Wajima on Sunday!

That's a lot of crabs

輪島かに祭り
Sunday, November 15, 2009
9:00-14:00
Wajima Marine Town
Map:

Wajima has a lot of signs and is small, so you should be able to find it easily by car on the 249.

Hokurikku Tetsudo Bus Schedule (runs between Kanazawa and Wajima).

Comments:
Definitely get an early start and check out the Morning Market 朝市 on the way to Marine Town. Marine Town has a giant tent-structure up, and inside, you can get a variety of fresh seafood and other festival food: whole crabs for roasting on a mini-grill; fish on a skewer for grilling; yakiniku–chicken or Noto beef; hamburgers; squid; grilled corn; taiyaki; and plenty of other kinds of delicious food. Definitely worth a visit!

-Leah

Recipe: Stupidly Easy Tomato Soup

Photo: vmiramontes

I love tomato soup, but it’s hard to find for me as a vegetarian.  Luckily, it’s stupidly easy to make, and you can make yourself a lazy man’s dinner that’s comforting and satisfying by just opening a can of crushed tomatos and following the recipe below.

Stupidly Easy Tomato Soup

1 cup water (about 250 mL)

1 vegetable bullion cube

1 can crushed tomatos (should be about double the amount of water)

1/2 cup milk (about 125mL)

2 tbsp butter (optional) – I just cut a chunk that doesn’t make me feel too guilty…

basil (optional)

pepper (optional)

**I love recipes that can easily be adapted and don’t require measuring.  To be honest, I just eyeball how much of everything I toss in, so don’t be too obsessive about the amounts!

1.  Boil the water and dissolve your boullion cube in it to make a broth.

2.  Add the can of crushed tomatoes to the broth.

3.  Toss in some milk to combat some of that canned-tomato acidity!  Want to add more milk? Go for it.

4. (optionally) Toss in a chunk of butter — less is healthier, more is oilier.  You choose your quantity.

5.  If your boullion cube didn’t provide enough season, toss in some basil and pepper.  Feel free to experiment with other spices as well.  I’ve been successful with a little cinnamon and nutmeg.  Spices are magic.  Use them.

That’s all.  You’re done and you’ve got yourself a totally fabulous and pretty healthy soup!  Make a dinner out of it by adding a side of toast with cheese on it.  Truly the lazy man’s dinner — with easy clean up, too!

Familar Products with Unfamiliar Names, Part 2

Buy hard with a vengeance! щ(ﾟДﾟщ)

Anti-cavity mouthwash
クリアクリーンデンタルリンス仕上げすすぎ　(Kuria Kuriin Dentaru Rinsu Shiage Susugi/ Clear Clean Dental Rinse Finishing Rinse)

Finishing Rinse

The yellow attachment on the package claims to reduce the number cavities in elementary- and junior-high schoolers. Yeah, I know we’re all adults here, but I’m pretty sure most of us don’t like getting cavities filled at home or abroad. I personally find Listerine pretty foul and like to use fluoride mouthwashes, but in the land of no fluoride, I’ll settle for a benzethonium chloride (塩化ベンゼトニウムor BTC) mouthwash like this one. Benezethonium chloride is a disinfectant that kills microbes, and in mouthwash, it reduces plaque; helps prevent gingivitis; and fights halitosis. The Finishing Rinse mouthwash does NOT contain alcohol (ノンアルコール non arukohru) like Listerine does. The liquid is clear; the mint flavor is pretty mild.

To use: After brushing your teeth, rinse your mouth with a 1/3 of a capful for 30 seconds and spit (do not swallow—BTC is not meant to be ingested). You don’t have to rinse your mouth out with water afterward.*

Tahini
練りごま　nerigoma

I could not find tahini for the longest time because I had no idea what it was called in Japanese or where it was in the store. It’s called 練りゴマ (nerigoma), which roughly translates to sesame paste. It’s used in hummus, some Japanese dishes, and some Japanese fusion pasta dishes. It’s located with the other sesame products in your grocery store.

Laurel and Bay leaves
ローレル　rorehru
I also really to cook with bay, but I haven’t been able to find actual bay leaves up in the Noto. As it turns out, laurel leaves are what the Japanese tend to use—they’re even featured on the 10 yen coin! Laurel is also referred to as sweet bay. Now, with bay leaves, you usually use the whole leaf when cooking and then remove it before eating. However, laurel is slightly different chemically, and the crushed laurel you will find at the grocery store is perfectly safe to leave in your meal. However, crushed laurel is much more potent than bay leaves due to its increased surface area, so season carefully. It’s not quite the same, but laurel may be easier to find and cheaper.

Laurel spice is ローレル (rohreru) in Japanese, or 月桂樹 (gekkeiju; bay laurel).
Bay leaf is ベイリーフ(beiriifu) or　ローリエの葉 (rohrie no ha).

-Leah

Notes
*I realize most of you know how to use mouthwash. However, if you’re like me and are convinced that you might accidentally kill yourself if you don’t read the label on things like Japanese cleaning products and health-care products, I translated this just for you.

Becoming a Japanese Millionaire: Step 2

Photo:  the_toe_stubber

Okay, I’m late with this post — but better late than never, right?  Check out Step 1 for becoming a Japanese Millionaire if you’re new.

For the rest of you, you’ve been dutifully saving your receipts (and updating your bankbook), right?  Let’s get started.

Start by pulling out that pile of receipts with a category written at the top of each one.  Haven’t written categories on them? Do that now if you can decipher them. Then…

• Add up just how much you spent within each category in one month. (I recommend using a spreadsheet program for this (Google Documents has a free one), but anything can work.  Use a notebook you have lying around.  Write your categories at the top of the spreadsheet (I had 14 categories or so) and then, going down the side of the page write a few months  (Oct 2009, Nov 2009, Dec 2009, etc.)  Record the total of how much you spent for each category during each month.  For example, I may have spent 9,800 yen on “beauty” in September and 1,500 in October.  That’s fine.  Overtime you’ll see an average and get a realistic idea of what you spend.

• Separate your essential spending from your fun spending.  Rent is essential.  Food is essential.  Paying loans is essential.  Books are not.  Eating out is not.  Be honest with yourself about what your bare minimum requirements are.  Don’t forget about things like visiting the doctor, which cost money but may not happen every month!
• Find out how much money you’ve spent on everything (essential + fun spending).  Hopefully it’s less than you make in a month.  If it’s not you have some serious soul searching to do (but we’ll get to that. no worries.)
• Decide how much you need each month for essential spending (you have my permission to make an educated guess — use the numbers you got from your receipts and bankbook to do this).  For me, my electricity varies from 3,000 yen per month to 11,000 yen per month, depending on whether it’s summer or winter, so I’m going to assume that I spend 7,000 yen per month on electricity.  My opinion is that it’s better to over-estimate when budgeting for essential items.  I don’t want to be without heat one month because I didn’t budget well! (Again, don’t forget to budget a few bucks each month for dental and doctor checkups — as well as any other “maintainence” types of essentials that may not have come up this month).
• Figure out how much money is left. Subtract your “essential spending” money from your income.  For example: If I get paid 250,000 yen each month and I need 100,000 yen each month for essential purchases, then I know I have 150,000 yen each month to use to pay myself and to use for fun spending.

Okay, that’s enough to do for now.  Go out and make your spreadsheet for essential spending and fun spending you did in the past month or two.  Then, estimate how much you need to budget for your monthly essential spending.  Finally, find out how much money you have left to spend on yourself.  We’ll use that number next week and do some fun stuff!

Lupicia Tea

There is a tea shop called Lupicia that recently opened in the basement of Forus.  It is a great, small shop that specializes in nearly every kind of tea imaginable and offers them up at reasonable prices.  For those of you living in or around Kanazawa, it is definitely worth stopping by, especially since it is conveniently located in Forus.  At the store they have several dozen teas available to see and sniff to help you decide which ones are right for you.  Prices vary from 500yen-3000yen for a 50g tin (10% discount for a bag).  Also, for those of us who can’t regularly make it to Kanazawa, Lupicia has a website where you can view their catalog and print out an order form to have tea delivered.

-Matt

Simple Flu Prevention

Photo: siukankay

November came and the weather dropped.  The past 2 years in a row I’ve gotten sick at the end of November, so I’m doing my best to try to beat the viruses this year.  I’m sure you’ve been getting lots of information about flu prevention (we’re talking any kind of flu here, not just the dreaded H1N1), but some of it may have been in Japanese.  With exams, the English Drama Festival, and the Mid-Year Conference coming up, there’s no time like the present for some basic health reminders:

Remember, viruses can only enter through your nostrils and mouth, so those are the areas you’ve got to monitor.

- Wash your hands frequently.  I also recently found some hand sanitizer gel at The Daiso (100 yen shop), so you can keep a bottle in your desk or car or purse (or all of the above!) and they will last quite a while.

- Keep your hands away from your face.  Obviously you’ve got to eat, but try not to rest your chin on your hands when you’re bored. This keeps your potentially virus-infested hands away from the main ways into your body!  Your skin will thank you, too.

- Gargle twice a day (the Japanese advocate 3 times) with warm salt water.  It’s cheap and everyone can make it.  Use a mouthwash if that makes you feel better protected.  The reason gargling works is because viruses can thrive in your throat.  You want to get them out of there!

- Clean your nostrils once a day. Yeah, I hadn’t heard of this, but it makes sense.  Viruses can enter through your mouth (thus we gargle).  They can enter through your nose, too.  Dip a cotton swab in some warm salt water and swab out those nostrils for a squeaky clean feeling.

- Get vitamin C (from citrus …or C.C. Lemon) and zinc (which helps absorb the vitamin C) to keep your immune system strong. Natural sources of zinc include shellfish, nuts, wholegrains, cheese, wheatgerm, tofu, and figs.

- Drink lots of warm liquids, such as this fabulous homemade ginger tea!  This is similar to gargling, but in the reverse direction.  Instead of getting the virus off of your throat and spitting it out, you’re swallowing the virus and putting it in your stomach, where it can’t survive.  It becomes harmless in there.  Have you heard a better reason to go to Starbucks yet?

Photo:  Y

Also, I found this article about face masks form the LA Times, which is worth a read if you’re curious how effective all those face masks are.

Remember, many foreigners in Japan work at schools (and thus are around crowds), so exposure to the flu is virtually guaranteed.  What matters most is that you keep the flu from setting up camp in your body.  Keep those fluids working all winter, and don’t underestimate the importance of gargling.

Have some other tips?  Weigh in in the comments!