How come nobody’s localizing that text heavy visual novel you had your heart set on? Where’s all the fansubs for 70s shoujo anime? And would it kill a person to translate the lyrics of songs other than AKB48? It’s around this time when you may hit upon the bright idea of “hey, maybe I should figure out what they’re saying!” Well, this guide is for you, based on my own experiences in transitioning from consumer to student. For more general learning guides, check out Tofugu’s top ten resources.

Learn to Unlearn

You’ve probably spent a fair amount of time listening to Japanese, and have managed to pick up on a few words and phrases. In that case, I have some good news, and some bad news.

The bad news is that some of what you know is wrong. This can take the form of misheard words, incorrect grammar, or even not knowing when certain phrases are appropriate to say. After all, politeness is big in Japan. You don’t want to be dropping any kisamas or omaes in polite company.

Seems legit.

While you might not feel too good after learning that “kimochi” just means “feeling” and not “feels good,” it’s important to keep an open mind when learning. Subtitles and translations are for entertainment, not education. It’s unfortunate, but there are just some things you’re going to have to unlearn.

The good news is that you’ve had plenty of practice with what you do know. Personally, I don’t consider anything to be “learned” until I’ve read about it in a textbook or flashcard and spent some time practicing it. Normally, it would go in that order. Learn something, then memorize it. But there’s no reason it couldn’t be the other way around. You can use your experience to give you an edge in learning new vocabulary and grammar.

Kanji First, Vocab After

Some people don’t like kanji. OK, that’s an understatement. A lot of people despise kanji. And why shouldn’t they? There’re thousands of them, and they all have, like, a million strokes each! Reading would be easy without kanji. Totemo easy!

I mean, if I’m learning vocabulary, why should I have to worry about one more thing? Why not just learn vocabulary on its own, and worry about kanji later? It’ll be easy, just come up with mnemonics. For every single word in the Japanese language.

Just 24,543 more mnemonics to go!

That’s how I tried to learn vocabulary. Courage is “yuuki” because “YOU need a lot of courage to KEY people’s cars”. Weather is “tenki” because “you take TEN KEYS in case you lose a few in the bad weather”. Heaven is “tengoku” because “TEN GOKUs are flying around Heaven, and I guess I watched a few episodes of Dragon Ball once”.

So what’s the problem? Well, take a look at how those three words are spelt with kanji:

Notice a bit of repetition? This is where kanji comes in handy. Instead of creating one mnemonic per vocab word, create one per kanji. It’ll be more work at first, since each vocab word would use new kanji, but you’ll soon reach the point where one new kanji means several new words, just by combining it with kanji you’ve already learned before. There are certain jukugo (kanji compounds) that use different pronunciations, but this method covers the majority of vocab.

This will also help with learning the meaning, too. Aside from a few exceptions, most jukugo make sense, or at least have kanji relevant enough that you’ll be able to remember the meaning. And it beats out trying to make a story about keys for every jukugo that contains 気.

Trust the SRS

Alright, so you’ve done everything you were supposed to. You made sure your big list-of-words-learned-from-anime was accurate to real life. You ditched learning vocabulary mnemonics for kanji mnemonics. You’ve even grabbed one of the many spaced repetition systems to help memorize your kanji and vocab. And now you just can’t get that one answer right.

Not even close.

What gives? It’s not like the mnemonic is bad, or it’s a particularly difficult item, it just isn’t sticking. It happens. I’ve run into this problem dozens of times. And you know what I find helps? Nothing.

Wait, hold on, let me phrase that better. I do nothing, and the SRS adjusts itself so the item again sooner. This might seem obvious, seeing as how this is the entire reason the SRS was made in the first place, but less obvious is just how well it works. Without even having to go back and review the mnemonic or do any extra studying, you’ll learn the item, just because it keeps popping up over and over and over, like a bad filler episode.

Other Tips

Rikaichan for Firefox and Rikaikun for Chrome is a great way to quickly look up words you don’t know, but limit its use. Try to read the sentence a few times before using it. You can also set it to only display readings, instead of meanings.

For gamers, importing Japanese games is a good way to start immersion. The PlayStation 3*, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita, and all Nintendo handhelds prior to the 3DS are region free (save for certain games on DSi), meaning you can play import games with no hassle. Other systems require workarounds of varying difficulties. Certain games, such as the upcoming Pokemon X & Y, can have their language changed to Japanese. *(Note that the PS3 version of Persona 4 Arena is region locked, but allows the text and voices to be changed to Japanese.)

Japanese language learning, featuring Japanese Bruce Willis.

For music, I like to type out lyrics to songs with furigana for kanji I don’t know yet. Then, every month or so, go through the lyrics and remove the furigana from the kanji I’ve learned. Perhaps not the most educational of activities, but it’s a fun way to go over kanji and see your progression.

For movies, try finding movies you enjoy dubbed into Japanese. Remember, you’re looking for 日本語吹替版, dubbed versions, not 字幕版, subtitled versions. You can find movies on sites like amazon.co.jp, or digital copies on the iTunes store, but be careful with iTunes. Unlike other regions, the Japanese iTunes doesn’t allow you to redownload purchased movies. Make sure you back up! Don’t want to lose access to Japanese Bruce Willis.

Ishikawa Goemon

Not much is known about Goemon’s early, pre-thieving days. Some say he was born as Sanada Kuranoshin, while others say his real name was Gorokizu. Most sources say he was born in 1558, during Japan’s “Warring States era”. It’s said that he tried to assassinate Oda Nobunaga, a powerful daimyo, but failed, and became a thief, also supposedly training in ninjitsu.

Later accounts of Goemon upgraded him from simple thief to a Robin Hood figure. Like the English folk hero, Goemon led a band of thieves that stole from the oppressive, rich lords and gave to the poor peasants. Although, unlike Robin Hood’s victories over the Sheriff of Nottingham, Goemon had much less luck with his enemies.

Never quite getting the hang of the whole assassination thing, in 1594, Goemon attempted to kill Oda Nobunaga’s successor, Toyotoma Hideyoshi, but failed, and got the attention of the guards in the process. Goemon wasn’t able to escape this time, and Hideyoshi ordered his family to be put to death, including his young son, Gobei.

Goemon and Gobei were put in a large cauldron and to be boiled alive. In an attempt to save his son, Goemon held him above his head, out of the cauldron. Some accounts say that Gobei was then spared by Hideyoshi, while other accounts don’t end as well. Nowadays, large baths similar to the cauldron that Goemon was boiled in are called “Goemon baths”, which seems like a pretty terrible consolation prize.

Of course, tubs named after his slow, agonizing death aren’t the only thing Goemon influenced. In addition to have many kabuki plays about him, the legendary thief often shows up in modern media, ninja skills intact.

In Popular Culture

Ganbare Goemon is a video game series by Konami which enjoyed modest popularity in the 90s. As the title suggests, Goemon takes the role of main character. He wears kabuki make-up and carries a long Japanese pipe called a kiseru, possibly inspired by the popular kabuki play Kinmon Gosan no Kiri, where Goemon smokes a kiseru in a famous scene. His thieving origins are alluded to by his ability to throw money at foes.

As an added bonus, the character on the left was inspired by Nezumi Kozo.

Goemon is also the main character of the 2009 film Goemon. In a slight departure from history, Goemon is saved as a child by Oda Nobunaga and trained to be a ninja. After Nobunaga’s death, Goemon becomes the Robin Hood like thief he is famous for.

Goemon is one of the playable characters in Koei’s Samurai Warriors. In contrast to the smaller, ninja-like Goemon in most other portrayals, Koei’s Goemon is a 6’5” giant. He wields a large club and carries a cannon on his back. Appropriately enough, he falls in love with Okuni, the founder of kabuki.

Nezumi Kozo

Nakamura Jirokichi was born in Edo in 1797. He led an unassuming life, working as a laborer and volunteering as a fire fighter. While he may have been a pickpocket as a child, he seemed to leave behind the life of taking things that didn’t belong to him when he became an adult.

Of course, in reality, he just moved on to stealing from the big cheese. At the age of 19, Jirokichi became the rat kid, Nezumi Kozo. The origins of the nickname vary, from having a rat-like appearance, to him carrying a bag of rats to mask the noise when stealing goods. After all, finding rats in your home makes those scurrying sounds much less suspicious.

Or maybe he was a shape shifting ratman, whose identity was given away by his shadow. Who knows?

Unlike Goemon and Robin Hood before him, Nezumi Kozo worked alone. He didn’t have a band of comrades, save for his bag of rats, which seems like a much more one-sided deal.

In 1822, Nezumi Kozo was arrested, marked as a thief, and exile from his town of Edo. In response, he did the only thing he knew how to do. He returned and spent the next nine glorious years continuing his thievery. In 1831, he was again arrested. Unfortunately for Nezumi Kozo, this was before the days of laser tattoo removal, so his tattoo from nine years earlier marked him for death.

At the end of his run, Nezumi Kozo had stolen over 30,000 ryo, but was almost broke at the time of his arrest. Because of this, it’s thought that the money Nezumi Kozo stole was given to the poor. While it’s unsure if this is where the money actually went, Nezumi Kozo was thoughtful enough to get a divorce and sever ties with his family, preventing them from sharing his fate. Perhaps he learned something from Goemon.

Nezumi Kozo was executed by decapitation, so, unlike Goemon, his death didn’t name any common household object. On the other hand, his life of robbery and probable altruism has inspired much in the way of modern media.

In Popular Culture

In the 2012 edition of Downtown’s Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!! “No-Laughing punishment game”, the cast travels to the Edo era. Nezumi Kozo appears during a scene to hand out stolen money to the citizens.

Ally of the common people, Nezumi Kozo appears!

The Nintendo series Animal Crossing has a rat character inspired by Nezumi Kozo. He sports the stereotypical Japanese robber headscarf, and lives in a house full of (stolen?) old Japanese furniture. Putting a stereo inside his house causes it to play an enka inspired song.

Bakumatsu Gijinden Roman is a pachinko game turned anime about a man who spends his days doing a variety of odd jobs. At night, he assumes the identity of Nezumi Kozo, and helps steal back people’s stolen goods that were taken by the rich elite.

Despite being executed by the authorities, these folk heroes live on in legend. They may take on bizarre, comedic forms, but they’ll always be remembered as timeless characters. Which beats out the tub prize. That one just seems cruel.

Enka uses a pentatonic scale, another similarity to blues, which means it uses five notes per octave. More specifically, it uses a scale called the “yonanuki scale”, yonanuki meaning “fourth and seventh removed”. As the name suggests, the fourth and seventh notes are not used (perhaps to avoid the foul four and similar sounding seven?).

The Government Mandated Beginning

Enka originally got its start during the Meiji era in the late 1800s. Back then, the government had banned public speeches complaining about politics to prevent dissent, like a 19^th century equivalent of turning off the comments section. But some clever activists noticed a loophole in the law: they never mentioned that people couldn’t sing complaints about politics!

In the early 20^th century, people began to switch to narrative songs playing with a shamisen called roukyoku. Enka was no longer the genre of choice for singing your complaints. Despite this, it continued to evolve, incorporating Western style instruments, such as guitar and violin.

After the war, roukyoku began to decline in popularity. By this time, enka was known as just “popular music”. Hibari Misora was a popular singer who had debuted a hit jazz song at the age of 12. Her enka music became extremely popular in the 60s, and she recorded over 1,200 songs and starred in several movies. She was called the Queen of Enka. Michiya Mihashi took it even farther, recording 2,500 songs, and selling a record 100 million records by 1983.

The Rise…

Misora and Mihashi, along with several other artists in the 50s, helped shape the modern form of enka. Its popularity continued to grow into the 60s, and in 1969 Keiko Fuji, daughter of a singer and a shamisen player, joined the scene. Her hit song “Shinjuku no Onna” brought the term enka back to the genre, and the following year, she teamed up with Hibari Misora to win the 21^st Kouhaku Uta Gassen, an annual televised music competition. She retired in 1979, and would later give birth to popular singer Hikaru Utada.

Enka’s golden age continued into the 70s, which saw the first non-Japanese enka singer, Sarbjit Singh Chadha, who sold 100,000 records, before a visa problem forced him to return to his home country of India. Another popular debut was Sayuri Ishikawa. In the last 40 years, she’s released over 100 albums and has appeared on Kouhaku Uta Gassen 35 times. Her 1977 hit song “Tsugaru Kaikyou Fuyugeshiki” is still a popular karaoke choice to this day.

…And The Fall

Sadly, enka’s popularity began to slow during the 80s. In 1989, as if signaling the end of an era, Hibari Misora passed away at the age of 52. Her final song, “Kawa no Nagare no you ni”, is played on her birthday to honor the late Queen of Enka. Enka continue to decline in popularity into the 90s, with the decade’s youth preferring the more modern J-pop.

But enka refused to die. With the dawn of the new millennium, enka rose from the ashes, like a surprisingly musically inclined phoenix. New artists, born during enka’s heyday, continue to evolve the genre. Kiyoshi Hikawa is known as the Prince of Enka and, like the Queen before him, is bringing enka to his generation, along with older fans of enka.

Likewise, Jero debuted in 2008 as the first black enka singer. After moving to Japan to live with his grandmother, he promised her he would one day compete on Kouhaku Uta Gassen. Although she died in 2005, he eventually fulfilled his promise. His dedication to his family, combined with his modern hip hop image, makes him popular fans both young and old.

And so, enka begins to grow again. Like in the past, it evolves, with new instruments used by new artists inspired by new genres. Although it may never regain the popularity it had in the past, it seems Japan’s future still has room for that nostalgic look at the past.

Bonus Track

Although your ears will never experience the combined talents of Hibari Misora and Jero, at least your eyes can, thanks to the always awesome Aya.

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Sources:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2008/11/18/news/enka-still-strikes-nostalgic-nerve/
http://www.technogirls.org/enka/

The typical Automatic Mario music video has Mario being ferried across the level by moving platforms, bouncing off enemies and custom blocks that send him flying. Most videos are uploaded to the Japanese video sharing site, Nico Nico Douga.

Melt

Theme song to Doraemon

This next one gets a bit Mario-ception, being a Super Mario World rendition of a vocal version of a song from Super Mario World. Sometimes blocks and other background objects are used to create graphics related to the song. Can you spot the KY in this video?

Western Show on Super Mario World

Even Luigi gets his own 自動ルイージ – Automatic Luigi:

Danjo

Cirno’s Perfect Math Class

Not to be outdone, some videos feature four separate levels playing out at the same time, to cover even more parts of the song.

Little Busters!

There’s even a four screen version of Queen, one for each member of the band.

Don’t Stop Me Now

Interest in Automatic Mario peaked around mid-2008, but there are still a few new videos being submitted to Nico Nico Douga every so often. In closing, I’ll leave you with an eleven minute medley of songs.

Kumikyoku Nico Nico Douga Grand Finale

But what is the deal with these little felines? Why would you get a cat to welcome people? How come some of them are holding yellow kanji flashcards? And no matter how you look at it, those cats are definitely waving, not beckoning, right? For the answers to these questions and more, we’ll begin with the humble origins of the maneki-neko. Hang on to your cat; we’re travelling back to the Edo era.

Origins of Maneki-neko

In 1633, a daimyo by the name of Ii Naotaka was out and about, doing the sorts of things daimyos did back then. On his way home, he was caught in a rainstorm and sought shelter under a tree. Nearby was an old, rundown shrine, whose owner had a pet cat. Naotaka noticed the cat beckoning him over to the shrine. He figured whatever a cat had to tell him was important enough to risk getting a little wet, and hurried on over to the temple.

Then, as if on cue, Naotaka’s former shelter of a tree exploded into a twisted mess of splinters and post-lightning fire. Shocked that the cat had just saved him from getting a much larger shocking, Naotaka decided to return the favor, making sure the temple, and its beckoning cat, never had to worry about money again. The temple was renamed Gotokuji Temple after Naotaka’s posthumous Buddhist name, and is, to this day, filled with beckoning cat statues. The tradition of maneki-neko was born.

Another legend tells of a cat loving geisha by the name of Usugumo. One night, her beloved pet cat began to pull at her clothes. Usugumo tried and failed to get the cat to stop and, not wanting it to claw up her fancy kimono, called for help. The owner of the establishment misunderstood, and thought that the cat was possessed. He pulled out his sword and quickly cut off the head of the cat. The cat’s head went flying through the air and, in one last act of loyalty, bit and killed a snake about to attack Usugumo.

Realizing that the cat was trying to warn her about the snake, Usugumo became depressed over the loss of her pint sized protector. To cheer her up, a customer created a wooden statue of her cat, with a paw raised in warning. And the tradition of maneki-neko was born. Again.

A third legend tells of an old woman and her pet cat. The old woman was very poor and, without any daimyos around to save from lightning, was forced to sell her cat. The cat later comes to her in a dream and instructs her to create a clay model of it. The old woman follows the cat’s slightly egotistical advice, and finds that someone wants to buy it. She creates more statues, which become extremely popular, turning her cats into cash. And, for the third time this article, the tradition of maneki-neko was born.

Yes, But What Does It All Mean?

But wait, a cat with its paw up doesn’t look like its beckoning, right? Well, that depends where you live. In Japan, the gesture is reversed, with the fingers downward (as demonstrated by Koichi in this video). There are also westernized maneki-neko with the paw facing the opposite direction, mimicking the western style of beckoning. These maneki-neko are sometimes depicted with coins with dollar signs on them, earning them the name “dollar cats.”

Of course, if western maneki-neko are holding western money, it only makes sense that the classic maneki-neko of the east are holding classic money of the east. Many maneki-neko are seen holding a ryo, an old form of currency from the Edo era that was worth quite a bit of money. Additionally, many of the ryo that maneki-neko are labeled 千万両, meaning “ten million ryo”. Then again, since 千万 can also mean “a great many”, it’s possible that these maneki-neko simply cannot count particularly high.

The maneki-neko is said to be beckoning for different things, depending on which paw it’s using. A maneki-neko with its left paw up is inviting people, while one with its right paw is inviting money. Although, if you’re a shopkeeper, you probably want people to come to your store and buy things, so you may want one of each. Or, better yet, one with both paws raised.

Now, if something as little as which paw is up has meaning, it’s reasonable to expect color to play a big part, too. Yes, just like how the color of candy tells you its flavor, the color of a maneki-neko tells you what that cat’s talent is.

The classic calico design is the most popular, and brings its owner fortune. Likewise, an all-white cat is also for luck. A black maneki-neko is useful for warding off disease and evil. A gold maneki-neko performs as you may expect, and brings in the money. A red one is used for both protection from disease and demons, and bringing its owner good health. Pink is used for inviting love. There are other various colors, such as yellow or green, that are sometimes linked to feng shui.

So, have you had any experiences with maneki-neko? Have you seen any strange or rare ones? Do you own a maneki-neko? Personally, I have a little one that sits by my computer. It doesn’t bring luck or money or anything, but I’ve never been attacked by any snakes while it’s around, and that’s gotta count for something.

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The Early Years: Back in My Day, We Had Pong!

But let’s back up to the proverbial top of the screen. Tomohiro Nishikado graduated from Tokyo Denki University in 1968 with a degree in engineering. The following year, he joined up with Taito Corporation (known as Taito Trading Company at the time), and worked on the company’s electro-mechanical games, the precursor to arcade video games. By 1972 he was working on video games, starting with Elepong, a serious contender for the titles of both Japan’s First Video Game and Most Honest Pong Clone. Other early games include Davis Cup, a Pong-clone with four paddles, and Soccer, a Pong-clone with four paddles and a green background.

1974 saw the release of Speed Race, a personal favorite of Nishikado’s, which, after being licensed by Midway, went on to become the first Japanese game released in America. This relationship continued with Nishikado’s next game, Western Gun. When Midway released the game in America, it was adapted to use a microprocessor, a first for video games, giving it better graphics and smoother animation. Although preferring his original version, Nishikado was so impressed with the technological upgrade that he decided to use microprocessors for all of his future games.

Space: The Next Frontier

Next, we’ll fast forward, or for those using DVD, mash the next chapter button to 1977. Nishikado was inspired by the gameplay of Atari’s Breakout, but, realizing that Taito wouldn’t be making a Breakout clone until 1986’s Arkanoid, set out to make a game with a similar feel. He originally designed the game around shooting planes and tanks, but felt that moving sideways was decidedly un-plane-and-tank-like. Plus, Taito forbade him from using human targets, leaving him with pretty much nothing on Earth to use.

Luckily, Nishikado heard about an American movie coming out (a mostly unknown knock-off of Message From Space, that goes by the name of “Star Wars”), and decided on a sci-fi theme. The enemy aliens were based off of the invaders from War of the Worlds, which presumably means that at least one person has mistaken them for actual invading aliens. The foundation for one of the most influential games of all time had been laid. Nishikado called it Space Monsters. And then Taito renamed it Space Invaders.

I Accidentally an Entirely New Gameplay Concept

Unfortunately, the hardware running games at the time wasn’t quite up to par with the technology of the game’s sci-fi influences. Nishikado would have to create his own hardware for the game to run on, along with the tools to develop it. This would end up being the longest part of development, taking a grueling six months to complete. In contrast, the actual game only took three months to complete, making it one of those rare times when the easiest part of single-handedly creating an entire video game was single-handedly creating an entire video game.

Even with custom hardware, the game was too demanding. There were too many enemies on screen for the processor to handle, and they couldn’t move at the speed Nishikado wanted them to. But, while testing the game, he noticed that as the player destroys the enemies, they would speed up, as there were less of them for the processor to render. He decided to keep it that way, creating the concept of the difficulty curve that is now standard in nearly every game in existence. At any rate, Nishikado pressed on, and in 1978, Japan got their first taste of Space Invaders. And we all know how that went.

Poorly. It went poorly. The game flopped. At least, for the first three months, anyways. The success of Space Invaders began to turn around thanks to word of mouth, and possibly an 80’s training montage (it was ahead of its time, after all). People soon fell in love the little space crabs for the innovative gameplay and competitive value, being the first game that saved player’s high scores. By the end of the year, there were over 100,000 Space Invaders machines in Japan alone.

Space Sushi Crosses Pond, Invades People’s Hearts

In 1979, it was released in America, which was already in its second year of the video game crash of ’77, with the country burned out on years of Pong clones. The space crab invaders from Japan would turn out to be the industry’s saviors, and helped propel gaming into the mainstream. The game was so successful that the cost of buying a Space Invaders cabinet was offset within a month. The 1980 Atari 2600 release quadrupled the sales of the system, and the game, not content with being the first home console game to sell one million copies, would go on to sell over two million.

Space Invaders would go on to inspire the entire genre of shoot ’em ups, and is the game that got both Shigeru Miyamoto and Hideo Kojima interested in making games. The video game that was inspired by Star Wars had become the Star Wars of video games.

But what happened to Nishikado? Well, not a whole lot, really. He continued working for Taito until 1996, when he left to form his own game company, Dreams. The company occasionally does development on Taito titles, and Nishikado oversaw development of Space Invaders Revolution for the Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable. He was also credited in the most recent Space Invaders game, Space Invaders Infinity Gene, published by Square Enix, Taito’s current owner. Whatever he does, we’ll always remember him for his contribution that helped shape an industry. Who knows where it would be without him. Pong with six paddles?

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Sources:
http://www.arcade-history.com/?n=space-invaders&page=detail&id=2537
http://www.1up.com/features/ten-space-invaders
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gamehunters/post/2009/05/66479041/1#.UVZxjVcZsoL