Tofugu.com – Wonky Japanese Language and Culture

This post was written by Dave of JapanDave.com who Tweets and has a great newsletter full of amazing pictures of Japan.

Kid’s songs are a wonderful resource to help you learn Japanese better. They are often overlooked because… well, they are a bit silly, but I think they are worth a second look. I’m going to cover a bit of theory here (I promise not too much), and then look at 6 kid’s songs you might use in your studies. Read more…

お久しぶりです!『ohisashiburidesu』It’s been a while!  Per request, Japan [Off The Beaten Track] is going to begin again strong with Hokkaido 北海道, the number one place in Japan where people take adventuring very seriously!  This northern island is rugged and can be thought of as Japan’s Wild Wild North.  People come from all over the world to take part in exploring Japan’s jewel of nature and home of the indigenous people called the Ainu.  This article aims to give you a starting point to getting off the beaten track, but Hokkaido is so big and has so many opportunities for adventures, you’ll have to go there yourself to make your own way on the “north sea road.”  Like in the Shikoku and Saitama posts, I’ll be giving you ideas for food, interesting dialects (in this case the Ainu language), frozen and thawed festivals, and most importantly ADVENTURES!!!  行きましょう！Let’s GO! Read more…

Of course, there are plenty of ways to *cough* get Japanese music for free, but here is one legit method I’ve been using for a little over a year now, and it works really well. That being said, I’m not much of a music buff, so I have no idea what I like listening to (usually it’s not Japanese music, to be perfectly honest), but I know there are plenty of you out there jonesing to get your hands on more Japanese music, find new bands, etc., especially since iTunes makes it hard for non-Japanese-living folk to buy Japanese music (and CD prices are just plain outrageous). Read more…

Yep, that’s the same exact reaction I’d have if Akebono pulled that crazy stunt on me. WTF, Akebono-san? I’m just a kid (though I think Segata Sanshiro still wins in the unnecessary child-beating category). And is it just me, or does the “So Fun, So Fox” sound like something else? Now, you’ll have to forgive me, because I’ve really only seen part of one episode of Glee, so I don’t really know what it’s all about (they did well at the Golden Globes, right?), but I do know that they’re using one of my favorite people, Akebono Tarō, who is the first non-Japanese wrestler to make it to the top sumo rank of Yokozuna. That and he is a very large human. Read more…

I’ve always been a big fan of traditional wood block prints (and similar Japanese art styles), but now I think I’m a bigger fan of Japanese traditional… er… video block prints?

A friend of mine who splits his work time between TEAMLAB (which does the art I’m about to talk about) and Pixiv (a Japanese art sharing community) told me about their most recent project (which we’ll get to in the next couple of days) and it just absolutely blew me away. That got me poking around their portfolio, and time and time again I found myself hitting the full screen button and becoming hypnotized. I’d love to have some of their art on my wall, but I can’t afford all the LCD screens required. Read more…

A little while back, the Tofugu team went on an excursion to Japan. One of the things we really wanted to see was the Mori building. More specifically, we wanted to ascend the Mori building and then look at everything not inside it. Being one of the best city-views Japan had to offer, we thought we’d give it a shot; unfortunately on our way there, we were accosted by an overly friendly Coldstone employee who helped us find our way there…by physically leading us to the foot of the building. At this point, we knew we had to go back and get some ice cream goodness. The guy helped us out, right?

On our way back to Coldstone, we started up a discussion. Like most Coldstones, do they accept tips in exchange for singing? Normally, the answer to this would be easy. Read more…

Hey, this is Erin. I bet you’re all tired of hearing from me, huh? Anyway, this article is about music (duh), more specifically, it’s about the Tofugu writers’ personal favorites. Since Viet is busy (I can only assume) and Koichi is traveling at the moment, you get to hear from me first, haha.

My taste in music is pretty eclectic. I’m usually not into the flavor of the month idol or boy band, though I do have my “pop” moments every so often. Anyway, here are some of my favorite artists:

Ayano Tsuji. If you’ve seen The Cat Returns (猫の恩返し), then you’ll recognize her from the theme song, Kaze ni Naru (風になる). She’s geek-chic, she plays the ukulele, she makes artsy music videos, what more could I want? The ukulele is my favorite part, as someone who grew up with it. She has that simple sort of untaught voice that’s absolutely charming, and consistently so, in all her songs. Read more…