Tofugu.com – Wonky Japanese Language and Culture

First resolution: Don’t write a cliché “New Years” post. Whoops. It’s been a nice and busy year, but there’s a lot planned for 2010. Thank you all so much for your support over the years (wow, multiple years!) – here’s what we have planned for 2010. Things are looking like they’ll be a little different! Read more…

I’ve been working on a couple of new blog projects the last month or two. As some of you might know, I have a pretty poor success-to-failure ratio when it comes to starting new projects (who doesn’t!? what?), so I went ahead and made sure to write some first, announce later. We’ll see, I’m feeling good about these ones. What about you? Read more…

With procrastination comes a lot of progress (totally doesn’t make sense, but this is how I got through school). While I fool about not blogging about things, I find other stuff to do. Like, for example, creating a Facebook profile (sorry, still hate MySpace), or dinkin’ about on Twitter. I just thought I’d share all the different ways we can connect, and be chillin’ like Bob Dylan.

Facebook

Yep, I’m on Facebook now. Really fun stuff, and I want to be your bestest Facebook friend ever in the whole wide world. Just add me and I’ll add you right back. Looking forward to stalking you soon! And if anyone dares poke me, be prepared to not receive one in return. Read more…

Tonight (or today, if you were in Japan), fifteen J-bloggers gathered together in the same room, and nothing imploded. Well, that’s probably because it was all virtual. We set up a conference via eduFire, and talked about Blogging, J-blogging, collaboration, and gave each other a lot of good advice. Here’s a list of our attendees, some text on what we talked about, as well as some more pictures. I highly recommend you give these folks a look! Read more…

Wow! Wow wow wow. Whoever made this, send me an e-mail. Well, technically I know who you are, but I don’t know how to contact you, so please e-mail!

I have this thing set up where I get notified every time someone links to Tofugu, or even mentions the word Tofugu, so every time you say something about us, I’ll know (I’m like Santa that way). We’ve always wanted to make a Tofugu cake over here on our end, but now we’ve been shamed with this piece of glory. I don’t think we’ll ever be able to look at cake the same way ever again. More pictures in all their glory, after the jump. Read more…

I just wanted to thank all of you who voted for us in the Blogging Idol 2 competition over at DailyBlogTips. As always, it’s all thanks to you that all of this is possible! I have no idea what we won, and that doesn’t matter, but I think I’ve learned some ways to become a better blogger (for example, updating regularly. Cough Cough What What?). Check out the other winners, though. They definitely won more legitimately. Tofugu won because you guys are awesome at voting :) Thank you! Read more…

I follow hundreds of Japan-related blogs, just so I can keep up with the Japan-news (and the blogging competition, too). It may seem really difficult to follow so many blogs (not to mention all the others I read), but with RSS, it’s super easy… Oh, and did I mention addictingly fun, too?

Tofugu is currently participating in DailyBlogTips’ “Blogging Idol 2,” which is a pretty big competition that has a lot to do with RSS. Right now, Tofugu is in 11th place (out of over a hundred), and would definitely love your help! You can make our dreams come true by voting for us (pretty please?), or just by subscribing to our RSS feed, which is what I’ll be telling you about after the break. Just so it’s not too much e-begging for you to handle, I’ll be spinning it in a way that makes things wonderful for you too: Read more…

That’s right, you guys. October 23rd (aka Mole Day) is Koichi’s birthday!

He’s turning 23, so he doesn’t get any cool new rights, but I’m sure he’ll have lots of fun, anyway.

☆⌒（＾ｗ＾　*）　お誕生日おめでとう、コウイチくん　（*　＾ｗ＾）⌒☆

P.S. This is a really old picture, from 2 years ago.

EduFire has been testing out something really cool, called “one-to-many,” which allows teachers on the site to teach to up to 99 students at once. I’ve done this once (thank you to all who came to that one!) and will be doing it again, this time inviting the readers of Tofugu to try it out. It’s currently in beta stages, which means it’s free for you to join in and try it out. I want to push the system, and see what it can do!

I’ll be doing two lectures. One on Monday, and the other on Tuesday. The title is: “10 FREE Online Tools for Learning Japanese,” which means all sorts of Japanese levels will get something out of this. Both the lectures will be the same, but one is made for the American time zone, and the other for the Europeans (or Americans without jobs). The time will show up in your local time, as long as you complete your account properly. Feel free to join whichever one is more convenient for you. There’s a lot of space available in the Europe one, but only around 60 spots left in the American. If you sign up, please be sure to come, so you aren’t taking someone’s potential seat.

Ready? You can see both of my lectures on this page. Remeber, this section is in beta, so ther’ll be some glitches here and there (or, hopefully there will be no problems at all!). I look forward to meeting some of you there in (digital) person! Camera and mic not required to watch, but a decent internet connection is.

Bonus:

We’ll also do a 15 minute-ish Q&A near the end of our time, where you can ask us questions, if you want. if you come to the Monday one, Erin and Viet will be there also! For the Tuesday one, though, it’ll just be boring old Koichi :’(

Monday Q&A: Chat with Koichi, Erin, & Viet

Tuesday Q&A: Chat with boring old Koichi (and mayyybe Erin, but probably not)

You will also receive an early version of an e-book as well, which is what this lecture is based off of! It’ll be free (now and when it’s officially released), but you can get a hold of it early if you attend.

That’s it for now! I’m excited!

This is just a quick post letting you know a couple things.

First, I’m giving a free online lecture about learning Japanese. It’s titled: “Top 10 Free Online Tools for Learning Japanese.” If you’re interested, it will be a great lecture, and I’ll be doing it twice, one for the folks in Eruope, and one for the folks in America. You can see both of them by clicking here. We’re currently in Beta testing for the classroom style lessons (or lecture, in this case), so it won’t cost you anything, and I think I’ll be giving a good lesson, so I hope to see you there. If you don’t intend to show up, though, please don’t sign up. Seats are limited, so please respect those who might want a spot.

Second, the little contest over on the edufirejapanese Youtube Channel was extended, so you have one more week to make a video and have the possibility of winning three free 1-on-1 lessons with any tutor you want. Also, eduFire has sweetened the deal, and is including a $25 gift certificate to each of the three winners for learnoutloud.com, as well as a t-shirt. Everybody on the Internet loves t-shirts. Even I don’t have an eduFire t-shirt. You can win it, and make me feel jealous.

There you have it. Join me in my lesson for free, and go make a video to take part in the eduFire contest! Thanks!