That’s right, FOR THE NEXT 12 WEEKS WE’LL BE WRITING AND ILLUSTRATING A NEW MANGA SERIES FOR SHONEN JUMP, and it will be all about the back story of our beloved character: Kumaman.

Although it’s only a 12 week contract we’re hoping it will turn into a longer term thing, though I guess that just depends on numbers. Ever since I was a kid it was my dream to write my own manga. It’s pretty much all I thought about. With Aya as the illustrator, and with SHONEN JUMP’s publishing power, that dream is finally going to become a reality, so we’ll be focusing most of our time on the manga side of the business, because, frankly, we were given a lot of money to do this.

The manga will be in all Japanese, but I know how you internet pirates work! Guess what? We’ve scanned and translated our own manga into English, and will be making it available to everyone for download (see bottom of the post). So don’t even bother, MangaStream! We just beat you at your own game.

Download “Kumaman: The Bear Bang Theory” Early

The first chapter, “Kumaman: The Bear Bang Theory” is a history of Kumaman and how he got to where he is in the present timeline of the manga. I won’t spoil it for you, but let’s just say Kumaman has had a rough life! Even though the chapter isn’t out in Japan until May 2014, we’re releasing the first chapter early, because we can, and because we love you. The contracts are signed and nothing says we can’t do this (I think! That contract was super long and in these weird Chinese characters), so hopefully it doesn’t get us in trouble. Plus, we’ve already cashed the check. I’m writing this post from Vegas, after all! Hit! Hit! Hit!

If you’d like to download it and read it in it’s full glory, it’s all yours. Note: you will need some kind of PDF viewer like Preview (OSX), Adobe Reader, or even most modern web browsers. Also note that since this is a manga made for Japanese customers first, the panels should be read from right to left. It will be very confusing otherwise. We did translate everything to English though, so at least that part won’t be confusing.

Okay! Get to downloading! Chapter 1 is here! I can “bearly” wait! ha ha.

I’m super excited for this Tofugu business pivot and I hope you are too. Let’s all forget about Japanese language education and all think about manga and the hot tubs full of money that come with manga publishing. Thank you, and please enjoy!

P.S. This was an April Fools joke (sorry!), but maybe someday it will become real. You never know. Thanks everyone for enjoying the comic!

• Content Assistant (1 position available)
• Summer Intern (1-2 positions available)
• Trial Writer (1-5 positions available)

Although it’s probably best if you just head on over to our Tofugu Jobs Page to learn more, here is a quick summary of the three positions:

Content Assistant

This is the biggest position available right now. Essentially it comes down to content and being able to produce a lot of it… without sacrificing quality. The content you will be assisting with includes but is not limited to: video, articles, guides, reviews, and social media. This means we are looking for someone who has experience in both writing and film, with an emphasis on writing.

We are currently looking for someone to fill this position on a part time basis with potential for full time down the road, should the shoe fit. Please take a look at the Content Assistant section on our jobs page for more information.

Application Due Date: March 23, 2014

Summer Intern(s)

Every summer Tofugu runs an internship with the sole purpose of giving all you poor Japanese Studies majors hope (just a little bit). A couple bits of good news for this summer in particular. First, we’re posting this announcement up nice and early. This time we’ll be catching all you early-summer colleges in time. Second, it’s going to be the first summer where we pay our interns hourly (in the past it was either a living/education stipend or nothing at all). So, you know, you might be able to eat food and get off the streets.

The internship will have a set curriculum to it with several goals from our end, but we’ll also be attempting to focus part of the internship on your own interests and future dreams as well. If you’re interested in learning the “Ways of the Fugu” in a mostly educational sort of way, please consider applying for the Tofugu Internship.

Application Due Date: May 1, 2014

Trial Blog Writer(s)

Occasionally we are looking for new writers to bring into the fold. But, there’s a trial period to find out whether or not you’re reliable and consistent enough. This position is that trial.

If you consider yourself a writer and would be interested in writing articles for Tofugu, please take a look at the Trial Writers section of our jobs page.

Application Due Date: March 23, 2014

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If you have any questions feel free to post them in the comments below and I’ll try to get back to them. Good luck to everyone who applies!

A few of you may be aware WaniKani and Tofugu communities banded together last summer and helped fundraise over $1,400 for the American Diabetes Association to support my participation in their cycling event, Tour de Cure. Before I continue any further, I like to thank again to those who have sent their support, both words and donations, for last year’s event.

For those who are unaware, the American Diabetes Association is the USA’s leading nonprofit charity fighting against diabetes and its deadly consequences. Tour de Cure is the ADA’s signature fundraising cycling event that occurs once a year in major communities across the US. Last year I participated in the Oregon State century ride event (100mi/161km).

I plan to do so again this year, though this time I want to crush last year’s amount raised. And get Team Tofugu (and Schrodinger, my compatriots) on the Top 10 donator list for our region.

Once again, I ask the community for their support in spreading diabetes (awareness). And if you’re charitable, donating to my goal for Tour de Cure.

Last year’s Tour de Cure we offered a small incentive to WaniKani users who donated. For this year’s event we are going to take it up a level.

Many of you have inquired when we will be adding Tofugu stickers back on the store or how one would obtain such stickers. I don’t have answers for either of those questions. But, I can at least offer you a limited time opportunity to obtain a set. The trifecta!

A donation of $20 towards my Tour de Cure goal will be gifted a Tofugu sticker set (shown above) as a thank you for your support and generosity. After the initial $20, every $10 interval will qualify for an additional set. All donations paid towards my goal is collected directly by the ADA and is eligible for tax deductions.

Alternatively, individuals who donate $10 will be gifted a Tofugu sticker + cycling sticker.

But wait. There is more. We have made a limited-run sticker to commemorate the fundraising. It will be included in the sticker set, bringing the total number of stickers to four (or two if you donated $10).

I am not done yet! In Tofugu fashion, we will also match the first $1,000 in donations until the day before the event, July 25, 2014. This means if the community raises $1,000, Tofugu will donate an additional $1,000 to the cause. Pretty sweet, huh?

Gift eligibility is open to any member of Planet Earth!

If you are interested in donating or would like to read more about the ADA and Tour de Cure, please visiting my fundraising page in the follow link:

http://lets.bike/tour-de-cure

If you have made it this far, thank you for taking the time out of your day to read an anomaly post on Tofugu. I encourage those who cycle to participate in your local Tour de Cure. If you are from the Portland, Oregon area, a cyclist, and want to go fast with the lone Tofugu cyclist, hit me up at viet@tofugu.com.

TextFugu In 2014

The million dollar question! I have a little bit of an answer for you, though little-to-no estimate on timelines. Remember when I used to give those? I’ve learned too much since then.

As you know, TextFugu’s getting a big rewrite. A ton is going to change, and it will feel like a very different textbook (don’t worry, those of you who don’t want it to feel like a very different textbook will still have access to the old version for a while). Not only that, but we’re doing our own back-end, front-end, and every other end. That’s the only way I’m able to make the textbook I want to make. Working off somebody else’s back-end just creates limitations. Now we’re doing exactly what we want from the (new) start.

That’s all well and good, but here’s some new information for you. If you were paying really really close attention, I prototyped something up called “EtoEto.” It’s a place where advanced learners can go to listen to and read original materials in Japanese. And, said materials are actually pretty interesting. There are also English translations and some other neat features. Well, the prototype was fun, but we’ll be building this together with TextFugu and creating a “trilogy” of sorts. The idea is that this “trilogy” will get you from zero Japanese to the point where you’re listening and reading Japanese stories / articles, then working your way towards fluency.

And, best part is if you’re a TextFugu Forever member (currently 50% off) you’ll be getting access to all of it. This all isn’t going to be ready anytime too soon, but when it is you’ll be receiving an email to help us test the early version out, or at the very least the ability to sign up for free when it’s done.

That’s about all I have to say about that for now, but it’s progressing forward on both the content and code side of things. I have no idea when it will be fit for human consumption, but I imagine this will be our big thing in 2014, so for all of you who have been sad about lack of TextFugu updates, I hope you’re at least suspiciously interested now.

WaniKani

WaniKani and its 50 levels were finished in 2013. Most likely 2014 will be a slower year for WaniKani (with more time spent on the TextFugu side of things), but I do have some plans for progress here.

We’ll probably move out of the closed beta and into an open one after doing another redesign on the site. With this we’ll be adding some new planned features as well.

On the content side of things, we’ll be moving past level 50 with a focus on (of course) new kanji but also “names vocabulary” that use kanji you’ve learned previously but have really weird pronunciations because they are names and names seem to follow no rules. Basically, level 50+ content should be arriving this year, though at a slower pace since we finished the initially planned 50 levels.

Nothing too mind shattering on the WaniKani side, but certainly there will be a few rustles in the bushes here.

Videos and TofuguTV

After basically taking a year off, we’re planning (for the umpteenth time) to get back into video making. We did a little bit of playing around here at the end of the year, but will be really getting into it probably here in mid-January. We’ll be working on regular videos shot here in the office as well as videos from our trip we took almost a year ago to a ton of weird Japanese places you’ve probably never heard of. I’m looking forward to this a lot, and our recent new hires will help.

New Hires

We’ve also made a few hires for 2014!

• Mami – she was basically full time, but now it’s official. She’ll be doing much the same as what she was doing before (writing, posting, recording, helping, eating Canadian bacon, etc), but I’m looking forward to some exclusive and new Mami things in 2014.
• James – this is our first video hire. His background is in special effects and After Effects, though he has done editing too. He’ll be working on our trip video for our TofuguTV series in 2014. I’m sure his special effects touches will be seen in regular videos as well.
• Cristina – our other first video hire! Cristina will be helping with regular videos and day to day social media stuff. I’m sure you’ll see her around a lot, because when she’s not making videos she’ll be in them.
• A Buncha Writers – you may have noticed this. We hired a lot of new writers. Right now they’re getting used to things and some people are being tested out, but it’s been really nice to have more perspectives and people who can write things I have no business writing. I expect a lot of great reads from them this year!

We’re growing the pirate crew slowly but surely. I’m excited to see what the new people can do and I hope it means a lot of new things. Speaking of new things…

New Things?

I can’t tell you my secrets, and I can’t tell you what we’ll actually end up doing, but here are some fun things we may end up doing in 2014. Note, who knows if we will actually be doing any of these things, and who knows what other things not on this list will happen. I don’t!

• Tshirts (could it be??)
• Ebooks (I have a couple of ideas, but I’m hoping someone else will write them because I don’t have time!!)
• Documentaries (we have some ideas… but should finish some of the footage from the last trip first)
• Katakana42 (the companion to Hiragana42)
• Office doge (wow. so dog.)

That’s just off the top of my head. Deeper inside are more secret ideas that I can’t tell you right now. So, too bad for you!

If you have any questions about new things or old things or in-between things be sure to ask about them in the comments below. Maybe I’ll answer some of them if you ask nicely ;)

Oh, and tomorrow’s post is going to be so cool. Going to give you the coolest thing we’ve ever done since DatingMakura.

And, because it’s semi-permanently $20 off right now, I’m doing 50ish percent off of that lower price, and making it $49 instead of the regular $60. With that $11 you could buy a lot of Pocky. “I can’t remember ever pricing TextFugu this low,” says the used car salesman living inside of me.

As some of you may know, and as I’ll get into more detail in tomorrow’s State of The Fugu Address post, we’re working on a new version of TextFugu, which will cover a lot more material than the current version and span beginner through advanced and then get you working towards fluency. It’s a much bigger project so it will probably have a higher pricetag once it’s all said and done (for the Forever Price). That being said, anyone who has a Forever membership of current-gen TextFugu will be getting a free upgrade. In the past I limited it to certain groups, but now it’s going to be everyone until the new version is ready for signups.

TextFugu will be on sale for around a week. Last day of the sale will be on January 7, 2014, so you have some time to think about it / dig through the couch cushions for loose change. I hope you all had a wonderful New Year, and let’s be sure to learn a ton of Japanese (and other things too) in 2014!

TextFugu SALE: Forever 50% Off

P.S. If you’re having trouble with registering your fancy new account please email hello@textfugu.com and I’ll help you out right away. Sometimes with extra server load the registration form doesn’t redirect properly, but I’ll be keeping an eye on things as much as I can in the meantime, support emails included!

To commemorate all the posting we’ve done, I thought it would be appropriate for us to go in and curate our own list of our favorite posts. We all like different posts here, so you’ll get a motley assortment of articles that are worth reading. In this year’s edition, we’ll take a look at favorites from myself (Koichi), Aya, Mami, Viet, and JohnD. Let’s hop right to it!

Koichi’s Favorite Posts Of 2013

It was so hard to choose my favorite posts. I have about twenty more that I wanted to include, but since I limited everyone to five I thought it would be bad if I was the only one cheating. I would have put up posts like “Facing Facts: The Secret Behind Hello Kitty’s Blank Face“, “The Kikokushijo Dilemma: Growing Up Abroad As A Japanese Kid“, “Oh, So You Mean You’re Not Japanese?“, or any one of the “dating series” posts / anime roundups. There was a ton to choose from, but here are the ones that stood out to me or were special to me this year.

• Tofugu’s New Body Pillow Dating Site: DatingMakura
  For April Fools this year we released a dating site that allowed people to chat with body pillows (you know, to find your One True Threadcount™. We had a ton of fun building this, writing the chat conversations, and taking the pictures. It’s still up and running, so if you’d like try out DatingMakura.com you can!
• Not Just For Vegetarians- Japanese Soybean Foods
  Many people don’t realize how many ways a soybean can be used. I thought this was a nice and educational post for those who thought soybeans only could be turned into tofu. I even learned a thing or two about this fantastic bean.
• The Difficulty Of Names
  Mami joined us in 2013. She started as a researcher and then started writing. Her perspective is a great one because she’s born and raised in Japan. This post was the start of many great posts by Mami, which is why this one in particular is my favorite!
• The Wildly Complicated Life Of The Japanese Particle ね
  I was so impressed by how this post took something that seems not that complicated (the particle ね), teaches people how complicated it really is (it’s very, very complicated) and then breaks that down into something that’s not all that complicated anymore. Basically, it’s a tough topic that’s been explained really well, and all Japanese learners ought to read this, whether you’re beginner or advanced.
• What I Learned About Learning Japanese From Spending 3 Weeks In Taiwan
  It’s been a while since I’ve started learning a new language. This article goes over my attempt to learn some Mandarin (before a trip to Taiwan). It was so educational to re-experience the things people experience when learning a new language, and I talk about how I’ll be applying that over to our Japanese resources as well.

Aya’s Favorite Posts Of 2013

Aya is the Tofugu Artist. She illustrates all the illustrations you see at the top of pretty much every post. It was fun to go through this year’s posts to see how not only our writing progressed, but how her art progressed too! Here are Aya’s favorite posts of the year – maybe you too will agree.

• Using Japanese Sign Language to Improve Your Spoken Japanese
  It was my first time encountering JSL and I thought that it was such a well-written and researched topic. I also had a great time drawing the Hiragana JSL chart. So many hands to draw yo.
• What It’s Like Dating A Japanese Guy
  I loved reading and working on the dating article series posted in Tofugu (if you haven’t read them, you definitely should), but this one was my favorite. I had heaps of fun working on the spot illustrations for this post!
• The Traditional Colors of Japan: Making Modern History
  It was interesting to read about the Japanese color system and how much meaning a color held when it was used on a piece of clothing, like a kimono. It’s pretty cool that Japanese fashion companies are trying to revive traditional colors through modern fashion design. The Japanese color chart was so fun to look at and read too!
• “Oh So You Mean You’re Not Japanese?”
  When I first read the article, I was like, ‘The feels! For some reason, I KNOW IT.’. Although I’ve never lived in Japan, this question always seemed to pop up whenever I meet a Japanese person. The confusion and surprise that followed amused me at first, but after getting asked 32948324* times by a lot of people (*not exact number), it gets a bit tiring. Reading about living in Japan from a non-Japanese Asian’s perspective was something I’ve been waiting to read more about and I thought that Austin did a great job writing about the experiences and problems he faced.
• Dating A Foreigner (From A Japanese Perspective)
  Two things: Samurai + Matt Cain = YES.

Mami’s Favorite Posts of 2013

Mami of course joined us partway through the year. She’s been helping with some secret projects, doing audio, research, and even writing on Tofugu. Here are her favorite posts of the year:

• I Went To The Real-Life Spirited Away
  Great article from real experience. I’ve never been to Taiwan, though it’s very close to Japan, and have always wanted to visit. This article made me feel as though I was already there and really made me want to actually go there more than ever, at the same time. I was also impressed that Koichi found Uncle Haku. That was my favorite picture among all the other incredible ones taken.
• Sorry for Saying Thank You: The Many Uses Of Sumimasen
  Sumimasen, but I wasn’t very good at explaining the various usages of sumimasen until I read this article. This article explains “sumimasen” really well and I’d like to be sumimasen for saying thank you.
• Visiting Japanese Schools, Or How To Be A Rock Star in Japan
  I enjoyed reading how John became a rock star in Japan :P
• 10 Horrifying Insects That Will Make You Reconsider Ever Visiting Japan
  This article creeped me out to the point that I almost don’t want to go back to Japan to see my family (:o;) Just in the time that it took to read it, I set a new personal record for how many Ewww’s could be said in one year.
• The Kikokushijo Dilemma: Growing Up Abroad As A Japanese Kid
  A very interesting article from the perspective of a real kikokushijo with the accompanying wall paper that Aya made (The Fugu Robot) – This is also one of my favorites.

Viet’s Favorite Posts Of 2013

Viet doesn’t write a ton these days, but when he did he would get really into it and come up with something extremely educational. So, it’s only natural that the posts he chose tended to have some kind of deeper meaning or history.

• The Ainu: Reviving the Indigenous Spirit of Japan
  I’ve actually written a piece about the Ainu a long time ago. I enjoyed Sarah’s piece since it had a broader scope. People who are interested in Japan should be informed that it isn’t a ~100% homogeneous nation.
• A Short History Of Japanese Sign Language
  I’ve always had a faint interested in ASL. Coupled that with me being somewhat of a history buff, this was a great read.
• The Japanese Art Of Making The Strangest Faces [Hengao]
  Just look at the faces. QED.
• The CIA’s 1971 Secret Report On The Senkaku Islands Dispute
  I love learning the little island disputes that is happening out there. Couldn’t they just do a Lost and move the island?
• How To Avoid (Or Even Find) A Stigmatized Property In Japan
  I like the post header art. So mystery. So intrigue.

John’s Favorite Posts Of 2013

John has been writing with us for a long time. You may remember him from “Mondays,” where he would post every Monday. He also is the one who writes the anime roundups, as well as the infamous “John’s __________” posts. Here are “John’s ______ posts of the year”:

• “Gaijin”
  Gaijin is a complicated word that can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Hashi did a really great job of exploring the word and its uses and just about everything you ever wanted to know or wondered about is somewhere in this post. The discussions it inspired in the comments are great too. Plus I just really miss our pal Hashi.
• These Words Are English, But You Won’t Understand Them
  All these loan words Koichi selected for this post are really useful and interesting. Some of them are funnier than others, but this post is a great example of edutainment.
• Keanu Reeves and the 47 Ronin
  While the movie didn’t quite live up to the hype, the story of the real 47 Ronin is awesome. This tale truly exemplifies the spirit of Japan. If you don’t know the story behind the 47 Ronin, do yourself a favor and read about it!
• The 7 Odd Things I’ve Missed About Japan / The Things I Do Not Miss About Japan
  These two posts kind of go hand in hand, but they’re a great introduction to some of the great (and not so great things) about being in Japan. Whether you’re traveling there for the first time or just looking for some nostalgia, these posts are great.
• My Japanese Education
  Having Mami on the team has been awesome. This post of hers was really interesting and informative. It was great to have a detailed and personal explanation of how all that learning nonsense works over there in Japan. Mami’s had a lot of great posts since this one, but this remains one of my favorites.

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Those were our favorites! What were yours?

Thank you all for such a wonderful year. We have a lot planned for 2014, so slap those suspenders a few times and look out the window, because neat things are afoot.