Guide To Rarely Used Japanese Characters

A while back, I ran across some Japanese characters I’d never seen before—characters like 〆 and ゟ that I hadn’t learned before while studying hiragana, katakana, or kanji.

I recently finally got around to researching and writing a guide for these characters, and just published it today. This guide probably won’t be helpful in reading everyday Japanese (with the exception of 々), but it’s full of some history, etiquette, and a lot of unusual characters.

Guide To Rarely Used Japanese Characters

Plus you can use the knowledge from this guide to impress people at parties, or be that person in Japanese class. Oh, you don’t know 〻? How embarrassing for you. (Please don’t be that person.)

Read the Guide To Rarely Used Japanese Characters here.

Japanese (iOS App) Review

A few years ago, Koichi wrote about what he thought was the best Japanese-English dictionary: an iPod or iPhone loaded up with a Japanese-English dictionary app. At the time, he said his favorite was a little app just called “Japanese.”

Japanese on the iPad

But somehow, in the three years since that post, we’ve neglected to give Japanese (the app) a full, proper review. Thankfully, we’ve recently changed that and posted up a review of Japanese today.

Read our review of Japanese (iOS App) here.

Japanese (iOS App) Giveaway!

It’s been a while since we’ve done a giveaway, but we were fortunate enough to receive some coupon codes from the developer of Japanese, Renzo.

I have 10 free copies of Japanese (the iOS app) to give away, but I thought that we could have a little fun with it. In the past, we’ve had contests involving haiku, videos, and other creative endeavors.

This time around, I want you to redesign the Tofugu logo, but with a twist: make it as ugly as possible.

That’s right, I want you to send me your own, terrible version of the Tofugu logo. I don’t care if you draw it in MS Paint, sculpt it, or make it using watercolors—the important part is that it looks hideous.

The 10 ugliest submissions (based on my own, highly subjective standards) will win a free copy of Japanese.

You can send your entry to hashi@tofugu.com, and you have until a week from the time this post goes up—that’s Friday, June 21 9:00AM Pacific Time—to send in your submission.

Have fun! I look forward to your ugly, ugly submissions. And don’t worry, I’ll post the winners!

Wallpapers & GIFs

Our talented illustrator Aya has already submitted her entry—in the form of some desktop backgrounds and animated GIFs! Hopefully this wonderfully bad creation will give you some inspiration.

Wallpaper (1280×800)
Wallpaper (2560×1440)

GIF (700×438)
GIF (1280×800)

What is the best Japanese Language electronic dictionary?

Once I get the same question too many times, there’s a good likelihood that I’ll just write the answer via a post here, which is exactly what’ I’m doing. So, what is the best Japanese Language electronic dictionary out there? Let’s find out.

The Best Japanese Language Electronic Dictionary Is… Not a Japanese Language Electronic Dictionary…

Guh-what? You’d think that if you were in the market to buy an electronic dictionary you’d buy an electronic dictionary… at least in the “traditional” sense. You can see pictures of them above. Now, for sure, they do the things they’re supposed to do, but that’s about it. If you buy one, you probably won’t be disappointed on this front. You’ll be able to look up words, see sentences, and in some hear audio. Not too shabby.

For me, though, I don’t feel like that’s enough, at least not in this day and age. Even though these do exactly what you want them to do, I don’t think they’re the best tool for the job. Here’s why:

• They’re big (though the big screen could be considered a plus)
• They’re bulky, try putting one of the regular sized ones in your pocket
• They aren’t versatile
• They’re expensive (approximately $200-$400+)

By now, I bet you’ve already guessed the “electronic dictionary” that I’d recommend.

Get An iPod Touch / iPhone Instead Of a Japanese Electronic Dictionary

Instead of a Japanese language electronic dictionary, I highly recommend you get an iPhone or iPod Touch. I think it’s an easy decision, but that’s also because I’m an Apple fanboy. Still, I think anyone will see the logic here.

• An iPod Touch comes in at $179 (if you buy it at Costco) or $199 from the Apple store. This is the same price as the lower end models of the Japanese electronic dictionaries, but you get so much more.
• You can download a dictionary application to your iPhone or iPod Touch. My favorite is “Japanese” because everything is stored locally (i.e. no need for an internet connection to look things up). This app is $16, which is pretty expensive for an iPhone app, but well worth it if you were planning on putting down $200-$400+ on an electronic dictionary. Update: A lot of people seem to like “Kotoba” as well. I haven’t tried it, but it seems to be highly recommended (and free!)
• There are tons of other Japanese language learning related applications in the iTunes store as well. There are so many different things you can get (and who knows what will come out in the future), making it an awesome (mobile) platform for practicing your Japanese.
• You can download Japanese Podcasts to your iPod / iPhone, and listen to them for continued practice while you’re driving, sitting around, at work, at school, etc.
• You can do other things with it, so you aren’t just pinned down to using it to study Japanese (you know, all the things an iPod Touch / iPhone are supposed to do, right?).

So, basically it’s better, more mobile, has apps, and costs less. What is there not to like? Granted, regular Japanese electronic dictionaries have their perks, too, I’m sure, but I personally don’t see the purpose of getting one when you could do this instead.

If that didn’t convince you, watch this video, which just says the same things you just read all over again.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AejPoyWqoFk']

Anyone else doing the same thing? Any angry Japanese electronic dictionary users out there? Let me know in the comments what you think.