In the past we’ve written a bit about Google Image search and how it’s useful for Japanese learning. For example, if you don’t know what a Japanese word means, or if you just aren’t sure about the translation you’re getting, put it into Google Image search and see what pops up. That’s all well and good for practicing Japanese language learning, but searching for images in Japanese will also tell you a lot about the Japanese society as a whole. The results will be different from your language’s search because that culture will be reflected.

I thought it would be fun to go through a bunch of image searches like this. First in English, then in Japanese. Afterwards there might even be some commentary.

*I’m using incognito mode to hopefully offset any past search bias on Google’s part. They might be using my location though, so results may vary!

Puppies

Let’s start with something adorable: the word “puppy,” or 子犬 in Japanese.

You can see that there are some similarities here, but the Japanese version has way more Japanese dogs (shiba inu). When a “dog” comes to mind in Japan, I think the image of a shiba inu (or another Japanese breed) comes to mind. Of course, there are other dogs too, but you can see the difference clearly here.

Dinner

When you put in the English word “dinner” and the Japanese word 晩ご飯, you get two completely different  results.

I think what you see here is the idea of what a “traditional” dinner is.  Of course, there are a lot of small plates and bowls on the Japanese side and there is a lot of meat and turkey on the English side. It really highlights the difference between our perceived ideal “dinners.”

Anime

When you type in “anime” and アニメ, this is the result.

I’m not sure what this says about anything, but the difference is kind of interesting. Seems like the English results produce way more fan art whereas the Japanese one produces actual anime. Maybe in terms of ratio fan art is more prevalent in English-speaking places just because of how saturated “official” anime is in Japan?

Monkeys

If you type in “monkey” in English and 猿 in Japanese, here’s what you get.

In English, you get a smattering of monkeys and apes. In Japanese, you almost exclusively get the Japanese macaque. Some of them are the infamous “Snow Monkeys” as well.

Letters

If you look up “letters” in English (talking about the kind you write and send to people in the mail) or 手紙 in Japanese, you’ll see a big difference.

Notice how the Japanese side is almost entirely handwritten and the English side is almost entirely typed out? I think that really highlights how important letters are in Japanese culture compared to how they’ve become in places like America. In fact, you might remember my earlier article “How To Write Letters In Japanese: An Introduction” where I mention the importance of hand writing (personal) letters.

Beer

Let’s see what “beer” and ビール come up with.

As you already know if you read Tofugu, there isn’t a ton of variety when it comes to Japanese beer types. You have your Sapporo, Kirin, Asahi, and Yebisu. Everything else is tiny in comparison. With the English image results, you still see some of those light beers, but there’s wayyy more variety. This basically just parallels the actual beer situation in Japan and in the West.

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I’m sure that’s just the tip of the iceberg, too. As you can see, though, you can gain some cultural insight into a culture just by looking at the Google Image Search differences. Beer is lighter. Monkeys are more homogenous. Dinner is completely different… you get the idea.

For this kind of thing, though, one person can’t think up all of the good comparisons. So, I need your help! If you post up an English (or whatever your native language is) and Japanese Google Image Search comparison in the comments, I’ll add your name to a raffle and pick out three of your names. The winners will get Tofugu stickers because we just got some new designs in.

Yum, looking good stickers. So, three of you could win both a crabigator and a Tofugu, just for contributing your image comparisons in the comments of this article. Deadline is Friday whenever I decide to choose someone, PST. So… get it in before then. I look forward to seeing all the creative comparisons that you come up with!

Want the wallpaper version of this article’s header image? Here it is in 2560×1600.

I’ve stood at the base of Mt. Fuji and visited many of Japan’s most famous temples, and throughout this time I’ve experienced some of my life’s most breathtaking moments. Many of these trips however required me to save a lot of money and put in a ton of effort in planning each visit. So I can’t tell you how amazing it is that we can live in a time where you can easily access many of this incredibly locations right from your own home.

In this post I’ll go through nine of Japan’s most famous locations that you can explore right from home. To see more of Japan’s cities and neighborhoods from Google Street View, simply go to Google Maps and type in the location you’d like to check out. On the map’s zoom controls, you’ll see a yellow pegman. Drag and drop the pegman to any location on the map to see it from ground level. If you don’t see this, it means there’s no Street View available at the moment. That being said, Google is constantly updating its database and will eventually cover most (if not all) of Japan’s major areas.

I chose many of the locations in this post based on two criteria: historical significance and cultural impact. Not to mention they’re just plain cool! Each of them is ordered in terms of their overall popularity, my own personal love for them, and the detail which Google Street View gives you. I hope you like the list I’ve put together for you. Be sure to let me know which one of these was your favorite spot in the comments!

1. Mount Fuji

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I know. It’s not really the same. Sure, the strong feeling of achievement you get when you reach the top of Fuji-san won’t parallel anything that Google dishes out. But with this view, you’re guaranteed no crowds, perfect weather, and none of the painful after effects from climbing more than two miles up.

“The Street View collection covers the highly popular Yoshida trail that takes hikers up the mountain, the full walk around the crater at the top, and the quick zigzag descent,” said Setsuo Murai, representative director of Geo Partnerships for Google Japan, on Google’s official blog post. ”We hope these 14,000 panos of new imagery will give climbers a sense of the terrain to expect under their feet — especially all the night-time climbers who shuffle up in the dark to see the sunrise at the crack of dawn.”

Fuji-san was awarded the honor of becoming a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) back in June 2013. This recent achievement spiked tourist’s interest in the site, attracting thousands of people to its slopes this year. Google Street View allows you to avoid all the heavy traffic from hikers crowding Fuji-san’s various climbing paths. Definitely check this one out!

2. Sensoji Temple

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Sensōji is a Japanese Shinto Temple located in the heart of Asakusa, Tokyo. Don’t even bother trying to come here around new years. The crowds number in the thousands and getting anywhere near the main building is next to impossible. Google Street View is the perfect alternative.

When you first arrive at Sensōji, you’ll be greeted by the Kaminarimon, which means “thunder entrance” or “thunder gate”. This is considered one of Tokyo’s most iconic landmarks. A small traditional shopping district known as Nakamise connects the Kaminarimon to Sensōji’s second gate, the Hozomon. Beyond that you’ll find the temple’s main building for offerings and a five storied pagoda.

3. Itsukushima Shinto Shrine

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Itsukushima Shrine is located on Miyajima Island. “Miyajima” itself means “shrine island”, hinting at the city’s most recognizable landmark. Itsukushima was built in a small inlet along the coast of Miyajima. Its famous torii gate is placed just outside the shrine right on the Seto inland sea. During a low tide, visitors can walk out to the torii gate and see it up close. The high tide offers a more photogenic scene (especially around sunset).

Google Street View took the opportunity to capture Itsukushima Shrine’s torii gate during a low tide, so you’re offered a rare glimpse of one of Japan’s most iconic landmarks up close.

4. Himeji Castle

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Himeji-jō is one of Japan’s oldest and most famous castles from Japan’s feudal period. For over 400 years the castle has remained completely unharmed, surviving numerous WWII bombings and severe natural disasters such as the Great Hanshin earthquake of 1995.

Himeji-jō is home to many famous Japanese legends, folklore, and other great tales from the past. It is one of Japan’s most important historical landmarks and was also granted status as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO back in 1993.

5. Kiyomizu-dera Temple

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Kiyomizu-dera is one of Japan’s most famous Buddhist temples. Its name means “pure water” which comes from the Otowa Waterfall upon which the temple is built. Located in forests of east Kyoto, the landmark was originally associated with the Hosso school of Japanese Buddhism, but formed its own branch in 1965.

The temple is known for its traditional wooden construction and an open stage which allows visitors to see the beautiful cherry trees that run along the hills of Kyoto. Kiyomizu-dera was also added to the list of UNESCO world heritage sites in 1994.

6. Great Buddha of Kamakura

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The Great Buddha of Kamakura is a bronze statue which rests on the grounds of the Kotokuin Temple in Nara, Japan. Standing at a height of more than 13 meters, the Great Buddha of Kamakura is considered the second tallest bronze Buddha statue in Japan. This landmark was built in 1252 and was originally located near the main temple hall.

The Buddha statue is actually completely hollow, and tourists can go inside the structure to view its interior. According to Wikipedia, the notice at the entrance to the grounds reads, “Stranger, whosoever thou art and whatsoever be thy creed, when thou enterest this sanctuary remember thou treadest upon ground hallowed by the worship of ages. This is the Temple of Bhudda and the gate of the eternal, and should therefore be entered with reverence.”

7. Yakushi-ji Temple

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Yakushi-ji is one of Japan’s oldest Buddhist temples. It was built by Emperor Tenmu in the late 7th century as a monument to his late wife. If you take a look at the main building of Genjo-sanzoin Garan located slightly north of the main temple complex, you’ll notice that the structure’s shape is a completely symmetrical octagon. Built in 1981, the complex is a memorial to the Chinese monk Genjo-sanzo, who lived in the 7th century and was famous for his extensive study in Buddhism and travels to India and Central Asia.

Behind this structure you’ll find a building displaying some of the most famous works of artist Hirayama Ikuo, one of Japan’s most celebrated painters who recently passed away in 2009. Google Street View goes into detail here. I can’t imagine how many hours of walking that poor Google mapper had to put in to accomplish this, so definitely take a look at this one.

8. Ogasawara Islands

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The Ogasawara Islands are a chain of volcanic islands that run 1,000 kilometers south of Tokyo, Japan. Also known as the Bonin Islands, the chain attracts thousands of tourists each year for its warm subtropical climates, crystal clear beaches, and local resorts. The islands were discovered by Ogasawara Sadayori in 1593, who claimed them in the name of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

The islands were officially recognized as Japanese territory in 1875. After WWII, the Ogasawara islands were occupied by the United States until 1968 when they were finally returned to the Japanese government. Currently, the only way for regular visitors to reach the islands is by boat. A ferry runs from Tokyo to the Ogasawara Islands regularly, taking around 25 hours to reach the islands. Because the trip to the islands takes so long by boat, whenever tourists or inhabitants have a medical emergency, the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force sends a helicopter to retrieve them.

9. Gunkanjima

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Hashima is known by the Japanese as Gunkanjima, meaning “Battleship island.” You might also recognize this island as one of the locations from the very popular 2012 film, Skyfall, where Agent 007 was held captive by the evil Raoul Silva in his secret hideout. The scene was actually filmed on a small island off the coast of Macau, and the production crew ended up using 3D models of Gunkanjima to recreate the look of the island using special effects and elaborate set pieces.

Located off the coast of Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan, Gunkanjima served as a coal mine and a home to more than 5,000 people. With the island measuring only 480 meters by 150 meters wide, Gunkanjima became the most densely populated area in history. To help accommodate so many people in such a small area, the city constructed tall buildings that took up most of the land, making the island look a lot like a battleship.

The mine closed in 1974, and residents were forced to move back to Nagasaki, leaving the island with all its building and equipment behind. Over the next few decades, typhoons and natural weather erosion has caused the remaining structures to look rundown and desolated, giving the island a very spooky atmosphere. Due to the danger of collapsing buildings, Gunkanjima was closed to the public, until 2009, when small guided tour boats allow participants to view the island from selected observation decks.

Google Street View offers a rare opportunity to explore one of the most deserted locations in the world, seeing just how time and weather have affected the surrounding structures. Here’s a cool video of the “making of” of the Street View photos:

Certainly a remarkable looking place, and now you can visit it too! Well, kind of, at least.

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Google Street View offers everyday people the opportunity to visit some of the world’s most fascinating places. Japan is something that has always interested me, so I can’t tell you how glad I am to have this feature as a resource for my own studies and research. One of the biggest setbacks from traditional media like video and photography is that it only offers you a set rectangular view of things. With a 360 panoramic view, you can see what you want when you want and travel along as if you were really there. There’s nothing better than actually getting to see a place first hand, but this is definitely the closest thing to it.

So what did you think? Were you surprised with how some of these places look in real life? Did you discover anything cool from surfing through Google Street View in Japan? Share screenshots in the comments below if you see any people in horse masks walking around.

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Bonus Wallpapers

[2560x1600] • [1280x800] • [1280x800 Animated] • [700x438 Animated]

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Hector is a copywriter and blogger for usb memory direct. In his spare time he runs a Japanese reference site called Japan Finds where he discusses regional, cultural, and historical facts about Japan. Hector is particularly interested in the Edo period, a time where honorable samurai, beautiful geisha, and powerful shoguns roamed the islands of Japan.

So how did Japan get so behind despite being on the bleeding edge in terms of most technologies? How is it that internet usage is can be so different? There are a lot of things at play here, but I have a theory: they are practicing internet isolationism. It’s the Tokugawa Era all over again, except this time it involves more LOLcats.

Japan’s First Big Isolationist Period

Let’s jump back a few hundred years. It’s 1641 and the Tokugawa family has gained control of Japan after a long, bloody war. In order to protect their newfound control, the new Shogun implements what is known as the Sakoku Policy. Basically, no foreigner could enter Japan and no Japanese person could leave Japan on the penalty of death. That being said, they actually allowed some foreigners (from Asia, mostly) to come to Japan to trade, but where they were allowed to go and what they were allowed to do was very restricted. It certainly was not the gay old times when everyone would sing songs together after crashing their boats off the Japanese coast.

There were a couple presumed reasons for this isolationism. First, the Shogunate was worried about foreign influence. Religion and colonialism were both a serious threat. Another reason was to keep the daimyo (basically like lords under the Shogun) down. Some of the Daimyo had pretty convenient trade routes with East Asia. Before Japan was unified under Tokugawa, these clans would use these trade routes to get rich and build powerful armies. In order to stay in power, the Shogun had to curb and control this trade so that he and only he got the main benefit from it.

Although Japan wasn’t totally cut off (just extremely restricted), it was quite isolated. During this time ship after ship was turned away. Sometimes they were even attacked. During this time the government built anti-ship defenses too just in case anyone got the wrong idea. You can see a giant list of attempts to trade with the Japanese government during this Sakoku Policy period. It certainly wasn’t easy.

After a while, though, the Western powers got pissed. Commodore Matthew Perry steamed into Edo Bay with four warships and showed off his big cannons so that the Japanese could know who was really in charge around here. A year later Perry came back with even more ships and Japan was all like “Okay, you cool. We can sign a treaty.”

The rest is history, as they say. So what about them Nyancats?

Isolationism In The Japanese Web

I should start by saying that the isolationism of the Tokugawa Era and the isolationism of the Japanese internet are two completely different situations. Of course, Japanese Internet Isolationism isn’t anywhere near as severe as the Sakoku Policy ever was (duh). It’s quite tame in comparison. It’s also more subtle, and not something that was instituted top down. Instead, the Japanese internet version of isolationism came from the bottom up. It happened naturally, slowly branching the Japanese internet off from the rest of the modern world.

The beginning of all this, I think, had to do with cell phones. The Japanese took to cell phones much faster than the West, staying way ahead of us for at least a couple of decades. Because of this, the Japanese didn’t take to computers like we did, and our internets took two very separate paths. Japan has been using the internet on their phones for a lot longer than us. Their infrastructure was made for it and the Japanese internet evolved accordingly.

One such evolution was the creation of services like i-mode. In i-mode, site creators actually make an i-mode version of a site to display that works well in cell phones. If there isn’t an i-mode version, for example, you can’t access it. It’s almost like a whole separate internet that you can only access from your phone. We experienced a very shallow version of this during the time before iPhones then smartphones became popular in the West.

Due to the speedy advancement of the Japanese cell phone internet infrastructure, the use of personal computers was a lot smaller. This means that the Japanese have seen the internet (as we know it, at least) for far less time than the West. It also means they’ve been (basically) using a different kind of internet than a lot of the rest of the world, aka a kind of internet that is very Japan-specific and somewhat isolated. This has caused web culture to develop separately as well causing a lot of the isolationist features you see in the Japanese internet today.

The Closed Japanese Internet

Perhaps the greatest example of isolationism in the Japanese internet comes from Mixi, one of Japan’s largest social network (as of 2008 it had 21.6 million users). It’s a lot like Facebook in that you share journal entries, thoughts, pictures, and so on. What makes it different is how closed it is. Due to the registration setup (you need a Japanese mobile phone email address to join) foreigners basically can never join unless they’re living in Japan and have a cell phone. As for as isolationist Japanese websites go, Mixi certainly takes the cake and has done so for a long, long time.

But it’s not just Mixi that does this. Gree and Mobage (the other two big social networks in Japan) also require Japanese mobile phone addresses to join. If you don’t have one, then you’re out of luck. Everything on the Japanese internet feels so closed, down to the users themselves. On Facebook using your picture and your full name is the norm. On Japanese websites it’s a rarity. There’s a level of anonymity on their web that you don’t see so much on the Western internet. In fact, 2chan (anonymous forum that 4chan came from) is from Japan. It doesn’t get much more anonymous than that.

This is all cultural, though. Like I said, this isolationism comes from the bottom up, not the other way around. It’s not wrong, it’s just different, and this has caused it to be very difficult for the big Western internet companies to break into the Japanese web. It’s like all those trading vessels that tried to land in Japan only to be turned away by the Shogun.

Of the big web companies to make it over to Japan, only a couple have stuck… and not even that much (though they are gaining traction, keep reading). Facebook had problems with its real name policy and real picture culture, causing it to see slower Japanese growth than it wanted or expected.

Google still lags way behind Yahoo Japan, though they recently pulled off a great deal where they took over all of Yahoo Japan’s search much like Bing did for Yahoo in America. Still, people visit Yahoo, not Google in Japan. Yahoo is the internet.

Speaking of which, Yahoo Japan is majority owned by Softbank, a Japanese internet company. It’s not even an American company, which probably explains why it did okay making the jump to Japan in the first place. Softbank knows what it’s doing over there.

Basically, if you’re in the internet, it’s hard to get into Japan. It’s closed, it’s different, and your Western trade vessels aren’t wanted here.

So Where Are Perry’s Black Ships?

If we’re going to pretend that the Japanese internet is like Tokugawa Isolationist Japan, where are Perry’s black ships? Who will come and flex some cannon muscles to get Japan open up their Internet for the rest of the world?

It’s not quite that simple, unfortunately. This isolationism has come from the people, not from the Shogun. No one person can open up the Japanese internet. It has to spread from person to person, slowly but surely allowing more and more outside internet in.

That being said, I think the black ships have already pulled into Edo Bay, metaphorically speaking. Google and Facebook have the best shot. After a bad year in 2010, Facebook made huge progress in 2011 (much to the thanks of the Facebook movie, supposedly, even though the Japanese thought Mark Zuckerberg was a hamburger). I’ve also seen a lot more of my Japanese friends join Facebook and add me as well. At the same time, Mixi is beginning to struggle. It’s having its MySpace moment. Twitter is probably the biggest success story. For the longest time, even before it was translated to Japanese, Japan was Twitter’s number two country in terms of users. It’s still very popular today, too. That being said, Twitter caters to you not having to use your real identity making it more acceptable to Japanese internet users.

As the Japanese people become more web savvy (at least on personal computers) we’ll see a lot of changes in the old internet guard. The Shogunate will crumble from within and we’ll see something interesting rise from the ashes. I think Facebook will start taking off and Google too. I don’t see all the Western internet companies getting a spot in the Japanese internet market, of course, but it will become more international. I think we’ll even see some trades, too. Japanese companies will make the jump to America and blow our socks off. Pixiv and Gree are a couple that come to mind, but more will wash up on our shores later.

But, the black ships have landed. They’re taking their time, though. They have to convince the individuals to open up, but once they get enough people on board it will snowball and hopefully allow Japan to show the internet world what they have to offer as well.

All that being said, that’s only “Western” people we’re talking about. Japan was pretty xenophobic until the 1800′s, and they didn’t “get out” much. You could say that about all the Asian countries hanging about back then. It wasn’t until the 1600′s that Japan “saw the world for the first time” (in map form)… and boy did it look beautiful.

Matteo Ricci: Missionary and Map Maker

Forgive me for taking us to China for a bit. This isn’t a blog about China, but this is where the story starts.

Matteo Ricci (pictured above) was born in Italy in 1552. He wanted to become a missionary in India, but instead was dispatched to China where he arrived in 1582. He was in a Portuguese trading post (Macau), where none of the other Missionaries (or anyone, really) had to learn any Chinese. Because he was forward thinking, or bored, or something inbetween, he became one of the first Westerners to be able to read Chinese script. He and another guy, Ruggieri (one of the only other Missionaries who studied Chinese) then went around mainland China to do their missionary duties.

Apparently, he was already pretty skilled at map making, and was invited to stay in Zhaoqing (an area of China), where in 1584 he Ricci composed the first European-style map in Chinese. The original map does not survive, but there are many copies, some of which eventually made it to Japan (and are there to this day).

The Kunyu Wanguo Quantu

Click the map for a bigger version, or click here for huge version

The Kunyu Wanguo Quantu (坤輿萬國全圖), which means “A Map of the Myriad Countries of the World” was originally created in 1584 (by Ricci, of course), and had other editions created after. The above image is the third revision (created in 1602). This map is very large (1.5m by 3.66m), and of course shows China/Asia as the center of the world (European maps of the time normally showed Europe as being in the center). Overall, this map was pretty good, I’d say.

It made its way to Japan eventually, though it never really took hold like it did in China (at least not right away). Japan had its own World maps, though, and a lot of the information was said to have come from Ricci’s maps.

The First Japanese Map Of The World

Although the Kunyu Wnguo Quantu was making its rounds, it was largely a Chinese thing, and didn’t become incredibly popular until it was copied later on by Nagakubo (keep reading). One of the first Japanese world maps in Japan was actually a Buddhist map, which means all kinds of interesting things. Before we look at that, though, let’s take a look at Japanese Buddhist “World” Maps before they started incorporating the other countries of the world. These maps, called nansenbusho, consisted of only three countries: China, India, and Japan.

I wouldn’t say this map would be particularly useful for someone trying to find any of these countries, but China is in the Northeastern section, India makes up the inverted triangle shape at the bottom, and Japan is an island off to the East. These maps centered on the Buddhist world, and have a lot of Buddhist landmarks. The whirlpool in the middle, for example, is the center of the universe, which is a lake where Queen Maya gave birth to the Buddha.

This new map, printed in 1710 (considerably after Ricci’s map) is the first nansenbushu that contained the rest of the world. It’s thought that Ricci’s map had made some circulation by this time, and the author of this map heard about the rest of the world enough to make some fun guesses. Then again, the map with only India, China, and Japan wasn’t particularly accurate from a cartographic standpoint, so I guess I shouldn’t be expecting that much.

Yes, this is a map of the world – See a zoomable version of this map here

This new map, called “Nansenbushu bankoku Shoka no zu” is thought to be the first Japanese map to depict the rest of the world (outside of the three main Buddhist Countries at the time). Of course, you have to remember this is a Buddhist map, meaning things are mapped by religious significance (rather than actual accuracy), meaning India and China get a big portion of the map… most of it, in fact.

You can see India because of the peninsula at the bottom. China and Japan get a pretty big piece of the pie as well. In fact, this map is mostly made up of the three countries, so where is the rest of the world?

Europe is in the top left corner – as you can see, mostly just place names are written in – there’s nothing there of any (religious) importance, it’s just kind of up there, consisting of a bunch of islands. Countries like England, Holland, Hungary, Italy, France, and others are represented.

Supposedly Africa, this small island off to the West is labeled as the “Kingdom of Western Women.” Awesome.

In the top right, it also seems as though they have Alaska and the Aelutian land bridge, which means even the Americas got some map cred. Obviously this is the most accurate part of the map – Alaska is still just a blank sheet of ice with mountains (just kidding people from Alaska).

I think this particular map is pretty awesome – it shows how the importance of certain things really can dictate how a map is drawn out. Obviously a big part is a lack of knowledge at the time of how other countries are laid out, but you can definitely see what’s important on this map (Buddhism) and what’s not (everything else). The scale of this map really wasn’t to scale in terms of land mass. Instead, it was to scale in terms of religious importance. I think India wins in this one. That’s where Buddha was born, after all.

Of course, maps like this couldn’t go on forever… not with Ricci’s maps making its rounds since the early 1600s. Eventually, someone made a world map for Japan that gained a lot of traction.

Nagakubo Sekisui’s Revised World Map

I think it’s fairly reasonable to assume that the copies of Ricci’s maps (which did make it to Japan) were some of the first good world maps that Japan had ever seen. Considering how closed off Japan was to the rest of the world at the time, a map of the world in a language that some Japanese people could read (at least better than English, or some other European language) must have been really interesting. Still, Ricci’s maps weren’t necessarily widely distributed, meaning the world was probably a mystery to a lot of people (though by this time people knew that other countries besides India, China, and Japan existed, of course).

Then along came Nagakubo Sekisui. He took Ricci’s map and copied it in woodblock print form. He didn’t just copy maps for a living (we’ll cover that in a sec), but I’d say he did a good job on this one. He made some revisions to the map, redrew it, and added katakana to his copy to make it more readable.

Zoom in and out of this map – I’d recommend full screen mode. Also viewable here

This map is known as the “Revised and Complete World Map” which supposedly came out in 1785. If you compare it to the original (Ricci’s) you can see there’s a bit more detail, especially in and around Asia. The main difference is the art style (definitely more Japanese/Asian) as well as the fact that it’s readable in Japanese, which is pretty cool.

Some interesting things about this map (as well as Ricci’s map):

• Florida is the “Land of flowers”
• The Sahara Desert seems to have a lot more water than I imagine it, at least
• “Sea of Japan” is omitted in this one, even though it’s in Ricci’s original

And I’m sure there are a ton of other interesting things in there, just waiting to be discovered. I’m guessing (someone will have to let me know) that a lot of the translations on this map come from Italian, which is a language I do not speak, though a lot of the katakana on this map definitely are close enough to the English versions where you can figure them out. イタリア is still イタリア, anyways.

The really interesting thing to me is that this is considered to be one of the first mainstream world maps in Japan. It was 1785 for goodness sakes! That’s almost 200 years after Ricci made his world maps, which were pretty darn good. I’m guessing this was mostly caused by how closed off Japan was from the rest of the world… but still, 1785 wasn’t that long ago if you think about it!

“Modern” Maps Of Japan

The guy who did the revised world map (Nagakubo Sekisui) also did some of the first “good” maps of Japan (he wasn’t only a copycat). He was the first Japanese map maker to use “geographical coordinates.” Seems like something you’d want to do, though I’m no map maker. As you can see in the map above, Hokkaido (Ezo, back then) was omitted from this map, apparently because this area wasn’t totally known yet. It’s Japanese frontier country, after all. You can find a lot of his works here, which are pretty nice, if you’re into that kind of thing (talking about maps, you sicko).

There was another (arguably much better) map-maker in town at around the same time, though, who’s name was Ino Tadataka, though he wasn’t as well known for quite a while (now he’s like the cartographer of Japanese history books). Tadataka was hired by the Shogun himself to make a map of Japan. He spent the last 17 years of his life working on this map (which sadly, he didn’t live to see finished). He supposedly spent 3,736 days taking measurements, traveling nearly 35,000 kilometers, working to finish a 1:216,000 map of the entire coastline of Japan. He died in 1818, but his team finished it 1821.

Part of his map – the 3d and 2d mix is pretty interesting, I think

The maps by Nagakubo were widely distributed and used up until the 1860s, even though they weren’t as good as Ino’s. Ino’s maps were kept secret by the Shogun for a while, plus they came out much later (1821 versus 1785). Ino’s maps were of much higher quality, though (and quality is king, I’d say), and were used for much longer (as late as 1924) due to their incredible accuracy (much of it accurate to 1/1000 of a degree!). Ino also worked on maps of Hokkaido, as well. He even has a statue to commemorate his map making skillz.

Into The Future

Of course, the future has brought us an unprecedented level of map accuracy. With satellite images, technology, yadda yadda, maps are pretty good. One of my favorite “new” map features is of course Google Street View. Not only can you see a top down view of Japan, but you can get right down into almost any street, and see a 360 degree picture of that particular part of that particular street. If someone told me you’ll be able to do that ten years ago, I’d probably have thought they were crazy.

Makes me wonder, though – Did people back then think “this map is as good as it gets!” just like I’m doing with maps right now? I imagine there are some things that can be done, like 3D rendering of land height / etc., but what else is there to do? I suppose there’s a lot of crowdsourced options, where people add in tons of information about local spots, which would help people find more interesting things, but where do you go from there?

Anyways, as you can see, Japan has come a long way in terms of how they see the world and how they see themselves (from a map-perspective, anyways). I kind of miss the old style maps – they definitely were as artistic as they were useful (or just artistic, in some cases). Maps nowadays are way more useful, but they lack the same style and feeling that old maps had. I guess that’s because maps aren’t really hand drawn anymore. Those were the days, eh?

1. Google Image Search

A while back, the Official Google Blog had a really cool post about how to use Google Image Search as a visual dictionary. The basic premise is that if you’re talking to someone who speaks another language, and you’re both trying to figure out a certain word, you can just use Google Image Search to figure out what it is you’re both talking about. Since you can search in both languages (and get pretty good results), you can use Google as a sort of visual translator or dictionary. For example, say you’re both trying to say the word “penguin.”

In English, you just say “penguin,” but in Japanese you would say ペンギン (pengin). Even though it’s a loan word, the pronunciation is different enough to fool two beginning language learners.

“Is it a bird?”
“Yes…”
“Is it black and white?”
“Yes”
“A Penguin?”
“No, a Pengin. hmm.”
“A what? Let’s just search an image…”

And yes, that conversation was totally and completely ripped from the Google blog. Sue me… actually, please don’t. [Google Images]

2. Figuring out words based search results

Maybe about a year ago, I was trying to remember the verb that went with piano in order to say “play the piano.” There’s some weird rules when it comes to instrument playing verbs that mean “to play,” and I couldn’t find a definitive answer via my dictionary. Then I realized I could use Google to my advantage.

I thought I’d try the verb “hiku” (ひく) which is how you say “to play” when it comes to stringed instruments. Pianos are kind of funny because they have strings, but they’re hidden strings and you don’t directly touch them, so I was wondering if maybe it was an exception. I typed it into Google and was able to find a plethora of phrases which included ピアノをひく (piano wo hiku), which meant I could safely assume it was the right result. Other things that I tried had fewer search results (Google shows the number of results, which can be a good indication of whether you’re right or wrong), or didn’t have the entire phrase all together (and all the words were spread out amongst the title and content, which of course means the phrase was wrong as well). This is a really useful tool if you just want to make sure something is correct, and can even be used to emulate and borrow someone else’s sentences. [Google Search]

3. Google Video (aka YouTube)

If you’re always looking for cute Japanese cat videos, then this is for you. Really, it’s almost the same as the image search, so I’m not going to spend much time talking about it, though there are a few more neat little pluses you can get out of video that you can’t in image.

Of course, with video you’re going to get a better visual than if you did an image search (though it will take longer if you actually watch these things). One perk is that there’s a decent chance you’ll be able to hear the actual word used in action, or you can listen / watch the word you’re “looking up” in context, which can be valuable as well. Really, though, if you want to get a word in context, it might just be better to look it up at smart.fm or somewhere not so Googly. [YouTube]

4. Google’s Translated Search

This is a really really cool tool. You can actually search for something in your native language (let’s say English), and Google translate your search and then show you results from the language you want to search in (let’s say Japanese). That’s not where it ends, however. It will show two columns of search results. One column will be the original Japanese content, and the other column will be the translated English version. This means you get a side-by-side translation of your search results, which also means you can look up all kinds of things (and read them) while at the same time targeting only Japanese content.

Of course, be sure to take these things with a grain of salt. Once you get beyond one-word translations, you can really start getting into trouble. Still, this is a great tool to look words and phrases up, and see what Google thinks the translation is. It’s just a great way to double check a word or translation that you already have a decent grasp of. Better yet, it’s in context! [Google Translated Search]

5. Call someone in Japan with Google Voice

If you’re cool like me and you got an invite to Google Voice, then you’ll know that you can call people on the uber-cheap. Now, this totally depends on you having people you can call without being incredibly creepy (and you should probably do a quick google search to see what time it is right now in Tokyo), but I’ll leave that part up to you. It’s only 3 cents a minute to call someone in Japan via Google voice, so if you know someone that’s willing to answer your Penguin translation questions, then you’re gold. Oh, and while you’re doing it you can use Google image search to confirm things, right?

And yes, another option is Skype, but we’re talking about Google right now! Expect to see a “call me” button somewhere on the side of this blog sometime soon, too. Google Voice will let you leave me messages. I look forward to all your drunken phone calls!

6. Google’s Advanced Search

If you feel like you’ve got the “normal” search stuff down, then maybe it’s time to go advanced. This is a great way to learn all the Google shortcuts that will get you better results down the road. If you find yourself looking for a word that has a lot of search results you don’t want, you can search minus things that have that word. You can add more words to narrow your search down. You can choose the language you want to search in. The list goes on and on.

Of course, how you use this all depends on what you’re looking for, but it’s a great way to narrow things down and look for the exact word, phrase, or whatever to get the results you want. [Google Advanced Search]

7. Translating Your Docs and E-mails

Maybe it’s just me, but I use Google docs (and gmail) all the time. I live in both of those places. At work, we use Google Docs instead of Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc. Working at eduFire means I get a decent amount of e-mails and docs in other languages. Google is my somewhat inaccurate translating savior. There is a feature in both g-docs and gmail (in gmail you have to add it through gmail labs) that lets you translate your content in any language that Google does translations (which is a lot).

Here’s the original message (above)

And here’s the translated message (above)

First of all, the translation pretty garbage, and secondly, if you’re learning Japanese this isn’t something you necessarily want to rely on. It can be a good resource for beginners / intermediates to get an idea of what something is about, before diving in and really studying it to pull out a real translation, though. Also great for penpals! Couple this up with Rikaichan and you’ve got yourself something golden. [Google Docs, Google Mail]

8. Google Translate Japanese to English

I’m not a huge fan of translation services, as you’ve probably already figured out. They make you lazy and they’re usually quite off. Still, I have to admit, as long as you aren’t doing anything too sensitive to painful translation mistakes, you can use these things to get the gist of something before you work out a better translation.

I put my American culture website Koichi弁 through the translator, and it came out nice and funny. Maybe it’s my strange Japanese… though most likely it’s the translator. Still, it gives you a basic picture of what’s going on.

If you do use Google Translate, I’d recommend translating things one word at a time (just like looking up words in a dictionary). There are some better dictionary services out there, but as I said before, today the Goog gets the spotlight. [Google Translate]

9. Google Calendar to Schedule Your Studies

If you’re as busy as me, calendars and e-mails rule your life. I highly recommend getting a calendar to everyone, and gCal is a good one.

You can set up reminder alerts (perhaps for your Japanese classes?), you can block off Japanese self-study sessions, remind yourself to finish up that flashcard set,  or give yourself an hour to write a Japanese journal entry to be corrected by native Japanese speakers. Staying organized is a great thing when it comes to studying, and it helps keep you on track (and helps you to set goals!). Did you know that people who write down their goals are statistically 10x more successful than those that don’t? [Google Calendar]

10. Use Google to Find Other Search Engines That do Similar Things

Of course, Google isn’t the only one that can do all these things. There’s Bing, Yahoo, Ask, Wolfram Alpha, and so on. All these other search engines have similar features, and they come up with slightly different results, depending on what you’re trying to do. This means that if Google isn’t doing it for you, then one of the other search engines may be able to give you a hand.

I hope this guide helped you, and I know there are a ton more ways to use Google to your advantage when studying Japanese. What are your favorite Google tricks, whether they are listed here or not?