I have been to Madrid for a week. It was very nice, more pleasant weather then here, a good chance to use/fresh up my Spanish, and very un-Japan-related. So I’m not going to talk more about it here.
Instead I’m going to talk about books.
A while back I finished reading my first novel in Japanese. Woho! Before I have only read manga, student textbooks and children’s books in Japanese. It felt so nice o be able to do that! And it was almost 500 pages long!
Actually, it was the first part of two of one book. The second half is just as long, and I’m about 50 pages into it now. In Japan, they often divide longer books into several volumes, but still call it just one book/work. It’s different from series or stuff like that. For example, The Lord of the Ring are of course only three books, but in Japanese they are divided in three volumes each.
The book I read, too, is only one volume in the English translation. It’s called A boy called H, by Kappa Senoh. In Japanese it’s Shounen H. It’s an autobiographical novel about the author’s childhood in wartime (WWII) Kobe.
There are two main reasons for why I choose this book as my first to read in Japanese, and why I was actually able to understand it.
First, I have read the English translation. This was a few years back, but anyways. I think it helped some. Two, even though it’s a book meant to be read by adults, it’s got a lot of furigana.
Now, I guess that second reason needs some explaining.
First, what is furigana? To explain this you need to know a little about the Japanese writing system. Japanese is written with characters of which there are two kinds and three sets/alphabets. There are kanji, hiragana and katakana. Kanji are the same as (and origin from) Chinese characters, in that they represent a meaning, not a sound. They are often very complex, both concerning how to write them, how you should read them meaning-wise and how to read them sound-wise, as well as there are several thousands of them. Kanji are often the hardest part for foreign students of Japanese to learn, and many don’t even try.
Hiragana and katakana are also kalled kana. Kana are sound-representing characters, and each alphabet consists of 46 (originally 48) characters each. Both alphabets represent the same set of sounds (a little like upper-case and lower-case characters in the roman alphabet).
Kanji are used for lexical words (content-words) and word stems. Hiragana is used for grammatical words (function-words) and word endings and parts of words that chance with inflection. Katakana is used for words of foreign origin (other than Chinese), slang words and sometimes for emphasis, as they are less common in normal text than the other two and stand out a little.
Furigana are small kana characters written above (horizontal writing) or beside (vertical writing) kanji so as to help the reader understand what is written and/or how to read/pronounce it. Usually it’s hiragana, but sometimes katakana is used. Sometimes kanji are written in furigana position, but this is only in very special cases, and the practice is mostly used in manga or “lighter” readings.
In Japan books contain more or less (sometimes none) furigana depending on whom it’s geared to. Books for adults, and especially more “heavy” literature contain less furigana, whereas books for children and especially most manga have furigana for all caracters (except numbers, I have never seen furigana on kanji representing number (except for when they are part of a word that doesn’t mean anything with numbers (I don’t know if you get this, but anyways))).
Books for teenagers or both teenagers and adults usually have furigana on more difficult/uncommon kanji, and/or the first time a kanji appears (in the book/in the chapter/on that page). In Shounen H furigana is used in this way, even though it’s manly a book for adults. The first page of the book (in both volumes) even contains an explanation/apology for this. The author explains that when he was a child (thirties/forties) all books were written this way, something that both enabled him to read a lot of books even before he had learned a lot of kanji, as well helping him memorize the kanji and their different pronunciations, and that he want children/teenagers today to be able to do this to. And this worked for foreign students of Japanese as well! Lucky me!
An interesting point regarding furigana is that books for really young children usually contain no furigana at all. (O.o)! This is because these books are mostly read to them by their parents, who of course know the kanji and pronunciations.
Well, back to Shounen H, I must say I recommend this book to everyone interested in Japan and Japnese culture and/or history. It’s very interesting, and a unique story about how life was in Japan during WWII. Also, the author has a nice style, both detailed, humorous and very “real”.
Go read it.
24 February 2009
7 February 2009
Only in Japan?
Wow, it’s almost a month since my last post. I will try to keep it up a little better. Not that I think I have any readers yet, but anyways. (^^;)
Actually, it’s in the middle of the night (02.40 am) over here in Sweden, so I should be asleep. But I’m not. So I’m writing this instead.
Last week I watched Koizora (“Sky of Love”), a short 6-episode Japanese television drama-series from summer 2008. It’s about a high school couple and how they fall in love, face obstacles, and eventually overcome them. It’s cute, with some nice plotpoints, but a little overdramatic and not the best actors of the bunch. Worth watching if you like drama/love-series, but no masterpiece.
What is interesting about this drama, or actually more to the funny side, is the note at the end of each episode. A Japanese text roughly equivalent to:
“In this drama scenes are shown with two people riding one bike. This is dangerous and also forbidden by the law. Please do not do this in real life. This drama was shot in a protected environment without danger to the people involved.”
The many other bad things happening in the drama, like beatings, threats, attempted rape, class skipping and so on, were not mentioned.
I wonder if this is because people watching the drama are more likely to ride two people on one bike than to start beating other people up.
Actually, all Japanese media are very careful to point it out when a story is fiction. This counts for both television, books and manga (comics). However, I have only once before seen an “official” (not a joking “don’t-do-this-at-home-kids”) warning not to copy what happened in the story, and that was in one of the Eyeshield 21 (an American football manga) books. They mentioned that even though one of the characters had a very frequent use of lots and lots of firearms, these are forbidden in Japan.
I wonder why all of this is like it is. And why exactly riding two people on one bike was so specifically pointed out. Maybe because it’s a big problem in Japan. Not that I know of this ever causing a lot of problems, any where (even though it’s true it is more dangerous riding two instead of one on one bike), but I know it’s frequently done in Japan. Even though it’s against the law. Especially among school kids, who I guess are the ones mostly watching this kind of dramas. But anyway.
It’s actually forbidden in Sweden too, if the person peddling is not over 15 and the other under 12 years of age. Then it’s okay.
The title of this post points to the fact that as far as I know, this kind of notice is not something that would show up in many other countries.
But also to the fact that both Japanese and Wapanese (wanna-be-japanese) people are very quick to point out something as unique of Japan, even when it’s not. Like having four seasons or never entering a house with your shoes on. I think this is often kind of irritating, and sometimes almost racist. Mostly, however, it’s innocent, and more about ignorance than anything else.
I also know that I, like with this post, am probably often guilty of it myself, especially as I’m, by many people’s standards, way into the Wapanese-area.
12 January 2009
Geisha
This is a picture I took in Gion, Kyoto, when I was there with my family summer of 2007
Yesterday I watched the movie Hana Ikusa (“Flower Battle”) with a friend. It’s based on the life of Mineko Iwasaki, the foremost geisha of Gion, Kyoto, during the seventies.
It was a very strange coincidence that we decided to watch this movie just yesterday, having no idea what it was about, because earlier that day I had seen Iwasaki’s autobiography Geisha of Gion (called Geisha, a Life in the US) in a bookstore for the very first time. I had never actually heard of this book before, but seemed interesting (I did not buy it, however), and I had no idea that there existed a film based on it.
Iwasaki wrote this book and started to work for the awareness of the life of geisha in Japan and worldwide as a contrast to Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha, which is loosely based on Iwasaki’s life. Golden interviewed Iwasaki before writing his book, and she was one of his greatest resources. However, he portrayed a lot of her experiences in a negative light, as well as added stories about selling a geisha’s virginity to the highest bidder, a custom Iwasaki claims do not exist in Gion. All and all Iwasaki was not happy about Golden’s book, nor that he mentioned her as a sources even though he had promised to keep it a secret.
I have not read Memoirs of a Geisha, but I have seen the movie from 2005. I enjoyed it, but would have liked to see it in Japanese with Japanese actors. I also knew about the issue of weather or not geisha did/do sell their bodies as well as their arts, and coupled with some other facts in the movie (like the full panted lips, as far as i know, geisha only colour the middle part of their lips), I took it as entertainment and not cultural facts.
The Hana Ikusa movie was also nice, and the special dialect is so much fun! I think this movie was made as a TV movie in Japan, and therefore it is not some kind of great movie or anything, but it was both fun and interesting to watch. Because of the formal language, many of the lines sounded stiff to my non-Japanese-speaking friends, but I think the actors did pretty well. I don’t think any of them are originally from Kyoto, though, but I’m not sure. The part of Mineko is played by Mao Inoue, who’s biggest part so far is Tsukushi, star of Hana Yori Dango (“Boys over Flowers”), in the two seasons of the TV Drama, as well as in the following movie Hana Yori Dango Final, all of which everyone should watch, since it is one of the best Japanese drama series ever made.
Back to geishas. If you want to read a non-fiction and non-biography book on geishas, I think Leslie Downer’s Geisha: The Remarkable Truth Behind the Fiction is one of the better ones. I have only read about a third of this book, and that was several years ago, but I remember it as well-written and seemingly accurate, so I think it is safe to recommend it.
If you do want to read fiction or a biography I recommend Yasunari Kawabata’s Snow Country, which also happens to be one of the greatest modern Japanese novels there is. Anything written by Kawabata is worth reading. He was also the first Japanese to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature back in 1968. Snow Country is about a man from Tokyo falling in love with a geisha in a small town in the mountainous regions of northern Japan. The life of a geisha there is very different from that of one living in Kyoto or Tokyo.
And if you want to read more about this kind of geisha, from one who actually were one, I recommend Sayo Masuda’s Autobiography of a Geisha, the actual first autobiography written by a geisha. Mineko Iwasaki, however, describes her Geisha of Gion, as being the first, and only, story told by a real geisha, and it is also often quoted as such. Even though it is not true. Masuda’s story is very straightforward and tells about the harsh life of a hot-spring resort geisha, so very far glamour and luxury. It’s a very good read.
While writing about this, I found that my copy of Masuda’s book has strangely disappeared, which makes me very sad. I do wonder if it is lost somewhere in this house, or if I lost it while still in Japan (that’s where I bought it), and if so, if I will ever get it back. Now I’m a bit sad. (TT) ((<-- this smiley really doesn't work with Times New Roman, does it?? ;P )) Well, there are lots more to be said about geishas, and lots more books and movies about them, but this is what I recommend you to start with if you want to know some things, while having a good time. I am no expert on them myself, which is why I have refrained to actually talk about geishas, and concentrated on media regarding them, on which, however, I also have a very limited knowledge, I’m afraid. Hope you enjoyed anyways!
It was a very strange coincidence that we decided to watch this movie just yesterday, having no idea what it was about, because earlier that day I had seen Iwasaki’s autobiography Geisha of Gion (called Geisha, a Life in the US) in a bookstore for the very first time. I had never actually heard of this book before, but seemed interesting (I did not buy it, however), and I had no idea that there existed a film based on it.
Iwasaki wrote this book and started to work for the awareness of the life of geisha in Japan and worldwide as a contrast to Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha, which is loosely based on Iwasaki’s life. Golden interviewed Iwasaki before writing his book, and she was one of his greatest resources. However, he portrayed a lot of her experiences in a negative light, as well as added stories about selling a geisha’s virginity to the highest bidder, a custom Iwasaki claims do not exist in Gion. All and all Iwasaki was not happy about Golden’s book, nor that he mentioned her as a sources even though he had promised to keep it a secret.
I have not read Memoirs of a Geisha, but I have seen the movie from 2005. I enjoyed it, but would have liked to see it in Japanese with Japanese actors. I also knew about the issue of weather or not geisha did/do sell their bodies as well as their arts, and coupled with some other facts in the movie (like the full panted lips, as far as i know, geisha only colour the middle part of their lips), I took it as entertainment and not cultural facts.
The Hana Ikusa movie was also nice, and the special dialect is so much fun! I think this movie was made as a TV movie in Japan, and therefore it is not some kind of great movie or anything, but it was both fun and interesting to watch. Because of the formal language, many of the lines sounded stiff to my non-Japanese-speaking friends, but I think the actors did pretty well. I don’t think any of them are originally from Kyoto, though, but I’m not sure. The part of Mineko is played by Mao Inoue, who’s biggest part so far is Tsukushi, star of Hana Yori Dango (“Boys over Flowers”), in the two seasons of the TV Drama, as well as in the following movie Hana Yori Dango Final, all of which everyone should watch, since it is one of the best Japanese drama series ever made.
Back to geishas. If you want to read a non-fiction and non-biography book on geishas, I think Leslie Downer’s Geisha: The Remarkable Truth Behind the Fiction is one of the better ones. I have only read about a third of this book, and that was several years ago, but I remember it as well-written and seemingly accurate, so I think it is safe to recommend it.
If you do want to read fiction or a biography I recommend Yasunari Kawabata’s Snow Country, which also happens to be one of the greatest modern Japanese novels there is. Anything written by Kawabata is worth reading. He was also the first Japanese to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature back in 1968. Snow Country is about a man from Tokyo falling in love with a geisha in a small town in the mountainous regions of northern Japan. The life of a geisha there is very different from that of one living in Kyoto or Tokyo.
And if you want to read more about this kind of geisha, from one who actually were one, I recommend Sayo Masuda’s Autobiography of a Geisha, the actual first autobiography written by a geisha. Mineko Iwasaki, however, describes her Geisha of Gion, as being the first, and only, story told by a real geisha, and it is also often quoted as such. Even though it is not true. Masuda’s story is very straightforward and tells about the harsh life of a hot-spring resort geisha, so very far glamour and luxury. It’s a very good read.
While writing about this, I found that my copy of Masuda’s book has strangely disappeared, which makes me very sad. I do wonder if it is lost somewhere in this house, or if I lost it while still in Japan (that’s where I bought it), and if so, if I will ever get it back. Now I’m a bit sad. (TT) ((<-- this smiley really doesn't work with Times New Roman, does it?? ;P )) Well, there are lots more to be said about geishas, and lots more books and movies about them, but this is what I recommend you to start with if you want to know some things, while having a good time. I am no expert on them myself, which is why I have refrained to actually talk about geishas, and concentrated on media regarding them, on which, however, I also have a very limited knowledge, I’m afraid. Hope you enjoyed anyways!
7 January 2009
Scholarship and school years
Today I posted the first post-selection paperwork for my scholarship. Just a contract/pledge that I accept the scholarship and its rules and stuff, and a copy of my passport.
Like I mentioned, the scholarship starts first week of April. This is because the Japanese school year starts the first of April (or closest following weekday). I don’t know of any other country that starts at this time of the year. Usually it’s either in (August-) September or in January. However, I have met many Japanese people that believe all other countries start at the same time as them. Not so strange actually, have you never been abroad for studying.
Swedish schools usually starts in the middle of August, except for University, which starts first of September (or closest following weekday, you know the deal), and I thought it was like this in most countries before reading about it prior to my high school exchange year.
I was in Japan from October to August the following year, which was totally strange considering the three Japanese semesters, which in high school usually are April-July, September – December and January-March, with about three weeks spring break in March, one to one and a half month summer holidays in August and maybe July, and about two weeks winter holidays around New Years. I came in the middle of one school year, and went home during summer holidays the next.
This is always a problem with international exchange, and different schools/countries/organizations solve it in different ways. Usually you follow either the host or the home country’s school year in accordance to when you come and when you go (when there, you of course follow the host country’s). I was some kind of special case.
Back to this times university studies. I will now wholly follow the Japanese school year and go there in the beginning of April. Then I will study a preparatory year, with mostly Japanese, but some Japanese Affairs, mathematics and stuff as well, and then I will go on to regular Japanese University for four years, and then hopefully get a Bachelor’s Degree.
No schools are decided yet, but it seems like the first year will be in Osaka. While in Japan before I lived in Tokyo, and I have been to Osaka only for all about one afternoon, so I’m very excited. Which I of course would be wherever I would go, but anyways…^^;
I’ve got to learn Osaka dialect! With –hen and ya and uchi all the time!!
It would have been nice to go to Tokyo again, because that city is so wonderful, I love it! It has everything, and in a year I have yet seen nothing! Also, I have friends and family (hostfamily, not biological) there. But it will be nice to live in another part of Japan as well. We will have to see how everything works out.
Like I mentioned, the scholarship starts first week of April. This is because the Japanese school year starts the first of April (or closest following weekday). I don’t know of any other country that starts at this time of the year. Usually it’s either in (August-) September or in January. However, I have met many Japanese people that believe all other countries start at the same time as them. Not so strange actually, have you never been abroad for studying.
Swedish schools usually starts in the middle of August, except for University, which starts first of September (or closest following weekday, you know the deal), and I thought it was like this in most countries before reading about it prior to my high school exchange year.
I was in Japan from October to August the following year, which was totally strange considering the three Japanese semesters, which in high school usually are April-July, September – December and January-March, with about three weeks spring break in March, one to one and a half month summer holidays in August and maybe July, and about two weeks winter holidays around New Years. I came in the middle of one school year, and went home during summer holidays the next.
This is always a problem with international exchange, and different schools/countries/organizations solve it in different ways. Usually you follow either the host or the home country’s school year in accordance to when you come and when you go (when there, you of course follow the host country’s). I was some kind of special case.
Back to this times university studies. I will now wholly follow the Japanese school year and go there in the beginning of April. Then I will study a preparatory year, with mostly Japanese, but some Japanese Affairs, mathematics and stuff as well, and then I will go on to regular Japanese University for four years, and then hopefully get a Bachelor’s Degree.
No schools are decided yet, but it seems like the first year will be in Osaka. While in Japan before I lived in Tokyo, and I have been to Osaka only for all about one afternoon, so I’m very excited. Which I of course would be wherever I would go, but anyways…^^;
I’ve got to learn Osaka dialect! With –hen and ya and uchi all the time!!
It would have been nice to go to Tokyo again, because that city is so wonderful, I love it! It has everything, and in a year I have yet seen nothing! Also, I have friends and family (hostfamily, not biological) there. But it will be nice to live in another part of Japan as well. We will have to see how everything works out.
2 January 2009
Happy New Year!
A New Year and a New Blog!
2009 by Western calendar, Heisei year 21 by Japanese calendar. (which I have an easy time to remember, seeing as I was born Heisei year 1!)
I should have posted this yesterday, but I was too tired, and didn't get home from new years-celebration until evening, but it is still the very beginning of this new year, so it should be okay anyways. ;)
Why this blog?
Well, I got very happy news a few days ago; I will be going to Japan to stay for five years time, starting April of this brand new 2009! And somebody else will pay for it!
More exactly, I got a scholarship for five years study at a Japanese university.
While I made this blog so I can keep record of my doings and beings, and tell the world about it, it is not meant to be just an electronic diary or news feed for family and friends. I have a blog in Swedish (my mother tongue) for that purpose. I actually do not intend to let family and friends know about this blog. If they find if by themselves, that’s fine with me, of course.
No, this blog is made to be a part of the foreigner-in-Japan blogosphere. To tell other people about my thoughts, experiences and knowings in Japan, as well as to be used as a base when visiting other blogs.
I’d also like to work on my English, and I think trying to write in English every once in a while, or hopefully oftener than that, will be a good way to do so. Therefore, do not be ashamed to point out faults in my grammar or vocabulary, should you be in a good position to do so.
Why the name?
Nippon Ningyou – Japan Doll
Well, I thought it was kind of nifty, and because of my white skin and large eyes, I have often been compared to a doll while in Japan. I got the idea from the book Beijing Doll by Chun Sue (which is kind of interesting and fun in it’s own way, as well as very irritating and kind of whiny).
Also NN is funny as a signature. You see, I study linguistics, and then NN usually is stands for “personal name” (Noun – Name /personal Name). ^^
Linguist humour! Yay!
And who are you?
I’m a Swedish girl currently studying Japanese, Linguistics and Law at university in Sweden. I have lived in Japan for one year during high school, in Japanese families attending Japanese school. I came back a bit over a year ago. And now I get to go there again! But for five years this time!
I speak Japanese fairly well, but am not yet fluent. I love languages very much, and except for Swedish, English and Japanese, I know fairly good Spanish and some Chinese. I’d like to learn Mongol, Korean and Hindi as well.
I like reading books and comics, as well as to learn how to fight. I practice Iaido (Japanese sword) and Kyudo (Japanese bow), and have trained some Kung Fu, Tai Chi, Aikido as well as Feministic Self-defence.
You will get to know me more if you continue to read this blog!
2009 by Western calendar, Heisei year 21 by Japanese calendar. (which I have an easy time to remember, seeing as I was born Heisei year 1!)
I should have posted this yesterday, but I was too tired, and didn't get home from new years-celebration until evening, but it is still the very beginning of this new year, so it should be okay anyways. ;)
Why this blog?
Well, I got very happy news a few days ago; I will be going to Japan to stay for five years time, starting April of this brand new 2009! And somebody else will pay for it!
More exactly, I got a scholarship for five years study at a Japanese university.
While I made this blog so I can keep record of my doings and beings, and tell the world about it, it is not meant to be just an electronic diary or news feed for family and friends. I have a blog in Swedish (my mother tongue) for that purpose. I actually do not intend to let family and friends know about this blog. If they find if by themselves, that’s fine with me, of course.
No, this blog is made to be a part of the foreigner-in-Japan blogosphere. To tell other people about my thoughts, experiences and knowings in Japan, as well as to be used as a base when visiting other blogs.
I’d also like to work on my English, and I think trying to write in English every once in a while, or hopefully oftener than that, will be a good way to do so. Therefore, do not be ashamed to point out faults in my grammar or vocabulary, should you be in a good position to do so.
Why the name?
Nippon Ningyou – Japan Doll
Well, I thought it was kind of nifty, and because of my white skin and large eyes, I have often been compared to a doll while in Japan. I got the idea from the book Beijing Doll by Chun Sue (which is kind of interesting and fun in it’s own way, as well as very irritating and kind of whiny).
Also NN is funny as a signature. You see, I study linguistics, and then NN usually is stands for “personal name” (Noun – Name /personal Name). ^^
Linguist humour! Yay!
And who are you?
I’m a Swedish girl currently studying Japanese, Linguistics and Law at university in Sweden. I have lived in Japan for one year during high school, in Japanese families attending Japanese school. I came back a bit over a year ago. And now I get to go there again! But for five years this time!
I speak Japanese fairly well, but am not yet fluent. I love languages very much, and except for Swedish, English and Japanese, I know fairly good Spanish and some Chinese. I’d like to learn Mongol, Korean and Hindi as well.
I like reading books and comics, as well as to learn how to fight. I practice Iaido (Japanese sword) and Kyudo (Japanese bow), and have trained some Kung Fu, Tai Chi, Aikido as well as Feministic Self-defence.
You will get to know me more if you continue to read this blog!
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