I will be out all day Saturday, so posting may lighten up a bit.

One thing you don’t hear very often when speaking English is someone saying, “Wait, what’s the subject of your sentence? Oh, okay.” But in Japanese, a language that often omits the subject since it’s understood by both parties anyway, it’s possible to be in the middle of a conversation and suddenly need to verify what the other person is actually talking about.

While cutting down a sentence like “Shall we go to lunch now?” to just “Go?” may sound odd to English speakers, it’s usually not a problem in Japanese — if you were talking about someone specific going somewhere, you’d put that in the sentence, but if the meaning is obvious from the context, it makes sense to shorten things.

I’ve noticed that when Japanese speak English they sometimes use the wrong third person singular pronoun, saying “she” when talking about a man and so on, and this seems to be related to the fact that in their native language they never have to consciously specify a gender-based pronoun for a person when referring to them.

There’s nothing more embarrassing than when the invisible Japanese subject causes you to lose the thread of what’s being said around you, and one skill smart learners master early on is how to B.S. others, making them think you’re following along when you have no idea what’s being said. Phrases like so desu ne, which should mean “Yes, that’s so,” but often means nothing at all, are a good place to start.

Ex-comedian and Miyazaki Prefecture governor Hideo Higashikokubaru has declared that he is for instituting a national draft in Japan.

“There should be a conscription system,” Higashikokubaru was quoted as saying in a round-table talk with 12 local construction company owners on Wednesday. “It’s a good idea for young people to be drafted into the SDF for a year or two.”

Following the meeting, the comedian-turned governor admitted that he made the remarks as his personal view. “I believe it’s important to train young people at an institution where discipline is valued. A lack of ethics and morality has led to the loss of discipline.”

There was no work as to whether Higashikokubaru was speaking as governor or as a comedian.

From the local clinic, the instructions that come with the swab for collecting a sample of @~~~ at home, to be returned to the clinic for analysis.

This little guy needs a name!

Readers of Japundit will remember my rapturous review of Ellis Avery’s delightful novel, The Teahouse Fire.

Avery is also an artist and bestows upon us a beautiful world of embroidered silks, glazes, good posture, grammar lessons and even a socially uppity geisha or two. There’s plenty here for lovers of Japanese aesthetics to feast upon.

Nearly a year after the hardback was published, the paperback is due to come out. Numerous online retailers and your local independent bookstore for a copy. You might even consider it as a stocking stuffer for the Japanophile in your life.

Chopsticks are a staple of life in Japan. And as with almost every aspect of life in Japan, there is a correct way, and there are any number of incorrect ways which will show you up as an uncultured and uncouth oaf.

Japundit has drawn reference to this site before. But if no one is looking at Japanese and other Asian movies (I saw The Maid the other day there…) on the Crunchyroll site, then that is a shame. It’s free and if you choose “bigger” the streaming video will be about twice as big as YouTube and quite good.

The cadillac solution is to pay them about $4/month to be a member and the extra bandwidth and size is definitely worth it. After all–what does it cost to go to the movies downtown? I don’t think Crunchyroll is getting rich, but they do have bills to pay.

Veoh.com is a good alternative but there you must join formally and download their Veoh player–maybe it’s worth it though–but there are lots of good Asian movies on that site.

As always, you find some things on one or the other–like this gem on YouTube. Still, the best montage of Studio Ghibli stuff with Beatles soundtrack is only on Veoh.com. Multiple sources is best.

But for an example here is a Crunchyroll rock video by Chage and Aska from Ghibli Studios about their angel movie–which sadly I have not seen and don’t even know what its title is. But you can figure out the story pretty well from this vid. I must say I didn’t like this video at first and found it repetitive–but it kind of grows on you. Be sure to click “bigger” to start!

Anyway–there are lots more great movies and anime on the Crunchyroll site so do check it (them) out!

Just a note to let anyone who is interested know that the BJ-league will be holding tryouts in January.

To qualify, you must be able to demonstrate physical strength and individual skills. . .

The folks over at the Singapore government’s Media Development Authority pull out all the stops in an apparent attempt to prove that government bureaucrats can be cool. . . And end up verifying exactly the opposite. . .

Via Travellers’ Tales

It’s starting to get cold and I’ve been dreaming of ramen (or more correctly raamen). Problem is, there’s no good ramen in NYC and I’m not going to be in Japan for a couple months.

What to do? Hmm. I’ll make a ramen website!

Here it is: TastyRamen.com

For all the ramen lovers out there, it will get you in the mood.

Bowing, as I’m sure you know, is immensely important in Japan. And getting it right is fraught with danger. Avoid social calamity by taking in this tutorial from the ‘Japan Culture Lab’.

Tokyo is no longer a member of the list of the 10 most expensive cities in the world for expatriates. The reasons given were the decline in value of the yen (which is currently climbing) and low inflation.

Tokyo, the world’s biggest city, slipped from 10th to 13th in the survey by ECA International, which measures the cost of food, basic items including drink and tobacco, and other costs such as clothing and electrical goods.

Seoul remains Asia’s most expensive city, moving to 7th from 8th in the global rankings. Taipei fell six places to 94th in the world, or 6th in Asia, the survey said.

Hong Kong remained the 5th most expensive city to live in Asia, while Singapore rose 10 places to 122nd globally and ninth in the region, because of a stronger Singapore dollar.

World’s 10 Most Expensive Cities

1. Luanda, Angola
2. Oslo, Norway
3. Moscow, Russia
4. Stavanger, Norway
5. Copenhagen, Denmark
6. Kinshasa, Congo Democratic Rep.
7. Seoul, Korea Republic
8. Libreville, Gabon
9. Geneva, Switzerland
10. London, U.K.

You may recall the video Japanese Tradition - Sushi that took the internet by storm last year.

The ‘Japan Culture Lab’ hasn’t rested on its laurels. In their own inimitable style, here is an ‘explanation’ of Origami.

The Mainichi reports that Louis Vuitton is to team up with lacquerware producer Kirimoto Mokkojo to produce traditional Wajima lacquerware trinket boxes emblazoned with a Vuitton design.

A total of 200 of the products were due to go on sale at outlets including the Kintetsu Department Store’s Nara store.

Proceeds from sales of the products will be donated to the local area in charity following the March 2007 Noto Peninsula Earthquake that struck Ishikawa Prefecture. The goods are priced at 157,500 yen each.

Christmas is just around the corner (coincidentally), so why not shell out for the brand victim fan in your life, and get an extra warm glow from knowing you’ve done your charitable bit too.

What Japan Thinks has a report on what Japanese employees think are the dumbest business practices at their companies.

The following are the top 10.

1. “Service Zangyo”, unpaid overtime
2. Compulsory attendance at end of year and new year parties
3. Required participation in employee group travel
4. St Valentine’s Day, White Day customs
5. The seniority system
6. Morning meetings
7. Not non-smoking offices
8. Submission of daily reports
9. Recital of the company precepts
10. Must be at work at least 30 minutes before start of business

See the complete list here.

To ensure that your office christmas party goes with a bang and lives up to its quota of weak double entendres, here’s the game for you.

via Neatorama

If anyone out there is considering an upgrade to NORTON 360, just a friendly word of warning. . . Don’t!

We came up for an annual renewal of Norton Internet Security 2006 and made the mistake of clickiing the Norton 360 upgrade instead, being tempted by the fact that purchasing a single license allowed you to install it on up to three computers.

What a mistake!

My system slowed down so much I felt like I was back in the 16-bit CPU days. I would click a button or execute a command and had to standby waiting for the computer to respond.

Anyway, we have returned to NS 2006 and things are pretty much back to normal.