Japanese Bilingual Reader Release: “Kantan! Read Japanese Stories Like a Native (Volume 3)”
I’m happy to announce Arigatai Books’ latest release: a bilingual reader featuring a story by Hayashi Fumiko, an important woman Japanese author.
Category Archives: Uncategorized
The Power of Relaxation Off and On the Mat (discussions on Ki-Aikido)
“Just relax!” You’ve probably heard this phrase used before, often in situations when someone is stressed out or panicking due to stress or other factors. Or they may be overreacting about something that is in reality not a big deal. Just taking a few breaths can make a huge difference in our mood and outlook,… Read More »
Japanese Literature Audio Narration: “Bitter Honey”
A few months ago I published Bitter Honey, a weird and surreal piece of Japanese literature about a magical goldfish who sometimes appears in the form of a teenage girl. (Note: the story is published in both English and parallel English /Japanese for Japanese learners.) As it was a fun story to translate I thought… Read More »
Japanese Grammar and More: Episode 14 (The potential tense)
In this episode of my podcast for learning basic Japanese grammar, I go over the potential form and a few related conjugations. I also go over a casual way of asking “Really?”
Portland Japanese Garden 2024: photo album
I visited the Portland Japanese Garden in April 2024 for the first time in quite awhile, where I was treated to its many beautiful views, further enhanced due to the light drizzle that made the colors that much brighter. I took a handful of pictures so I thought I would share some of them here… Read More »
Japan travels: Shimadai Gallery (calligraphy photo collection)
On a recent trip to Japan I stopped by Kyoto, where there happened to be a calligraphy exhibit opened in the Shimadai Gallery, a relatively small museum located walking distance from Karasuma Oike Station. Having been into calligraphy (書道) pretty heavy as a hobby the last few months, I was really blown away by the… Read More »
Announcing *Japanesque*: a new podcast about all things Japanese
I’m happy to announce a new podcast about all things Japanese, “Japanesque”.
Japan Trip 2024 Video
In March of 2024 I went on a trip to Japan with my family for around a week. We went to Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Jinbocho, and Akihabara (yeah, it was a busy trip!). I’ve detailed a previous trip to Japan on this blog fairly extensively here, and for this recent trip I am not planning… Read More »
Japanese Literature Release: “Bitter Honey”
I’m proud to announce the release of one my longest translations yet, a surreal fiction piece about a magical goldfish.
Japanese word deep dive: “nakama” (仲間) [as heard in One Piece]
When studying a foreign language, it’s nice to learn a little bit about a lot of words. But at the same time, it’s also nice to get deep and learn the various nuances of certain words, especially those that are used frequently. In this post I want to do a deep dive on the word… Read More »