Examples of Japanese words adopted into Chinese (1)
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James (212)
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We all know that the Japanese got their writing system from China, but what about Japan’s influence on the Chinese language? The Japan Times has an interesting article today about Japanese words that have made their way into the Chinese language. Here’s an example list from the article: Examples of Japanese words adopted into Chinese 直接 chokusetsu (direct) 注射 chūsha (injection) 出口 deguchi (exit) 伝染病 densenbyō (contagious disease) 電子 denshi (electron) 動脈 dōmyaku (artery) 原子 ...
US Senator wants Wall Street executives to deliver Japanese-style apologies (6)
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US Senator Chuck Grassley (R Iowa) has told the press that he wants Wall Street’s failed executives to deliver Japanese-style apologies to the American people: “I’ve suggested it wouldn’t be a bad thing that the leadership of these institutions would take a Japanese-style approach to corporate governance, and I’m not talking about going out and committing suicide as some Japanese do in these circumstances, but I am talking about scenes I’ve seen on television where ...
The curse of Roppongi Hills (1)
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Watashi to Tokyo reports that Lehman Brothers is one of a series of companies that have failed after renting office space inside Tokyo’s Roppongi Hills complex, leading some to believe that the place is cursed: The building was opened only 5 years ago in 2003. But in 2004, a boy dies because of revolving door and in 2003 a dead baby was found in garbage. The worst part is principal tenant companies trouble. Livedoor, Goodwill, ...
Japanese scientists identify daytime sleepiness gene (1)
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Japanese scientists believe they have found the gene that causes narcolepsy: It occurs in 1 out of 2,500 individuals in the United States and Europe, but is at least 4 times more frequent in Japanese. The researchers analyzed the genomes, or DNA, of 222 narcoleptic Japanese and 389 others who did not have that condition, and one gene variant occurred with significant frequency among those with narcolepsy, they wrote in a paper published in Nature ...
Convenience stores defend 24-hour operations (1)
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Facing attack from critics that want convenience stores to shut down at night as a measure to prevent global warming, the Japan Franchise Association has responded by stating that convenience stores play a crucial role as safe havens for lost children and victims of crime: More than 13,000 cases of women finding refuge in convenience stores across the country were reported during fiscal 2007. Nearly half of them occurred after 11 p.m. and about 40 ...
Exploring abandoned prisons and caverns in Japan (1)
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Two interesting exploration links for today: Michael John Grist of BigRedDot blog has been exploring caverns in Kanagawa Prefecture and posting videos and photographs of his discoveries: check them out! — And Here’s a very cool video via Zaeega/Nekomeshi showing the interior of a long-abandoned prison in Nagasaki: More urban exploration vids by the same person can be found on his/her YouTube channel.
Japanese take an average of 8 paid vacation days a year (2)
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Mainichi reports on a pretty depressing survey result: According to the questionnaire conducted in Japan as well as in eight countries in Europe and North America, the Japanese only took an annual average of eight paid holidays — smaller than any other country questioned. France topped the list with 34 days, followed by Italy and Spain with 27 paid days off annually. Among the reasons why Japanese employees can’t take paid holidays were, “Too busy ...
79-year-old Marxist novel becomes bestseller (1)
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The Guardian reports that a Kanikosen (Factory Ship) 79-year-old novel about exploited workers has become popular in today’s Japan: Written by Takiji Kobayashi in 1929, the novel quickly became Japan’s answer to The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell’s critique of capitalism. But Kobayashi paid for his radicalism in 1933 when he was tortured to death by the secret police at the age of 29. Since its release as a paperback in 1953 the novel, which ...
Video: zombie-killing claymation maid (1)
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Check out this gory claymation film called “Chainsaw Maid” (チェーンソー・メイド): [note: zombie movies have lots of blood and guts. If you can't handle fake blood, don't watch the video.] Some behind the scenes info about this film can be found on this page (Japanese). There are also a few other claymation shorts on their website. [via BoingBoing]
Scary Japanese insects are our friends (6)
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Stars & Stripes doesn’t want us to be afraid of the big scary insects that inhabit Japan: “I’ve never seen anything like it,” she said. “This bug was prehistoric.” Big. Quick-moving. More than 10 pairs of legs … having just one of these endearing qualities is usually enough to make an insect unwelcome, let alone all of the above, says Hideomi Kakimoto, a Yokosuka base environmental engineer. But “geji,” or household centipedes, are known as ...
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Dre said:
If I found one of these in my house I would be scared stiff: literally unable to move. The first one looks like a scarier version of a house centipede.
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Stephanie said:
Okay thats awful.
Melting Arctic ice spells trouble for Hokkaido tourism (1)
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National Geographic warns of a threat to Hokkaido’s natural beauty: Free-floating pieces of ice that form each winter in the Sea of Okhotsk travel about 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) to Hokkaido’s Shiretoko Peninsula. The ice, which normally lingers near the coast for up to four months, is key to the region’s rich biodiversity, including many rare seabirds and marine mammals. In recent years, however, the peninsula has seen noticeably less drift ice, raising fears that ...
Google Street View Japan: a few discoveries (7)
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A few examples of events captured by the cameras of Google Street View in Japan (from this site, via Watashi to Tokyo): ——- A high school girl’s chest being touched ——- A photo shoot at a park ——- A person who seems to have collapsed on the street ——- A couple entering a love hotel
Google Street View for Japan (3)
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Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) Kanji & Reading Practice (5)
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It’s about time to start applying for this year’s Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), so I’ll be making a few posts sharing some studying materials with you all. This second post will focus on good websites and books to use for kanji and reading practice. (An earlier post focused on listening comprehension resources.) If any readers out there know of good links that aren’t on the list, let me know and I’ll add them! ——- ...
Swimming and diving on the Tokyo Metro (3)
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The Various Price of Big Macs Around The World 2008 (6)
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The Economist has released this interesting graph showing how the price of Big Mac hamburgers at McDonald’s restaurants around the world compare to how much the burger costs in the United States: Many of the currencies in the Fed’s major-currency index, including the euro, the British pound, Swiss franc and Canadian dollar, are overvalued and trading higher than last year’s burger benchmark. Only the Japanese yen could be considered a snip. The dollar still buys ...
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Tor Erling said:
Well once again we top the statistics :/
Decorating a dirty old dam (2)
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German artist Klaus Dauven is leading an “eco-art” project that decorates the Matsudagawa Dam in Ashikaga, Tochigi Prefecture with images of azalea blossoms: Klaus Dauven and dam workers on a gondola use a high-pressure water hose to create the flowers by removing dirt and moss. The images in the “hanazakari” (full bloom) project, directed by Dauven, will decorate the 56-meter by 228-meter wall at the 13-year-old dam by Monday. The “eco-art” uses no detergents or ...
Underwear thief stole women’s clothing so he could wear it (3)
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A Fuji TV report about a 58-year-old unemployed man who was arrested for stealing women’s underwear: The man was discovered by watchful police who stopped him while riding a bicycle on June 26th, discovering that he was carrying several items of freshly-stolen women’s underwear. Further investigation found about 320 articles of women’s clothing in his house, and it is believed that the man obtained this clothing through some 150 thefts he committed since 2007. As ...
Last Harry Potter book finally released in Japanese (1)
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One year after the original English language release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Japanese fans will finally get a chance to read the book. The Japanese language translation went on sale across the country this morning, with some book stores opening up at 5:00AM to sell the book to lines of waiting fans. Here’s a FNN report showing some of the Japanese Harry Potter lovers getting their books:
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Linda said:
One fan said that she waited for over 6 hrs on line... I am not surprised that it took Japan a year to get it.. I'll probably see Harry Potter Book 7 for sale at the Japanese bookstores I go to.
