わたしの いえは アパートです

                                                                                                                                                                            

( •̀ᴗ•́ )و ̑̑

            わたしの　いえは　アパートです。あたらしい　です。ちかくに　バーが　あります。へやが　みっつ　あります。おっととねこと　すんでいます。  

  

Literacy with Japanese

 

ʚ(*´꒳`*)ɞ

                Reading in Japanese was definitely a challenge. Though I was happy to have gotten かまきり which it was a picture book talking about praying mantises. I read other stories before this one and I couldn't understand anything. Though this one I understood many things in the story and the images helped a lot with understanding the story. The words I understood were also very short and sweet so that possibly helped with me being able to understand. 

                I did notice that even though I didn't know everything I got some hints from one word in the sentence. It was also helpful to read this story with a group and so it helped me to be able to understand what was going on with a group. The photos were especially helpful especially with the page saying the Mantis' eyes were big, and to follow was a photo of big mantis eyes. 

                My group did have a hard time with the last page. I think we stumbled mainly because it was the only page with multiple sentences. The photo was also a bit harder to understand. With the photo showing a tiny mantis on a person's hand. We knew that they were referring to the mantis as かわいい. With help though we were able to notice that it was speaking on mantis that just hatched as being tiny and cute. Being able to understand that helped a lot with my confidence. Understanding the last page made realizing that I could work to learn something. 

Home

 

(´∀｀)♡

            It's super interesting seeing the Japanese housing market and how they deal with sales and advertisement. The biggest thing I noticed was the model homes all being together but all by different companies. It's insane to me how often it seems that houses are torn down and then something else is built on top of them. It makes me wonder, are the model houses just torn down after and they just make new model homes there? The way the construction is shown in the video leads me to think that it's possibly dangerous as there's nothing really blocking people from walking right up to it. 

            I've seen TikToks of Japanese people viewing homes and showing Japanese homes and the common thing I've seen in these videos is the pricing. The pricing on homes seems to be very high. I've even seen that with Japanese apartments. A lot of them are priced super high. I understand our housing market is bad in America due to the economy, but it makes me wonder is there anything like this happening in Japan to hike prices up or is it just normal. 

          With the homes the aesthetic of minimalism seems to really shine through with how clean everything is and the color of each room usually staying as a light wood brown color. I also noticed how little storage there is in the home or area to put storage. I'm not sure if that's more of a western thing being materialistic or what. Growing up I feel that I've been more materialistic because that's how my family was, especially my mother. I always was told that I had to get rid of stuff or clean up when my mother would bring more stuff in, and it'd usually sit in a room. Though every time I see a Japanese home or apartment, they seem super clean, and everything is hidden, and they only have the things they need for school, to work, to eat, and sleep. I think I struggle with the idea of minimalism because I feel that the place isn't being lived in. I love seeing photos of places with the person's interests and decoration in their room. 

Food is unique!

 

Art by: もみじ真魚       

(´∀`) 

            Food is interesting for me personally. My family is Italian and Irish, so growing up, a lot of the food was Italian, like varieties of pasta, sauce dishes, and much more. Irish food was also common being more of a soup or comfort food type. I think that it's seen that Irish food is bland to many people especially those who like spice, when I really enjoy the food. I think that also when people think of Italian food, it reaches the point of stereotypes. As I was growing up breakfast and lunch were more of a snacking or processed food choice rather than dinner which was a certified beautiful homemade dish. I believe it was like this as independence was something I grew up with. With two younger siblings, I had to also take care of when my parents weren't around. 

            When learning about food in Japan I do notice a lot of American or other cultural impacts on their convenience food. When I watch some videos that take place in Japan a lot of them focus on food, sometimes on the vending machines or konbini food. I've seen spaghetti buns (just spaghetti in a bun) which definitely have Italian references. But even seeing how popular McDonald's is it is crazy how many Japanese special items they get that are such better quality than Japan. I also feel that when I see some of these videos a lot of native Japanese people are excited to try American food. I feel that's the same effect we have when going to their country when they're used to that food.

            I personally have a big love for Japanese and Korean food as it's something I ventured into eating in Middle school because it was gentle on the stomach. However, I have experimented more with Korean and Japanese food recently even going to Oriental Market in Overland Park. I got hooked on their large snack seaweed section and their vast amounts of Korean and Japanese ice cream deserts. 

My Breakfast

 

(Disclaimer: This is completely made up. I don’t eat breakfast because dietary issues) 

(｡･･｡)

                            ごけんが　すきです。くだものも　好きです。コーヒー　は　すきじゃなです。たまご　は　おまり　たべません。みずが　すきです。    おちゃ　は　すきじゃないです。こおちゃ　は　すきじゃないです。

Disaster Prevention

     

ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ

                              Learning about Disaster Prevention was super interesting as I don’t think I ever learned about it as in depth growing up. I think the only time I heard about disaster prevention was doing tornado drills in school with covering my head and hiding under desks or going in front our lockers. Now that I think about it, I don’t know why they placed us in front our lockers when they was nothing above us.  Seeing the Japanese videos with kids and people of all ages preforming these drills is super interesting to me. I think America only has children practice these, but I honestly don’t even know if they still do them to this day. It’s super impressive seeing work places even having a plan and being prepared. The workers even bring their own stuff to add to their kits that their work even provides. I definitely understand why America wouldn’t have the same amount of preparation as Japan would as we don’t deal with Tornadoes, Earthquakes, and other extreme weather all in one spot. Though I know when I was moving growing up and even moving here to the Midwest I didn’t know what to do in a Tornado till my freshmen professor told me. I think America has the standard that you learn whatever you need for the place you grew up in and nothing else. I think this is bad because a lot of kids do move or even travel, people will need to know what happens in a disaster. 

                             The way the buildings are structured is crazy to me, and how strong they’re. It astounds me especially with how much research went into finding out about why buildings fall and how to prevent it. The videos of watching them take the research is also impressive. With them making a smaller concrete scale version of a building and having it sit on a shake plant to gain information is crazy. It definitely is impressive to me how that still works the same on larger scales as it does on smaller scales. I definitely know that is something America doesn’t have. I know there were talks about it being a new idea in New York while I was living in Vermont, but ultimately they ruled it’d be too expensive. That’s where I feel America also will lack on things, if something is too expensive, they won’t do it.

                             The marketing for disaster prevention is crazy huge and I never knew it was that crazy. I was watching Laid Back Camp, an anime about camping, and they show a lot of camping ads and products that I saw in the disaster prevention videos. I also noticed in the videos they mention a lot of camping gear for disaster prevention. I think this may be because of how diverse and it’s made to last. I noticed that a lot of the items are also super compact, so that may also be why they’re so diverse with being used to camp as well. 

                                        

Jikoshoukai

 

https://youtu.be/cbMsqHDEj-g?si=lSYLj3FZenvW8_qS

                                When writing my script I thought it’d be a lot easier than speaking it and filming myself. When I was doing my script it came fairly easy to me besides needing to fix a few things. I did think it’d be easier to do my video when I was writing it, though I found out that it wasn’t. I filmed my video a bit unexpectedly as I have classes back to back this year, so it may have been that. I think if I made my video earlier I’d think it’d be better. I’m not a fan of my video and would definitely like to re do it at some point while learning Japanese. 

                                I think introductions in America is definitely different then how our video was. I say this because I felt like I wasn’t saying much at all and just saying a list off. Though I know grammatically that is fine and I know what I’m saying is right. I think it’s just the struggle of not comparing it to the other two languages I know. Spanish specifically has straight forward sentence structure that has to be followed to be understandable. I also feel in English we say our name because we are asked. Or we introduce ourselves when meeting someone , though I feel it’s more of just saying our name and talking about the conversation. I noticed that America also has a lot of random conversations that people are wiling to start with total strangers, compared to other cultures. 

                                It’s strange thinking about introductions cause I feel like I very rarely do them nowadays, just a lot of them are for classes going around saying our names or roll call. When I think of introducing myself to other people I usually just say “Hi I’m Moby,” and don’t say anything about myself unless they ask. 

Work + Family

 

 Art by: Wachtelspinat

(・人・)

                    Personally, I've heard about Japan's low birth rates before watching Komuro's ted talk. Hearing about Japan having one of the lowest birth rates in the world doesn't surprise me as I've heard news about it a lot. I remember people even mentioning that's why Spy X Family is being so popular and has so many collabs, even with the government. I think it's to encourage people to start families. Personally, I've noticed the great amount of family anime and dramas coming out regarding kids or raising kids. 

                    I may not understand the idea or need for these harsh business hours, but it's ridiculous in my opinion. With how much media or even vlogs that Japanese people do, they highlight the misery of working or work time abuse. I think one of the most popular media showing the harsh work time abuse is ZOM 100, a new anime. The whole concept is Tendo, a 24-year-old man, has been working with a film company the last 3 years and that's all he's known. His house is a mess, he doesn't eat health, till Japan breaks out in a zombie crisis and sees his boss has become a zombie. He sees this as a chance to make 100 things he missed out on the last 3 years that he wants to do before becoming a zombie. 

                    The manga was super popular when it was releasing. It gained a lot of traction in America, and I feel that's where a lot of people realized how rigorous the work force is. A lot of people compared it to the American work force. I personally think the American work force isn't as hard as the Japanese work force, though I wonder is university a step Japanese people take, or do they go straight into the work force? I've heard that it's straight into the work force though I could be wrong. I think in America it's a lot more common to have people go to university then go to a job. 

                    It's crazy to me with the fact that they're encouraging families, when they barely have time to even socialize outside of work. I feel bad for Komuro when she spoke about being afraid of her child crying thinking he was going to die from being sick because she was so busy. It makes me wonder do women in the work force not have the same hours as men? She mentions that men work very late, so do women get to leave early? I know there is roles seen in Japan as being men do this and women do this, so maybe? 

My Family

かぞく    ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡ – ✧)

        わたしの かそくは 7にん です。 ぎりの はは と ぎりの ちち と ぎり の おじ と おっと と  ぎりの おとうと と ぎりの いもうと と わたし です。ぎりの ちち 43 さい です。 ぎりの はは 42 さい です。 おっと 20 さい です。

My Business Card!

 

໒(⊙ᴗ⊙)७✎▤

                        My business card I really enjoyed making, I enjoyed being able to customize my card to my interests. Though I wanted to be more simplistic with how I made this one. My usual artist business card is very complex and is definitely made as an eye grabber. Also I wanted to be a bit more different compared to the typical Japanese business cards that I’ve seen online or in our book. Japanese business cards usually have a very minimalistic feel to them, which shows professionalism. I noticed that a lot of past students in the examples chose to do the same idea of making it truly theirs. I noticed a lot of them did choose to show their art. I think a lot of them were done nicely, and I don’t think I would have been able to do the same as them. 

                         The corporate look of most business cards I feel are due to how professionalism is seen in the Japanese work world. A lot of them have a plain white background or being off white colored. The font is usually plain, formal, and easy to read. They may even cherish their family name by writing it bigger or fancier than other words on their card. From how I’ve seen it, the business card has to look nice because that’s how they’re presenting themselves to others. With their main greeting being bowing with their card out handing to them. It’d be a disaster if you handed someone your business card and it was a complex design that showed a bad side of you. 

                          When watching videos of Japanese professional introductions, it makes me so amazed that’s normal. It’s so organized and everyone has their time to speak and present their card. In America we have business cards but they’re definitely not treated as highly or nice as they’re in Japan. Especially how you won’t shove their business card down your pocket in their presence or damage it. In the American professional world you do introduce yourself better than what you would if you’re saying hi to a best friend. Though a professional American greeting doesn’t go near to the formality as Japan’s formality greetings. There may be respect shown just with the intent of how we place our words, but it’s a lot more informal compared with the Japanese system.

Community in Learning

 

٩(＾◡＾)۶

                            Learning in a community is probably how I’ve learned the best. Even though when I took Spanish in High-school a lot of the activities were speaking activities in groups. I feel this is one of the best ways to teach. Though it may be scary for some students, and it definitely was scary for me and still is. It can boost engagement with each-other, students can help one another, if talking to a professor may be too scary. It can also have students engage with the language more by asking questions on something maybe culturally related to the language. I know when I was learning Spanish, the movie, Coco came out. It was a big talking point in my Spanish class and we even watched it during one of our classes. 

                            A community could be a class, a single person and yourself, or even as big of a group as the KCAI Language Community is. I’ve already noticed how much passion and love everyone in the group has for Japan and the language of Japanese. I also think having different generational views in the group are also helpful to maybe see an area of Japanese/Japan that you’ve never seen before. 

                            To me, community is motivation, it’s motivation to reach points that I wouldn’t have been able to reach by myself. This is very true while I was attempting to learn Hiragana on my own. I didn’t have the motivation like I do in class. 

Katakana Learning

                     To be honest I haven’t ever heard of Katakana before last year during Japanese Calligraphy. It was something that I didn’t know was a thing. I thought the only writing system was kanji and Hiragana. It surprised me to realize Katakana was a thing, though it totally made sense to me after realizing how useful it is. 

 

                      I’m still learning to be able to realize and read Hiragana so I haven’t yet taken the time to study katakana as hard as Hiragana so it’s still very new and fresh. The only katakana I can realize is my first name written. I feel like it’s super interesting how English we just say the foreign word rather than converting it over. I think this may because we only have the alphabet as our writing system compared to the Japanese that have Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana. This also made me think about how a lot of English words are foreign words we just use as they’re used foreign and we don’t try changing it. 

                      I’m very excited to start on Katakana after I finish learning Hiragana and being able to talk about foreign words a bit more. I hope to also get a Japanese pen pal to practice my Japanese every now and then. I think being able to talk about English concepts to them using Katakana will be very fun and help me even learn more. 

                       Though I feel like I’ll see my struggle towards the future being how to keep track of Katakana and Hiragana. I think the biggest one is concerning Hiragana with curvy and Katakana with angles.  I think studying both together will also help me differ each of the two groups. I’m hopping that’ll be a form to learn both at the same time and also maybe be able to recall them a lot faster. I have had a bit of an issue with my recall so far. I think that more studying will help me. 

Language and Culture || Hand In Hand

  

Art by: Puuung

°˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

 Your culture in simpler ways is your programming. It's a way you know how to interact with people, who to address other people, and how to deal with issues that may arise. It's also how to differ what is right and what is wrong. Learning what the culture is in the place you may travel to is important. It can impact the way you present yourself. 

    Different languages are formatted with culture in mind. For example, in Japanese in conversation you'll see others giving vocal feedback to the person they're speaking with and vice versa. You'll also see with others speaking on themselves or family members. They'll see them more as a burden then be brought into a good light by the person they're talking with. In Japanese culture having the belief of everyone being attached with a red line, I feel impacts the language. Maybe also could be the thought of not wanting to trouble someone. 

    When I was learning Spanish, it was surprising to me how much context you can use in one sentence. Then you can go to responding with two words. I think Spanish is very flexible compared to some languages that are heavily impacted by their culture. I personal couldn't say I've noticed any cultural to language aspects and I feel it's like this because I've grown up learning the language. 

    America's culture on English is very noticeable especially with the language being heavy in context. There are many outliers in the language with some words not matching the other patterns. America is very open to new people and changes and usually are nosey and are more social. The mention of Japan being very kept to themselves I feel definitely can be shown in the language and mannerisms. Japanese is seen with having a lot of respect set for meeting others, especially if they're elders. I think this isn't common in America due to more Western movements of equal rights for women, the LGBT community, and many more. Women aren't seen a being someone to marry off or to pour tea and serve it at work, they're seen as being able to provide for themselves. I've recently noticed that a lot of different family dynamics are seen in Japan and America. In America it's usually when you're 16 or 18 you gain more independence and get a job or actual move out. Though in Japan, taking care of your family even if you're 18 or maybe even older, you're wanting to please and make your family proud. Even if making your family proud is marrying someone in another family. 

    Watching the videos on Japanese names and how they're used I feel like there is a big difference in America's way of using it. I feel Japan has a lot of respect in how they're using people's names and don't want to make someone feel disrespected. There's also again the idea of being older that you're respected or referred as being respected when someone calls your name. Though the usage of no suffix is interesting to me. I've never heard someone not using a suffix in someone's name. America we definitely don't have many ways of referring to someone with respect. I think the only formal way of speaking to someone is using Mr. and Ms./Mrs. Though it could also be similar to how we call our parents, mother and father, and not by their names. 

    My reasons for my image: I think of language and culture as a form of interacting with people. With interactions eating with that person is a main form of contact.