Mai Nichi

Mai Nichi

This post will be short and more of a note to myself of my own intention.  I've been reading a lot of blogs in the Nihongophile Blogosphere (!) to see how other Japanese learners get their work done - how they go from beginner to advanced, or even semi-fluent to fluent in this seemingly unattainable language.  Time and again bloggers write about starting out just like me, a little flirtation with the language, then a growing love until it becomes almost a complete obsession.  Daily learning is a must, and putting other things aside to attend to the language that calls you is also imperative.

I was at a meeting last month about the power of the Year of the Dragon.  We were all to write down the three things we most wanted to accomplish this year and then three adjectives.  I wrote "Japanese, Yoga, Writing."  and "Focus, Strength, Flexibility"  I was surprised that Japanese came first above writing and that writing was last, when clearly it should be first on my list.

In all of the intentions of accomplishment (Japanese, Yoga and Writing) the intentions of focus, strength and flexibility are apt.  For Japanese studies, focus IS key -- and i find myself wandering away from daily study, or studying in a very unfocused way.  Maybe listening to tapes but thinking about other things.  Strength, in this case might mean strength to be able to say no to things that will deter me from my studies -  I am easily distracted.  And flexibility is to be accommodating to myself, to go with the wind a little, to let go of  rigid expectations I might have of myself and accept the slow progress I have achieved.

For instance, I am now reading a very few kanji quite easily, something I haven't even really tried to learn, but through regular study the kanji characters have come up and I've memorized them. Six months ago I would not have thought they would form so quickly in my mind when reading them.  And that's the way of language, isn't it? Suddenly it's just there.  Can you remember learning to read?  I can't, not at all!

 I just know that I was reading in Kindergarten.  But at some point it must have been like this very thing I'm experiencing.  食べ　is instantly recognizable to me now as the stem of the verb "to eat."  (doesn't that first little kanji look like a nice warming hut full of good food?)  I didn't try to learn it, but I have inspite of my reluctance to begin kanji studies.

So I've decided, like all of the other Nihongophiles I admire so much, to study every day, in earnest.  Mai nichi,  mai shu, mai toshi, (毎, 毎種、毎年) --every day, every week, every year -- I will study Japanese with focus, strength and flexiblity.

Ganbare! 頑張れ　(I can do it!)

We Are Friends Project

Yoshi-san and his friend (whose name I never quite got) are traveling around New York City.  They are trying to make friends from every country in the world.  They really are just kind of bumbling about, asking people randomly if they want to be part of their We Are Friends project.  But it's the interaction between these two native Japanese men that make the little 10 minute clips so fun to watch.

Their website and youtube clips can be found under Tokyo Circus "We are Friends" links.  The guy behind the camera is my favorite voice actor from Japanesepod101.com - Yoshi-san!  I found him through Robert Belton (who knew him and put him up when he came to stay in London)...and am trying to follow his shenanigans around the world via youtube and facebook!  Small world...but I would recognize Yoshi-san's voice anywhere....so it's kind of cool for me to STILL not see his face, just hear his distinctive soft Japanese.

I just re-listened to this and learned that the man on camera calls himself Nozomi Ninja.  Nozomi is the name of the fastest train in Japan and Ninja is... well we all know what Ninja is.  The funniest part comes near the end.  Tokyo Circus is an odd band of players who have traveled the world doing random performance art.  This new Mission is a fun one, and there are quite a few clips of them on You tube with the link cited above to check out.  tanoshkatta desu!

Ukulele Maestro

Last Wednesday the kids and I went to see Jake Shimabukuro at Zipper Hall, downtown Los Angeles.  It was an amazing show.  A Ukulele concert?  Jake who?

I have a fondness for Jake for many reasons.  First of all, he's a true virtuoso.  No one has ever even come close to doing what he does on a ukulele.   I say that as if I've studied it for years -- I haven't, but everyone seems to agree that he's taken the instrument to the next level.

I also have a fondness for his music because it got me through a particularly rough patch last summer when I was going through a lot, emotionally.  I discovered his music while on the island of Kauai.  He had just come out with his CD "Peace, Love and Ukulele."  I thought the title was oh so Hawaiian in the way that it was all groovy and laid back.  But the music was absolutely beyond anything I'd ever heard.  I played that CD about 30 times in five days as I drove up and down highway 56 from Wailea to Hanalei.   His music was magical, transportive and ultimately, healing.

During the concert he talked to the audience a lot.  Every song had a story -- he was charming!  The evening was hosted by the Asian Youth Symphony Society and the place was packed with admiring Japanese.  Jake is a Hawaiian boy through and through, but he is also very connected to his Japanese heritage.  His piece titled "Go for Broke" honored the 442nd regimen during WWII.  This regimen was the most highly decorated (21 Medals of Honor) in the U.S. Army and was mostly made up of Japanese Americans.  "Go for Broke" is a pigeon English term that was used at gambling halls in Hawaii that meant (as it still does) "go for it"  "all in," etc.

Jake thoughtfully peppered his commentary with "Yoroshiku onegaishimasu" (a polite phrase which is asking the favor of the listener to please keep the speaker in the highest regard)  and that seemed to thrill the audience.

I really can't say which of his amazing pieces delighted me the most.  Of course he is famous for Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and the Beatles, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."  But his Spanish Guitar piece, his blues pieces were wonderful too.  Perhaps the most amazing song of the evening was "Sakura, Sakura" in which he made his 4 string uke sound like a 12 string Koto.  He told the story of hearing Sakura Sakura during a Koto concert and he locked himself in his room for days until he could get close to replicating the sound with his instrument.

I got to meet him after the concert.  I was the second to last person in the autograph line  -- luckily someone came behind me who was willing to take pictures!  I was so nervous to even do this but my daughter made me do it.  She even had the bright idea to get the car, pull it around in front and park in the loading zone so that by the time I got back the line would be shorter.  She said, "he's one of your heroes mom!  You should definitely do this!  You'll always regret not talking to him and getting his autograph."  (Go for Broke???)

When I did finally get up to see him, I told him his music had meant a lot to me last summer - that I was going through a tough time and that I had picked up his CD out of the blue.  I said that I had listened to it non-stop for while in Kauai and for weeks afterwards.  He was really lovely and listened intently.

My daughter was right.  I would have regretted not getting to meet him.  It was an honor.

A My Fair Lady Moment

No, I did not get mistaken for a Japanese princess by a famous polyglot as I walked through a ballroom wearing a kimono and kanzashi (hair comb)...nor did I yell out in front of a crowd of the well to do, "Move your bloomin' Ass!" in Japanese. (Though that might be something worth learning!)

No, I had that moment in class last night in which the language lightbulb went off and I was able to FINALLY understand how to conjugate U and Ru verbs  in short present affirmative, short past affirmative, short present negative and short past negative. And then quickly started grasping ii and na adjectives in their present and past affirmative and negatives.  

I suddenly went from struggling with the page in front of me, trying to translate each verb and adjective depending on what the notation was on the page - practically wincing as I stumbled through each line item.  But then it clicked.  And the understanding was just right there -- not shining like a mirage way out in front of me taunting me as it has for the past few months.  I could dunk my head right in that shimmering pool of conjugation and come up soaking wet.  It was real!

Sensei Toyoko's face lit up as I deftly began to see the patterns of the puzzle and easily translate.  With each translation she clapped.  She shouted So! So! So!  She stomped her feet on the ground in happiness and she yelled out SUUUGGGOOIIII! when I was done.  I laughed out loud as I pictured Toyoko Sensei and Ray-san (my classmate) suddenly donning top hats and dancing around the room with me in the middle conjugating verbs!


 Ray-san I think she's got it!  She's got it!  She's got it! By George, I think she's got it! I believe she does!  

I could have danced all night!

A couple of fun things.  I was at the pet store and an older man in front of me had a dog for the hard of hearing.  I was looking at the sweet face of this very young German Shepard and reading her vest.  She began to sniff my shoes and the man turned to her and said, "Dame te yo!" I heard it at first as "Stop That!" in Japanese, but instantly realized it couldn't be that, it must be the dog's name, "Dameteyo."  What an odd name, I thought.  It must be Italian or something.  Then the man finished his purchase turned to the dog and said, "Ikimasho!" (Let's go!) The dog jumped up and they went out to the car.

When I went outside, they were still getting in their car.  I said, "Anata no inu wa nihongo wakarimasuka?"  He said, "Eh?"  Of course, he was hard of hearing!  I repeated it and he answered in perfect Japanese, Do you speak Japanese?"  I answered, "a little, but I am not yet skilled." (sukoshi, mada jouzu jaarimasen).

The dog's name is Kagemusha, or Shadow Warrior. The gentleman was very eager to see my reaction. It won't surprise you that that is the title of a Kurosawa film.  Because that's the way the universe works!


Am thinking of taking classes in the spring at SMJC to up my Japanese language skills.  I love my Tuesday night class, but am at the point where i really need to take it to the next level if I'm going to move forward in this language.  Have read a few words of encouragement from other online language learners, especially from the site AJATT.  (All Japanese All The Time).  It was heartening to see, oddly, that other students of the language have felt as frustrated as I have at making progress.  I might just join that sight and another online kanji learning center.

I still don't know why I do this.

Have just joined an online Akira Kurosawa film club -- akirakurosawa.info.

 I already don't feel smart enough for it!  The bloggers are amazing writers and are dedicated Otaku of Kurosawa! Well, not Otaku, but at least serious scholars of his work.

This month we are watching Rashomon;  I can't wait to jump into the discussion group!

What better way to start out this Year of the Dragon then to watch Akira's golden man, Mifune-sama Toshiro in this stellar classic?

Monjayaki and Humanity.

It's been a few weeks... I've been inspired by another blogger though (the excellent しあわせ by Robert Belton - http://www.shiawase.co.uk/about/．"しあわせ"　means "Happiness," and Mr. Belton has numerous quotes that cycle through his title that has great quotes about that subject...) which is what I hope my Blog grows up to be like some day!  I was estatic to learn that there were other people out there who started learning Japanese for no good reason, and to find out that great things came of it!

I think my main hinderance in writing here is that it truly feels like it's for naught.  I would like it to mean something to somebody, but perhaps just the writing of it is the end product I'm looking for after all.

A few days ago I went to dinner with my classmate Ray-san and our teacher Toyoko-sensei.  Ray is married to a Japanese woman and he knows all the little dining spots for various nihon cusine.  We headed down to Torrence for monjayaki.  Of course, it was in a tiny strip mall off of Lomita Boulevard.  All the places Ray takes us to are in tiny little strip malls.  Why do I always dress up too much for these evenings out?  Oh well -- I don't get out much these days!

Monjayaki is a type of stew that you cook yourself on a table grill.  This restaurant had so many pages on the menu, I was glad to leave it up to Toyoko-sensei and Ray.  The ingredients come in a large bowl -- you take the solid ingredients out first with a fork and build a circular wall on the grill, making it as high as possible, so that when you pour the liquid ingredients from the bowl inside it will stay there, burbling, evenutally becoming a thick rich stew.  When the liquid has finally thickened, you start to pave it around with a metal spatula, letting it get brown on this side and that, until you have a delicious, somewhat crisp browned stew -- then you eat with your own tiny (Barbie-doll size!) metal spatulas, either right off the grill or heaping some on a small  plate.  We ate right off the grill.  Toyoko said "We are now family!  My sickness is yours!"   They also sell blueberry beer, which was merely Japanese beer with fresh blueberries in the bottom.  おしいです！

Ray, who is 6 foot 2 and a bean pole, ordered one tiny sake (it almost looked miniature to me!) and after finishing it slowly, said "that's enough for me, I'm driving!"  Toyoko-sensei and I looked at each other...our pints of blueberry beer just finished and though I wanted another one, and I could sense she did too, there seemed to be a polite and unstated understanding that we would not appear to be alcoholics to our tea-totaler friend!  But on that one tiny sake, Ray told us all about his last trip to Japan and how he went into the baths with his father in law and of course was stared at by the other men in the bath.  Tall skinny white guy.  I said, "well, didn't that make you feel awkward?"  He answered, "No.  Not at all!  I felt like "Hey! All you've heard about is true! Here it  is!  Here I am!"  We three laughed so hard after that, and I know that Ray was drunk!  This is not the Ray that we know in class!  Is that the point of the drinking in Japan after work, I wonder?  This "really getting to know you" idea?  Toyko-sensei and I giggled when we got in the car, about how that one small beer did nothing for either of us and how silly Ray got!  But his story broke the ice - so maybe it only takes one person to get yopparau!

The more interesting part of the evening, however was the ride to and from the meeting spot.  I offered to drive Toyoko-sensei because she said "I am typical Japanese.  Bad driver at night!"  Little did I know that this meant I would have to speak only in Japanese all the way there and all the way home.  Great practice, of course, however, I am embarrassed at how difficult it is for me to speak.  I can understand SO MUCH more than I can actually string the words (I first wrote worlds, which might also be accurate) together.  When driving in traffic for 45 minutes with your language teacher, it could be a dream or a nightmare.  That night it was both, in equal parts.  I did learn how to swear about other drivers tho:
くそ！ (ku so! But don't pronounce the "u" in ku - a hard k only).

Toyoko-sensei is a wonderful woman.  She was telling me, finally reverting to English the last 10 minutes of our drive home, that she has remained a friend to one of her high school students who has such terrible anger management issues that he was kicked out of UCBerkeley last fall.   His parents are lawyers and were divorced long ago in a very contentious way.  Toyoko said "everybody needs one friend.  I am that friend.  I tell him that I am there for him.  But I also tell him that it is not the way to be a human in this world, to treat people the way he treats many people - so condescendingly and so angry.  I try to show him how it is to be human."

There was something so very Japanese in this story to me.  It reminds me of how Japan has dealt with the aftermath of the Earthquake.  Say what you might about Japanese anti-individualism, when it comes to crises they really do all pull together in a beautiful way.  One famous British writer, Donald Keene recently became a Japanese citizen because of his experiences there after the Earthquake - no rioting, no looting, everyone dropping everything to help each other.  I guess he saw how it was to be human.