by Midday
From September 10th, I will be housing my friend from America at my apartment in Japan for him to learn Japanese from scratch in less than a year.
I have been studying applied linguistics with a focus on cognitive science and education for the past two years, all for the purpose of successfully teaching my friend Japanese. In fact, after this, I really have no intrinsic use for my knowledge on applied linguistics. In addition, I have been saving over 2000000 yen so that I can manage all of his fees while he is here. He, like most students attending an American college, which your supposed to spend your life paying off the loans to, is financially overwhelmed, to the point he works overtime every other day while attending every single class (rather it's only Japanese students that don't) and managing to get passing scores on classes that are many times more difficult than Japanese courses.
The only precursor to this is that he has all hiragana and katakana memorized before he comes here. After that, I believe there is a great chance that he will acquire native Japanese within his less-than-a-year stay. The point is, he will learn like a baby and make mistakes like a baby, without focusing on the act of learning Japanese. He will be strictly prohibited from using English throughout his stay. He will acquire a native sense of grammar through comprehensive input from immersion, and I will be tuning his pronunciation beyond his lack of sound recognition skills. I believe he will need two months to maneuver in-house vocabulary, during which he will be provided an environment where every concrete example item in the house would be labeled with kanji and hiragana accordingly. He will converse using those concrete examples with me as I give him error feedback without any metacognitive explanation of grammar, so that he acquires Japanese as a language and not a set of consciously memorized rules in relation to English. After the critical period of two months, he will expand his vocabulary using a variety of resources he finds entertainment in, such as anime, manga, video games, and travel. This is not simply to have fun, but to avoid becoming conscious of the act of learning Japanese and to avoid the affect filter from blocking acquisition at the unconscious level. He will achieve complete coordinate bilingualism, and perhaps show a post-mature development in Piagetian formal operation.
I will be taking notes in excruciating detail throughout his stay, and he will be keeping a daily Japanese journal that I will have no direct influence on until the end of his stay. Together, we will create another case study that may add to the current research on second language acquisition. I primarily want to prove how much a waste of time the current English curriculum of Japan is, and that second language acquisition is not as difficult as most people think it is. Moreover, I want to stress that "grammar-based syllabuses" (especially as enforced in Japan) are not a short-cut method provided by education, but rather a red-herring procedure that results in inter-interlanguage.
Note, Japanese L1→English L2 acquisition is cognitively very different in nature from English L1→Japanese L2 acquisition. In fact, the latter is much easier than the former, for a variety of reasons ranging from vowel recognition to visual coherence. Nevertheless, I have much to say about the sins of ignorance found not only in the English curriculum, but the Japanese education system as a whole. I hope that our experiment will prove the various inefficiencies of the current system, and I hope you all will become the witnesses of the actuality of second language acquisition.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Friday, July 20, 2012
Blog #7: July Anime Film Reviews
by Midday
The Legend of Guskou Budori (2012)
Yes, as the (2012) implies, this is actually the second film adaptation of the 50-page folktale-like short story by Miyazawa Kenji, done by the staff that made the animation film for The Legend of the Galactic Railroad. Funny, I didn't realize they both started with "Legend" in English.
This was originally intended to be released in 2009, but due to problems including bankruptcy, this project was in hibernation mode until the Japanese government began to fund its production about a year ago. Despite the difficulties, the production met a fulfilling completion.
The animation staff is well known for using feline imagery of the supposedly human characters, in order to emphasize the avant-garde aspect of the fantasy genre to which these stories would fall under. It is not about the cat, but more so about not using humans, that makes this separation from human reality possible.
Like most avant-garde or surreal fantasy fiction, the story and concept are very difficult to follow, in a vector that is completely different from piecing together the puzzle of a mystery. You really have to think outside the box in order to catch the connections between the dream-like series of events that the director attempts to convey. I believe the director did a quintessential job in delineating the abstract concepts of his interpretation of the folktale.
By that, I mean the original short story is, not exactly inconclusive, but very open to liberal interpretation. It is only a 50-page story after all, and the texts within that short span seem to have little direct or linear connections with each other, much like excerpts of frames from discontinuous takes. On top of that, the director used his author's license to change the ending of the story to a more diabolical yet satisfying conclusion. Unlike most adaptations that drastically alter the story, this one is more than acceptable, so I would recommend you watch this even if you like the original. It will give you a deeper understanding of Japanese literature.
Unfortunately, I can only go about giving roundabout explanations to avoid spoilers. If this has caught your attention, the movie has been airing since July 7th. I watched this at Cinema Sunshine Ikebukuro. The screen for this movie is small there, so I would suggest you get 3rd-row seats for the best viewing experience.
The Wolf Children Ame and Yuki
This is the newest anime movie by the rising director Mamoru Hosoda, who has become famous for Summer Wars and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. The character design is by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, who is well known for the Evangelion series. This anime film had its world premiere at Paris, a month prior to the initial airing in Japan. This anime film was probably the film I was looking forward to most this year.
The most significant part of this anime is the natural scenery. All of the settings illustrated actually exist in Japan, and the mountains are located in Kamiichi Village of Toyama Prefecture. With a combination of photographic image rendering and cg-assisted free drawing, the nature is rematerialized within the anime exactly as it would be in the real world. The raindrops gathering on the lotus leaves, the children sliding down the snowy mountainside, the wolf howling with the sunrise backing the mountain summit, the animals thriving in the forest... These scenes undoubtedly leave a lasting impression on the viewer.
Generic spoiler in white. Highlight it to read.
Perhaps it was because of my very high expectations, but to be blunt, I didn't think this film was all that great. The director makes an ambitious attempt to convey family love in the style of an oriental folktale through the narration of the daughter, as shown in the trailer.
First, the story is very unbalanced, with many inequalities between the directing emphasis of the son and the daughter. The son's story is much more extraordinary, much more intense in terms of expression, much more impressive than the daughter as a whole. Moreover, the daughter's story seems very half-done, given that her story ends with no input on her communication with other humans thereafter.
There is also a conflict between the given flow of events and the moral motif. At one point, she seems to have blended with the farmers in the vicinity, but they don't come out at all after the mother realizes it. There were many parts they could have played, but conclusively speaking, it was always the mother fighting everything on her own.
Rather, probably the greatest factor is that the mother, who is the only human in the family, seems to have been the most supernatural in terms of what she is forced to overcome. In fact, it would be safe to say that this is one of those inscrutable Japanese folktales with an illogical and matter-of-fact ending. There is absolutely no depiction of family bonds whatsoever, and is simply just a mother working an unrealistic load for many years without physically or mentally breaking down, only to have her children leave her breaking the family apart. I mean look at all the work she has done. No normal human female would be able to do anything so much without dying from overworking and stress. She must be half goddess to be stronger than the father who died pitifully and went to the town dump from failing to catch a bird and falling into the river. The mother may be satisfied with the ending, but it's not exactly a satisfying ending for us, much like the kinds of endings you would get from Japanese folktales. All-in-all, Summer Wars was much better, much more amazing in story development. However, I still wish to look forward to Hosoda director's future films, because many find much potential in his works, including this one.
I watched this movie at Shinjuku Wald 9, but it's airing pretty much everywhere. Because of the vast scenery, I highly recommend getting tickets for a screen the size of at least theater 9 at Shinjku Wald 9. I would also like some feedback from people who have watched it. Feel free to comment here after reading the above spoiler.
Some June anime movies include Library Wars: the Wings of Liberty and BLOOD-C: The Last Dark. Both are sequels that bring the TV series closer to an end. I recommend you watch them if you have watched the TV series.
There is one major August anime movie coming up, and that's Code Geass: Akito, the Forgotten Country. This is not a third season, but rather a 3-chapter side story that occurs in between seasons 1 and 2 of the TV series. Code Geass is one of the top ten animes in the world and is most certainly a major hit in Japan as well. Although C2 and Lelouch aren't in the fray this time, it'll no doubt be something interesting to look out for.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Blog#6:Men in Black 3
Written by So.
10 years since their last adventure, Agent J and Agent K are back. Again, it is the danger of the planet Earth, but this time Agent J has to go back in the past and save his partner's life too. Agent J partners with the younger Agent K to stop an evil alien from destroying the past and the future.
10 years since their last adventure, Agent J and Agent K are back. Again, it is the danger of the planet Earth, but this time Agent J has to go back in the past and save his partner's life too. Agent J partners with the younger Agent K to stop an evil alien from destroying the past and the future.
As I wrote above, it has been quite a while since I saw the last series, and this was the first time I saw it on screen. First of all, I want to say that the aliens are pretty grotesque, so be careful. Seeing them on a giant screen could get on your nerves. But of course, people get used to it.
When talking about the MIB, people imagine the Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones tag. But in this film, Agent J moves along mostly with the younger version of K acted by Josh Brolin. I thought that this was quite an adventure for the series, but when I actually saw it, my bothers were gone. Josh Brolin made an awesome image of the young version of K-not just the looks, but the atmosphere too. People who were looking forward to Tommy Lee Jones' acting may feel unsatisfied, but I myself forgot that the K I was watching was a different person.
This is totally my opinion, but I think the comedy is a pretty much important thing in the MIB series. In that point, I wasn't satisfied enough. Maybe since K's life was in danger, J was more serious about the case, which chose the tension of the whole story. But, the plot itself was good, and the ending was somewhat touching(I was caught off guard). The 3 is a turning point in a series-in a good meaning or a bad one. I don't know what the staff is thinking about the MIB, but since the silence was once broken, it is a little shame if this was the ending.
The trailer. Is it still playing on screen?
Blog#6:A rapid society
Today, all the Japanese is always hurried by something what. Everyday, we are doing something neatly. It is good to do that certainly. But now, people are too be strict about time to be calm. They are irritated when trains are delayed, meeting has been moving not in time, and etc. These facts causes people to get annoyed. Because of them, there are some bad news.
Look at this article. Not only young people like this boy but also adults have been involved happenings, like this.
Don't you think they are a little bit strange or childish? I want to drop away these sad happenings forever.
I started to think the reason why people get annoyed or irritated, but I managed to find only one answer. It is because we get irritated that we are controlled regularly by time and time is managed by clock. It is important to counts time correctly, but if we are becoming the slave of time, the situation will be bad. I think this present society is becoming the slave of time. Many people are worried about time, or speed. From now on, this situation will be continued. But I hope someday will come that everybody don't have to worry about time.
Written by Natsumi
Look at this article. Not only young people like this boy but also adults have been involved happenings, like this.
Don't you think they are a little bit strange or childish? I want to drop away these sad happenings forever.
I started to think the reason why people get annoyed or irritated, but I managed to find only one answer. It is because we get irritated that we are controlled regularly by time and time is managed by clock. It is important to counts time correctly, but if we are becoming the slave of time, the situation will be bad. I think this present society is becoming the slave of time. Many people are worried about time, or speed. From now on, this situation will be continued. But I hope someday will come that everybody don't have to worry about time.
Written by Natsumi
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Blog #6: Japanese Liberal Democratic Party Begins Real Gundam Project
by Midday
Yup, you read that right. I don't mean the life-size Gundam standing in Odaiba; I mean an actual operational bipedal mobile suit military unit.
For those of you who don't know Gundam, you can start by reading the wiki. The Gundam series is the epitomy of mecha anime, a franchise that was started by the animation company Sunrise back in 1979. The franchise was well-received due to the plastic model sales instigated by Bandai Entertainment, and is currently still on-going with the newest TV series Gundam AGE, an HD remaster of Gundam SEED, and the newest movie series Gundam Unicorn.
The development of a real Gundam is known to have been under consideration since 2007, when SciencePortal.jp, a website run by the Japanese Science and Technology Agency predicted the development costs to be around ￥79,521,000,000. Masaaki Taira, member of the Liberal Democratic Party, has been enthusiastically discussing this possibility for a year with various professors and party members, and had a talk with Hideki Niwa, another party member, and Harutoshi Fukui, author of Gundam Unicorn during a 1-hour slot within the 12 hour nicolive live-stream broadcast held on June 28th.
Although much of the live-stream was saturated with otaku talk on mecha anime, which included not only Gundam, but also Patlabor and Appleseed XIII, there was some fruitful talk on the realization of the Gundam development project. The project would be funded mostly by the military departments of Japan, which are currently basically rendered defunct by the presence of U.S. dominance. Although the Gundam would be developed as a military unit by name, its actual practicality would lie more in the application of its technology to other daily-life appliances. A bipedal military unit would not have any place in the army this day in age, given that nothing stronger than nuclear weaponry is virtually necessary anymore (though ironically, there is one Gundam series that implements Gundam as the next strongest unit used to circumvent the ban on the use of nuclear weaponry). Moreover, the current project does not hold a levitation function, and therefore focuses more on the ability of a transportation device to "step over" grounds of radically volatile altitudes. In addition to its application to daily transportation, an actual Gundam would be best utilized as a tourist attraction, as the current Odaiba Gundam has proven. Taira claims that being able to see a Gundam in action would mean everything to tourists around the world. There also was some discussion on creating a donation bank for the realization of Gundam, but it has not been put into effect yet.
I believe that the realization of Gundam can only be made possible by Japan, where the eccentric fever of the franchise lies. Due to poor education, declining social standards, and rusty government policies, Japan has been seceding from most, if not all, of the current fronts on modern innovation and therefore has been continually losing ground as a first-world country. This realization of Gundam would bring international attention to Japan once more, along with financial support that Japan is in dire need of. Thoughts? The actual live broadcast (one hour) can be watched in Japanese from that nicolive link on the source list.
Source: ANN, nicolive, SciencePortal
Yup, you read that right. I don't mean the life-size Gundam standing in Odaiba; I mean an actual operational bipedal mobile suit military unit.
For those of you who don't know Gundam, you can start by reading the wiki. The Gundam series is the epitomy of mecha anime, a franchise that was started by the animation company Sunrise back in 1979. The franchise was well-received due to the plastic model sales instigated by Bandai Entertainment, and is currently still on-going with the newest TV series Gundam AGE, an HD remaster of Gundam SEED, and the newest movie series Gundam Unicorn.
The development of a real Gundam is known to have been under consideration since 2007, when SciencePortal.jp, a website run by the Japanese Science and Technology Agency predicted the development costs to be around ￥79,521,000,000. Masaaki Taira, member of the Liberal Democratic Party, has been enthusiastically discussing this possibility for a year with various professors and party members, and had a talk with Hideki Niwa, another party member, and Harutoshi Fukui, author of Gundam Unicorn during a 1-hour slot within the 12 hour nicolive live-stream broadcast held on June 28th.
Although much of the live-stream was saturated with otaku talk on mecha anime, which included not only Gundam, but also Patlabor and Appleseed XIII, there was some fruitful talk on the realization of the Gundam development project. The project would be funded mostly by the military departments of Japan, which are currently basically rendered defunct by the presence of U.S. dominance. Although the Gundam would be developed as a military unit by name, its actual practicality would lie more in the application of its technology to other daily-life appliances. A bipedal military unit would not have any place in the army this day in age, given that nothing stronger than nuclear weaponry is virtually necessary anymore (though ironically, there is one Gundam series that implements Gundam as the next strongest unit used to circumvent the ban on the use of nuclear weaponry). Moreover, the current project does not hold a levitation function, and therefore focuses more on the ability of a transportation device to "step over" grounds of radically volatile altitudes. In addition to its application to daily transportation, an actual Gundam would be best utilized as a tourist attraction, as the current Odaiba Gundam has proven. Taira claims that being able to see a Gundam in action would mean everything to tourists around the world. There also was some discussion on creating a donation bank for the realization of Gundam, but it has not been put into effect yet.
I believe that the realization of Gundam can only be made possible by Japan, where the eccentric fever of the franchise lies. Due to poor education, declining social standards, and rusty government policies, Japan has been seceding from most, if not all, of the current fronts on modern innovation and therefore has been continually losing ground as a first-world country. This realization of Gundam would bring international attention to Japan once more, along with financial support that Japan is in dire need of. Thoughts? The actual live broadcast (one hour) can be watched in Japanese from that nicolive link on the source list.
Source: ANN, nicolive, SciencePortal
Blog #6: My Plan During the Summer Vacation
Hi! I'm Koichi.
After we finish our tests, summer vacation comes! In this blog, I'll introduce my plan during the summer vacation.
First, I'm going to go to Nagano Prefecture with my club members. We stay there for 5 days. During this stay, we hold debate in English. I think it is hard, but this experience helps my English skills improve.
Of course, we will have other events, such as fireworks and suika-wari. Most Japanese people enjoy them every summer. If you don't know them, please watch videos below.
Next, I'm going back to my home in Hakodete, Hokkaido. Hakodate isn't as hot as Tokyo, so I'm looking for going. I think it is good to study or read books. I hope my I could finish all assignments in Hakodate. Also, I want to see one of the most beautiful night views in Japan. Have you ever seen this sight? If you have never seen it, I recommend you to see at least once.
So far, these are plans during my summer vacation. Do you have any plans during your summer vacation? If you do, could you tell me what your plan is.
Anyway, we MUST go through tests before the summer vacation:-(
After we finish our tests, summer vacation comes! In this blog, I'll introduce my plan during the summer vacation.
First, I'm going to go to Nagano Prefecture with my club members. We stay there for 5 days. During this stay, we hold debate in English. I think it is hard, but this experience helps my English skills improve.
I believe this stay is fun!!Next, I'm going back to my home in Hakodete, Hokkaido. Hakodate isn't as hot as Tokyo, so I'm looking for going. I think it is good to study or read books. I hope my I could finish all assignments in Hakodate. Also, I want to see one of the most beautiful night views in Japan. Have you ever seen this sight? If you have never seen it, I recommend you to see at least once.
Anyway, we MUST go through tests before the summer vacation:-(
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Blog#5:Crimes in groper
Hello! This is Natsumi.
As you know, there are many crimes everyday. On the other hand, there are some false crimes. In Japan, gropers are major as false crimes. In my opinion as an woman, I hate gropers. I don't want them to grope on the purpose of sexual meaning. But, I know I don't have to dislike men meaninglessly and I have to hear their's opinions. So, I tried to search about the case of people who was arrested as a groper by mistake. Look at this article.
I looked for articles about the opinions of victims of groper through the Internet, but I couldn't find good resources. There are many sources about false crimes or the way in avoiding being arrested by mistakes. This result shows that many men worried about being arrested as gropers by mistakes.
As one way to come to existence of groper, some railway companies have trains which is allowed to ride only for women.But, these trains for women have been controversial since that plan had been practiced. There are agreement and disagreement about this action. I will tell you about them.
Agreement: Many women feels relief for this train and it makes groper not to do wrong thing.
Disagreement; Men think it is one of race discrimination. It is also natural that other trains are more crowded than a special train. Many people think it not so good and irritating.
Problems surrounding groper and women are becoming more complicated like all above. And recently, there are many people are more interested in false crimes, especially in groper. Then let's look at this movie.
As you know, there are many crimes everyday. On the other hand, there are some false crimes. In Japan, gropers are major as false crimes. In my opinion as an woman, I hate gropers. I don't want them to grope on the purpose of sexual meaning. But, I know I don't have to dislike men meaninglessly and I have to hear their's opinions. So, I tried to search about the case of people who was arrested as a groper by mistake. Look at this article.
I looked for articles about the opinions of victims of groper through the Internet, but I couldn't find good resources. There are many sources about false crimes or the way in avoiding being arrested by mistakes. This result shows that many men worried about being arrested as gropers by mistakes.
As one way to come to existence of groper, some railway companies have trains which is allowed to ride only for women.But, these trains for women have been controversial since that plan had been practiced. There are agreement and disagreement about this action. I will tell you about them.
Agreement: Many women feels relief for this train and it makes groper not to do wrong thing.
Disagreement; Men think it is one of race discrimination. It is also natural that other trains are more crowded than a special train. Many people think it not so good and irritating.
Problems surrounding groper and women are becoming more complicated like all above. And recently, there are many people are more interested in false crimes, especially in groper. Then let's look at this movie.
Through this article and movie, I want to hear your opinion at the sides of both men and women.
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