Road destroyed by Japan quake fixed in six days

I was watching the morning news, I think a week ago and I was amazed by what I saw.

At first, the host showed a picture of Kanto Highway which was destroyed by the massive earthquake that struck Japan on March 11, 2011.

Here’s a picture of the road:

After seeing the picture, I said to myself that it might take weeks or probably months to fix this road.

And so the conversation of the hosts continued. After a couple of minutes, they showed another picture of the road taken six days after the reconstruction of the road began.

I was very surprised upon seeing this picture. I believe you would too.

Amazing isn’t it? Who would have thought that, that road could be fixed in six days?

After all, Japan is Japan. Ganbare Japan!

Japan Stuff #4: White Day in Japan

White day in Japan is celebrated on March 14. It is like the Valentine's day for girls! Guys who received chocolates from girls whether chocolate of love or obligation chocolate on Valentine's day are expected to return the favor by giving gifts which are more expensive. So, if I give a 100-yen chocolate to my special someone, should I expect to receive like a 1,000 yen worth of gift? Sounds great! :) I've heard that the chocolates men buy are in white boxes. After all, it's "white day" right?

That's all I can share for now. I will probably post more about this topic after March 14th!

Japan Stuff #3: Valentines Day in Japan

In Japan, it is the women who give presents to men on Valentine's day. They usually give chocolates. Valentine's day is a great opportunity for women to express their feelings to the man they like. Darn, I don't want to spend valentine's here! I want to receive chocolates! Oh well! :)

Received chocolates? Don't be too excited! They might be obligation chocolate ("giri-choko" in japanese). Women usually gives this to their co-workers, bosses and male friends. This chocolates is for showing gratitude and no romantic interest.

Also, sending of Valentine's card and greeting of "Happy Valentine's Day" is not common in Japan.

Konpe #2: Manga [Japanese Version]

 

Konnichiwa minna-san! Ohisashiburi desu ne.

Anyways, I’m back. (^_^)v

Manga are Japanese comic books. Manga is often made into Japanese cartoons, or Anime. The art in Manga has a very definite look to it and is often referred to as “Manga Style.”

Manga are very famous here in Japan. It is read by almost all ages. Also, the genre of manga is very broad.

I’m going to review Crayon Shin Chan manga first. I’ve bought two already but haven’t finished both yet.

Here’s a picture of the manga:

By the way, I believe there are two kinds of manga here. One is the glossy and colored manga. The other one is the paperback (not sure how it is called, hehe). Of course, paperback manga is cheaper since here, it is disposable. Yes, disposable. You could actually see piles of manga on the streets and if you want and have the courage, you could get those and bring it home. Honestly, I don’t like paperback manga. Though it’s cheaper, the quality is not that good. I easily lose interest with those kind of manga. But for the glossy one, it is a different story.

So back to the manga I bought. The first few pages are glossy and colored. Probably 10 pages or so. After that, it is not anymore. ^^; Atleast it is still glossy. (^o^)

You could buy manga at convenient stores and of course, at bookstores. All of the manga I have was bought at convenient stores. I believe the price is the same regardless of where you buy it. Since the price is printed on the book itself. Hehe.

Here are my final ratings:

• Appearance: 5 of 5
• Content: 5 of 5 
• Price: 5 of 5
• Overall: 5/5 Perfect Score!

Technorati Tags: manga,crayon shin chan,chokoreitou,konpe

Japanese Lessons #5: [Software] - Zkanji

 
Konnichiwa Minna-san!

It’s been a while since I last posted a Japanese lesson. Today, I’m also not going to write any Japanese lesson but don’t feel bad.

I’m going to introduce a software that I believe is a must-have for those who are studying the Japanese language. It is called Zkanji. Don’t fuss, it isn’t all about kanji. It’s an English-Japanese-English dictionary. Not only that, it also have a Kanji writing recognition feature, sample sentences and study mode feature.

Wow, this article has been pending for like 30 minutes because I was trying to figure out how to make zapgrab work in Vista. Haha.

Anyways, let’s continue.

Here’s how Zkanji would look like when you open it.

Looks a bit scary because of the Kanji, eh?

Japan Stuff #2: Japanese Toilet

 

One of the first things that surprised me here in Japan is this. Toilet.

There are two kinds of toilets in Japan. The old type is called squat toilet while the modern one is the bidet toilet.

Squat toilets are normally found at public places. Though most public places have it, they also have bidet toilets. So normally, you could see both. As for homes, of course, most have the bidet toilets and that’s what we also have.

Here’s how the bidet toilet looks like. I took this picture at a mall. Haha, I just had this idea of posting something about toilets and don’t ask me why.

Konpe #1: Taiyaki [Japan Version]

 

Important: The Konpe Channel is a series of blogs comparing Japanese products in Japan to Japanese products in the Philippines (or vice versa). It consists of two partner posts, one from a writer in the Philippines, and another from a writer in Japan. For example, after “Konpe #1: Taiyaki [Philippine Version], you’ll soon see a “Konpe #1: Taiyaki [Japan Version]” post. We highly recommend that you read both.

To read the Philippine version, click here.

Okay, so finally here’s my review for Taiyaki [Japan Version].

I won’t be writing an introduction of what Taiyaki is since it was already mentioned in Taiyaki [Philippine Version].

Honestly, when I saw the pictures of what taiyaki looks like in the Philippines, I was a bit disappointed. Well, because of the shape. I’m not so sure if all Taiyaki sold here in Japan are fish-shaped but I guess, most of it are. As for the different flavors sold, I will write about it as I go along.

Luckily, there’s a Taiyaki Shop in a mall near our house. I managed to take a stolen shot of the shop. Sorry, I was kind of shy to take pictures in public. (>_<;)

Looks so different from the one in the Philippines, eh? (^_^)v

Japanese Lessons #4: Copula

Konnichiwa!

“desu” is the polite form while “da” is the plain form. It is equivalent to is, am and are in English. “A wa B da/desu” mean “A is B” or “As for A, it is B”.

The table below is the summary of the forms of the copula “desu/da”:

	non-past	negative non-past	past	negative past
Plain	だ da	ではない・じゃない dewa nai / ja nai	だった datta	ではなかった・じゃなかった dewa nakatta / janakatta
Polite	です desu	ではありません・ じゃありません dewa arimasen / ja arimasen	でした deshita	ではありませんでした・ じゃありませんでした dewa arimasen deshita / ja arimasen deshita

Let’s have some examples:

Japan Places #1: Tokyo Tower

We were supposed to go to a zoo but it started raining so we've decided to go to Tokyo Tower instead. Well, my mood was like okay, it's raining, we're going to Tokyo Tower, and then what? Honestly, i didn't like the idea. I've talked to several people who have visited Tokyo Tower and most of them says it's boring. Who wouldn't think like that anyway? Sightseeing eh? Anyways, off we go.

Japanese Lessons #3: Greetings 「あいさつ」

Now let's learn basic Japanese greetings! Greetings are very important so be sure to know the basics *:.｡☆..｡.(´∀｀人)

おはよう
Ohayou
Good Morning
*Casual way of saying good morning. It is used between family members and friends.

おはようございます
Ohayou Gozaimasu
Good Morning (polite)
*Polite way of saying good morning. It is used between people with higher status and less intimate acquaintances.

Japanese Lessons #2: Basic Sentence Structure

The word order of a Japanese sentence is different from English. In Japanese, the verb is normally placed at the end of the sentence. Japanese is a Subject-Object-Verb language while English is a Subject-Verb-Object language.

Japanese basic sentence structure:
S - O - V

友達が映画を見ました。
ともだちがえいがをみました
Tomodachi ga eiga wo mimashita.
(Friend movie watched)

tomodachi - subject
eiga - object
mimashita - verb

English basic sentence structure:
S - V -O

My friend watched a movie.

friend - subject
watched - verb
movie - object

Vocabulary:
tomodachi - friend
eiga - movie
mimashita - past tense of miru (to see, to watch, to look, to view)

Japanese Lessons #1: Writing System

There are three kinds of Japanese writing system namely Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. Katakana are used to write foreign or loan words from other languages. Hiragana are used to write all the other Japanese words and Kanji are used to write nouns (including names) and stem of adjectives and verbs.

I would recommend studying Hiragana and Katakana first. It would be really helpful in studying vocabulary and grammar. But of course, it still depends on which you find it easier. Once you get the hang of it, you could now start with Kanji, which requires a lot of hard work.

I would also recommend writing the characters on paper as much as you could even though writing on paper is seldom used already because of computers.

Have fun studying!

Japan Stuff #1: Pilot Frixion Point

ヾ(＠⌒ー⌒＠)ノおはよう！ Good Morning! Magandang Umaga!

Yesterday, after my 2 hour Japanese class, I went directly to a bookstore near our place. Oh, by the way, one of my favorite places here are bookstores. I just love looking around, seeing those colorful magazines, children books, and lots or should I say loooooooots of mangas there. I'm also attracted with those colorful notebooks with very cute designs. They have loooots of kinds of ballpens, pencils, pencil cases also. Name it!

When I was still in the Philippines, I used to buy Pilot pens, well G-tech, that's how it's called there. It is available in red and black (only, right?). But here in Japan, it is available in other colors. Red, pink, orange, green, blue, etc. Nice eh?

Anyways, I bough this pen called "Pilot Frixion Point 04". It's a really cool and convenient pen. Yes, it's a pen with an eraser. Nothing much amazing about it, but for me, it's very convenient especially when I practice Kanji writing. If i forget my pencil or eraser, having just this will save my day. ﾟ.+:｡∩(・ω・)∩ﾟ.+:｡ゎ～ぃ

(´；ω；｀)ｳｩｩ There was an earthquake just now while I was writing this post. Scary! Although it's very normal here, still.... Scary!!

♥飯田クリスティン♥