April 18, 2011

Japanese Corner - 速い、早い、速やか



A short discussion on the differences between the words 速い(はやい)、早い(はやい)、 速やか (すみやか) and what situations you might want to use them in. 速やか is a word that I encountered recently and thought I might share when and why you would want to use it. If you have any other examples please share them in the comments. Good Luck! studying Japanese and remember that it just takes effort and time before you reach your goal. There are no special tricks or short cuts.
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Japanese Japan learning language studying self-study words vocab vocabulary kanji meaning difference JET speaking 日本語 勉強 学習 漢字 はやい すみやか 単語 違い 意味 自習 言語 会話 gaijinguide help hayai 早い 速い 速やか

April 11, 2011

Japanese Toilet Paper - environmentally friendly and polite



While sitting on the can the other day, I noticed two interesting phrases on a role of Japanese toilet paper.
牛乳パック再利用 and 毎度ありがとうございます.
Watch the video to find out what they mean.  If anyone is interested in more videos that deal with Japanese language, please let me know and I will make some more.

Lastly, what does the toilet paper say in your part of the world?

April 7, 2011

Beautiful Sunset + Hot Air Balloon Festival = Amazing!



A trip to Saga prefecture in Japan for the 10th annual International Balloon Festival held in November 2010. The five-day festival received over 500,000 visitors and had contestants from Switzerland, America, Sweden, and China among other countries. On the fourth day of the festival, mother nature provided a beautiful sunset as balloons came into the landing area. Pilots attempted to drop a marker onto one of two targets.  The closer the marker the higher the score.

This was my first hot air balloon festival and it felt like being in some alternate reality fantasy novel, where balloons were the main form of air transport and the Hindenburg had never gone up in flames. It was an amazing sight!

If you have the chance to go to a local festival, don't miss out.  It will surely amaze you.

For more information on the festival visit the following link: http://www.sibf.jp/

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