[Japanese Vlog] Fall Forest Full of Animals w/subtitles

今日快晴だったから、散歩しようと思いました。途中で色んな鳥や動物を見て、秋の澄んだ空気を楽しみました。最後まで観たら、サプライズがありますよ。じゃあ、エンジョイ­してください。

[Shady Japanese] How to Piss-off Your Mom

After some requests, I thought I would make some Japanese language videos. Hopefully I can make some fun ones with things that aren't already covered in other videos out there.

I decided to role play a scene where a kid is complaining to his mother. Watch and learn some phrases that will have your mom slapping you in no time.

Want to learn something specific? Leave a comment.

For the record, I am not a native Japanese speaker. I just happen to speak the language and want to share.

Giant Penis in Japan

What more can I say, it's a penis, its 475 kg and it's 3 m 20 cm long and in the middle of nowhere.


Well there actually is more to the story.  These little shrines dot the countryside of Japan and there are even festivals to celebrate the penis.  As you can imagine, there are shrines to the opposite sex too.


These shrines are for fertility and people often go to pray for their child's or their own fertility.  People might need to start praying a little hard in light of the fact that Japan's population in shrinking.


Either way, these shrines provide a little entertainment and head scratching for non-natives when they happen upon them for the first time.

Universal Studios Japan - A Girl's Wet Dream

There is only one dream that Japanese girls nurture will growing-up until it becomes a full-blown hysteria by her coming of age day (成人の日).  The dream of going to Universal Studios Japan.  The possibility of running around in a fairy tale were the characters are real and willing to take photos with you is too irresistible.  With that in mind, I headed to USJ with my video camera and offer you two glimpses into what little Japanese girls are dreaming.

The first video captures the Christmas parade in all its dancing Mrs. Claus glory and the second video follows two toy soldiers who walk in robot like synchronization.

Malaysia & Other Travels

            

Above are four pictures from Mabul island off the coast of Borneo Malaysia.  The diving around there is great, but the real gem is the island Sipidan, which is 30 minutes by boat and has a mass of marine biodiversity that will blow astonish you.  It is ranked as one of the top dive spots in the world and without a doubt worth a trip.  I bumped into a number of dive masters who came from Thailand just to dive here.  It is wonderful.  Below is a video by one of the local dive shops:



I have filled in a map below showing the places in the world I have been fortunate enough to visit.  I have to thank my family and my choices so far that have let me experience delectable foods, hike in the rain forest, climb ruins, and dive under the sea.  I hope to keep traveling and exploring close to home and across the seas.

I hope you too are seeing all the places you longed to see and remember you don't have to be rich to travel the world you just need the will and the desire.

Cheers! fellow travelers and explorers.

visited 17 states (7.55%)

Japanese Ginkgo Leaves (fall's last hope in the face of winter)

I wanted to make a video that said goodbye to fall and embraced the long cold winter to come. The ginkgo leaves , which held their shape and color until the beginning of the winter, were the best and last standing representative of fall I could find. 


I think the images show a little bit of fall and the soundtrack "Mir" by Doc foreshadows the winter to come. The video was filmed on a Canon T1i with a Tamron 28-75mm 2.8f lens.

Japan International Balloon Fiesta (saga) 佐賀インターナショナルバルーンフェスタ

A trip to Saga-ken, 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, China, among other countries. On the fourth day of the festival, mother nature provided a beautiful sunset as balloons came into the landing area. Being there 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! The night fantasia at night where the balloons light up to music was wonderful too. Enjoy the pictures and video.

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

1st track Sean Wright - Naked Shoulders
2nd track Adragante - Kerridwen

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.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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

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?

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/

------
This video is available under a Creative Commons Attribution - Share Alike license

Japanese Blooming Flower Tea

I found a type of tea made from a dried flower that is wrapped in green tea leaves . Once hot water is poured over it, it blooms in the glass. I decided to make an accompanying video to show off the different stages of the steeping process. It's beautiful to watch. If you love tea, you'll love this video!

By the way, if you love tea China is a heavenly experience. I imagine India and the Middle East are a tea lover's paradise too. I will have to travel there one day to see the unique teas they have. 

Before coming to Japan for the first time, I rarely drank tea.  My first experience with bitter green tea changed all that and I have gone on a tasting journey since.  The tea culture and my travels in Asia have given me the chance to drink corn tea in Korea, Jasmine and Wolong tea in China, Macha and wheat (Mugi) tea in Japan, and many others.  I hope to continue this tasting adventure and add updates and relevant video here.

If you have any recommendations and useful info please leave it in the comments. 

Music is "If" by Peter Rudenko and used under a CC-BY 3.0 License.

Nature Japan - Exploring Caves

The caves of Inazumi in Oita Prefecture were naturally formed and contain some of the purest water in Japan. People come from all over not only to see them, but to collect water and take it back home. One of the local restaurants even exclusively serves its water. I recommend a visit, they are amazing and 18 degrees Celsius all-year-round. Great in the summer!  The network of caves is broken into two branches with each measuring around 200 meters in length.  Below is a description in Japanese as posted on the official website:

 稲積水中鍾乳洞は３億年前の古生代に形成され、 ３０万年前の阿蘇火山大噴火により水没し現在の形を形成しました。
   洞内には水中鍾乳石や珊瑚石、ベルホール、ヘリクタイトなどが 数多く見られる世界的にも珍しい水中鍾乳洞です。
無数の鍾乳石、水深 40ｍをこえる深渕、未知の洞奥から湧き出る清流、 その清らかな水が、千変万化の美をおりなし 水中鍾乳洞のコントラストは訪れる人たちを幻想の世界へ導いてくれます。
   また、洞内の温度は一年中16度で、夏は涼しく、冬は暖かいため一年を通してすばらしい水中鍾乳洞をご覧いただけます。
   マイナスイオンを感じる洞内で心も体も癒されます。