Catching Up

The holidays are always a whirlwind of activities.  As soon as November came last fall, we seemed to be busy every waking moment.  Now that we’ve turned the corner into the new year, I have finally found my way back to blogging. 

Before sharing my holiday activities, I need to catch up on the rest of rest summer.  (Yikes-it really has been awhile!)

One of our final weekends last August studying Japanese in Okazaki was busy exploring some special shrines, hiking some mountain trials, and exploring an old castle. 

We began with the shrines. 

Fertility is a celebrated aspect of life here in Japan.  In addition to the special shrines, there are also annual festivals held to specifically celebrate fertility.  During our visits to these two shrines-one dedicated to each sex-we witnessed several families with new born babies, likely giving thanks for the birth of their healthy child. (I am afraid I do not recall either of the temples names we visited.)

The shrine dedicated to male fertility.

Shrine dedicated to female fertility. 

Pregnant women are supposed to crawl through.  If they make it, they will have an easy birth.

The castle we toured-Inuyama Castle-we discovered is the oldest standing castle in Japan.  It was built in 1537 (reconstructed in the 1960’s). 

After refreshing ourselves with some ice cream, we were ready for a hike.  On our way to the trailhead, we stopped to view some lovely waterfalls.  The two waterfalls are said to be a couple-one male, one female.  One of the waterfalls in quite loud while the other is quite quiet.  It’s up to you to decide which is which. 

Our hike was beautiful.  It left me longing for more time in the mountains. 

The Miyajima O-Torii and Itsukushima Shrine

A sign in a restaurant showing the times of the tides.  Depending on when you go, you can walk out to giant torii, or see it "floating".

This was major.  I had looking forward to visiting this shrine and seeing the giant “floating” torii since we moved to Japan two years ago.

So imagine my disappointment when this is what we saw:

What rotten luck! 

It turns out, that just a week or so prior to our visit a tremendous wind storm tore through Miyajima and severely damaged the Torii.  残念！This is what we should have seen.  Though disappointed, we visited the shrine and walked as far out to the Torii as the tide came in. 

Itsukushima Shrine is a stunningly beautiful shrine with a fascinating history.  I strongly recommend anyone visiting Japan to spend a day on Miyajima. 

This summer we will be studying Japanese for the entire month of August in Aichi Prefecture.  This is significantly closer to Hiroshima and Miyajima than Saitama Prefecture, where we live.  Perhaps we’ll take a break from studying and go back to the island to see the Torii.  This time without a cover. 

Yamasa: Take 2

Here’s a question:  Am I the only one who feels that no matter how much I study and practice a new language, I just will never learn enough?

When we moved to Japan two years ago (I know, right!?  Two years already!), I knew next to no Japanese at all. 

That was daunting.  I feel slightly less daunted now…but it took basically the full two years to reach this point. 

Yikes.

Last year we invested two weeks of our extremely hot and sweaty summer to studying Japanese at this wonderful place called the Yamasa Institute.  Though I feel my Japanese skills significantly improved during our two weeks stay, I found myself wishing I could stay much longer. I felt (and still feel) that I had just barely scratched the surface of understanding. 

Yamasa is a language school specifically designed for foreigners to come to Japan and study Japanese.  A variety of courses are offered.  We did the SILAC program last year and are signed up for it again this year.  All courses offered are intense immersion classes-almost no English (or any other language) is spoken. 

Besides the primary classes, private and smaller classes are also offered.  This year in addition to the SILAC course-which is around 23 class periods per week-we are signed up for  three CALL seminar classes per week.  Also, instead of staying in the dorms or apartments, we have signed up for a homestay.

I am hoping that with all of the classes, the homestay, and the studying, that my Japanese will significantly level-up during our four week stay. 

It’s time to get my Japanese game on! 

飛躍 (Hiyaku-to leap forward)

This is the first section of one of the koto pieces I have recently studied.  My part was the second part, I could not find a recording of both parts played together, which is unfortunate because it is stunningly beautiful.

Here is the first page of music.  Each measure is a "box."  There are thirteen strings, each assigned a kanji character.  The first ten are simple numbered one through ten.  The last three strings are "toh, ee and kin."  I am not sure why...  The strings kanji are as follows from lowest to highest-ichi to kin.

一、二、三、四、五、六、七、八、九, 十、斗、為、巾。

My part, the second (which is what I am playing the video),  is the part on the left.  The music is read top to bottom, right to left.  I have added further explanations of some of the notations in blue. 

Since this piece is several pages long, I just recorded the first and last sections.  Here is the ending:

There are also many, many ways to tune the koto.  This piece has a more "major" sound to it whereas Sakura sounds "minor." 

More to come!

Studying Japanese?

I confess.  I am a self-proclaimed nerd.  I love school.  I excelled in my class work.  I thrived in that type of learning environment. 

Now I am trying desperately to learn Japanese, but primarily by self-study.  And it is totally different ball game. I miss having the structure of a classroom with deadlines to be met and exams for which to study.

Spending two weeks at Yamasa Institute this past August was like a throw back to college.  I loved it.  It improved my Japanese to the point at which I finally feel more comfortable self-studying.  I no longer feel like I am completely floundering…wondering if I am going in the right direction.

I have also recently come across some really incredible study materials.  Let me share them with you:

1.  Download the “Anki” flashcard program.  There is a wealth of resources in the form of flashcard decks all ready for you to download.  The program is specifically designed to help you retain the information you are trying to learn.

2.  Are you trying to learn the Kanji characters?  It’s a pretty daunting task.  I recently discovered a book called “Heisig’s Remember the Kanji.”  Book one covers how to write the kanji as well as the English meaning while book two gets into the readings for the kanji.  There is also a book three, but I don’t know much about it.  This approach to learning Kanji works really well for some people’s learning styles, but not all.

3.  Podcasts.  If you have an iPod or any other way of accessing podcasts, search for Japanese language learning podcasts.  There are lots of them.  The one I primarily listen too is called “Learn Japanese Pod.”  They are fun to listen too and also other cultural notes in addition to just language points. Trying to learn the kana?  Play this!

Do you have any tried and true way of studying languages?  If so, do tell!

Obon

During our two-week study vacation at the Yamasa Institute, we were faced with an unhappy reality.  There is an unofficial holiday in Japan called Obon.  This is a four-day weekend (Fri-Mon) in August during which Japanese people go back to their hometowns and pay respects to their ancestors. 

I have nothing against Obon or Japanese culture.  However I do take issue with the fact that we were charged for Japanese classes for the Friday and Monday during Obon.  Classes that we didn’t get-because Yamasa was closed.

In Yamasa’s defense, they do list this on their website…but the website is extremely difficult to navigate.

As a foreigner who lives in Japan, I can say for myself that it didn’t even occur to me to check the “holidays and closed days” calendar on Yamasa’s website.  Karl and I have a calendar hanging in our apartment that listed all the official holidays of Japan.  There are no official holidays in August, so why would I check? 

Karl and I did know in advance that Yamasa would be closed during Obon, only because of a friend who had attended classes there last year.  For students staying for several months or even several weeks, this isn’t much of an issue.  However, for those of us only staying two weeks, it’s a big deal.  Especially for people who spend their own money plus transportation from overseas.  (Yamasa is not cheap.)  It is not fun to realize upon your arrival that you will lose two days of classes while still having to pay.

We would have gone during other weeks, but it was not possible due to other obligations in our schedules.  We were irritated.  But we still had a good time and learned a lot.  The teachers and programs offered at Yamasa are very good. 

So we made the best of it.  We spent one day at the beach.  I got my hair cut.  We visited a castle.  And we studied.  A lot.