Japan
Downsides of joining Morning Musume, #1: Fashion Sense
Ma-ha-a?
This is the Asus EEE PC slogan localized for Japan: “manabu hataraku asobu”, which copies half of the English slogan, leaving out the whole “easy” part. Then again, it ships with Windows XP instead of a dumbed-down Xandros derivative, which might make it less approachable for a complete novice, but definitely more familiar to the Windows-centric Japanese audience.
Now that there’s a working Fedora 8 distribution for the EEE (thanks to the new official kernel support and Philip Pemberton’s RPMs), I can really start using mine. The supplied Xandros-derivative was amusing, but much too limited. Among other things, WPA2 Enterprise wireless was messy to set up, the Juniper VPN software simply didn’t work, and I really, really like chkconfig.
The most important software I’ll use on it? Claws Mail, Perl, emacs, minicom, Firefox, and StarDict. StarDict isn’t as useful a Japanese dictionary as Jedict for the Mac, but at least it uses the same source data. I’d prefer the “Green Goddess” dictionary that’s being included in some of the recent handhelds, but the EEE is small enough for most occasions, and I’ve already got a WordTank and a DS Lite running Kanji sonomama.
Ume no hana
The test last week in my Japanese conversation class covered some useful grammar, including “dou yattara” and “~ka dou ka” (also humble form, about which the less said the better). The structure of the test was that the tutors composed a number of questions in advance, and students were chosen to answer each one. Grading was subjective, but just understanding what you were being asked was as important as composing a grammatically correct answer. There’s no penalty for occasionally passing with “wakarimasen”.
One that stumped a few people was a very polite and grammatically annoying version of “where can I go to see plum blossoms blooming?”. After someone finally got it, I said “my back yard”. It’s not as fancy as a proper Japanese plum garden, but at least I’ve got some.
One from the Personals...
Japundit has a Personals site, which they run ads for in a sidebar on their home page. I’m not interested in joining, so all I get out of it is an occasional thumbnail headshot of a pretty girl.
This one jumped out at me in a different way. “Ai84” looks disturbingly familiar:
She has been out of sight for a while, and she certainly couldn’t do worse than her previous boyfriend. Probably not her, of course, but stranger things have happened.
Cheese-stuffed cheese in a light cheese sauce, with a side order of cheesy bread, and for dessert a cheese-dipped cheesecake
Um, wow. Shin Cyborg Shibata, starring the members of Melon Kinenbi. I may have to buy both DVDs.
[Update: Warning! Do not exceed recommended dosage. Excessive viewing could prove fatal.]
Backstreet Girls
Just to be clear, the web site listed in this picture of a Gion nightclub is Not Safe For Work.
Tonkatsu Tonki
Most guidebooks will tell you that Tonki has the best tonkatsu in Tokyo. After eating there, I’m willing to believe them.
The trick is finding the place. These pictures are descriptive rather than scenic, so they go below the fold:
