The Hanalog’s Guide to Japan is now officially up and running. I wouldn’t pretend it is the all-stop-shop for everything to know about Japan .. yet … because I certainly intend it to be exactly that someday.
Isogashii (busy)
Prepare ye, one and all. There will be a new resource for Japan that will hopefully cover all the important issues and concerns that one might possibly encounter when planning a trip or just researching the Country.
One might think so after Watching the World Baseball Classic ‘Japan vs. USA’ Sunday afternoon game. I realize that writing this post may make it appear as if I have lost my patriotism, especially now that I live in Japan. Quite the contrary .. I wanted the USA to win this game more than any other .. but not by what seems to be the George W. Bush formula for success (to no fault of the USA players/team) .. was this a classic american move .. ‘basing important decisions on assumptions that favor ourselves, even at the expense of others’.
Ladies and Gentlepeople. 私は東京に九月にきました。watashi wa Tokyo ni Ku-gatsu ni kimashita. (I came to Tokyo last September). So how’s my Japanese (nihongo)? It’s mama .. but I am learning. I am no language master .. but, right or wrong, this is how I have been doing it.
Words I have read and don’t know the meaning.
Before:
• itsumo
After:
kanji: どきどき (doki doki)
meaning: nervous or excited
• doki literally means palputate .. doki doki, then is to announce a raise in your heart rate; due to excitement or nervousness.
toddism: I swear, the first time I heard this someone was saying dorky dorky … and it, well, sounded kind of dorky. I found it interesting that there are other words with similar sounds … tokidoki (sometimes) for example.
Here is the basic structure of the verb tenses and an example to how it is applied:
ます (…masu) — present or future
ました (…mashita) — past
ましょう (…mashoo) — tentative
ています (…te imasu) — present progressive
ていました (…te imashita) — past progressive
て下さい (…te kudasai) — polite request
はなす (hanasu) — to speak
はなします (hanashimasu) — I speak. I will speak.
はなしました (hanashimashita) — I spoke. I have spoken.
はなしましょう (hanashimashoo) — Let’s talk. I think I’ll talk.
はなしています (hanashite imasu) — I am talking.
はなしていました (hanashite imashita) — I was speaking.
はなして下さい (hanashite kudasai) — Please speak.
This morning was a typical commute to work. No one was awake on the subway, no one had room to move, and there was no air to breath. So what makes the trek to work in Tokyo so much fun every morning? No one seems to care.
