User Comments - changye
changye
Posted on: The Third Tone
February 3, 2008 at 11:26 AMAt my age, it is becoming difficult to distinguish small tone marks. I am not joking, but I sometimes use a magnifier to see them on a display. In particular, the third tone mark is most unfriendly to me. That is one of the reasons why I usually use numbers for Chinese tones.
Posted on: 东京
February 3, 2008 at 11:07 AMHi auntie68, Wow, you visited Japan several times! That is just what I expected, and what surprises me most is the fact that you have been to Nara (奈良) too, the oldest capital in Japan. Actually, I love the ancient city much more than Kyoto (京都), although I have been there only twice so far. Nara is smaller, less brilliant and might attract less foreign tourists compared to its famous “rival” city, Kyoto, but I guarantee you will feel and enjoy the real atmosphere of ancient times (until circa 700 A.D.), especially in the serene and slightly mountainous suburb of the city. And Mr. stunt toddler, I envy you very much, not only because you are being raised in a favorable linguistic environment, but also because you have AT LEAST two girlfriends. Young man, this poor uncle changye never had an experience of juggling multiple girlfriends at the same time. http://images.google.co.jp/images?gbv=2&hl=ja&newwindow=1&q=%E6%98%8E%E6%97%A5%E9%A6%99%E6%9D%91&btnG=%E3%82%A4%E3%83%A1%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B8%E6%A4%9C%E7%B4%A2 http://www.ne.jp/asahi/to/apple/nara/asuka.htm
Posted on: 东京
February 3, 2008 at 7:27 AMHi hannahlm, Thanks for your info! Looks like that the situations has not been improved as much as I expected, although I hear that Korean government has been trying to increase signs in English and Chinese to attract more foreign tourists. Anyway, I believe that you can expect more improvement in the next decade, since Korean president-elect 李明博 seems to place great importance on English education, and China’s influence is growing rapidly in Korea. Correction. To Korean people’s credit, they learn Japanese quickly. Revised) Korean people commonly speak English as poorly as Japanese people do. Wrong) Korean people commonly speak English as poorly as Japanese. Hi auntie68, Have you ever been to Japan? If not, I would like to ask you why you know so much about Japanese language. Actually, I cannot think of any countries which you have never visited yet, except for Antarctica and North Korea…….
Posted on: All You Can Eat and Drink
February 3, 2008 at 5:55 AMHi hannahlm, Firstly, I am afraid that the Japanese food your sister loves is OKONOMIYAKI, not OKINOMIYAKI. Its Chinese translation should be 日式煎饼 (ri4 shi4 jian1 bing3) or something like that. And as you know, there is no exact counterpart of the food in Chinese cuisine. By the way, I think that adding “日式” is a very handy and easy way when you translate Japanese words into Chinese. Actually, I like 韩式煎饼, such as 파전, 김치전, 해물전, 감자전, and 지짐이 (부침개), much more than 日式煎饼. They are really great! Of course, authentic Chinese 饼类 are fantastic too. I love Korean food very much, except for dog meat soup, but I do not think that 고추장 (red pepper paste) goes with sushi or sashimi. Your post reminds me of a remote episode of mine. In my first year of living in China, several years ago, I had a precious opportunity to eat a matsutake dish. I cannot afford enjoying such extraordinary expensive mushroom in Japan. However, oh my goodness, all the matsutake on the large plate were being deeply fried in red pepper paste. The dish had absolutely no matsutake fragrance. I could not believe my eyes then. I strongly recommend you try some matsutake dishes, sans 고추장, while you are in Korea. Lastly, let me show you Japanese traditional “rice and weed roll”, which are very popular in my country. http://images.google.co.jp/images?hl=ja&q=%E5%A4%AA%E5%B7%BB%E3%81%8D&lr=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi Matsutake mushroom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matsutake Okonomiyaki http://images.google.co.jp/images?um=1&hl=ja&lr=&newwindow=1&q=%E3%81%8A%E5%A5%BD%E3%81%BF%E7%84%BC%E3%81%8D&btnG=%E3%82%A4%E3%83%A1%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B8%E6%A4%9C%E7%B4%A2
Posted on: All You Can Eat and Drink
February 2, 2008 at 8:34 AMCAUTION, do not eat tuna sushi anymore! In late last month, I read a very horrible news article. It warned that recent laboratory tests found so much mercury in tuna sushi from twenty Manhattan stores and restaurants. So, dear sushi lovers, I would advise you not to eat tuna anymore from now on. To tell you the truth, the prices of tuna have been skyrocketing due to increasing demand for it all over the world, and it has been becoming somewhat difficult for Japanese people, traditional and avid tuna eaters, to procure quality ones at reasonable prices. If you stop eating tuna, we Japanese people would be able to afford enjoying quality and inexpensive tuna again. Oh, you do not have to worry about mercury-caused health problems of Japanese. Believe it or not, we are mercury-resistant by nature. Thanks in advance! http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/dining/23sushi.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Posted on: All You Can Eat and Drink
February 2, 2008 at 7:53 AMAs mark pointed out, Japanese restaurants in countries other than Japan are owned and run mainly by Chinese and Korean people. They are great contributors to globalization of Japanese food, which I thank them very much. This also means you seldom encounter an authentic Japanese restaurant in your countries. And as is always the case with ethnic cuisines, just like Chinese food, most Japanese food also have been modified to suit to local palates. For example, in my eyes, the sushi in the photo seems to be somewhat “deviant” but nonetheless looks tasty, therefore I think that some positive modification or localization of cuisines also considerably contribute to their popularization. It seems that overseas Japanese societies do not have enough manpower for opening their own ethnic restaurants. I must admit that Japanese people are not so overseas-oriented or frontier-spirited compared to other Asian countries.
Posted on: 东京
February 2, 2008 at 3:25 AMHi Jenny and xiaohu, I have heard of the movie “Lost in Translation”, but I have never yet seen it. I hear that some people say descriptions of Japanese people in the movie, as is always the case with movies, are a little stereotypical. But I see no problem with that at all, because such slight simplification and exaggeration are vital in this kind of movie, otherwise not interesting. Furthermore, fact is sometimes stranger than movies…...in Japan. If you would like to get “lost in translation” more “literally”, I recommend that you visit Korea. When I was in Seoul for the first time about ten years ago, I could not speak Korean at all then, I was at a loss. I could find very few signs written in Chinese characters or English in the city. Most of them were written only in Korean alphabets. To make matters worse, Korean people commonly speak English as poorly as Japanese. They say that those problems have been improving gradually owing to the increasing importance of Chinese and English in Korean society. I think that hannahlm knows much about the current situation in Korea.
Posted on: 东京
February 2, 2008 at 2:18 AMHi goulniky, Some info and photos of capsule hotels in Japan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsule_hotel http://www.links.net/vita/trip/japan/lodging/capsulehotel/ http://www.yesicanusechopsticks.com/capsule/
Posted on: 东京
February 2, 2008 at 2:15 AMHi ewong, You must be much more careful when you are in the Umeda (梅田) subway station in Osaka, which is said to be the most complicated and labyrinthine station in Japan. Believe it or not, there is a Si-Fi novel titled “Umeda Subway Station Odyssey”. The novel describes a man who got lost completely in the station. As to Pachinko, I strongly recommend that you stay away from the pinball game as much as possible in Japan. The game is highly addictive and easily arouses your passion for gambling. Pachinko wastes your time and money and damages your health. This game can possibly cause serious troubles in your life and family. As everybody knows, every thing goes in modern China, but I hear that Pachinko is strictly prohibited by the Chinese government. And you cannot find Pachinko parlors in Korea too, despite the fact that in Japan many of Pachinko parlors are run by Korean-Japanese. Anyway, I think China and Korea made a very wise choice.
Posted on: 东京
February 4, 2008 at 12:53 AMHi riversnoceans, Here is the link to JapanesePod101.com, which has no business relationship with Chinesepod. http://www.japanesepod101.com/help-center/subscription-information/ Praxis Language Ltd seems to have another Japanesepod in the works now. http://shanghai.craigslist.com.cn/edu/535347894.html