The Japanese Learner

Special Episode 1 – Enrico’s Back

In our first special episode, the cast from episode 4 (with Michael sitting in for Kimberly) welcomes Enrico back from his trip to Japan.  Enrico tells tales of his trip and answers some interesting questions.  Also, we comtemplate the idea of opening an Anne of Green Gables themed Tim Horton’s and ponder the Japanese legal system and prisons.

Errata:  I didn’t stay at the Asakusa Plaza Hotel.  I wish I could have afforded such a ritzy hotel.  I stayed at the Asakusa Central Hotel.

Cast:  Enrico Bianco, Mary Kita, Julia Shen, Michael Amygdalidis

Related links:
http://www.japantravelinfo.com/ (Yokoso Japan, official Japan tourism site) 
http://www.sakura-hostel.co.jp/ (Sakura Hostel, Asakusa, Japan) 
http://www.rentafonejapan.com/ (Rentafone Japan, where I rented my cell phone)
http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=6523 (Japan Probe on the foreigner swimming in the Imperial Palace moat) 
http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=6595 (Japan Probe on small hotels and inns rejecting foreigners) 

This episode has been a long time coming but it is finally here!  Episode 5 coming as soon as I can get it edited.  Once again, if you live in the Greater Toronto Area and would like to be on the show, please do send me an e-mail.

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An interesting application of my skills

A friend of mine is a celiac. This is sometimes referred to as a “gluten allergy” and I know at least one or two more people who have it. She’s planning a trip to Japan in the near future and wants to ensure that if she needs to buy food to eat or eat out at restaurants, she won’t be given foods that will cause her to become sick.

…and that’s where I come in. She has sent me a sheet written in Japanese that she found on the Internet which intends to explain her condition, what she can’t eat, and what she can. To ensure that this sheet is accurate, she has asked me to take a look at it.

The vocabulary I’ve picked up alone is well worth the time I’ve spent on it. I’ve even learned some new English vocabulary in the process! Here’s a peek at the vocabulary that I’ve grabbed from working on this sheet:

• 小麦（こむぎ）　wheat
• 小麦粉（こむぎこ）　wheat flour
• ライ麦（らいむぎ）　rye
• 大麦（おおむぎ）　barley
• キビ（きび）　(common) millet (a variety of grain that I didn’t know about previously)
• 膨らし粉（ふくらしこ）　baking powder
• 麦芽（ばくが）　malt

Tagged by my sister…

Well, I’ve been tagged by my older sister.  She writes Calabrisella Mia, a blog about Italy and the Italian language, among other things.  It’s actually a pretty great read and she accompanies her posts with some excellent pictures and photos.  In the spirit of promoting my podcast by participating in the blogosphere, I will properly respond to this “tag”.

First, I’m required to post the rules:

1. Link to the person that tagged you. (Done, above)
2. Post the rules on your blog. (Done, here)
3. Share 6 non-important habits/quirks about yourself (Done, below)
4. Tag 6 random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs. (I guess that depends on if I can find 6 people who won’t be incredibly irritated and ultimately want me dead *gulp*)
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

Now, to list 6 non-important habits/quirks about myself.

1. I can’t resist British humour.  Most recently, I’ve been watching British sitcom “The IT Crowd“.  I’d like to see “The Office”, but the British version, not the American one starring Steve Carell.
2. I recently read “The Game” by Neil Strauss, cover to cover.  It’s really not as evil as you might imagine.  Actually, it’s largely autobiographical and the author wants out of “The Game” by the end of it because he realizes that the pursuit of seduction skills is starting to negatively affect his life and the lives of those around him.
3. I’m subscribed to way more RSS feeds than I can actually keep up with.
4. I’m actually more informed about Japanese news than local news (thanks, Japan Probe!).
5. I’m starting to become addicted to the kendama I bought for myself when I was in Japan.
6. I love going to Vancouver because there’s a Book-Off in the Downtown Vancouver area.  It’s the only one in Canada.

Well, there you have it.  Hopefully I won’t get flamed for doing this just this once for my sister.  And hey, you now know six more things about me that I’ve never mentioned on the show.  Well, except for the bookstore maybe.  How’s that for listener interaction?  =)

Below are the people I’ve tagged, which will be updated as I tag them.

No one has been tagged yet.

I’m back!

I landed safely back in Toronto at around 11pm last night.  I made a point of not sleeping much during the flights to help me fix my sleeping schedule.  Seems to be working so far but I’m still feeling a bit of jet lag.

I haven’t blogged about the trip.  I didn’t want to spend more time writing about it than enjoying it.  But, there will be a special episode related to my travels.  Please look forward to it.

This weekend is a holiday weekend in Canada — Thanksgiving weekend to be exact.  So, of course, recording of any episodes is delayed until at least next week.

Please send us your feedback on the episodes up to this point and if there’s anything you’d like us to cover on the show, let us know.  As always, thank you all for listening!  =)

Episode 4 – Free Talk, Sept. 5/08

Greetings from Asakusa! =D

This is the first “Free Talk” episode. The concept? Get the guest speakers together, put a topic related to Japan and/or the Japanese language on the table, and let the conversation flow!

In this episode, I fish for travel advice from the rest of the cast as I plan my long-awaited trip to Japan.

Cast: Enrico Bianco, Kimberly Fraser, Mary Kita, Julia Shen

Related links:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/ (the website of the Lonely Planet series)
http://travel.rakuten.co.jp/en/ (try reserving hotels through this site! Some good deals to be had here)
http://www.japanrailpass.net/ (information on the Japan Rail Pass)

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Flying to Japan!

Finally, I am flying to Japan. This will be the first time I’ve ever been there and I am looking forward to an exciting trip and a relaxing vacation all rolled into one. =D

Episode 4 is a bit late but I will be attempting to post it from my hotel room in Tokyo once I’ve settled in.

I should have some interesting stories to tell when I get back. And of course, lots of pictures. I look forward to resuming production of the podcast when I come back with episode 5, “Getting Started with Kanji”.

Thanks for listening, everyone! And I’m off to the airport!

Episode 3 – Getting Conversational

In this episode, we talk about how to start speaking Japanese, how to practice, and how to keep on improving.

Cast: Enrico Bianco, Kimberly Fraser, Anton Khan, Mike Oetlinger

Related links:
http://buna.arts.yorku.ca/japanese/ (Japanese Studies at York University, including free course materials)
http://www.language-exchanges.org/ (The Mixxer: language exchange via Skype)
http://lang-8.com/ (Language exchange – get your writing corrected and help others with theirs)

I say ling-8 in the episode but the site is actually called lang-8.  Sorry about that.

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Finally, Episode 3!

I apologize for the delay in releasing episode 3 after the site came back up.  I’m in the process of packing up and getting ready to fly out of Toronto on Sunday.

Since the beginning of August, I’ve been planning a trip to Japan.  My departure date for that trip was September 18, which is next Thursday.  However, I was suddenly requested to stop over in Vancouver for some business before flying out to Japan.  So I had to rearrange my flights and accelerate all of the preparations I was doing for my trip to Japan, plus figure out the logistics of the business trip to Vancouver.  Needless to say, this week has been rather stressful.  >_<

Episode 3 is finally ready and will be posted tomorrow morning.  Episode 4 will (hopefully) be posted on its originally scheduled air date, September 19 at noon EST.  I was hoping to have episode 5 ready to air on October 3 as well but that will unfortunately be delayed.  I will be coming back from my trip on October 6 and episode 5 will be recorded some time after that.

And we’re back!

Okay, I’ve migrated everything over to the new host and hopefully everything is working properly again.  I’ll be kicking the tires for a bit myself.  If you notice anything strange, send me an e-mail and I’ll see what I can do.  Hopefully, the podcast doesn’t outgrow the new hosting too quickly.

Episode 3 should be released Real Soon Now™.  Thanks for listening, everyone!  =)

Switching hosts

I started The Japanese Learner on a small web server running off of a home ISP connection.  I figured I would start small and grow as needed.  Little did I expect that I’d be seeing so many hundreds of hits from all over the world so quickly through the iTunes Music Store.  That ISP connection is now completely taxed and I need to switch hosts post-haste.

That means I’ll be taking the site down later tonight as I back up the files and database to move over to a new web host.  I hope to be able to bring the site back up early next week but there may be unforseen technical difficulties in making a switch like this so quickly.  This also means that the release of episode 3 will be delayed.

My apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.  Thank you all for listening to the show and I hope you continue to enjoy The Japanese Learner in the future!