Autumn colors
For the intermediate and up Japanese learner
In March of this year, Nihongo Journal, a magazine for those studying Japanese as a second language, ceased publishing. While the magazine had its faults, namely too much English translation and more furigana than I thought healthy for Kanji improvement, it was a well-put together monthly magazine complete with a CD and more stuff than one could ever hope to digest in a month’s time.
While ALC, the publisher, has added some content for Japanese learners to it’s Monthly Nihongo, a magazine geared towards teachers of Japanese, and have also recently introduced a new “free paper” monthly focused on foreigners living in Japan (J-Life), nothing has really stepped into the void created by Nihongo Journal’s demise, especially when it comes to intermediate and advanced learners.
One relatively new venture that I’m excited about is the monthly chuujoukyuu no nihongo magazine that started publishing this past summer. I recently subscribed to this at home after having used some material from past issues at the school I was attending. While it cannot hope to match the slickness of Nihongo Journal (frankly it looks more like a fanzine than a magazine), and there’s no CD, I’m finding it a very good way to maintain my reading ability as well as expand my vocabulary (a major weak point, I’m finding out).
Each issue is about 35 pages or so, and features topical news articles, a couple of Japanese usage or kanji quizes, a comic strip highlighting different aspects of Japanese culture and language usage, a “daily life” vocabulary builder (this month’s is about the common cold), a more in-depth look at an issue in today’s Japan (this month’s is regarding the issue of a female heir to the Imperial throne), and an extended reading passage . The nice thing about the magazine is that there is no English to be found anywhere in it. When vocabulary or expressions are explained, it’s done in Japanese. And what’s more, for most of the reading passages, they have chosen not to include furigana with the main text, but rather move this to a second page or boxed off at the bottom of the article. (I find that no matter what my kanji proficiency is, if there’s furigana above or below kanji, my eye immediately gravitates there, depriving myself of a chance to improve my kanji reading skills.)
I’m not sure if any of the major bookstores are carrying this yet, but subscription information is here. However, I don’t think they’re set up as yet to take subscription requests from folks overseas, making this a Japan-only thing for now. (If you are interested in the magazine and live outside of Japan, it might be worth your while to send them an email (listed at their site) so they’re aware of the interest).
~
Another new resource for intermediate and up students of Japanese that I’ve discovered is Nihongo-Juku, a blog-style site which aims to improve students’ reading and listening comprehension. It does that — there are mp3 files of the reading passages that can be downloaded to your mp3 player or listened to via your browser — but even nicer, the reading passages actually discuss different aspects of accepted (and not so accepted) Japanese usage (such as appropriate ways to respond to compliments, or how to express “I” properly). The site appears to have just gotten off the ground, but what’s been posted already seems right up my alley.
~
Last (and definitely least), I guess I should finally get around to announcing that I have a Japanese study blog, which I’ve only sporadically been posting to. However, now that intensive studying for this year’s Japanese Language Proficiency Exam is over, I hope to be spending more time there as I look for ways to keep studying. There’s not a whole lot up there at the moment, to be honest. (Perhaps knowing a couple of folks might actually be looking at it might spur me on to continue maintaining it).
36 Partial Views of Hokusai
Went to see the huge Hokusai exhibition at the Tokyo National Museum (Ueno) last Saturday, and it’s well worth seeing. However, do yourself a favor and don’t even contemplate going on a weekend (like I stupidly did) or holiday, unless you have some perverted desire to feel what cattle feel like being herded from one place to the next. It’s the first time I’ve ever had to queue at a museum, not on the outside, mind you (although we did have to do that, but only for about 10 minutes or so — a far cry from the 2 hours I once waited to get into the Uffizi, I seem to recall) but on the inside, as I entered each exhibition space or set of prints!
I felt thankful I had a height advantage and I could’ve viewed the entire exhibit that way, but the person I was with did not and so we dutifully queued up and slowly trudged our way through each gallery. My feet shuffling skills certainly improved over the course of the afternoon. One thing I noticed was that at the beginning of each series, there would be a queue or confused crush, but as one proceeded further down the wall/series, the crowd would soon thin out. So with some perserverence, it was possible to steal 5 or 10 seconds uninterrupted in front of a print, without feeling the immediate pressure to start shuffling again.
If I could do it all over again (with only 3 weeks remaining I can’t), not only would I go on a weekday but I would forego the heavy hitters of the show, namely the prints from the 36 Views of Mt. Fuji series (the exhibition was not surprisingly at its most gridlocked here, all roads leading to the wave), and go straight to the last galleries, which feature Hokusai’s work from the last 10 years or so of his life. Some unbelievably beautiful work here, work I had never seen before. This was his “Manji” period (overview with woefully inadequate samples at link), and it’s hard to fathom to creativity and artistry evidenced by someone in his 80’s (his last known work, done at age 89 or 90, depending on how you count it, is on view). Particularly striking were his Brush Painting Manual series of 10 paintings, so vivid they look like they were created yesterday (extremely tiny sample at the bottom of this page), and one particular painting on a scroll, the title of which escapes me, but which depicted a woman with a Mona Lisa smile on her face, her child behind her, and about 8 rice farmers in the background, all their heads face down in so that all you can see are shiny silver-ish discs representing their hats. Sublime!