The Japanese Language

"Japan" written in Japanese

Japanese is an East Asian language spoken by about 125 million people, primarily in Japan, where is is the national language. It is a very similar to the Korean language because the both are a member of the "Japonic language family". Little is known of the languages prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. The Japanese language is actually one of the hardest languages to learn if you yourself are not Japanese. In comparison with other languages, Japanese knows relatively few sounds, and pronunciation poses little problems to most learners. The biggest difficulty are accents, which do exist, but to a much lower extent than the Chinese language. In addition, there are relatively many homonyms, words that are pronounced the same way, but have different meanings. There's also different levels of speech. Different words and expressions are used when talking to an unknown person or a superior, as opposed to when talking to a child, family member or a close friend. For instance, there are more than five different words for the English word "I", which are used depending on the context. For informal situations, a honorific language level (keigo) is still in common use.

Hope everyone enjoyed reading this blog and I also hoped you have learned something. Until next time!

                                                                                                    ~ The Man Who's A Fan Of Japan

Japanese Music of Today!

In one of my earlier blogs I talked about traditional Japanese music, so it only makes sense that I talk about today's music as well. Now at this point in time Japan has been exposed to westernized culture so the music is much different than what it was 200 years ago. Of course this is to be expected. Anyways, in this blog I'm going to be expressing some of my favorite Japanese bands that I actually discovered while researching my Senior Project which was actually about Japanese Entertainment.

One OK Rock - Clock Strikes

In the above music video is a song by one of my favorite Japanese bands. It's a rock band known as One OK Rock. The actual genre of rock music in Japan is called J-Rock, pop music is called J-Pop, and rap is called J-Rap and etc. Anyways, I love this band because their sound is so genuine and this song just connects to me, even though most of the song is in Japanese, their are parts in english too and this band, even though they are international artists, they still connect to you somehow. They were just a small band of friends from tokyo and they just blew up and there was a reason for that, they are AWESOME! I highly suggest this band for everyone to listen too! This is just one of their many songs that I thoroughly enjoy. :)

Nobodyknows - Hero's Come Back

Now this isn't a band, it's more of a group, a rap group to be specific, or a j-rap group I should call it. This group is called Nobodyknows, supposed to be two words but hey they are just cool enough to make it one! This song "Hero's Come Back" is a very popular song and is in multiple movies and is the theme song to the well known anime "Naruto". If you are reading this blog and don't know about anime, I talk about it in my previous blogs so take a look :). But anyways, back to this group! This group kind of took the westernized culture a little too far but it's so hilariously awesome and this song is actually good and entertaining so honestly even though they took the hip hop cultures stereotype and multiplied it by like 50, it's okay because they made good music! If you wanna listen there's a video above :).

Hope all my fellow bloggers and readers enjoyed this blog! 

                                                                                                   ~ The Man Who's A Fan Of Japan

No shoe policy?!?!

Now I'm sure you've already read the title of this blog and it has gotten you intrigued. No shoe policy you say? Believe me, it's true. As Americans we all know of the common rule "no shoes, no shirt, no service" but in Japan (minus the shirt part) it is the opposite. In Japan in most places you are required to take off your shoes at the door. Before traveling to many Asian countries it is actually good to have some sort of idea of shoe etiquette. Yes I said it, shoe etiquette, it exists. But we're not focusing on all of Asia, this is a blog about Japan.

Shoes must be removed before entering a private home. Doubtless you will be reminded when you see a line up of shoes in the entryway. Some hosts provide slippers for guests. If so, they are always nearby. But going "shoeless" is not limited to homes.

Tatami Mats

Many traditional inns known as "ryokans" require you to deposit shoes at the front door. Even hotels provide slippers for use in your room. If the flooring of your room in the hotel is tatami (a woven straw mat), remove your slippers before stepping on it. Only bare or sock feet are allowed on these floors.

Some restaurants also have a no-shoes policy. In such cases, they may provide slippers and a cubby hole or locker for your shoes. Restaurant personnel direct you to a bench for shoe removal, so you know for certain when it is required. You can aslo know by watching what Japanese patrons do.

Also, don't worry about shared slippers and hygiene. Japan is a very hygienic society, but you still may not want to put bare feet into slippers that other might have worn since their last cleaning. To get around this, women carry a small pair of shoe liners in their bag for quick transfer before placing feet in public slippers, or wear socks or stockings with your shoes. As with other customs, be aware of what others around you are or are not doing for a cultural cue as to what is expected when traveling in Japan.

Now you are aware of the widespread custom of no-shoes-indoors, think ahead about how to remove your shoes gracefully. You may or may not have a seat for this procedure. Make it easy on yourself by planning which shoes you will wear in Japan and how to remove them easily. Maybe slip-ons? But anyways, hope you all enjoyed this blog and until next time!

                                                                                                          ~The Man Who's A Fan Of Japan

Cherry Blossoms :)

Cherry blossom trees, also known as Sakura are beautiful trees with pink flowers blooming on them and are originally native to Japan. Each year when the Sakura trees are in full bloom the Japanese people have a tradition called "Hanami" or "flower viewing" if you wanna be plain about it. Hanami is the centuries old practice of picnicking under a blooming Sakura. The custom is said to have started during the Nara Period (710-794 A.D.) The custom was originally limited to the elite of the Imperial Court, but soon spread to samurai society and, by the Edo Period, to the common people as well.Tokugawa Yoshimune, the shogun of Japan at the time planed areas of cherry blossom trees to encourage this. Under the Sakura trees, people had lunch and drank sake in cheerful feasts.

Hope you all enjoyed this posts and maybe you now want to see the cherry blossoms in person just as much as I do!
 
                                                                                  ~ The Man Who's A Fan Of Japan

Gotta sweet tooth? Try a Japanese dessert! :)

     Hey there! It's your good friend the man who's a fan of Japan. Today we're going to talk about Japanese Desserts! :) Now I don't know about any of you, but I myself LOVE food. If you saw me in person you'd understand, I'm a little on the larger side, horizontally that is! ;) Anyways, that's enough jokes for now, I'm gonna tell you about some of the many deserts that the Japanese people eat.

       

The First dessert I'm going to talk about is Mochi Ice Cream. Mochi ice cream is a Japanese confection made from mochi which is a pounded sticky rice. Then they fill it with an ice cream filling. The food is actually now very popular in America, Europe, and Africa. Mochi ice cream is a small, round desert ball consisting of a soft pounded sticky rice cake (mochi) on the outside and an ice cream filling on the inside. It is then dusted with corn starch. There are a lot of flavors to choose from, but the most popular flavors of mochi ice cream are green tea, vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and red bean. I've had it before and I must say it is super delicious!

The next and final desert that I'm going to tell you about is called Sata Andagi! Sounds like a weird name, I know, so weird that it might make you not want to try it. Well hopefully the next few sentences will change your mind. Sata andagi are sweet deep fried buns of dough, native to the Japanese prefecture(the original 47 regions of Japan) of Okinawa. They are also popular in Hawaii which would make sense considering how close the two are. Sometimes the dessert is only known as andagi. Traditional Okinawan andagi is made by mixing flour, sugar, and eggs. The ingredients are mixed into a ball and deep fried. Sounds good right? I know they sound good, because I wrote about it. ;) But if you'd like to try this dessert then find any local Japanese restaurant that's in the area and ask for it, I promise that you will not be disappointed.

Well, that wraps it up for todays blog, I hope you all enjoyed it and I hope this encourages you to try some new food! Thank you for reading!

                                                            ~The Man Who's A Fan Of Japan

Tradition Japanese Music!

Traditional Japanese music usually refers to Japan's historical folk music. One of the defining characteristics of traditional Japanese music is its sparse rhythm. Regular chords are also absent in the music they play. It is impossible for a person to beat time to the music. All of the rhythms are ma-based, and silence is an important part of the songs. The focus is on creating music that flows in an attempt to mirror the behavior of nature itself. It is regular for songs to start of at an extremely slow pace and to pick up speed as the progress. Then, they get slow again before transitioning into long and drawn out finishes.

Traditional Japanese music has three main types. Instrumental, court music, and theatrical. One type of music is the Kabuki. Kabuki music can be divided into three categories. The first category is Gidayubushi, which is similar to joruri music. Joruri is a type of narrative music that uses shamisen (picture above) and has four styles. The second type of kabuki music is Shimoza ongaku and is played for kuromisu (lower seats) below the theater stage. Another for of theatrical music is called noh. The hayashi-kata play Noh music. They use taiko, kotsuzumi, fue, and otsuzumi instruments to make the sounds. The oldest Japanese traditional music is Gagaku. Gagaku is a form of court music. Gagaku includes dances, songs, and a blend of other genres of Asian music. There are two styles of Gagaku. There are Kigaku, which is a form of instrumental music, and Seigaku, which is a form of vocal music.

Many of the musical instruments which are popular in Japanese music first came from China. These instruments include koto, shakuhachi, and wadaiko drums. A koto (see picture above) is a stringed instrument that shares a similarity to China's guzheng. It is Japan's national instrument and is made of kiri wood. It uses thirteen strings over thirteen bridges that are movable over the instrument's width. You have three picks on your fingers which is used to play it. 

Hope you all enjoyed this blog and learned something new about traditional Japanese music and hope you found it as interesting as I did when I was researching it!

                                                            ~The Man Who's A Fan Of Japan

Japanese Cuisine

The traditional food of Japan is based on rice with miso soup and other dishes, each in its own utensil, with an emphasis on seasonal ingredients. The side dishes often consist of fish, pickled vegetables, and vegetables cooked in broth. Fish is common in the traditional cuisine. It is often grilled, but it may also be served raw as sashimi or in sushi. Seafood and vegetables are also deep-fried in a light batter as tempura. Tempura is a japanese dish that is either seafood or vegetables that is deep friend in a light batter.

Udon Noodles

Apart from rice, Japanese cuisine include noodles, such as soba and udon(see picture above). Japan has many simmered dishes such as fish products in broth called oden, or beef in sukiyaki and nikujaga. Foreign food, in particular Chinese food is the form of noodles in soup called ramen and friend dumplings, gyoza, and western food such as curry and hamburger steaks are commonly found in Japan. Historically, the Japanese shunned meat, but with the modernization of Japan in the 1860's, meat-based dishes such as tonkatsu became common.

Tonkatsu

Japanese cuisine, particularly sushi, has now become popular throughout the world. But for me personally, having Japanese food just wouldn't be the same as having it in Japan. I've said this before and I'll say it again. I want to go to Japan! I want to experience everything there culture has to offer! Hope you enjoyed the blog and hope you have a good day!

                                                           ~ The Man Who's A Fan Of Japan