675 Posts Found

Patrick Benny, the guy who created Petit Kanji (and helped me get EDICT and KANJIDIC into MySQL) has a blog here. It covers various topics, but the major focus is on music.

Source: Patrick Benny | Subject: Blogs

Japanese school children first learn hiragana and katakana, then 1006 kanji characters (Education Kanji) through grade one to six. With “Kanji Land” lessons, you will learn all of the 1006 kanji characters.

A new kanji character is introduced every day. First you will learn 80 kanji characters which are taught in grade one at Japanese school, then 160 for grade two, and it goes … [ Read more ]

Source: About.com / Namiko Abe | Subject: Kanji

Japan is the one of the most expensive countries on earth. In response to many questions that I keep hearing over and over (and over…) from people I meet and Usenet Newbies, I’ve created a list of answers to some of the most common questions regarding visiting and living in Japan. Up to now there have been mountains of books from ivory-tower academics praising Japan … [ Read more ]

Source: The Japan FAQ | Subject: Travel & Tourism

Here are a few do’s and don’ts you should know when in Japan…

Source: The Japan FAQ:Know Before You Go | Subject: Culture

This site is to familiarize you with a few basic characteristics of Japanese culture and behavior that the westerner will encounter. There are many reactions and attitudes that Japanese will give off — many of them the typical westerner would ordinarily not pick up on. But if you come to Japan and want to have better relations, as well as a better understanding of how … [ Read more ]

Source: The Japan FAQ: Know Before You Go | Subject: Culture

This site offers some photos and commentary on Japanese nationwide festivals and celebrations.

Source: The Japan FAQ: Know Before You Go | Subject: Culture

Companion to a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) documentary that “offers a rare opportunity to go inside the cloistered and highly secretive world of sumo, where the historical clash between East and West plays out in the story of the Western outsiders who have entered this quintessentially Japanese institution.” Features profiles of wrestlers, history, a recipe for chanko (staple dish of sumo wrestlers), annotated links, an … [ Read more ]

Source: Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) | Subject: Sports

The verb “suru (to do)” has many extended uses that occur quite often.

Source: About.com / Namiko Abe | Subject: Grammar

This is a collection of easy Japanese phrases. Speaking Japanese shouldn’t be too complicated even for beginners. Try these simple phrases whenever you have a chance. The more you practice, the better you get! The Japanese writings for each phrase are included for your reading and writing practice. New phrases will be added every week.

Editor’s Note: one nice aspect of this feature is that … [ Read more ]

Source: About.com / Namiko Abe | Subject: Vocabulary / Phrases

This site has eight folktales from Japan, written (translated) in English (no Japanese version available apparently). The eight are:
1. The Two Frogs
2. The Mirror of Matsuyama
3. Visu the Woodsman and the Old Priest
4. Little Peachling
5. The Tongue-Cut Sparrow
6. A Woman and the Bell of Miidera
7. The Stonecutter
8. Danzay駑on, Chief of the Etas

Source: D. L. Ashliman | Subject: Culture

According to several of my Japanese friends, this is the best online dictionary available. That said, it is far more useful to native speakers than non-native speakers. Still, this is a great “secondary” source to help when your primary source (e.g. WWWJDIC) leaves you unsure. Another strength is its sample sentences which really help figure out if a word is appropriate for your intended use. … [ Read more ]

Source: SPACE ALC | Subject: Translate

The Modern Language Association (MLA) “Language Map uses data from the 2000 United States census to display the locations and numbers of speakers of thirty languages and seven groups of less commonly spoken languages.” The site features maps with data displayed by county or ZIP code. “Visit the Data Center for information about numbers of speakers of languages in a specific … area … or … [ Read more ]

Source: Modern Language Association (MLA) | Subject: Other Useful Resources

This site features images of selected items from the collection of “over 500 Japanese art objects, mostly from the Edo period.” Browse paintings by artist, subject (such as monkeys, geishas, or landscapes), or historic period. Also include images of artists’ seals, example of contemporary netsuke sculpture, and a brief history of the Edo period.

Source: Shin’enKan Foundation | Subject: Arts & Entertainment

Features a calendar of Japanese art exhibits at U.S. museums, and lists of books, articles, magazines, and museums focusing on Japanese art. From a “not-for-profit group whose members include leading New York galleries and private dealers.”

Source: Japanese Art Dealers Association of New York (JADA) | Subject: Arts & Entertainment

The Java Kanji Flashcard 500 project is designed to help students of written Japanese learn the 500 most commonly occuring Chinese characters, or kanji. This Java applet displays Japanese in any browser that supports Java 1.0. You do not need a Japanese browser or operating system to study these kanji.

Each kanji character is displayed on a “card” containing a large kanji character, its on … [ Read more ]

Source: Stephen Ryner Jr. | Subject: Kanji

Tokyo Recohan is a select CD shop based in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in used Japanese CDs. Payments are done securely through PayPal.

Source: Tokyo Recohan | Subject: Music – General

Ted Mills has created the first Wiki devoted to Japanese Rock, Pop, and Beyond. With a Wiki, anybody can add or update entries, and the hope is to make this a one-stop reference shop for all things Japanese and music-like, written in English.

Current topics found on this site:
– A Brief History Of Japanese Popular Music
– Japanese music styles and trends … [ Read more ]

Source: Ted Mills | Subject: Music

This site lets you study Japanese, and especially kanji, while singing along to your favorite songs and practicing for your next karaoke!

The targeted audience being very specific, it’s not likely that this site will appeal to many people. Actually I made it for myself only, but hopefully it may also be helpful or interesting to others. 🙂

If :
– you are learning Japanese
– … [ Read more ]

Source: Patrick Benny | Subjects: Music – General, Video / Audio

This 8 page .pdf document is one of the free sample documents from Lawrence Howell’s Kanji Master Program. It lists and categorizes the 214 Kanji radicals.

Source: Lawrence J. Howell | Subject: Kanji

Find lots of useful background information on Kanji on this page.

– Section I A Brief History of the Characters

– Section II The Four Types of Characters

– Section III Points of Note Regarding the Characters

– Section IV ON and KUN Readings of the Characters in Japan

Source: Lawrence J. Howell | Subject: Kanji