The Japan Guy - Part 3

Some Kids Just Need An A** Whoopin’

June 22, 2012
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Some Kids Just Need An A** Whoopin’

I was checking email the other day when I saw this story (that you probably have seen by now) trending about a bus monitor named Karen Klein who was bullied by very children she was trying monitor. Despite there being no fighting, this video is downright disturbing; to say this video pissed me off would be a SEVERE understatement. After watching the video I just looked at comments on some of the different sites where the video was going viral. One thing seemed very clear, people were angry, disgusted, and appalled with these children’s behavior. I read one comment that said we should pray for these kids. Umm…no, I say screw that! These kids...

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Go Get ‘Em Big Sis!

June 17, 2012
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Go Get ‘Em Big Sis!

I had quite long week, but I I heard some pretty cool news. Apparently my sister will be one of the cast member in Scary Movie 5 which will film in none other than my hometown of Atlanta, Georgia in a few short months! I so wish I could go home to see at least some of the filming. I’ll admit that I haven’t watched the Scary Movie films after the 1st one, but I am about 99.99% certain I’ll be watching this one! This was a short press release I saw about it: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118055088#.T9DWLMl2S0U.facebook Okay, back into a hermit mode for me…at least for a few more days anyway. In the meantime, please...

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Oh Shiznit! The Ultimate How-To Guide Is Going Away??

June 17, 2012
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Oh Shiznit! The Ultimate How-To Guide Is Going Away??

I’ve got bad news and I’ve got good news. I’m sure you can probably tell from the title of the post what the bad news is. Yes, in the next 72 hours, the Ultimate How-To Guide will be no more . Well, that’s not entirely true. It’s undergoing some minor updates, going from unpaid to paid, and getting a title makeover. I remember when I first started selling the guide, the price was WAY too high, and thus I ended up giving it away for free. I wanted to get an idea of what people thought of it, and the response has been nothing short of amazing! Everyone has had such great things to...

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Disappearing Donnie?

June 17, 2012
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As much as I wish I had the invisibility skills characteristic of the legendary ninja warriors…I don’t. I haven’t gone anywhere, I’ve actually been quite busy…working on quite a bit of Japan Guy stuff actually…you’ll see . I wanted to say a quick hello to you guys before I retreat back into the forests of Mount Tsukuba to continue working (I wonder if I can get good internet reception there). I’ll see you VERY SOON! Miss you guys, Donnie

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Disney vs. Ghibli, A Cartoon Studio Comparison

May 19, 2012
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Disney vs. Ghibli, A Cartoon Studio Comparison

Way back in 1928, audiences were enthralled as the black-and-white, animated short, Steamboat Willie, made its theatrical debut. The rest as they say is Disney history. Perhaps you may know of the main character in that first film. He goes by the name “Mickey Mouse.” Of course you know him! Mickey is one of the most recognizable cartoon characters on the planet, I might go as far as to say he is THE MOST recognizable. Walt, Roy, and the Disney staff went on to create a cast of characters who were so special, so beloved that continue to bring smiles to children of all ages, even some 50 years after Walt’s passing: Donald Duck...

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Epic McDonald’s Fail

May 18, 2012
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Epic McDonald’s Fail

I don’t think I mentioned this to you guys, but a couple of months ago I had the chance to audition for a McDonald’s commerical. I went knowing that it was going to be super competitive because it’s McDonald’s of course. I figured a bunch of models that I had seen before would be there, and I was right. I saw models that I literally haven’t seen in years, maybe because we’ve been auditioning for different jobs. We had to go in and act like chefs and do a Japanese dialogue we were given. I really didn’t get my hopes up, I was just happy to get through the picture selection process, but there...

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Basic Japanese Math

May 17, 2012
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Basic Japanese Math

I was sitting next to one of my Japanese coworkers today and we were talking about ropeways, cable cars, and just some differences between English and Japanese. For some reason or another, I was flipping through a Japanese textbook of mine, and tucked away index were some Japanese notes I had scribbled to myself. On this paper, I had written down some things I wanted to know how to say in Japanese. One of these things was a basic that I still wasn’t do: say basic math functions in Japanese. Since I had already started a fun little conversation with the Japanese teacher next to me, I decided to ask the teacher some basic...

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Answers to The Japan Guy Kanji Quiz

May 15, 2012
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Answers to The Japan Guy Kanji Quiz

Let’s take a brief look at the chart once more: Okay ladies and gents! Let’s see how you did. The answers below show the word and the corresponding kanji character. I also included a brief explanation of each one. Check it out! 1. One 一 One, single, solitary dash seems fitting to me. So the next time somebody asks you if you know kanji, you can show them how well you can write the kanji for the number “one.” 2. Two　二 If one dash is the number one, guess what the number two is? Two dashes!! 3. Three　三 Three dashes! 4. River　川 If you chose this one as the number three, I can definitely...

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The Song That Won’t Go Away

May 14, 2012
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The Song That Won’t Go Away

Okay, this is just a brief post because I have to hear your thoughts on this one. Recently, there is this song, that has been plaguing me! I hear it in my head ALL THE TIME!! I hear it so often in fact, that my fingers moved on their own last night and purchased the freakin’ thing from the iTunes Store. Now I’m really in trouble because I can listen to it anytime…on repeat if necessary. I’m pretty sure you know the song, because it’s not new new. It’s “Somebody That I Used To Know” by Gotye. This tune is more stuck in my brain than any song has been in a long time....

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A Japan Guy 15 Kanji Quiz

May 13, 2012
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A Japan Guy 15 Kanji Quiz

I remember eating out with my friend Abasa in the early part of my Japan stay and was so impressed by this guy. I knew so little Japanese, but he was speaking fluently, effortlessly. We talked about life in Japan and how he didn’t follow the normal teaching route. Abasa went the business route, instead. He’d lived in Japan for quite some time, and life seemed so good for him. Running into people like him who were so positive about being here, really had a big influence on me. I wanted to be able to experience Japan the way Abasa was. I wanted to be able to converse easily with the people around me....

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Whew! Problem Solved.

May 12, 2012
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Problemsolved

I don’t know how many people were trying to get to the Japan Guy website this weekend, but if you were, I suspect you were getting some weird, incomprehensible error message. Oddly enough, so was I. I have was trying to fix an image problem, but ended up crashing my entire site instead. Umm, talk about scary. For a moment I thought I had lost half of my site. After the crash, I went for a long walk last night, worried that I’d have to try to re-do one years worth of Japan Guy stuff. The danger of losing something, really makes you appreciate having it so much more. Eventually, I was able to...

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Japan Guy Note: Small Picture Issue

May 11, 2012
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TechTroubles

Hey Everybody, I was trying to do a pretty big post update today, and ran into a rather annoying little snag. You might be having a problem seeing images once you go to the posts from the main page. It’s an an techie issue that I’m trying to take care of, so please bear with me. It’ll be fixed soon, or my laptop will be in a hopeless scrap heap on apartment floor. I’m on it See you soon guys, Donald Ash

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Learning Kanji: My Five Kanji Teachers

May 10, 2012
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Learning Kanji: My Five Kanji Teachers

“BING, BONG, BING, BONG, BING, BONG, BING, BONG.” That grandfather clock-like tone means that cleaning time is over, and it’s time for the noon break. For the last four days my noon break has been a little different than normal. Every day after lunch & shouji I’ve been getting schooled in the ways of Japanese kanji by five, fifth grade girls. Learning kanji isn’t always easy, but hearing it from a Japanese kid’s perspective was really interesting. These five students were some of my best fourth graders last year, and the first day back, immediately after souji (cleaning time) they all came to my classroom, and were pretending like they were having an English...

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Ehh…A Tornado In Tsukuba?

May 6, 2012
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TsukubaTornado

I gotten a few messages today asking if I’m okay after the tornado in Tsukuba. I wanted to say thank you to those who emailed, I really appreciate it. I’m doing okay. It doesn’t look like any damage happened to the apartments and houses in my area. I think the tornado must have hit in a different part of Tsukuba. I was on my bike, riding to Tsukuba University, when the tornado hit (guess I need to pay more attention to the news). I should have noticed something was up when my door flung open as soon as I pushed the handle down. I really thought it was just a heavy thunderstorm with heavy...

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A Cool Yusuke Murata Manga

May 2, 2012
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A Cool Yusuke Murata Manga

You gotta check this out if you’re an manga fan. Even if you’re not a manga fan I think you’ll appreciate it. This manga is called When I saw how realistic it looked, my mind was transported back to the 80’s. Remember that video “Take On Me?” (I know somebody just sang the entire chorus to that song in their just now, or maybe even out loud). That was one of my favorite MTV videos because is was remarkably original. The reason why I thought of that video after looking at this manga was because the “Take On Me” video was the story of this real-life woman going into the coming book world and...

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How to Play Kendama (けん玉), Part 2

May 1, 2012
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HowToPlayKendamaP2

This is just is follow-up to How to Play Kendama, Part 1.” I guess I needed to prove that I’m not all talk . You’ll see from the video that I’m not an expert at this game, just a mere beginner actually. But this will show you the basics in action. Enjoy! Thanks for watching! Donald

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Japanese Animation, A True Art Form

April 30, 2012
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Japanese Animation, A True Art Form

I went to see a full-length feature anime yesterday. The name of this movie was ももへの手紙 (Momo heno Tegami or A Letter to Momo). For those of you who don’t know the story (I’ll try not to spoil everything) Momo heno Tegami is the story of a young girl who loses her father and finds this incomplete letter he had written to her. Momo and her mother move to a new town, where Momo also make three, very strange, unlikely, new “friends.” Initially, the commercials were what got me interested in going to see the film. The film just looked intriguing, funny, and semi-strange…what more could you want out of a movie . Honestly...

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How To Play Kendama (けん玉), Part 1

April 29, 2012
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How To Play Kendama (けん玉), Part 1

Japanese bilboquet or Kendama (けん玉) is a game that’s been around for ages…in some way, shape or form, all over the world. Some people call it bilboquet, or the Bilbo Catcher, the cup and ball game, or the ring and pin game**. Since the origins of the game are unclear, I figured it’s a good time to make up a Japan Guy story as to how kendama began, so here it goes: **I’ve heard this called bilboquet and the cup and ball game, but not the ring and pin or Bilbo Catcher. Thanks Waterloo University =============================================================================== In the beginning, the earth was a place of harmony, and land of blue seas and green trees....

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