http://www.guidetojapanese.org/blog Japanese, Chinese, and a dash of Korean Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:44:19 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en A: Yeah right, like there's NO sarcasm in Japanese. B: Yes, that's right. There's no such thing as sarcasm in Japanese. A: Yeah, like NOBODY is sarcastic in ALL of Japan. B: You can say that. A: And that's because you know EVERYBODY in Japan, right? B: Well no, but Japanese doesn't really have the ... http://www.guidetojapanese.org/blog/2008/08/a-not-very-sarcastic-conversation-in-japanese/ According to Wikipedia, revision of the 常用漢字 (Jōyō kanji) was first proposed in February 2005 and work began in September of the same year. 2005年2月に国語分科会が「情報化時代に対応するために常用漢字のあり方を検討すべき」であるとした報告書を文化審議会に提出した。これを受けて、同年3月、中山文部科学相は常用漢字表の見直しの検討などを文化審議会に諮問した。同年9月から文化審議会・国語分科会の漢字小委員会が常用漢字見直しの審議に入った。 - Wikipedia Three years later, there was news as recently as last month of a tentative list to be released in February of 2009. The new list is ... http://www.guidetojapanese.org/blog/2008/08/the-new-%e5%b8%b8%e7%94%a8%e6%bc%a2%e5%ad%97-and-why-we-shouldnt-give-a-damn/ This is yet another post that's been picking up cruft in my draft folder for over three years. Stroke order is one of those things that might seem difficult at first but actually comes quite naturally with a bit of practice. You just have to make sure you learn the the ... http://www.guidetojapanese.org/blog/2008/08/finding-out-stroke-order-and-direction/ Ok, I have to vent a little bit here on something that's been annoying me lately. Dear Internet, Please stop using Snap Shots for your links. When I'm moving my mouse cursor over a link, it's because I want to actually click on the damn thing. I do not want an annoying ... http://www.guidetojapanese.org/blog/2008/08/these-snapshots-are-going-to-make-me-snap/ With the Olympics going on in Beijing, I'm finally seeing some programs about China on the major TV networks. It seems like it takes a big event like the Olympics or major disasters to get traditional TV to actually take even a cursory look at anything outside the US borders. ... http://www.guidetojapanese.org/blog/2008/08/sexybeijing-better-than-real-tv/ I recently received this question via email from Shiki. To: taekim.japanese AT gmail.com Date: Thu, Aug 7, 2008 at 11:39 AM Subject: Some questions about your method... You said that when you were learning Japanese you didn't study kanji, but the words made of them. So when you encountered a new word, what did ... http://www.guidetojapanese.org/blog/2008/08/bah-humbug-to-methods/ This post has been sitting in my drafts folder for almost 3 years so I decided it's high time to get it out the door finally. 「逆に」（ぎゃくに） is one of those expressions that is used all the time. Even if you decide to stop reading the rest of this post because ... http://www.guidetojapanese.org/blog/2008/08/in-soviet-russia-expressions-use-you/ The edict dictionary is one of best online dictionaries available, better than any print E->J dictionaries I know of. It is also continuously being expanded from user submissions. Even in the rare instance that it doesn't have what you're looking for, you're covered with the monster huge 大辞泉 and 大辞林 ... http://www.guidetojapanese.org/blog/2008/08/using-%e3%80%8c%e3%81%a8%e3%81%af%e3%80%8d-to-look-up-strange-words/ I just installed WPtouch on this blog for you iPhone users. Personally, I would never spend that much money on a phone every month. It would definitely fall under the "Latte Effect" on my budget. But I thought it would be a nice touch for those of you who can ... http://www.guidetojapanese.org/blog/2008/08/wptouch-cool-but-sounds-kind-of-risque/ I don't know when this was released (couldn't find any announcement on the Google Japan Blog) but it looks like Google finally introduced street view for Japan. I suppose it was only a matter of time once they figured out how to censor people's faces automatically. They covered an amazing ... http://www.guidetojapanese.org/blog/2008/08/google-what-will-they-think-of-next/