Bonnie Pink

I'm not generally a fanatic when it comes to music, but for this artist I think things have changed. Bonnie Pink or Kaori Asada has been singing since the mid 90s. She is a singer/songwriter that combines both Japanese and English lyrics with a beautiful voice. Details on her can be found:

Nippop.com

Wiki.jpopstop.com

Official Site

Nix

I'm going to nix smart.fm for a couple of days. For some reason it seemed like a smart idea to start my review session with it simply because its a short term goal with tangible results. Its something I can celebrate when I complete it. But, I've realized this afternoon, as I stared blankly at my computer screen, that my goal here is not to complete smart.fm because its something I started. But rather to review kanji that I have neglected for weeks. So the new plan is to nix everything digital for a few days, and focus only on the 1000 flashcards that occupy a shoebox on my dresser. I made those things and damn it, I'm going to use them.

I'm also making a new rule of doing a quick review of at least 100 cards twice a week once I get back to my regular schedule. Cyberspace has nifty tool that are great and everything, but old school, hardcore flashcards work too.

Japanese Dramas

Some of the best exposer to a language comes from sources of entertainment such as the following I'm going to mention. I'm a fan of anime, however I believe Japanese live action dramas are more beneficial for language learners because seeing actual human speak the language rather than animated characters can be useful. Even if the stories involve samurai body/soul swapping, vampires and hackers, J Dramas, as they are known in cyberspace, can be addictive and good. This is a list of some of the dramas I have enjoyed, details on them and links where they can be found. Enjoy!

Mochizuki Kotaro is a mild-mannered, unmanly high school student. One day, he visits a library and meets the mysterious librarian Himiko, who recommends to him an ancient book about a heroic general from the Sengoku period 400 years ago. Kotaro notices that he has the same name and age as the general described in the book, and he experiences a flashback... Kotaro later mentions the book to his father, who tells him that he may be the descendent of a powerful samurai. At that moment, Kotaro receives a message from his childhood friend Ai telling him that their classmate Nakamura Tsuyoshi is in trouble. He rushes to the scene but doesn't have the guts to help, until another flashback transforms him into a samurai! Click here to watch.

After a biological terrorist attack kills off the population of a Russian town; Japan's Public Safety Special Third unit, code name THIRD-i, believes that the terrorist organization responsible plans to unleash the same virus known as Bloody X into Tokyo. Subsequently, THIRD-i recruits the help of genius hacker Takagi Fujimaru to find out what happened in the Russia. However, as Fujimaru becomes involved, he soon finds out that he is in over his head and that the terrorist groups influence reaches not only his school but even the police. Fujimaru must now rely on his skill as a hacker to unravel the organizations sinister plot and find out the truth behind "Bloody Monday." Click here to watch.

Whereas the first series dealt with a deadly Russian weapons-grade virus, the new season is set two years later when an aircraft bearing a new kind of nuclear weapon threatens Tokyo. Click here to watch.

Luka has yet to mature into a full-fledged vampire. His canines have yet to fully develop, which means he still hasn't tasted human blood — or, at least, human blood that he's drawn himself. In order to get him prepared, he is cast down into the world of humans, where he boards with Jiro, the owner of a Chinese restaurant, and enrolls in high school. His homeroom teacher is a cheerful, though meddlesome, young woman who catches the fledgling bloodsucker off-guard. Is he actually falling in love with a mortal? Click here to watch.

Shinagawa Daichi used to be a good student who has now become a delinquent, while class president Adachi Hana was a delinquent who is now trying to move on. Her secret is discovered by Shinagawa, but she involves herself trying to correct his ways. Click here to watch.

This series follows the daily lives of 4 vampires that live together in a European-style building: Kiyoi is the eldest who takes care of the others, Masakazu is a college student who gets information on criminal activities, and Ageha and Makoto both go to high-school (and tend to end up helping Masakazu whether they really want to or not). They fight against crime when the cops are unwilling or unable to do so. The series is based off of a shounen-ai manga published in B's Log. Whether you like shounen-ai or not, it hasn't been very obvious in this series and it may not be... the jury's still out on that. Click here to watch.

Ryuzaki Shinji who possesses a ?God Hand?, the power to heal wounds and illnesses just by touching the patient, is in fact a dark introvert who does not reveal his true self to others. Aoi Ryosuke who possesses the ?Demon?s Hand?, the power to kill a person just by touching him, is as kind and pure as an angel. When the demon meets the God, a fatal battle begins? Detective Hasebe Nagisa gets caught by the criminals during a deep cover operation. Ryosuke, a man she does not even know comes to save her and she witnesses his ?Demon?s Hand? in action. Thereafter she discovers by coincidence the existence of Shinji?s ?God Hand? and brings the two together. Little did she know that this would cause great disorder to the world and even to her own life. Click here to watch.

The story revolves around a young man named Mahigashi Teru. When he was young, his father, a brilliant surgeon, died in an accident, but not before saving Teru's life. As a result, Teru also aims to become a great surgeon like his father, devoted to never letting a patient die. As a clumsy newcomer at his hospital, he seems to be an unlikely savior. But whenever a patient's life is in danger, his true powers emerge in the form of his "god hands," allowing him to successfully perform even the most difficult operations. Click here to watch.

Setsu and Souwa are members of the Inui family, descended from itako. Their high school graduation is coming up, but the head of the Inui family suddenly runs away. Their older brother Kai, a priest who studied exorcism abroad, becomes their guardian, and Setsu and Souwa are forced to take over the family business of dealing with spirits. Click here to watch.

Second Mass Review

Tomorrow is the first official day of my second mass review. This review will last for two weeks and will cover all of the first 1000 kanji. My game plan is to use Smart.fm as a crutch. I made it at least half way or more through most of the lesson sets. This is the perfect opportunity to complete them. I am also debating whether or not to type stories on RTK. That could be troublesome because most of those early stories were written by Heisig and therefore don't have the resonation of the later ones, but they are nevertheless important. Its not that its counter productive, spelling information out is incredibly useful in my memorization process. I'm just not looking forward to typing up the first 20 lessons. I can't even imagine. And I also don't want to overwhelm myself. I need to remember to stick with the basics. My flash cards are the most readily available resource I have. Though after two months, flash cards have become somewhat tiresome.

This is nearly the halfway point. And I've been looking forward to this review. I get to go two whole weeks without making new flashcards. Yay ... right? I anticipate that I will complete Rosetta Stone by the end of this month. Once I do, I will spend two weeks doing an intensive grammar study. After that, I will return to and repeat Rosetta Stone with the intention of completing one core lesson plus the speaking lesson every other day. In addition to that, I will spend those days off composing journal entries for both this blog and Lang8. I will employ as much vocabulary and grammar from each of the Rosetta Stone lessons as possible. I would like to create a running vocabulary list from which I can study, but like I said before, I do not wish to overwhelm myself. If I burn out, I'm going to fail at this. But if I don't start writing and typing Japanese everyday, this is not going to work. I do my best to spend at least 30 minutes a day hearing the language, but most of my attention is on reading subtitles not listening. Lang8 offers the opportunity to both have my entries read and corrected by native speakers and also for me to read entries typed by native speakers along side the Japanese. Its a useful site. One I have neglected to employ thus far because I believed my vocabulary was too severely lacking to a regular journal any justice. However, once I complete Rosetta Stone and the grammar review, I feel confident that I'll can make basic and relevant sentence structure.

Music

Is it mathematics or music that suppose to be the universal language? Regardless. Music has its uses. Ever had a song you could not stand, stuck in your head? I'd like to use that annoyance to my advantage and purposely get Japanese songs stuck in my head. As I listen to the songs, I'll follow along with a Furiganizer version and a translated version of the lyrics. There is also another useful tool that may come in handy with this music venture. Text To Speech is a site that will speak any text you paste on the page, regardless of the language. The speed of the speech can even be adjusted. Its an excellent way to hear the lyrics without the background music, if you can get over the bland computerized voice and irritating ads.

1000th Kanji Milestone

I just made my 1000th flashcard!