Learning Japanese - Cascadian Abroad

Whether the Weather Be Fine

June 2, 2015 by Robert Haddan

No matter where you are in the world, the topic of weather is a popular one. Everyone has an opinion on the weather, so it’s a perfect conversation topic amongst strangers. We all plan our activities and clothing choices around the weather. One of the first things our various Japanese language lessons teach is how to say “It’s good weather today, isn’t it?” (今日は良い天気ですね).

Meteorologists are regular targets of death threats and harassment when their forecasts go awry. The forecast is so important in South Africa that independent forecasters can be fined or imprisoned for incorrectly predicting the weather.

Today's high temperatures. It's the first day over 30ºC (86ºF) in Saitama in 2015. — Today’s high temperatures. It’s the first day over 30ºC (86ºF) in Saitama in 2015.

In Japan, a country whose citizens spend a significant amount of time navigating the day on foot or bicycle, the weather report is a big part of the morning newscast. From your run-of-the-mill temperature forecast to predicting the path of wild weather from Pacific typhoons, the forecast covers it all.

The wind and tides forecast is part of our daily weather story. In addition to damaging storms, the daily breeze can help determine whether it’s a good day to wash blankets (and hang them outside to dry), air out the house (high winds bring in a lot of dust and dirt) or bring a light jacket despite warm weather. Fire danger is a big concern in Japan and the prevailing winds can alleviate or amplify those worries. The forecast is important to coastal fishermen as well.

The laundry forecast: Should I do laundry today? (きょうのお洗濯は？)

Then it gets fun. There’s a daily laundry forecast. Most Japanese homes don’t have clothes dryers (we don’t). Laundry is hung out on poles mounted over patios or outside apartment building windows using a variety of strategic drying gadgets. The scale goes from blue (hard to dry) to orange (dry well) depending on the day’s weather conditions. Today is a good day to do laundry.

The ultraviolet rays forecast shows the strength of UV rays throughout the day. Many women wear large, floppy hats, arm-length gloves and carry a parasol to protect themselves from the harmful rays of the sun. I wish I’d seen yesterday’s forecast before my run. My shoulders were Barney the Dinosaur purple!

Finally, the heat stroke index. At first, I thought maybe this was the child tolerance index—how long your child will last before having a meltdown due to the heat. This one ranges from safe (ほぼ安心) up to danger (危険). Today in Saitama (さいたま), we’re in the caution (注意) to vigilance (警戒) range. All jokes aside, it gets hot and humid in Japan during the summertime. In 2013, nearly 40,000 people were hospitalized from June to August due to heat stroke and 78 people died from complications.

NHK's current asadora (朝ドラ—morning drama) Mare, starring Tao Tsuchiya — NHK’s current asadora (朝ドラ—morning drama) Mare, starring Tao Tsuchiya

Best of all, the weather forecast leads into the morning 15-minute soap opera miniseries. The current iteration—NHK’s 92nd asadora or morning drama series—is about a young woman who moves to Yokohama to become a baker, but finds that the cake just doesn’t taste right and sets out to create the perfect pastries. The previous miniseries featured Charlotte Kate Fox, NHK’s first American actress in a leading role, about the creation of the Nikka Whisky Distilling company.

Odds and Ends

October 20, 2014 by Robert Haddan

School is back in session, so October has been about settling back into routine and planning the next round of adventures. But Japan is still throwing twists and turns our way. Here’s a few interesting tidbits from the last couple weeks:

Phun with phones

One of the reasons we decided not to get phones in Japan is, frankly, there’s not really anyone to call here. The international plans are expensive and the video chat technology is way better for keeping in touch with family and friends back home. But, there’s the occasional need to make a local call, so with a little finagling, I can now make local phone calls from my computer.

However, there’s still the problem of the language barrier. I’ve been running a lot over the last few months. It’s a great workout, but it’s also high impact and leads to a lot of aches and pains, so I decided to schedule a massage. I got a recommendation from one of the GTFs for a local masseuse and decided to try and schedule an appointment over the phone. As usual, I wrote out my script and dialed the number.

Gogo wa yoyaku dekimasu ka? Do you have an appointment for this afternoon?

The voice on the other end of the digital line indicated that she didn’t have any availability today. I asked about the following Monday and that I was available anytime. She seemed to say that anytime on Monday would be fine. Itsudemo daijōbu desu.

Monday morning, I headed over to the massage place. As I walked up the stairs, I saw someone leave the office. As I approached the door, the office was dark and locked up. I’d been bitten by the Japanese cultural characteristic of never saying no.

But, as usual, it turned into a positive. I wandered around the floor and found another massage studio right around the corner. A small, one-woman operation called Sun and Moon. We established that an appointment that day couldn’t happen since she had a dental appointment. We began to set a time for the next day, but both of us were a little unclear of the details.

She asked me to follow her across the hall to a shop owned by a couple from Nepal who both spoke English. After settling the details of the appointment, the man asked me to sit and have tea. We sipped Masala chai and talked about Nepal, Japan and America. I mentioned that we’d like to travel to India and Nepal. He offered his brother’s home if we needed a place to stay. We chatted in English for about 30 minutes before I headed out.

As usual, for every frustrating experience, several positive experiences follow that highlight the kindness of the people we encounter everyday. The following morning, I had an excellent massage. She served me a cup of green tea at the end of the appointment. I told her I was a runner, so zenbu ga itai ne! Everything hurts! She laughed, said she could never be a runner and asked if I was running the Kawagoe Marathon, which got a laugh out of me. When we hit a snag in our conversation, she grabbed her phone and translated from Japanese to English… Did it hurt?

In fact, nothing about this particular experience hurt at all.

Blue beer

Don’t adjust your sets. This is Abashiri Brewery’s Okhotsk Blue Draft, colored with blue seaweed. The accompanying meal is shiitake mushroom french dip sandwiches on homemade rolls.

The beer section of the local grocery store rarely surprises me anymore, but a shock of blue caught my eye the other day. Hokkaido’s Abashiri Brewery is playing with color as well as flavor with their Okhotsk Blue Draft. The beer pours a greenish-blue (I backlit the glass to see more of the blue color), but instead of using dyes or other horrible chemicals, they’ve achieved this naturally. The water comes from melted icebergs that have floated into the Sea of Okhotsk. The color comes from blue seaweed and gardenias. It’s categorized as a “vegetable beer” thanks to the use of Chinese yams (which have copious health benefits).

How’s it taste? Well, it’s light and bubbly with a subtle beer flavor. But it’s blue! Abashiri also makes green and red beers using plant pigments for the coloring.

Blood moon

I know I’m a couple weeks behind on this one, but the blood moon from the lunar eclipse visited us at a reasonable hour. While Cascadians had to get out of bed early to see the sight, we got to see it around 8:30 p.m. and managed some good pictures before going to bed.

How Do You Say…

October 6, 2024October 7, 2014 by Robert Haddan

I recently started reading a book called The Japanese Have a Word for It. Among other things, it discusses the loaded words of the Japanese language. While there are plenty of one-to-one relationships between Japanese and English (i.e. inu = dog), there are plenty of words that don’t translate cleanly. These words represent complete ideas or cultural nuances that go beyond a simple translation.

For example, the word shoganai is an important descriptor for Japanese culture. In American English, it might translate to “there’s nothing we can do about it, so why worry about it?” but it’s a phrase that defines Japan and its people. The trait helped the country bounce back after World War II and, more recently, the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. It’s also perceived as a weakness by many foreigners as an excuse for people who let life steamroll them, although I know I use the phrase “it is what it is” pretty regularly when things are beyond my control.

The book leads off with a brief history of the Japanese language as a “secret code.” The book claims the complexities were intentional as a way to keep foreign influence at arm’s length. As a result, there’s a cultural belief that the language is so difficult to learn that foreigners would never be able to pick it up. It probably contributes to many of the stereotypes foreigners face here, even those who speak fluent Japanese (the following video is short and hilarious).

So, to veer completely off that topic, the book’s introduction made me think about how difficult it must have been to be a foreigner in Japan before translation dictionaries or the internet. I spend a couple hours most days following internet rabbit holes to figure out how to say things, identify odd-looking groceries or translate the important-looking document that arrived in the mail.

We’re also able to stay plugged in to interests and events from home in a way that we couldn’t have imagined 50 or 100 years ago. When our brains reach Japanese overload (which happens frequently), we can flip on the Apple TV and watch our favorite shows on Netflix or stream the latest episode of The Daily Show on our laptops. I was able to watch the Portland Trail Blazers 2014 playoff run as it happened and caught a bunch of Chicago Cubs games this year.

I even have the audacity to be upset when the 1080p video internet streaming of a real-time sporting event from the other side of the globe has the nerve to pause for 5 seconds to buffer. Oh well… shoganai!

Some of that complexity still gets me on a daily basis though. The difference between kirei and kirai is a subtle “key-ray” vs “key-rye,” but the former means “beautiful” while the latter means “to hate.” Kawaii and kowai are really close (“ka-why-e” vs “ko-why”, but the first means “cute” while the other means “scary.”

Anyway… excuse the rambling nature of this post. It all made sense in my head!

If Only Somebody Had Told Me…

August 30, 2014 by Robert Haddan

Most of the posts on Cascadian Abroad are very positive and reflect our experiences honestly and accurately. Some of the more difficult experiences (that, again honestly, make up only a small part of our time here) are usually couched with humor and sarcasm. But it hasn’t all been easy.

A few weeks ago we had an e-mail dialog with a woman back in the U.S. who was deciding whether or not to come to Japan to teach next spring. It was an interesting thread as it really made us think about the experience so far and what we wish we would have known before we made the decision to come to Japan. Her and her fiancé are in a similar position as we were back in our decision-making process, so we were happy to provide some information.

Had we known these things in advance, it wouldn’t have changed our decision to come and actually might have expedited our decision while helping us better prepare for the move. I’d like to share some of those things today.

Finding a job in Japan will be difficult

Since her spouse was also leaving a career in the U.S., they had questions about finding work. My visa allows me to work up to 28 hours per week, but finding a part-time job isn’t an easy task. Most English-speaking jobs in our area still require at least business-level knowledge of Japanese. I’m still working up to toddler-level Japanese, so most of those opportunities are off the table. The couple of contacts I’ve made have projects that are “in the works,” but they are moving on Japan Time, which is akin to Island Time.

Not very many people speak English

Americans are pretty ethnocentric (although I think it’s not just Americans), so prior to coming to Japan, we got a lot of “Don’t worry, they’ll probably speak English.” That may be true in parts of Tokyo or other large cities, but where we live, it’s just not the case. Some people learned a little bit in school, much like we speak a little bit of Spanish or French or whatever language class we took for two years in high school. Those who know a little are more than happy to try and communicate with you, but (no duh!) I’ve found that I need to learn Japanese to communicate in Japan.

Our adventure started in a whirlwind fashion, but I think if we had more time it would have been helpful to take Japanese classes in the U.S. with English-speaking teachers. When you’re starting from scratch, or rebooting nearly 20 years removed from high school Japanese, learning in-context is tough, especially with a language not based in a Latin/Roman script.

People will stare at you

One thing that alternately annoys me and fascinates me is that we stick out like a sore thumb in our neighborhood. Some people are interested, some stare with suspicion, some children cry and scramble into their parents’ arms (all true stories). The suspicious stares are a little hurtful as is the feeling when a mother hastily grabs up her child when you walk by, purely because of the color of your skin (and, yes, it feels odd to write that as a Caucasian person).

Mostly though, people are really kind to us. We were coming home from a walk today when a man came up to us and, in his best English, invited us to “this town’s festival.” Our neighborhood had a little carnival in the park. A few people smiled wide at us and greeted us. A man gave us a ticket for a kakigōri (Japanese shaved ice). A couple days ago, the druggist who helped me find cough medicine last week remembered me on our next visit and asked if the medicine helped. Many people are interested in where we’re from and I wish that I knew more Japanese to be able to answer all of their questions.

Ship a BUNCH of your favorite things

We had the opportunity to ship two large boxes about six weeks before we left the U.S. Add in a couple checked bags and our carry-ons, that’s all we would be bringing on our adventure. Trying to figure out what you’d want or need in a place you’ve never been is tough. I have way too many pairs of socks and nice pants and we’re all out of Kirkland Signature Natural Creamy Peanut Butter already. Japan’s customs restrictions mean we can’t ship a lot of our favorites products from the States, which isn’t that big a deal because it’s pretty spendy to do so anyway. But, being forced to adapt, I’ve perfected a shiitake mushroom “beef” jerky and veggie bratwurst!

Let go and enjoy the adventure!

I’ll admit, I was way too uptight about some of the little things. Leaving behind everything you know isn’t easy, but the things we’ve seen over the last five months have made it all worthwhile. I know my poor wife gets a lot of “How’s Robert doing?” questions, expecting to find me huddled in a corner crying. My answer? I snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef two weeks ago, saw the Sydney Opera House last week and climbed to the summit of Mount Fuji four days ago.

I’m fine, thanks.

Language Barrier

June 23, 2014 by Robert Haddan

One of my earliest childhood memories is of sitting in the kitchen with my mom. I remember asking “Why doesn’t everyone speak English?” It made perfect sense in my little head. Everyone must translate it into English in their brains to understand it, so why don’t they just say it in English to begin with?

I don’t remember the exact answer, but Mom explained how people speak different languages and they might translate our English into their own languages to help them understand. It certainly framed my perspective in life.

A hot button issue in the U.S. immigration debate is whether or not foreigners should have English-language proficiency before they’re able to become permanent residents. Pew Research Center projects that 82% of population growth in the U.S. between 2005 and 2050 will be immigrants and their descendants. I can imagine at some point in the future, the debate will extend to whether all Americans should be bilingual in English and Spanish.

Over the years, I’ve always fell on the side of “live and let live” when it comes to language. But when we made the decision to move to Japan, I knew that I wanted to learn Japanese, much in the way that I suspect most immigrants to the U.S. want to learn English. However, learning a new language isn’t something that just happens. I have two years of high-school Japanese under my belt, which has helped me some, but even that isn’t enough for me to be able to communicate my needs. If Japan had proficiency laws, they wouldn’t let me within a million miles of the shoreline.

I found that we’ve approached learning Japanese in line with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. We started with vocabulary and phrases related to food. I would like… Do you have… Does it have meat or fish… Now that we’re able to sustain ourselves, we’ve been able to start adding some additional words and phrases to enhance our experiences.

The four primary Japanese writing systems

Reading and writing is critical as well. Navigating the trains and stores require the ability to read. Japanese has four primary methods of writing.

Kanji is adapted from Chinese and each symbol typically represents a word or words. Depending on how they’re combined, they take on different meanings. Elementary school children learn approximately 1,000 kanji and some estimates have the total number of kanji somewhere around 50,000.

Hiragana is used as particles to connect kanji, but also to spell native Japanese words for which no kanji exists. Katakana is used primarily for foreign words. It has mostly the same sounds as hiragana, but is a different character set. Finally, rōmaji is used to help non-Japanese readers navigate the Japanese world. For example, most street names, government documents intended for foreigners and advertisements use rōmaji heavily.

In theory, Japanese should be easier to learn than English. The Japanese language has five vowel sounds and 17 consonant sounds vs. the 20 vowel sounds and 24 consonant sounds in English. For example, in Japanese, the “a” vowel is always an “ah” sound (ka, ga, wa, etc.). But in English, the “a” vowel can be long, as in “ape,” short as in “apple,” an “uh” sound like in “zebra,” an “ah” sound like in “art” or in the case of “orange,” the darn thing just disappears completely.

Learning Japanese hasn’t come without more than its fair share of frustrations. As one of our friends put it the other day, it has a “one step forward, two steps back” feel about it most days. I feel confident at restaurants and grocery stores, but if the neighbor drops by or a salesman comes to the door, it’s like starting from scratch.

The hardest part for me has been the frustration of not being able to communicate. I like to make small talk with the store clerk or people in line. I tried to make a comment about the weather at the grocery store the other day. I was buying a new umbrella and said Ame, desu ne! which was my best shot at It’s really raining, isn’t it? The clerk laughed and replied with a long string of words I didn’t know. Since she laughed, I laughed too, which encouraged her to continue. I faked it as best I could, but I’m sure she sensed the conversation was one-sided from that point forward.

It’s only been three months, so I know I have to cut myself some slack. I’m picking up more and more each day and am starting to figure out some tricks for retaining what I learn. I’ve been making up little songs when I learn something new, which helps the phrase stick. My reading of hiragana and katakana is probably 95 percent, which means I can usually figure out the other 5 percent. I haven’t spent much time with kanji, other than memorizing things like “meat’ (肉) and “fish” (魚), but I’m starting to recognize common ones, like “river” (川), “entrance” (入口), “exit” (出口) and “mountain” (山).

Lately, I’ve been trying to focus on grammar. I figure if I can pick out the pieces of language, that’s when you really start building a toolbox. You can start to construct new ideas and, even if not 100 percent grammatically correct, there is at least some meaning to the listener.

Even in high school, I never really tried to learn a language. My only point of comparison is learning programming languages. With those, there’s always the initial struggle followed by the belief that you’ll never learn it. Then, one day, something clicks and all of a sudden you’re proficient. After awhile, you start to have dreams in code (which can be a great way to solve a problem that you’ve been chewing on all day).

I don’t think I’ll be fluent in two years. Heck, I’m not even sure if I’ll be able to carry on a conversation. But, I think I’m off to a good start and maybe someday I’ll even have a dream in Japanese. I have a real motivation to learn, not just to survive, but to thrive.