Tag: Japanese

A week of important decisions and output

There is something about the corner of this 50-storey building that thrills me. It’s so sharp. So determined to cut through the air. So confident. You can’t help but admire an attitude like that. It’s the corner of a building bordering Hamarikyu Gardens, photos of which you’ll find below. But before we get into that, […]

Shinjuku’s Cocoon building, and speaking Japanese

This is my favourite building in Tokyo at the moment. It’s the IMode Gakuen Cocoon Tower, winner of the prestigious ‘Skyscraper of the Year Award 2008’. I wonder if it attended the awards ceremony or just sent a video message explaining it was a bit tied up that night. On Saturday George and I recorded […]

How being able to speak Japanese has changed my life in Japan

I’ve been wanting to write this little post for some time. It’s not aimed at people who are perfectly happy not using Japanese whilst living in Japan (which I think is perfectly OK). It’s aimed at those considering studying Japanese. My hope is that it provides at least one person with a little inspiration. It’s […]

A new study set-up

My old study-setup I’m very much an advocate of taking action to change one’s surroundings should they not be conducive to feeling at ease. For example, a friend of mine has been having issues at work involving smoke from an adjoining (smoking) room filling her office, but rather than just complain about it she went […]

Japanese lesson, and cake

Been a funny day today. In some ways a little frustrating, as I spent about 4 hours trying to do the simplest bit of coding in MS Office Access, but failing. I’m hoping I have an early morning breakthrough tomorrow as I have every time I’ve run into a difficult problem with it so far. […]

It’s a small, small world

Photographic entertainment is provided by yesterday’s Office Halloween party (sorry for the repetition to those of you who have already seen them in my site feed). For the past two weeks I’ve been looking for someone to do tandem learning with. That is, someone who will teach me Japanese in exchange for me teaching them […]

Into the recycle bin

Busy bee, spotted on the way back from the exam. 13 hours into freedom So, I spent much of the afternoon feeling somewhat lost, before deciding that what was called for was assertiveness. I need to move on. No point in lingering in some in-between state. It’s too easy to comfort oneself with the idea […]

Japanese stage debut

I’ve never been one for over-dramatisation… (an extract from a mini-drama staged in our Japanese speaking class today. Sorry about the poor camerawork. That’s the problem when one is on the wrong side of the camera – unless one has a psychic link with the camera and tripod it’s difficult to get it to zoom […]

Bank Holiday stuff

Every time I come back to my parent’s house I make a point of a) eating mum’s home-made chocolate cake, and b) sorting through the stuff under my old bed to see what of my belongings can be given away. As time passes so it becomes easier to dispose of stuff, and it’s now reached […]

Another reason to study Japanese at the School of East Asian Studies

No, Sheffield University’s School of East Asian Studies isn’t paying my bandwidth bill, nor are my examiners reading the Daily Mumble (that wig and false nose suit you pretty well actually). However, the department has played a huge part in giving me the best possible uni experience ever – an experience which will shortly be […]

Japanese Language Proficiency Test: Decision made

I have a friend in Bristol with a Japanese wife and a child, who keeps a blog on which he posts updates about his progress in learning Japanese. This week, just like thousands of others around the world, he received the results of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, held every December. This time he didn’t […]