Tofugu.com

This is pretty old news, but something I only came across today while browsing JapanSoc. Apparently a village in Japan called Inakadate (田舎館) has a ridiculously awesome festival where hundreds of people help out and plant different varieties of rice that grow up to be different colors (and thus create images like the ones you see above). They started doing this to reinvigorate the town, and it’s done quite well! In 2006 there were 200,000 visitors alone. That has to do something good for their economy. Let’s take a look at some of the rice paddies they’ve made up till now! (more…)

It’s New Year’s Eve (in my time zone, at least) and since I haven’t been super active here lately, I decided to make some e-nengajou (年賀状 or New Year’s postcards) for you guys. Most everybody in Japan sends out nengajou to their family, friends, and coworkers, and as long as they’re taken to the post office before December 25th, they all arrive on January 1st. Ours are a little early, but it’s the thought that counts, right? Make sure to click on the previews for the full size cards ↓

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Due to our total lack of creativity at the moment (ending the year with a bang, I’m tellin’ ya), we thought we’d do exactly what you’d expect, and tell you what our favorite posts were. One thing we are going to do is let the three Tofugu authors (which includes myself) come up with their own favorites. I was surprised, we picked completely different stories.

Well, everyone have a great new year, and take a look if you want to look back on our dirty past (my commentary included).

Viet’s Top 5:

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I got this tip from Joyce, a college professor, and expert in Godzilla studies (not even kidding). She uses this as part of a lesson on cultural insight. Sounds like a fun class. Read on!

It’s funny enough to put something into an online translator to change it to Japanese, then putting it back through the opposite way to see what it comes up with, but this is on a whole new level. This is actually a version of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer made just for Japan, culture insight included. Let’s take a look: (more…)

Wow! Wow wow wow. Whoever made this, send me an e-mail. Well, technically I know who you are, but I don’t know how to contact you, so please e-mail!

I have this thing set up where I get notified every time someone links to Tofugu, or even mentions the word Tofugu, so every time you say something about us, I’ll know (I’m like Santa that way). We’ve always wanted to make a Tofugu cake over here on our end, but now we’ve been shamed with this piece of glory. I don’t think we’ll ever be able to look at cake the same way ever again. More pictures in all their glory, after the jump. (more…)

There’s a Japan-related video blogger named Jason who is living in rural Japan thanks to the JET program (which is a program that sends English speakers to Japan to teach English). I know a lot of you have expressed interest in the JET program either through e-mails to me or comments, but since I don’t really know anything about the JET program, I thought I’d share with you someone who does.

Jason has taken the time to take you through the JET program, video by video (that way you don’t have to read!), in a series he calls “Applying to the JET program.”

Personally, I’m not that interested in JET, but I’m guessing some of you are. If you’re not, Jason has some good videos on other aspects of every-day Japan life on his Vlog. So, without further adieu (totally misused/misspelled that word, didn’t I?) let’s take a look at his videos on applying for the JET program. (more…)

I was recently recruited to do a collaborative music video titles “Christmas in Japan” by FatBlueMan, musician extraordinaire (Youtube Account, here). You’ll notice all sorts of Japan Youtuber’s in there, so make sure you click the play button and check it out. Want to download the mp3? Click the ‘keep reading’ link. (more…)

Apparently I just can’t let this die. First, they defile us with the pre-trailer. Then, they show us Goku’s Monster Form. Now they change the name to “DragonBall Evolution” (I suppose the “evolution” part gives them some leeway, or something?). Well, you can just watch it. At least the P-man is green now. Still, if you’ve watched the original DragonBall, you’ll notice how little sense it makes. If you haven’t, then you’ll only notice how terrible the movie looks. I mean, seriously. At least the Super Mario Bros trailer had some funk. (more…)

This is just a quick post mostly referencing an article over at NihonHacks (so you can just go over there and read about it too), about a couple cool tools to add furigana over your kanji (furigana = hiragana that’s on top of kanji to show you how to pronounce it).

There are two tools - one for adding furigana to OpenOffice documents (which is really useful since you can just copy and paste a bunch of Japanese into it, and then get the furigana), and another for Firefox. (more…)

Big news over at eduFire. I migggghhhttt have had something to do with it (wink wink, nudge nudge, Monty Python reference), but there’s a huge number of free live Japanese courses starting in the next few days. I counted 35, total, not including the courses from me I just put up (where up to 99 of you can join a course). Here’s a list of all the courses, along with an explanation of how these courses work. (more…)