Two Views of Xian, China

Two views of Xian, China. The first is in the oldest quarter and still not hanging on to modernization:


The second is from the more modern bits of the ancient capital of China:

Speedy Typing?

An old fashioned Chinese typewriter. Doesn't look fast but it served a purpose.

Which is easier: a Chinese typewriter, a cell phone, or a computer keyboard?

Asking Out In Chinese

Want to know how to invite someone out on a date in Chinese?
Watch the video and enjoy. Good luck.

All the Kanji You Need.

In this short 10-minute video are all the kanji the Japanese government believes you need to read a newspaper and other documents in Japanese. These are called the joyo kanji (常用漢字). These are the kanji all graduates of high school are supposed to know. In addition to these 1,945 kanji, last year an additional 196 kanji were added so actually there are 2,136 kanji (five were deleted.)

Then, in the second video, are the 1006 kanji all elementary school kids should know. These are arranged by their on-yomi rank. These are called the Educational (Kyoiku) Kanji (教育漢字)

The 1,945 常用 漢字

The 1006 教育漢字

Shamisen Rock + Harp

We did a little YouTube surfing to find you the finest in traditional Japanese musical instruments. We looked at koto, shakuhachi, and biwa. We settled on three shamisen videos. Please listen and enjoy.

First, Black Dog by Led Zeppelin

Then Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix

Finally, a Bob Dylan tune: All Along the Watchtower.

Traditional Japanese Woodblock Printing

An interview in English with a British woodblock printer who studied Japanese woodblock printing in Japan. Listen, enjoy, and I hope you can understand most everything. (It is not a complete interview but a good start.)



From Tyne and Wear Archives and Museum

The Learn Chinese Post

Standard Mandarin, a website that sells software to help you learn Chinese, has a page called

How To Pronounce Chinese: Common Phrases

If you go to this site: Click Here you can see Chinese, the pinying writing, and when you click on the appropriate button, how to pronounce the phrase. Phrases that must be common in Chinese include:

• Your shoelaces are untied. (你的鞋带松了 - nǐde xiédài sōng le)
• Will you marry me? (嫁给我吧，好吗 - jiàgěi wǒ ba, hǎo ma?)
• McDonald's (麦当劳 - màidàngláo)

Naturally, there a a bunch of other phrases that you use everyday like eat, come here, I'm learning Chinese. If you're interested in Chinese or starting to study it at Hokuriku University, check out the site and see what you can learn at: Standard Mandarin

And a beginning Chinese lesson in English:

Hope these two sites were useful in your Chinese studies. And you can learn more Chinese, listen to Chinese songs (and Japanese songs plus learn vocabulary in all three languages - including English) by going to Hokudai/Cast. (Also on iTunes.)

Chinese Song

Just a simple song in Chinese for your listening pleasure.

Three Videos from 北陸大学. Enjoy.

First, check out dancing and music from last year's Hokuriku University school festival on YouTube.

Then, a short movie showing bits and pieces of Hokuriku University:

Finally, another flick showing part of a Japanese speech contest at Hokuriku University. Yes, fun, eh? A speech contest with drums and singing. Great. Please Enjoy.

Anime in Japanese, English, and Chinese.

Storm Riders - Chinese anime with Chinese subtitles for your viewing pleasure.


One Piece intro with English for your viewing and listening pleasure.


One Piece intro with Japanese and furigana for your Japanese learning pleasure. Enjoy.

Quick Trip to Hokuriku Daigaku

A quick trip from Kanazawa Station to Hokuriku University. Enjoy.



Through town, past the famous Omicho Market and into the Minami-cho area. Then up toward the famous Kenrokuen, into Kodatsuno, and then out into the countryside to Hokuriku University. Twenty minutes in about 3:46. Enjoy.

Music by the Kanders and can be found at GarageBand Users Club (Japan)

Learning Chinese Verbs

We found a YouTube video for you that teaches Chinese. The paid-website is Ask Benny but we're just going to watch his video about verbs: I, want, buy, like, coffee, and tea. Pretty efficient and easy to follow. In English and Chinese, of course, two of Hokudai/Cast's three languages. Enjoy.

___________________________
Take me to Hokudai/Cast

English and Japanese video

A simple music video with shots of Hokuriku University and music by Seattle Standard Cafe (more videos and music here; drummer is a HU graduate). Music is in Japanese; the words are in Japanese and English. Enjoy.

Electric Dolphins at Hokuriku University

Hokuriku University at night with electric dolphins!



Snow at Hokuriku University.



Enjoy!

Cell Phone Eiga

Made on a 携帯. From CNN's Mobile Phone Movie Competiton. What do you do with your iPhone?



Pretty exciting stuff if you're into making movies, watching movies, or playing with all the functions on your cell phone.

For Tomorrow? Yes!

What does for tomorrow mean? It means, rather than do something today, we can do it tomorrow. If you have a homework assignment, rather than do it now, you can put it off for tomorrow. In English we have a very convenient word for putting something off for tomorrow. That word is Procrastinate.

When you decide to do your homework on Sunday night instead of Friday afternoon, you are procrastinating. Procrastinating is something lots of people do everyday. Then we get really busy Sunday night and have to work really hard to finish.

The word procrastinate comes from our friends the Latin speakers. pro is Latin for for. It can be seen in the words promote, propose, proponent, pro-peace. The word cras seems to come from Latin (some etymologists are not so sure that it does) and it means.... tomorrow. The '~tinate' of crastinate is Latin grammar at work.

So remember, if you want to promote your vocabulary, study today, don't put it off
for tomorrow.

Two Japanese Indies Bands.

The Plastic Soul Band (featured on our Summer Full of Music podcast):



Jesushairdo doing an acoustic live performance:

Roadside Kill

A quick video about Roadside Kill (they sing the live recording of You Can Get Down, Too on Hokudai/Cast). Quick, where are they from? Who plays what instrument?


Did you get the answers? Try this one for Chi Weapon (they sing Kanji on Hokudai/Cast)


And a quick link to their MySpace page: Chi Weapon. Where are they from?

Indies JPop Rock Video from GBUC.net

Hokudai/Cast gets some of its music from garage band users club. Here is a video from a GBUC music night. It features our current singer, Gun, along with other singers we have featured in the past such as jesushairdo and k.c. saito. Please watch and enjoy.

A Shamisen Musical Break and TJL

Today's Japanese Lesson.

Traditionally, shamisen players don't look at their hands.

In Japanese, this would be:

伝統的に、三味線奏者は 演奏するときに 自分の手を見ません。

The furigana would be:

でんとうてきに、しゃみせんそうしゃは　えんそうするときに　じぶんのてをみません。

And the transliteration (romaji) is:

dento tekini shamisen sosha ha enso suru tokini jibun no te o mimasen.

The words are:

Traditionally (伝統的に); shamisen players (三味線奏者); don't look at their hands (自分の手を見ません); look (見ません) - and in Japanese the phrase 'when playing' is added - when playing (演奏するときに); when (ときに).

You can watch a shamisen player in the video below. Notice, if you will, that he never looks at his left hand as he plays. 伝統的に、三味線奏者は演奏するときに自分の手を見ません。Mr. Morinaga, while he is dressed non-traditionally in t-shirt, jeans, and cool glasses, nevertheless continues the no-look shamisen tradition. Enjoy.

Motoki Morinaga - Tsugaru shamisen from ale/pepino on Vimeo.

(Finally, and secretly, what is this > Video? You may have seen it before.)