I've been doing my homework!

My last couple days of lessons have been composed of refining my skills with the material that was presented to me in my last post, the big core lesson. I've been diving a bit into the mechanics of the sentence structures, as I've stated in the past, as well as doing more combining of elements I've learned earlier on in these lessons.

To supplement my learning of the language I've been doing what I've done for the past seven years, which is listen to Japanese music, and watch Japanese movies and television shows (including both anime and live action shows). Now if I'd been studying the language in depth for as long as I've been listening/watching to these forms of entertainment I'd (hopefully!) be WAY farther down this road I've just started! I'm not sure I could have tackled learning a language on top of school, though. I was frightened enough that my French classes in high school wouldn't have been enough to cover my Foreign Language requirement to get my Bachelor's Degree as it was! Not that college, nor pursuing a degree in Illustration was particularly challenging, but being intent on honestly learning a new language on top of my workload would have been pushing it.

I really do owe my returned interest in Japan to anime, as cliche as that may be. No, it didn't spawn my interest in the country and the culture, but let's face it, if you aren't exposed to something how are you supposed to gain an interest in it? I do believe that I would have found my way to this point without anime somewhere down the road, but who knows where life would take by then? Would I be able to realistically pursue this?

I started with watching a few series here and there in the late 90's. I never paid close attention to them, but I enjoyed them. Then I was given Cowboy Bebop to watch, followed by Neon Genesis Evangelion (both solid staples in any anime lover's library, whether or not you like them). I loved them both, and I still do. These were the series that opened my eyes to the fact that "anime" wasn't a genre, but a medium, really as broad as the word "cartoon". And much like the word "cartoon" here, carries a connotation of immaturity or childishness. The "anime" reputation, or "Japanimation" as it was called, when I first heard about it, was mostly due to a loss of meaning in translation. I really only had Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon and Pokemon to go by, and frankly I do not enjoy any of those series. But they had such prominence here that I assumed all anime was like that. How wrong I was.

After I had seen Cowboy Bebop and Evangelion, I decided to research some other series that were available and popular in the USA. I was about to move to England for a year, and I wanted to bring with me a couple of series that I could watch on my laptop during my spare time, while I was there. I settled on Vision of Escaflowne and Berserk. I was easing myself into anime by putting myself in familiar territory, Fantasy and Science Fiction. My less than legit method of obtaining Berserk and Escaflowne back in those days left me with a mix of episodes both dubbed in English and others in Japanese with English subtitles. Until that point, I had only seen Cowboy Bebop and Evangelion with the English dubs, and I guess I had lucked out that those two series had wonderful English voice casting. I've heard horror stories of some terrible English dubs, though I won't jump on that bandwagon.

But I digress. These mixed episodes gave me my first real taste of listening to the Japanese language for an extended period of time. As I had always felt when I listened to it in the past, I found the language poetic and soothing. I say this often, but even when I hear an old woman berating her good-for-nothing husband for messing something up, I still find it pleasant to listen to! It never struck me enough to want to learn the language, but I also didn't expect my interest in the country and culture to grow as much as it had. This was merely the tip of the proverbial iceberg. One of my flatmates overheard me talking about one of the series one day, and recommended a film by Hayao Miyazaki, Spirited Away, or as she knew it translated from her native French, The Voyage of Chihiro. I borrowed it, watched it and instantly became a fan of Studio Ghibli films (I have a rather sizable collection now, as well as many books of artwork from the movies, one being a thoughtful gift from my mother).

Needless to elaborate any further, my interest exploded. Once I got back from England I certainly needed something to take my mind off how much I missed my friends over there, so I began to search for more series. Only I wasn't content to sift through the limited selection we had here at the time. The popularity of BitTorrent was on the rise, and the world of fansubbing was introduced to me. I dove in and never came up for air! Through my trial of different genres of shows I took a liking to slice of life series. That is, series that were about everyday people in everyday circumstances. It gave me a chance to look through a foreign window and see a lifestyle I only knew a little bit about, in Japan.

Through cultural references and music used in the shows I began to learn about popular music. Quite by accident, actually, I stumbled upon a singer who I know I would have found out about eventually, given her popularity in Japan. One day, I mistakenly downloaded a video which was a collection of Japanese music videos, instead of a latest episode of an anime series I was following. I decided to watch anyways, and was introduced to 浜崎あゆみ, Ayumi Hamasaki. I was instantly smitten, and have been following her music ever since!

There's obviously much more to how my interest evolved. My class on Japanese Culture, the art projects I did in relation to Hokusai and his ukiyo-e prints. My minor study of Shinto and my lifelong love of the historically artistic visual distinction of Japan. Popular culture these days fortunately offers many avenues to learn about foreign places and I feel fortunate that I can now gain real insight into the things that I love about Japan. But it just goes to show you how a spark of inspiration can come from anywhere, and if you take the opportunity to run with it, it can lead you down a fascinating and possibly life-changing road.

-Brendan

Things I learned today (well, within the past few days)

• yoroshiku = nice to meet you
• douitashimashite = you're welcome (thanks to my friend and part-time translator Takao!)
• de = in, or at (in reference to a place, for example ; daidokoro de ryorishite imasu, in the kitchen, cooking)

Questions on my mind

• Another little grammar question. I will give two example sentences I want to compare.

1) Otousan wa musukosan o daite imasu. - The father hugs his son.

2) Oneesan wa otouto ni kisushite imasu. - The sister kisses her little brother. 

My question now is, why does sentence 2 have 'ni', に, which I am used to seeing now in sentences relating the location of people and objects, as opposed to sentence 1 having 'o', を. What is it about kisushite that makes ni appear? Is it because of shite denoting that it's an action being done and thus that person is "in" the action? Or do I not fully understand the meanings of the sentences yet?

Practice parting phrase

Otokonoko wa ie no chikaku ni imasu. Neko wa shinshitsu ni imasu. おとこのこはいえのちかくにいます。ねこはしんしつにいます。The boy is near the house. The cat is in the bedroom.