Snoopy!

In celebration of the 55th Anniversary of Snoopy, a design exhibition of Snoopy was held in Seoul this summer.

Many of the design artists are Japanese: Yayoi Kusama, Ruriko Murayama, Chie Morimoto, Masataka Kurashina, and many more. The three bottom photos are all pieces by Yayoi Kusama. Before coming to Seoul, the exhibition was presented in Japan. The artistic twist to good old Snoopy brought smiles to all the visitors. Afterall, don't we all love Snoopy?

My Japanese Workbook From Korea

Above are photos of a Japanese workbook I purchased in Korea. I love the colorful pictures and the layout of the workbook. I've been self-teaching myself Japanese through this workbook. It's different learning Japanese in Korean as opposed to learning it in English. This workbook won the 2007 award for the Best Japanese Learning Book and it was the #1 topseller for Foreign Language Books. Working with such a coloful book full of cute illustrations makes learning Japanese even more fun!

My first children's book written in Japanese

Sometime in the near future, I want to write and publish children's books. I am planning on a series where a little girl from each country in the world is the main character of the book. By incorporating the little girl's culture in her daily life, kids around the globe can further understand different cultures and this will hopefully lead to international peace! (I'm quite the optimist.^^) I thought I'd start by writing a children's book about a little Japanese girl named Keiko. Feel free to add a "Part II!"

Title: けいこの　たのしい　せいかつ "The Enjoyable Life of Keiko"

けいこは　にほんじんです。　とうきょう　からきました。
じゅっさいです。きれいです。

げつようびに　かずくと　くるまで　びじゅつかんへ　いきました。

かようびに　あるいて　ゆうびんきょくへ　いきました。さとうしんじせんせいに　てがみを　おくりました。　

すいようびに　ともだちと　はしで　そばを　たべました。ともだちに　あかいはなを　もらいました。

もくようびの　ごご　さんじに　えごを　べんきょうしました。えごは　おもしろいです。でも　ときどき　むずかしいです。

きんようびに　かれと　おはなみを　しました。はるは　きました！
　
どようびに　ゆきは　どこへも　いきませんでした。うちで　ほんを　よみました　そして　おちゃを　のまました。

にちようびに　やすみました。ごご　いちじまで　ねました。

けいこの　せいかつは　おもしろいです。

はるやすみ：せんしゅう かんこくへ いきました。

みなさんの　はるやすみは　おもしろいですか。
どこへ　いきましたか。
わたし　ひこうきで　かんこくへ　いきました。
さんがつようかから　さんがつじゅうはちにちまで　いきました。
かぞくと　かれと　ともだちに　あいました。
かんこくの　たべものは　おいしいです。
New Yorkは　いま　ごぜん　はちじ　にじゅっぷんです。
でも　かんこくは　いま　ごご　くじにじゅっぷんです。
Due to jet lag, きのうの　ごご　よじから　はちじまで　ねました。
きょうの　ごぜん　ごじに　おきました。

きょねん とうきょうと おおさかへ いきました。

きょねんの　はちがつに　とうきょうと　おおさかへ　いきました。
おおさかへ　ちちの　ともだちに　あいました。
ともだちの　なまえは　やまざきさんです。
この　しゃしんは　おおさかへ　とりました。

やまざきさんの　ふねです、
おおさかは　きれいです。

The Difficulties of Learning Japanese

The three different sets of characters in the Japanese language make it one of the more difficult languages to learn. We have to learn hiragana, katakana, AND kanji. I personally like the round shape of the hiragana characters the best and kanji the least because it is extremely detailed and complex. Before I learned Japanese, I would see the hiragana characters and think they looked nice and bubbly and cute. I feel as though Japanese would be easier and quicker to learn if it didn't have so many kanji characters. Both Japan and Korea still use Chinese characters, except a lot less so in Korea. Many, if not all, Chinese characters are pronounced differently between Korea, Japan, and China, but they carry the same meaning; my family was able to find our way around Osaka and Tokyo during our trip to Japan last year because of my father's extensive knowledge of Chinese characters. When I am in Korea, I see only a few Chinese characters and those are mainly in the newspaper. Koreans use a lot of Chinese in the spoken language (pronouncing the characters differently from the Chinese) from various phrases to wise sayings, but they are often written in the Korean characters, just like how our textbook has hiragana above the Chinese characters. However, in Japan, Chinese characters (with no accompanying hiragana pronounciations) cover the pages of even teen celebrity magazines, which I'm sure middle school students read. I doubt such magazines would print so many Chinese characters if they didn't assume the majority of middle school students and above were able to read them. Anyhow, being from Korea, where we are drifting away from printing Chinese characters, I wonder why Japan is still incorporating so many Chinese characters in their language. I know, I am jumping way ahead of myself considering we haven't even learned Kanji yet and probably won't for a while, but the frequent use of Chinese characters in Japanese intrigues me. My conclusion is that three different sets of characters make the Japanese language one of the most difficult to master. I would love to hear more about the relationship between Chinese characters used in Japan, Korea, and China; does anyone have any feedback? :) Maybe that is why to write and to draw are the same word in Japanese; Chinese characters are like a beautiful drawing.

Internship

Came across this internship posting last week. If anyone knows someone who is bilingual and is interested in journalism or just needs some extra cash, please forward. I wish I had the Japanese ability to apply!

intern for ESPN. Paid internship. Start immediately. Requirements: Must speak, read, and write both English and Japanese. Must have sound journalistic instincts. Job Description: Monitor print reports out of Japan for figure skating and baseball. Translate articles from Japanese to English for use by production crew (producers, announcers, etc.). Contribute to editorial research for figure skating and Little League World Series (baseball) broadcasts. Translate interviews from Japanese to English during or for broadcasts. Hours are extremely flexible. Pay will be daily and as an "intern." Most likely work will be 8-10 hours per week now with the possibility of there being much more work over the summer. Email resume and cover letter to Amy Stetson (ESPN Researcher) at amy.l.stetson@espn.com