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Japan’s Abandoned Amusement Parks [Creepy] A common misconception about Japan is that it’s so densely populated that every single town is just like Tokyo; urban, people all crammed together, few empty spaces.

Not only are there still tons of rural places in Japan, but there are even abandoned places, places that were simply left behind to rot. The Japanese call these places haikyo (廃墟). Some of the creepiest of all haikyo in Japan are amusement parks. Japanese Conjugation [CheatSheet] I put it up on the Japanese Resources page around a week ago (and it’s been on TextFugu a bit before that), but thought I should share it all with you here, since I think it will help a lot of you out.

Being able to conjugate nouns, adjectives, and verbs isn’t terribly difficult, but it does require some nasty memorization for beginners … and I’ve never been a fan of memorization when I can help it (much better to memorize things other ways, I think. Stuffing your brain with repetition doesn’t do the trick for most people, even when they think it does). The 5 Biggest Mistakes People Make When Learning Kanji. The Japanese learning industry has, for all intents and purposes, failed you.

It’s not your fault that learning kanji is like hitting your face on a curb, it’s the industry as a whole. Sure, there are pockets here and there that are pretty smart about it, but they tend to be small and nobody really knows about them. Most likely, you know what your teachers says about kanji, or what Rosetta Stone Japanese (doesn’t) say about kanji, or what your textbook throws at you… But, here’s the problem, though: You’re learning kanji from native Japanese speakers, and they have no idea what it’s like to learn kanji anymore (and even if they do, they just emulate the way Japanese school children learn kanji), which really just doesn’t work. The Japanese learning industry, on a whole, has failed us when it comes to kanji learning. S 100 Best Resources For Learning Japanese.

How To Trick Yourself Into Good (Japanese) Studying Habits. You know how it’s hard to quit bad habits?

Biting your nails, drinking, eating too many cookies, yadda yadda (sure, you could take it to be the Seinfeld reference if you want)… But I bet you didn’t realize you have a ton of good habits as well. Brushing your teeth (well, not all of you have this), putting away the dishes, going running, etc. Now, I’m not saying that creating a habit to study Japanese on a daily basis is easy (it’s not!) , and that’s why I’ve compiled a few sneaky things that will “trick” you into studying Japanese and getting yourself into a good habit. Using Kid’s Songs to Learn Japanese. This post was written by Dave of JapanDave.com who Tweets and has a great newsletter full of amazing pictures of Japan.

Kid’s songs are a wonderful resource to help you learn Japanese better. They are often overlooked because… well, they are a bit silly, but I think they are worth a second look. I’m going to cover a bit of theory here (I promise not too much), and then look at 6 kid’s songs you might use in your studies. The How Now I can see you scratching your heads. The basic problems with learning Japanese are pretty well known at this point.

The effects of these two problems are so common they almost go without saying: 1) loss of motivation and 2) burn-out. 5 Step JLPT Study Method Using Japanese Newspapers for Kids. Passing the JLPT at any level requires being able to read some Japanese and of course the best way to learn to read is well….reading stuff.

The problem with reading is that it’s really hard. For most of us below the JLPT Level 1, pulling out a newspaper, book, or magazine in Japanese and just reading and understanding it is next to impossible to do in a reasonable amount of time. To be fair, those newspapers, books, and magazines are written for adults and the JLPT only tests up to a middle school level of language comprehension. If our Japanese reading level is the same as kids, why not read like one? Most people solve this problem using manga, but the JLPT makes you to read paragraphs not text bubbles with pictures.

Using a Japanese newspaper for kids, like Mainichi Shogakusei Shinbun above, I developed a 5 step study method designed to increase vocabulary and kanji identification, reading comprehension, and confidence for taking the JLPT! Step 2: Identify and list unknown words. 10 Ways to Hack Google to Become an Awesome Japanese Learning Resource. Everyone knows that the GOOG is an incredible resource no matter what you’re doing (Japanese language learning included!).

Despite this, there are very few people who know about some really useful features. Some of them “hacks,” some of them just somewhat hidden. Although there are way more than ten ways to use Google for your Japanese learning (you’ll list more in the comments section, right?) , these are my favorite Google “gems” that will help you speed up your Japanese studies in no time. 1. A while back, the Official Google Blog had a really cool post about how to use Google Image Search as a visual dictionary. In English, you just say “penguin,” but in Japanese you would say ペンギン (pengin). “Is it a bird?” And yes, that conversation was totally and completely ripped from the Google blog. 2. Maybe about a year ago, I was trying to remember the verb that went with piano in order to say “play the piano.” 3.

Jim Breen on the iPhone. I’ve always been a fan of Jim Breen’s Japanese dictionary, so when I found out that there’s an iPhone app out for it, I was really happy.

Finally, I don’t have to load the entire Jim Breen page, and now, with the iPhone’s new ability to write in Japanese, all my dirty iPhone dreams would become a mobile reality. The dictionary is the little wwwJDic icon, and yes, huge M’s fan! Looking up Japanese Vocab The first thing I did was look up words, English -> Japanese. Top 10 Online Resources for Learning Japanese for Free. [box type="tick"]Check out Tofugu’s new Japanese Resources Guide!

It has the best Japanese resources and reviews for each! It’s also more updated and has more resources than this article! [/box] I’m really proud and excited to announce Tofugu’s first annual “Top 10 Online Resources for Learning Japanese for Free” list, which includes an e-book that’s available for download at the end of the article. There’s also video down there for all you people who don’t like reading things! Have you ever wondered what was out there in the tubes of the interwebs in terms of improving your Japanese? #10: Twitter Twitter is a micro-blogging service that lets you input up to 140 characters to tell the world (and your friends) “what you are doing right now. . ” #9: Livestation Livestation is a program you can download off the web that allows you to watch live television from anywhere in the world (which of course includes Japanese television).

How to Study Japanese Over the Summer. Well, it’s that time of year, isn’t it?

Some of you are getting out of school for summer break and some of you haven’t had to go to school for decades. Some of you took Japanese classes at school, and some of you are self-taught. Either way, summer makes it really easy not to continue studying your Japanese (or anything, for that matter). I’ve thought through some tips to keep the study-love going during the lazy season. AKB48′s Newest Member Totally Fake [A Beautiful Frankenstein] A very good looking Frankenstein, though. Meet Aimi Eguchi. She’s the newest member in the Japanese Idol Group AKB48… well, she’s actually kind of like the newest “members.” She’s not a clone, well, sort of. She’s a hybrid of the “best features” of six current AKB48 members. Studying Japanese With Subtitles. The 20+ Best Japanese Cat Videos On The Web. Welcome back to another Saturday Timewaster! I hope the next couple hours of your Saturday are clear (otherwise, you’ll need to clear your schedule and cancel that totally unimportant appointment).

This post is all about Japanese cat videos… The best there is on the web (at least in my opinion). This Is Going To Be Tough. How to get a Japanese Scholarship. Getting to Japan is expensive. Living in Japan is expensive. Why not let someone else take care of the monetary part of going to Japan so you can go there for free? There are a lot of people (and governments) just handing out money (I feel like the guy that wears the question-mark suit on those commercials) to help you go to Japan and other places as well. Whether you’re looking to grab some scholarships to go to Japan, college, or some other country, these tips could be applicable to you (but even more applicable to those going to Japan). Scholarships to Japan. Cat Island, Japan. It’s Like That “Cat Lady,” But An Entire Island. Tofugu.com - Wonky Japanese Language and Culture.