Playing the MMO called Life

So I think I'll use this as my real blog now

2008-01-16T16:37:00.000-05:00

I have always wanted to sort of have a blogging space, and I did create this one for my Japanese class...so why fix what's not broken?

iPod ターチ　が　ほしい！

2007-12-09T18:42:00.000-05:00

iPod は　たのしい　ですね！　とても　きれい　ですが、　たかい　です。　iPod が　クリスマスに　ほしい　です。

ちいさいですね！だいすき！

Dragon Quest 4 DS

2007-12-02T22:40:00.000-05:00

It came out in Japan a week or so ago. I imported a copy and I've been playing it so that I can kind of gauge how much Japanese I've absorbed in the past 10 weeks or so. It turns out it's a fair amount. I can read bits and pieces of things, and some kanji are familiar.

The game is written for all ages, so the Japanese is on the fourth grade level. And not being able to read it offers the crushing realization that I'm on the level of a three year old.

Still, it's fun and it's good practice!

Japanese holidays

2007-11-26T19:18:00.000-05:00

So with Thanksgiving over and Christmas coming up, I was wondering if Christmas is celebrated in Japan. I guess it's not a traditionally Christian country, but I know that present-giving is popular there around this time of year. I was wondering if it was associated with some holiday or just general cheeriness. I know New Year is big.

Also, Golden Week. What's Golden Week? I hear everybody buys stuff on Golden Week. It's like Black Friday, except gold. And a week.

Japanese authors

2007-11-18T22:45:00.000-05:00

I want to pick up a book by a Japanese author. In English, of course. I'm looking for something a little light hearted. Maybe funny even. Anyone have any recommendations?

What is going on over there?

2007-11-12T23:13:00.000-05:00

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2852762.ece

90 suicides a day spur Japan into action

The Japanese Government is calling for a complete national rethink about attitudes to suicide in an effort to unravel centuries of social pressure and tradition.

The practice, which claims more than 90 lives each day, should no longer be seen as “the honourable way out” but as an act of desperation and – perhaps – preventable misery.

The Government has published a “counter-suicide White Paper”, which sets out a nine-step plan to transform the way in which suicide is regarded and treated. Measures include training more counsellors and expanding Samaritans-style telephone helplines.

The White Paper exposes the traditional approach in Japan of ignoring the issue altogether and presses for the kind of basic research into causes that is standard in most developed nations. It says that Japanese should know more about the causes of suicide and be better equipped to spot the signs of an impending attempt. There should be help for those who have survived an attempt. The paper notes that Monday is by far the most likely day of the week on which a co-worker or loved one may try to end it all.

Government sources told The Times that the document could be seen as evidence that, after decades of inaction, Japan had finally grown embarrassed by its extraordinarily high suicide rate, which stands at ninth in the world but is far ahead of any other developed nation. Japan is hoping to reduce its current rate – of about 32,000 suicides a year – by 20 per cent within the next decade.

Suicide rates used to rise when unemployment was higher and fall during more prosperous spells. The Government’s sudden alarm, though, arises from the apparent breaking of that cycle: Japan’s economy has recently experienced its longest run of expansion since the Second World War but the suicide rate has continued to rise during that time.

The White Paper comes as Japan is approaching its tenth successive year in which more than 30,000 people have taken their own lives. The statistic gives Japan a higher per-capita rate than nations blighted by civil war, desperate poverty or long periods of the year without sunlight.

The timing of the White Paper is also strongly linked to emerging trends in Japanese suicide that threaten to worsen the problem before it gets better. Phenomena such as “web suicides”, in which several strangers – usually in their twenties – meet on the internet and arrange to die together, have received plenty of media attention but, experts say, are only a tiny fraction of the problem.

Work-related causes for suicide have long dominated men’s suicide rates and experts believe that women between the ages of 25 and 45 may become increasingly vulnerable as they enter the workforce in greater numbers and rise to positions of greater seniority and stress. Studies are also likely to be made of the “March problem”, the traditional spike in suicides in March that coincides with university entrance examinations and the main job-hunting season.

Means to an end

- A Japanese legend relates the mass suicide of the 47 samurai. After avenging their master’s death they committed ritual suicide at his graveside

- In 1970 the writer Yukio Mishima led a revolt and urged the Army to overthrow the Government. He then committed hara-kiri in front of an audience of 800

- In 1993 author Wataru Tsurumi published The Complete Manual of Suicide, which sold 1 million copies

- In 2001 railway stations in Japan introduced mirrors to deter suicide attempts by showing victims their own face before they jump

- Every February the Fuji-Yoshida police scour the Aokigahara woods at the base of Mount Fuji for bodies of suicide victims

32,000 a year seems extremely high. What is it about the culture that has lead to such mass destruction of life? Is it because it is a traditionalist ritual or is it because life is so much harder over there?

The Pictographic Myth is Silly and Stupid

2007-11-12T11:21:00.000-05:00

I can't believe that at one point in time there were a bunch of Western missionaries who went to China and Japan and had the sudden revelation that Chinese characters looked like pictures that "lept off the page and spoke to the mind" in some universal lingual revelation.

Sometimes you can see some idea being visible expressed. For example, ue and shita are pretty neat-- 上、下 to me represent what you think they would. I mean, maybe you could misconstrue it as, like, a tree and...a ceiling fan, but that's being a bit pedantic.

But if I hear one more person tell me that getsu 月 looks like the moon or that 日 looks like the sun, I'm going to scream. No, it doesn't. Really. My sun is not rectangular. Maybe it looked different in early China. To be honest, I can kind of see the moon, but only if I squint. And lie to myself.

The entire idea is just silly. The ideographic myth is still alive and well, too. How often do you hear characters described as "pictures" or some type of the same thing, you know?

一二三 these are pictographic to me.

My favorite kanji is the one for bone. It looks like a little person: 骨。かわいいですね！

てがみ

2007-11-03T16:01:00.000-04:00

Here is composition 2. I used whatever kanji I knew, so there are a few in here. I may update it a few times before the due date!
11月８日２００７年

やまださんへ
はじめまして！　おげんきですか。　私のなまえはケビンです。私は　らいねんのなつに　日本語へ　きます。　やまださんのうちへ　きます。私は　すこし　日本語を　はなします。私は　やまださんに　日本語を　ならいます！　日本語を　みせてください。
アメリカ人です。ニュージャージーから　きました。コロンビアだいがくのがくせい　です。にねんせい　です。じゅうきゅうさいです。私は　大きい　かぞくが　います。　ははのなまえはマリアです。ちちのなまえもケビンです。ビデオゲームが　すきです。　ドラゴンクエストが　すきです。　ドラゴンクエストは　日本語に　ポピュラな　ゲーム　ですね。いぬが　います。やまださんは　ペットが　いますか。ちゅごくと日本語　くだものが　すきです。やさいが　すきですが、さかなが　きらいです。やさいが　すきですから、やさいは　おいしいです。　　
だいがくのせいかつは　いぞがしい　です。　そして　いいです。だいがくで　日本語を　べんきょします。　日本語が　だいすきです。　日本語が　すきですから、日本語へいきます。日本は　とても　おもしろい　ですが、　むずかしい　です。へやのりょうは　ちいさい　ですが、きれい　です。コロンビアが　だいすき　です。まちは　にぎやかですが、べんりです。
私は　ろくがつむいかに　日本語へ　きます。どうぞ　よろしくおねがいします。

ケビン

Chi no Rondo finally hits America, I discover my new purpose in life

2007-10-28T17:31:00.000-04:00

悪魔城ドラキュラX 血の輪廻, or Castlevania X: Rondo of Blood, was released in Japan in 1993. Never came out here. I imported it, but it cost me like 300 bucks for the game and the console it ran on, the PC Engine, which never became very popular in America. It's a totally awesome game, so I was pretty happy about them finally choosing to release the game in America this year on the PSP under the name Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles, which contains Chi no Rondo as well as the sequel, 悪魔城ドラキュラX 月下の夜想曲, Castlevania: Nocturne in the Moonlight (which was released here on the PlayStation in 1997 under the name Symphony of the Night).

So the games are awesome, but there is one vital question:

Dear God, who is translating these games?

What underpaid group of Konami interns did they lock in a room with little more than a Japanese-English dictionary and what did they feed them?

As all gamers know, the original dialog between Dracula and Richter Belmont at the end of Rondo of Blood is absolutely embarrassing stuff-- it is the stuff of legend. Here's the Japanese translated literally by NeoGAF.com forum member duckroll:

Richter: Be destroyed! This world has no place for you.
Dracula: I was not revived by my own strength. I was revived by humanity and their greed. The only justice here is power itself.
Richter: Those are just your selfish excuses! Humanity is brought together by common beliefs and needs, they gather together, and walk in those directions.
Dracula: Ah but currently, can it not be said that mankind having developed greed, is therefore driven by that belief?
Richter: Mankind cannot be driven by power alone. Respect and a loving heart can also drive a man.
Dracula: Hmmph. Whichever is righteous, shall be settled by death itself.

And here's what they managed to come up with in ENGLISH:

Richter: Die Monster, you don't belong in this world.
Dracula: It was not by my hand that I am once again given flesh. I was called here by... humans... who wish to pay me tribute.
Richter: Tribute? You steal men's souls, and make them your slaves!
Dracula: Perhaps the same can be said of all religion.
Richter: Your words are as empty as your soul. Mankind ill needs a savior such as you...
Dracula: What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets! But enough talk, have at you!

"Die monster?" "A miserable little pile of secrets?" You can't MAKE this stuff up. Nevermind the fact it's not even in the original Japanese, but holy cow, the stuff barely makes any sense at all.

So one of the things they promised for the rerelease is a competent English translation. But they still failed! They didn't go back and retranslate the original Japanese...they just screwed around with the already broken English that's now ten years old.

Richter: Dracula. Die now, and leave this world! You'll never belong here!
Dracula: Oh, but this world invitied me. Your own kind called me forth with praise and tribute.
Richter: Tribute? Your're a thief. You steal men's souls, their freedom...
Dracula: Freedom is always sacrificed to faith, good hunter. Or Are you really here by choice.
Richter: All I'm here is for you. To hell with your heresy! You're nothing but a blight on mankind!
Dracula: Ha! Mankind, a cesspit of hatred and lies. Fight for them, then, and die for their sins!

And that's my new purpose in life. I'm going to stop this from happening ANYMORE.

DIE, UNDERPAID TRANSLATORS, YOU DON'T BELONG IN THIS WORLD

Self Tests

2007-10-23T20:18:00.001-04:00

I'm testing my progress in Japanese by listening to Japanese music and seeing how much I can understand. Like, I'll listen to the same song maybe 500 times and just try and pick up words. It's interesting, because each time I'll pick up more and more. And then maybe I'll look at the lyrics in romaji and see if I can translate anything. It's really difficult because the verb forms we know are not used in casual speech, and therefore they're not used in songs.

I'm currently listening to "Why" by Ayaka, which was recently released. I can only pick up a few words, like "kono" and "hito," but I like the song, so I am gradually picking it up. I am also paying close attention to the particles I hear so that the grammar structure becomes easier. I hear lots of was, gas, nis, and stuff. It's neato.

おもしろい！

2007-10-21T14:32:00.000-04:00

Bought this book the other day. Has some very interesting terms in it, lol.

More Furigana, Please

2007-10-16T22:00:00.001-04:00

Here's, like, the neatest thing that's ever happened to Japanese writing, since, like, kanji were imported from China.

So, generally, you've got two options when it comes to Japanese: you display just the kanji, which is generally messy and doesn't really work in newspapers and books, or you display kanji with furigana, which helps kids and Japanese newbies read, you know, faster than retarded monkeys, but it looks sort of ugly and doesn't necessarily fit into margin spacing.

Well, well, what can you do?

BEHOLD, I GIVE YOU: POP-UP FURIGANA

Watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL0dxgFiGvY

It's ゼルダの伝説夢幻の砂時計 Zeruda no Densetsu Mugen no Sunadokei, or as we call it here, Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Basically, what you do is read along as if you were reading regular text with no furigana...and then, when you can't read a word, you touch it with your pen and the furigana pops up. And then it goes away when you click elsewhere.

This stuff is the FUTURE.

I've never seen this before anywhere. Granted, I haven't seen [i]much[/i] of anything, but to me this is so awesome. All digital stuff needs to have it, especially on websites and on Japanese newspaper online. It's so cool.

Japan for the Summer

2007-10-15T17:44:00.000-04:00

I am really thinking of doing it now. I'm not so sure if I want to yet, but it really sounds exciting. I think it'd be pretty cool to spend the summer there, and I could definitely practice my Japanese. I'm just a little uncertain. I'm kind of nervous. I've never been away from home that long without any type of break, and it'd be a non-English speaking foreign country. With my luck I'd probably starve to death in a Japanese grocery store.

Life is so short, and there is only so much time to do all the things you want to do. JET sounds really interesting too and I'd probably do that if I didn't have existing career plans.

Maybe I should drop them and do JET, and then become a Buddhist monk.

I've got time to think about it.

なつのやすみ

2007-10-09T16:50:00.000-04:00

こにちわみなさん！　きょねんのなつ、わたしは　オフィスのコングレスのPascrell で　べんきょしました。はたらきをしました。まいにち、９ござん　から　5ごご　まではたらきました。　コングレスは　おもしろいです！　つぎの　ねん、わたしといきませんか？

Japanese culture = we need food

2007-10-08T22:05:00.000-04:00

To incorporate culture into our class, we need to have some authentic Japanese food. Let's go as a class somewhere, or let's go to M2M, buy the appropriate materials, and roll our own sushi in class. I did it last year at a sushi rolling party. It was fun.

Not, like, as tasty as when the pros do it, but there's that extra bit of work involved that makes it fun.

P.S. I call the spicy salmon roll.

Japanese is so awesome

2007-10-07T12:44:00.000-04:00

I went apple picking this weekend, so I had my family up and I showed them some of my Japanese skills. My stepdad lived in Japan for five years during the 70s, so he knew a lot of Japanese but gradually forgot it over time. It was really cool to be able to write his name in katakana for him and say things for my mom. It was just very exciting, I don't know, haha.

Anyway, I spent some time trying to convert his name and my name to katakana.

I think John Cartier is ジョン　カテイエ。The "ti" should be te and then a small i, but I can't figure out how to get that on a computer.

My name is a little more difficult. I know it's ケビン。 My last name is a little strange though. Ciok.

シオツク？ With a "chiisai tsu"?

LOL Mets

2007-09-30T16:43:00.001-04:00

I know baseball is big in Japan, so this is topical I guess.

LOL METS HAHAHAHAHAH

What's the Japanese equivalent of "lol"? I think it's fufufufufu. ふふふふふふふふふ　メツ fufu.

押忍！闘え！応援団！　is the best thing ever

2007-09-28T00:42:00.000-04:00

If you haven't tried 押忍！戦え！応援団！, then you don't know what you're missing. It's this Japanese music rhythm game for the Nintendo DS that is based around Japanese cheerleaders, who apparently are male, dress in black, and function more as human pick-me-uppers than scantily clad football noisemakers. Seriously.

Anyway, the game is basically very simple, but it's so hard and so addictive. You pick a scenario from a world map, and all the scenarios are absolutely insane. One is a Japanese school teacher who can't make it through the day because his students are absolute brats, and another is a salaryman who needs to make it to 5 PM but his bosses are being total jerks and he's about to go postal, and another is a kid getting picked on on the playground by a bunch of delinquents.

So the various people scream, "OUUUUENNNNDANNNN!!!!!!" and the cheer squad is on the scene. Basically you tap these circles on the screen in time with the rhythm of the song (all amazzzzzinngggly addictive J-pop) to cheer the poor little saps on. It sounds so simple, but it's so freaking hard.

The scenarios just get wackier and wackier.

So you tap in order and you drag and stuff. All the while you're listening to the really fun songs and trying to read the katakana onomatopoeias and watch the funny comic panels.

The tracks are great:

Asian Kung-Fu Generation - Loop & Loop (ループ&ループ) (by Kyōya Asada)
Morning Musume (モーニング娘。) - Koi no Dance Site (恋のダンスサイト) (by Kaoru Kubota, Fumio Kobayashi, Yūko Yajima, Mari Nabatame, and Akina Okabayashi)
Ulfuls (ウルフルズ) - Guts da ze!! (ガッツだぜ!!) (by Hiroaki Takeuchi)
175R - Melody (メロディー) (edit of the original version)
The Blue Hearts - Linda Linda (リンダリンダ) (by Daisaku Shimada of Bevenuts)
nobodyknows+ - Kokoro Odoru (ココロオドル) (by BUGASHMAN, CANTAMAN, MOSS, MOUSE-P, and SAUSEN)
B'z - Atsuki Kodō no Hate (熱き鼓動の果て) (by Tetsushi Kimura)
Tomoyasu Hotei (布袋寅泰) - Thrill (スリル) (by Hiroaki Takeuchi)
Road of Major (ロードオブメジャー) - Taisetsu na Mono (大切なもの) (by NoB)
Linda Yamamoto (山本リンダ) - Neraiuchi (狙いうち) (by Kaoru Kubota)
Kishidan (氣志團) - One Night Carnival (by Kei Imai of South 2 Camp)
Hitomi Yaida (矢井田瞳) - Over The Distance (by Ayako Kawajima)
The Yellow Monkey - Taiyō ga Moete iru (太陽が燃えている) (by Mitsuru Yanagisako)
Orange Range - Shanghai Honey (上海ハニー) (by BUGASHMAN, CANTAMAN, MOSS, MOUSE-P, SAUSEN, mimi, and Akasanajar)
L'Arc~en~Ciel - READY STEADY GO (by Tetsushi Kimura)

What's great is that my listening ability is getting better the more and more I play. It's really fast Japanese and all the verbs are not in the polite form, but I pick up words here and there and I learn how the language flows. It's very satisfying to pick out an "onegai" here and there.

Oh, and there's an American version called Elite Beat Agents, but it loses all its verve.

The Japanese game has the Ouendan cheering on a man on a train who is in serious need of Pepto Bismol, if you know what I mean. The American version has dead people and zombies. And Cher.

And you don't want Cher, do you?

はじめまして！

2007-09-26T16:34:00.000-04:00

はじめまして！　ワたしはケビンです。　アメリカのNJからきました。　コロンビアだいがくのがくせいです。　にねんせいです。　おおさかは　きれいです！　わたしはじうゅきゅうさいです。　わたしはべんきょしますにほんごです。　わたしたちのみらいに！　どぞうよろしくおねがいします。　　

えいご in 日本語

2007-09-23T18:12:00.000-04:00

So oftentimes I find myself looking at Japanese magazines and stuff and I see a fair bit of English text. I mean, nothing is entirely in English, but it always seems like important words are often in English: names, commands, and major notes. It's kind of interesting, because, like, you don't ever see that in English. Ever.

And I asked my friend who lives in Japan-- he's actually Indian, but he's in Japan because he likes it or something, whatever-- why this is. He told me that Japanese people, kids in particular, are obsessed with English. Like, in the same way that many Americans are "obsessed" with Japanese. We think it's fascinating, interesting, great. There's a pretty big difference though, I guess, in that English is spoken by like 2 billion people (not all natively obviously) and Japanese by maybe 200 million. So I was wondering why there's random English in Japanese stuff.

Look at this image I posted above...again from a game since I see it prevalent a lot there since that's one of Japan's major cultural exports to America. The major points on the screen are all in English. HP, which is basically a measure of your character's life (Hit Points), is in English, and if I couldn't read the roman alphabet, that would piss me off pretty royally. Look at "Boss." That's also in English. That's pretty freaking important. Same with "Target Info." All the nonessentials are in katakana...like the character names "Van," "Penelo," and "Ashe." They all seem to have romanized well, except for Penelo. Pennero haha.

Imagine the reaction if the next season of 24 had all the place names written in Katakana. People would flip out.

I just think it's pretty strange. Or maybe cool. Yeah, it's cool.

Oh good Christ

2007-09-20T18:11:00.001-04:00

I need to speak with whoever made "hatarakimasendeshita" a word.

Seriously.

My office.

I guess it's a lot easier to read in Japanese: はたらきませんでした。Still, what a word. Maybe it's easier when you consider the kanji. Or maybe it's easier if you're natively exposed to those sounds and those combinations of sounds. I guess English speakers aren't used to so much ki, shi, ha, and ta.

It's good to know that there are only two tenses, past and non-past (lol), but the formal forms and the positive and negative forms are kind of nerve-wracking.

Do people say hatarakimasendeshita often in Japan or is the informal form like four letters long? Cause I probably wouldn't talk much if that weren't the case.

Being polite

2007-09-19T11:41:00.000-04:00

I think if there's any one thing that bothers me about Japanese, and I would imagine its a cultural byproduct of Japanese societal structure and so on and so forth, it's got to the the towering layers of politeness that can make any seemingly easy expressions chore to communicate. There are really so many ways to say one thing, which is nice, but I feel like this:

In Japan, of course:

Me: ありがと、せんせい
Class: :O *gasps*
Teacher: *forty lashings*

I forgot ございます。 In some ways I think it'd just be easier to always say gozaimasu, but who wants to sound like the Queen of England when they go to Japan?

クライシスコア -ファイナルファンタジーVII!!!!

2007-09-13T14:50:00.000-04:00

Ahaha, I totally got my copy! I went downtown to Chinatown (haha) where I know this...slightly illicit...place is that sells imports and I purchased a brand spanking new FF7: Crisis Core, which I've been waiting for for like three years. I was afraid it would stink, cause, uh, most of these spinoffs stink, but Weekly ファミ通 gave it a good score, so I thought it'd be fine.

It's pretty neat. I spent a really long time flipping through a dictionary looking for words, but I managed to translate the first five minutes of the game or so. It took me like maybe four hours, but it was worth it.

The game is really fun. Anyone who is a fan of the original (and there are 10 million+ of them) would totally get wrapped up in the great music and great graphics.

But I came to some soldier dude who's name is カンセル。Kanseru? His name is Kanseru? Is that some kind of rank?

Japanese phenomenon: lining up for stuff

2007-09-13T14:33:00.000-04:00

IF YOU BUILD IT...

...Japanese people will wait in lines for it.

Seriously. But I totally love that manic-compulsive nature about Japan, especially when it comes to Akihabara. That's where I'm going as soon as I get the chance. Because THAT'S WHERE ALL MY FELLOW MANIC-COMPULSIVE NERD-PEOPLE ARE.

Really, look at this stuff:

Here's a line for Pokemon Diamond, which launched last April in Japan.

Here's some shots of a line snapped yesterday for ファイナルファンタジ−７：クライシスコア。

And here's one for the Playstation 3 last November 11th:

Frankly, Japan, I SALUTE YOU!

ケビン

Japanese in Games

2007-09-10T22:04:00.000-04:00

I freely admit that I'm a big gamer. I love video games. I play all sorts-- shooters, adventure, action, and more. You name it, I'll play it.

My favorite games have always come from Japan. What this means is that I usually have to endure the awfully long wait times while Japanese gaming companies like 株式会社スクウェア・エニックス (Square-Enix) and 任天堂株式会社 (Nintendo) translate their games for the American audience. In some cases, the wait can be really long. Atlus brought out ペルソナ3, Persona 3, in Japan in July of 2006. I've had to wait until this August to play it. Seems trivial, but my interest in the language has really showed me a lot about Japanese culture in general.

Translation isn't so much translation anymore as it is localization. Stuff just doesn't carry over directly, and even when text literally translates, often what resonates with a Japanese audience won't mean much to an American reader. Shigesato Itoi's (糸井重里) last game, Mother 3, will never be released in America. I won't ever be able to play it (well, hopefully this class will eventually allow me to). Why? Because Itoi makes extensive use of gay jokes, and that stuff just doesn't come over to America well.

But that's what's so interesting. It may seem like gaming is such a nerdy and inane pursuit, but when you examine things closely, you'll see that gaming as a medium is another reflection of culture just like movies, books, and music.

And now that I can read hiragana and find my way through katakana, it's great to be able to recognize the words in Japanese that I never really got before. I used to look at ファイナルファンタジ and see squiggles-- now I see Fainaru Fantaji, or Final Fantasy, the name of my favorite video game. Pretty cool. I hope one day to be able to play a ドラゴンクエスト game in its native tongue!

ケビン

はじめまして

2007-09-10T18:04:00.000-04:00

Hajime mashite!

Kevin desu. Watashi wa Columbia Daigaku no gakusei desu. Ninensei desu.

New Jersey kara kimashita.

Even though it's only been a week, I am really enjoying 日本語。It's a completely new experience for me. It really is entirely unlike English; completely and fundamentally different in everything from sentence structure to ways of thinking and phrasing. It's so much more exciting than Spanish, that's for sure. Sometimes I wish that Japan would drop Kanji, though, so I could learn Japanese faster! I'm sure they've tried somewhere throughout the ages.

Still, I think it's awesome to read a word in Japanese and know what it means, especially because a week ago Japanese characters looked like squiggles that someone made when they perhaps had too much to drink.

Dozo yoroshiku!

ケビン