http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/rss minmooba's latest journal entries Lang-8 Inc. Tue May 29 02:41:10 UTC 2012 Tue May 29 02:41:10 UTC 2012 Lang-8 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Lang-8
I got my hair cut recently and a Polish girl working there said I have a round face.... orz

最近髪の毛を切ったんですが、ポーランド人のスタッフに、丸顔って言われたお。気にしてることを！！

Anyway,
さて、

Since I'd heard it was so inconvenient to get around L.A. without a car and I hadn't had an international driver's license, I decided to post an ad to look for a Japanese woman who lived there and could be a guide/driver. (Plus, I heard some friends and people on forums say they heard gun shots at night in L.A. and everyone said that you can't walk by yourself after sunsets.)

んで、LAは車なしで動くのはきついと聞いたのはいいけど、国際免許も取ってなかったので、現地在住の、車でガイドしてくれる日本人女性をSNSで募ることにしました。それに、夜銃声が聞こえたとか、日没後は一人歩きは危険とか友人から聞いたり、ネットで見たりしたものですから…。

So I posted an ad on Japanese SNSs and successfully found a lady. I received a couple of, kind of interesting, e-mails for asking me out for a overnight romance... One of them was from an American and quite direct message... Even though I wrote I was looking for a Japanese woman.

それから日本人向けSNSに友達募集の書き込みをして、無事に請け負ってくれる人を見つけました。それまでに何通かナンパ目的の、ある意味では興味深いメールも貰いましたが…。笑ったのがアメリカ人からもらったすんごい直接的な内容のメール。だから日本人女性を探してるって書いてんじゃん！

The outward flight was 12 hours, which is the same length to between Tokyo and London... Trying to avoid getting jet-lagged, I tried to stay up the previous night so that I could sleep on the plane, it was completely in vain though. I felt my stomach so sick at around 4 am, so I went to bed eventually. Probably because my age... sigh. I didn't feel the flight that long, but it was a bit awkward that I had to wake up a guy sitting next to me four or five times to go to the toilet...

行きの飛行機は12時間で、ロンドンー東京間と同じ時間…。時差ボケを回避しようと思って、前日に完徹しようと試みたんですが、朝の4時頃にすごい胃が気持ち悪くなって、見事に無駄に終わりました…。もう歳かなぁ…。フライトはそんなに長く感じなかったけど、トイレで横の人をしょっちゅう起こさないといけなかったのは恥ずかしかったなぁ…。

February is the rainy season in the West Coast, so it was raining when I arrived there. It almost looked like a downpour to me, but I don't it actually was, since we only have showers in London. I'd been to NY five years before, but I got overwhelmed by the scale of everything in America again. I guess in the West Coast, it's even more. Roads are ridiculously wide, so are signs, buildings and billboards, everything is massive. I felt so weird walking in the downtown, I felt myself so tiny. When I told about this to an American woman I shared a room of the hostel with, she said like, 'They like making everything big to show they are great and powerful.' Hmmm.

2月は西海岸は梅雨時なので、自分が到着した時も雨が降っていました。かなり強い雨に見えましたが、単に小雨しか降らないロンドンから来たせいでしょうね。5年前にもアメリカ、その時はNYですが、に来た事はあったのですが、再び物のスケールのでかさに圧倒されてしまいました。多分西海岸はそれが更にすごいです。道路、看板、建物、広告… 全てがアホみたいに巨大です。ダウンタウンの真ん中を歩いていて、自分が急に小さくなったような、妙な感覚に陥りました。このことをホステルで同室になったアメリカ人女性に話したら、「アメリカ人はなんでもでかくすることで、自分達が偉大だぞ、金持ってんだぞってことを誇示したいのよ」という答えが。うーん…。

Again, to be continued. Although some memories are not fresh now...
再び続きます。正直そろそろ色々忘れかけてきてるけどw

Posted at Wed Mar 03 18:52:42 UTC 2010
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/392855 http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/392855 minmooba Wed Mar 03 18:52:42 UTC 2010
I went to Los Angeles, California which is located in the West Coast of the United States (No need to say? Fair enough) from 5th to 7th this month.
Virtually to 8th because the flight was so lengthy 17 hours or something including the connection...

The reason why I went there was to meet Paul Reubens a.k.a. Pee-wee Herman. He was a really popular comedian in the 80s and he made a comeback. I've been a fan of him since about 2001, so I resolved to go see his stage show on my own.
I could stay there longer and wanted to go sightseeing more, but since I had known that traveling alone for too long wouldn't turn out to be good from my past experience, I opted for a quite short trip. Everyone said I was crazy though.

2/5〜2/7までカルフォルニア州はLAに行ってきました。アメリカの西海岸ですね。え、そんなの知ってるって？まあまあ。7日までなんですが、フライト時間乗り継ぎ入れたら17時間とかですんごく長かったので、実質は8日まで行ってました。

行くことになった理由はポール・ルーベンスに会いに行くためです。アメリカで80年代は彼のことを知らない人間はいなかったような人なのですが、まあ日本人は9割方知りませんね、はい。とりあえず結構昔から彼のファンなので、一人で行くことにしました。
もっと長く滞在できたし、観光ももっとしたかったのですが、過去に一人旅をちょっと長めにしたら後悔する結果になったので、思い切って3日だけにしました。みんなにアホ扱いされましたが (´∀｀；)

To be continued since I got tired.
疲れたので、続きます。

Posted at Sat Feb 20 21:42:51 UTC 2010
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/379489 http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/379489 minmooba Sat Feb 20 21:42:51 UTC 2010 Well, that is perfectly true most of the times... Although I would like to introduce some of the few non-geeky animes.

Oh! Super Milk-Chan
It is full of Japanese topical and local issues... An American channel put this on the air, though I have no idea how they translated... I love the way the President speaks, by the way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvo2BTbkZyM

↓the rest of this episode (add 'h' in the beginning)

ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vm8i6QPHuic
ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLXhgg4EM7U

Popee The Performer
There is no dialogue basically. It was on a channel called 'Kids' Station' for some reason... You can often see bloody scenes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmqvd_sC6-k

Fireball
The robot called Gedachitnis speaks in very formal language and sometimes goes linguistic jokes. The voice actor of him is the person who did the dub of my favourite character of Star Trek by the way...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMyZ07QgTP4

Usavich
It is set in Russia. The title is from words Usagi (rabbit) and ... bi*ch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqQ-DFYBJ_U

Hmmm, I hope these help you improve Japanese.

Posted at Thu Dec 03 19:12:35 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/302491 http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/302491 minmooba Thu Dec 03 19:12:35 UTC 2009 Because the inferiority complex towards the West appears strongly in them. (Although I don't know the situation these days, since I quit following the J-POP in style about eight years ago.)

Recently I happened to watch this clip of the song in those days (eight years ago or so?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGMoWNXFVxY

The first song represents what I want to say exactly.
Silly English sentences are everywhere in it.
And she doesn't even pronounce them properly.
This fashion and Japanese' bad pronunciation has kept driving me crazy for ages.

So the conditions of Japanese music I can listen to without getting annoyed are:

lyrics doesn't include any silly English sentence.

if it's written in English partly, it must be sung with proper pronunciation.

... and all that.

These clips below are of "Japanese" artists I like.

MONKEY MAJIK × 吉田兄弟 -CHANGE-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ50Je5nZPU&feature=related

LOVE PSYCHEDELICO - Right now
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWSCW8KjxXk






Posted at Wed Sep 09 19:32:47 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/233020 http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/233020 minmooba Wed Sep 09 19:32:47 UTC 2009
This entry comes with my sloppy handwriting. Please take a look at it if you want...

"My monthly pay is ¥70,000 (about $700)... If I had a girlfriend, I can't get married." says a Japanese animator
http://blog.livedoor.jp/dqnplus/archives/1279027.html

According to the survey of the association called JAniCA, the yearly average earning of animators in their 20s is approx. ¥1100,000 (about $11,000) It is said that the rate of labor turnover in this field is 80%-90%. The situation is getting worse for young people to improve their skills to a higher level in addition to the subcontracting to various Asian countries.

***************************
As just described, an animator is the job at the bottom of the social pyramid in Japan. I believe that Japanese people are famous as workaholic. Well, that's definitely true. I know some jobs at the lowest levels and I believe an animator is one of the worst jobs.

One of my ex-colleagues is a technical school of Animation-educated and he told me very interesting story.

He went like,
"I've once worked part time as animator like as an intern during my technical school years. They work 15 hours or so a day as a matter of course and finish up number of pencils a day.

Late at night I noticed that some people had disappeared insidiously. And I realized that sometimes I heared a gentle rustle from somewhere. Then I found out that they were sleeping under their desks and the gentle rustle was the sound from curtains which is put up under the desks in order to hide themselves when they sleep. Then I came to the conclusion that I couldn't carry on with this career."

Well, how sweet. I just recalled by the news so I wrote this.


以下日本語 please note that I wrote it in quite informal language.

アニメーター「月給７万…彼女できても結婚できぬ」
日本アニメーター・演出協会（ＪＡｎｉＣＡ）の調査では、２０代アニメーターの平均年収は約１１０万円。離職率は８〜９割とも言われる。アジア各国への業務委託に加え、技量の高い若手が育たない「空洞化」が進む。

****************************
まあこんな感じで、アニメーターはテラ底辺の職業です。
日本人は働きすぎで有名だとは思うのですが、どうしようもない位に真実です。いくつか底辺の仕事を他にも知ってますけど、その中でもアニメーターはかなり素敵な方です。

前の職場にアニメ系の専門卒の人がいて、なんとも素敵な話を聞いたので紹介したいと思います。

その人いわく、
「専門の時にアニメ制作会社でインターンみたいな感じでバイトをしたんだけど、みんな当たり前のように１日15時間くらい仕事するし、鉛筆とか１日に何本も使いきるの。

夜遅くなると何人かがいつの間にかいなくなってるのに気がついて、たまに『シャーッ』て音がどっかから聞こえるの。何かと思ったら、みんな机の下で寝てるんだよ。んでその謎の音は何かというと、目隠しのために机の下に取りつけたカーテンの音だったんだよ！それで僕はこの仕事は続けれないと思った。」

なんという素敵っぷり。ニュースを見て思い出したので書いてみました。

Posted at Tue Jun 30 22:44:23 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/183149 http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/183149 minmooba Tue Jun 30 22:44:23 UTC 2009
When we Japanese write figures by hand, there're some differences from westerners.
The most outstanding point is the way to write a figure '7' and subsequently '1', I guess.
But a picture is worth a thousand words.
I made a simple chart. (It's written by me.)

We rarely use Chinese letters to write figures.
Probably because it's troublesome to read.

Like this: 四十八 → 48

But English speakers write figures in English.
I find it very interesting.

Posted at Tue Jun 16 06:31:48 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/173057 http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/173057 minmooba Tue Jun 16 06:31:48 UTC 2009
(つд⊂)ｺﾞｼｺﾞｼ (；ﾟдﾟ) ・・・ (つд⊂)ｺﾞｼｺﾞｼｺﾞｼ（；ﾟ Дﾟ） …！？

Posted at Wed Jun 10 07:20:42 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/168890 http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/168890 minmooba Wed Jun 10 07:20:42 UTC 2009
リスニング強化週間開始でゲス！

So I've been neglecting to write a journal.
But I've finished the 4000th sentence of dictation on smart.fm
Congratulations to me!

And I've started studying lists of some anime on smart.fm.
The English dubs use sounds you'd hear in real life.

...Dang, Kyon talks freaking fast!


This is amazing, by the way.
Arrrrggg I want to learn how to use 3D tools!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phXAMoC3wIw

Posted at Mon Jun 08 18:51:28 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/167750 http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/167750 minmooba Mon Jun 08 18:51:28 UTC 2009
Let's take an example.

boku, watashi, watakushi, ore, oresama, wai, uchi, atai, atashi, washi, oira, oidon, asshi, ora, wate, jibun, me, akichi, orecchi,

old
wagahai, warawa, syousei, temae, yo, soregashi, midomo, ware, touhou, gusyou, kochitora, gusou, gojin

わたし・わたくし・おれ・おれさま・わい・うち・あたい・あたし・わし・おいら・おいどん・あっし、オラ・わて・自分・ミー・あきち・おれっち・

昔の
我が輩・わらわ・小生・手前・余・それがし・みども・我・当方・愚生・こちとら・愚僧（坊さん）・吾人

These all are the first-person words.
All mean 'I'.
Each has a same meaning, but represents a different personality.
I googled these just now, and I think there are so much more.
Some young girls call themselves by their own names.

If I want to express something like this in English, I have to add another sentence.

I suppose this is one of the reasons that English is widely spoken.

Posted at Fri May 29 19:45:35 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/159925 http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/159925 minmooba Fri May 29 19:45:35 UTC 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcS-4gkYgi0

She is the most cutest cat ever and is widely known in the world as...

だるまさんが転んにゃ - Stalking Cat -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzzjgBAaWZw

Of course you all know her, right?

Posted at Thu May 28 15:17:55 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/158875 http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/158875 minmooba Thu May 28 15:17:55 UTC 2009
朗報です。

I had been working on drawing comic illustrations to make a amateur comic book (doujinshi: which has already become an English word among wotaku people http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doujinshi) with my ex colleagues and had planned to sell it in the doujinshi sale and exhibit in Japan.
I hadn't drawn comic illustrations for ages, so I had been very upset.
I took three days off of my school to meet the deadline!! (... I couldn't actually (´･ω･｀) )

Well,
Last Sunday was the day of the exhibit.
I got a good news! They sold all the books they had made!
There weren't a lot of copies, but I'm glad to hear that (｀･ω･´）
I heard that they had already applied for the next exhibit in October.

Don't tell me "What are you doing in UK?" like that.
I know that already.

Posted at Tue May 26 18:19:11 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/157431 http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/157431 minmooba Tue May 26 18:19:11 UTC 2009
I am a pure Japanese but for some reason, I am light-skinned and have brown eyes. (Most of Japanese have nearly black eyes.)
Sometimes people ask me if I'm a half Japanese (is 'mixed' proper word to say this?).
Hence (or not?) I can't open my eyes fully under the sun on sunny days.
Moreover, if I'm subjected to direct sunshine for 30 minutes, my skin will be red and it really hurts.
And nose peel will detach itself easily the next day of being sunburned, it's really annoying.

So I decided to put up my two way umbrella (which also works as parasol) on sunny days.
But I've already come across people talking to me 'It's not raining' two times.
Leave me alone.
It's incredibly shiny, is it easy to see!?
No way... don't western countries people know even the existence of a parasol...?

below in Japanese

イギリスの日差しはすんげー強いです。
どういうわけか自分は肌の色が白く、茶色い目をしてるからか
どうなのかは不明ですが、まぶしいのにとても弱く、
快晴の日に外に出ると目があんまり開けられません。
あと30分くらい直射日光にあたるとそりゃあもう大変。
豚さんみたいな色になってヒリヒリするし、焼けやすい鼻とかは
次の日には皮がむけてきて、そりゃあうっとおしいのなんの。

なんで、どうしようもないんで、持って来た晴雨両用の折り畳み傘を
さすことにしてるんですが、すでに２回通りがかりの人が
「雨降ってねーよ。」的な事をのたまわってきました。
ほっとけや。
目も開けられないくらいまぶしいんだから日傘なのくらいわかるだろボケがァ。
でも「Excuse me,」から話しかけて来た人もいるんで、
まさか欧米の人って日傘の存在すら知らないんじゃ…!?

あっ、米いただきました。存在自体を知らないんですね。
あっそうですか。皮膚がんなっても知らねーぞ、と。

Posted at Sat May 23 17:53:08 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/155075 http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/155075 minmooba Sat May 23 17:53:08 UTC 2009 In Japanese, we say in this situation, 「photoshop が落ちた。」
Is there any other natural expression about it in English?

Posted at Sat May 09 12:32:57 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/143616 http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/143616 minmooba Sat May 09 12:32:57 UTC 2009 When he/she wants to confirm something, he/she adds 'yeah?' at the end.
Mothers say to their children.
Shop staffs say to their customers.
I'd never heard of it till I've been here.
I'd heard of only ',right?' or ',is it?.'

I've heard that 'yeah' is not polite way to say yes.
So I've been trying to avoid using 'yeah' or 'yep'...

Is it common only in England?

Posted at Thu May 07 16:55:35 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/142061 http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/142061 minmooba Thu May 07 16:55:35 UTC 2009 I have always thought we say 'eight thirty' in English until I've been here.
Is this in this country only? Or not?

Posted at Mon May 04 20:55:48 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/139519 http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/139519 minmooba Mon May 04 20:55:48 UTC 2009
K-ON! OP [HD!]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y92es0OMu5E&NR=1

OMG.....

K-ON! OP&ED Tops the Oricon Singles Chart
http://www.moetron.com/2009/04/25/k-on-oped-tops-the-oricon-singles-chart/

K-ON! Theme Songs Rank #2, #4 on Oricon Weekly Chart
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/Kanami/20090429/1240994999

According to the article above,
7 songs of top 10 are related to anime or video games.
#1 is Korean artist and Anime theme song....

JAPAN IS OVER ＼(＾o＾)／

I knew that Japanese music sucks... but this is amazing...
It's Kyoto Animation again.

Posted at Mon May 04 18:01:34 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/139465 http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/139465 minmooba Mon May 04 18:01:34 UTC 2009 What's up this site?
Live announcing of video games or just range themes or MAD (which isn't very interesting for people who aren't viewers of them).
They are everywhere in the ranking.
Hmm, I'm glad that I haven't been a dues-paying member.

Posted at Fri May 01 13:21:34 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/137178 http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/137178 minmooba Fri May 01 13:21:34 UTC 2009 'Hatsune Miku -Project DIVA-' which is going to be released in July.
Yes, even if I'm in England.

It's been three weeks since I came here.
But I've never seen a person who is playing with PSP on trains or buses.
(a couple times of kid playing with Nintendo DS,
many times of adults playing with iPhone and iPod touch, though)

In Japan, many adults plays with portable game consoles on trains or etc.
Yes, Japan is the otaku country.
I used to play 'DISSIDIA FINAL FANTASY' on my way to work.
Maybe I look a strange Asian to English people when I do that.
I don't care though.

Posted at Wed Apr 29 22:41:51 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/135967 http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/135967 minmooba Wed Apr 29 22:41:51 UTC 2009 And the reason is because few people use it.
The news said almost only elderly people use it.
I was taught in junior high.
But I don't write it and can't read it.
I'm glad that I didn't try to use it.

So what do you think about it, English speakers?
How about it around you?

Posted at Mon Apr 27 17:29:51 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/134265 http://www.lang-8.com/36277/journals/134265 minmooba Mon Apr 27 17:29:51 UTC 2009