Japanese Study Now!

Would you like to learn Japanese? Japanese is a challenging, fun language that has experienced a recent surge in popularity. Miho Myojin, a former university professor and native of japan, offers Japanese lesson in Campbell, San Jose California! Let’s start Japanese with Miho sensei! ☆ I write blogs too. I write about Japanese culture and include some useful Japanese lessons with audio. Let’s check it out! Click here to see the blog entries’ contents. Check “what’s new” to find out an information or the upload information. I upload “Daily Phrase” more often, so check it out! What can we do  [ Read More ]

These days, being bilingual isn’t so special. It’s almost expected. If your second language is similar to your own language, you might be able to get the hang of it effortlessly. However, the Japanese language is not similar to most other languages; in fact, it’s quite far from any other language. The way we form sentences is different, how we express things is different. You will find that a literal translation might not work in many situations. I mean that you can’t translate word to word. This happens because of our cultural differences. Eventually, you are going to need someone  [ Read More ]

Since I know both cultures, Japanese and American, I see the difference in between them. Obviously, we have different grammar and we see things differently, due to cultural differences. For example, Japan is an apology comes first culture, whereas not in America. In Japan, we use a word to express modesty when referring to our own family, whereas American people use positive word to express about their family, like “I have three beautiful daughters.” However, you can find some similarity between both cultures. We have signs to count number just like you do in America.You use “hash marks” to count  [ Read More ]

Happy New Year!　あけましておめでとうございます! How did your New Year’s holiday go?　Did you spend a great time with your family? Did you eat great food? New Year’s holiday is one of the most important holidays in Japan. We spend time with family and relatives. We also eat special food called “Osechi Ryori” on New Year’s holiday. The picture below is an “Osechi ryori” my dad made.　We eat Osechi ryori from the January 1st to 3rd. During the new year, we eat and drink a lot, so our stomach must work so hard to digest all the food we eat.  We have to  [ Read More ]

In Japanese, we have 3 different kinds of characters in Japanese: ひらがな：Hiragana, カタカナ： Katakana, and 漢字：Kanji. You can read about it here. Using kanji is very important for Japanese people because it represents both sounds and meanings. If you write whole sentence in hiragana or katakana, it’ll take us a long time to understand the sentence. We might even misunderstand the meaning of the sentence. So It’s very important for you to put some time to practice reading kanji and get used to it. I’ll upload more pages in the future. These Kanjis are based on Genki book. Kanji(漢字) L3  [ Read More ]

ヒマワリが、土壌中の放射性物質を取り除くとされる可能性に期待して、今福島ではヒマワリをたっくさ～ん植えているんですね。 http://fukuhimawari.blog.fc2.com/ http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/pae/botany/botany_map/articles/article_10.html 上記サイトの引用文にある、 “In February 1996, Phytotech, Inc., a Princeton, NJ-based company, reported that it had developed transgenic strains of sunflowers, Helianthus sp., that could remove as much as 95% of toxic contaminants in as little as 24 hours.” 1996年2月、Phytotech, Inc., a Princeton, NJ-based companyが、わずか24時間で95%もの有毒な汚染物質を取り除く事ができる、遺伝仕組み換え系のヒマワリ、Helianthus sp.を開発した。 からも、ヒマワリが放射性物質を取り除くとされる可能性の高さが伺えます。 汚染した植物をどうするのかが問題になっていますが、放射性物質を取り除ける可能性に少しでも近づいているかもしれないという事に感動しました。   -語彙リスト- contamination 【名】      汚染、 汚染物、汚染（物質） evacuate 【自動】      〔危険な場所から〕逃げる、避難する、撤退する、立ち退く、疎開する、排せつする 【他動】～を避難させる、～を排せつする food chain      《生物》食物連鎖 grazer 【名】      草食動物、放牧者 livestock 【名】      家畜（類）◆集合的 contaminated 【形】      汚染された     安物の、品質の落ちた contaminant 【名】      汚染物質、汚染要因物、混入物質 phytoremediation 【名】      ファイトレメディエーション◆植物を利用して環境を修復・改善・浄化する技術。◆【参考】bioremediation Chernobyl accident チェルノブイリ事故 concentrate 【名】       〔一カ所に〕集まる、集結する metal-laden laden 【形】      〔重い荷を〕運んでいる、積んでいる     〔困難や不幸などに〕打ちひしがれた、意気消沈した render  【他動】      〈文〉〔人・物を〕～の状態にする vermiculite 【名】      《鉱物》バーミキュライト、蛭石◆熱を加えると膨張する性質があり、断熱材、潤滑剤、土質改良材などとして使われる。 chromium 【名】      《元素》クロム、クロミウム、クロミューム◆【略】Cr◆遷移元素。原子番号24。原子量51.99616（天然同位体存在比 Cr-50：4.34513％、Cr-52：83.78918％、Cr-53：9.50117％、Cr-54：2.3657）。融点1890℃。沸点2212℃。密度7.20g/cm3。常温常圧で耐食性が大。クロム鋼、クロムめっきに。◆【参考】transition element（遷移元素）  [ Read More ]

自転車を持っていますか?(jitensha o motteimasu ka?) – Do you have a bicycle? よく自転車に乗りますか? (yoku jitensha ni norimasu ka?) – Do you ride a bicycle often? Bicycles are called “自転車(jitensha).” In some region, they may say “チャリンコ(charinko)“or “ケッタ(ketta)” or “ケッタマシーン(ketta macine).” The bicycle which has a basket in front  is called “ママチャリ(mama chari).” ママ(mama) comes from Mom, and チャリ(chari) comes from チャリンコ(charinko) which means a bicycle. So it’s like Mama’s bicycle. I guess, we have this image of mom carrying grocery bags in the basket. I like ママチャリ(mama chari), because I can put things in the basket so I can drive easier.:) I  [ Read More ]

Have you ever heard of “Okonomiyaki?” Okonomiyaki is a dish from Osaka or Hiroshima. When we go to these areas, we eat Okonomiyaki (or Takoyaki). However, you can eat it pretty much everywhere you go in Japan. Okonomiyaki might look like a pancake or pizza to you, but its taste is more similar to a quesadilla. It’s a flour pancake with a variety of vegetables or seafood or meat. Okonomiyaki means “baked dish what you like.” “Konomi” is a noun and means what you like, “yaki” means grilled or baked. So you can invent your favorite kind of Okonomiyaki! More  [ Read More ]

These are the dialogues from the Genki book Ⅱ. You can see videos on the Genki site, but some of them are tough to hear. So I recorded the conversations in my own voice. L13　アルバイト探し Looking for a Part-time Job p6  ～ 7 [Audio clip: view full post to listen] [Audio clip: view full post to listen] [Audio clip: view full post to listen] L14 バレンタインデー Valentine’s Day p28 ～ 29 [Audio clip: view full post to listen] [Audio clip: view full post to listen] [Audio clip: view full post to listen] L15 長野旅行 A Trip to Nagano p50 ～  [ Read More ]

Hi everyone! My husband and I moved to Salinas, California last week! I’m surprised at how cold it is, but I enjoy many things here. The other thing I am surprised about is that there is a Japanese Buddhist temple in Salinas! I am very excited about the fact we have a Temple close by. Have you ever heard of Obon? Actually they had an “OBON Festival” at that temple yesterday, on July 31st. So we went for the festival. . Today, I’d like to write about Obon(お盆), but first, let me tell you about my experience of Obon(お盆). I  [ Read More ]

Hello, everyone. I was thinking how tough it has been to live in Japan now, since the twin tragedies of the earthquake and tsunami on March 11. It really is breaking all of our hearts. Now, because of the tragedies, people are worried about the radiation exposure and we are learning a lot more about the “danger of radiation”. We are suffering from short supplies and confused by false rumors, fake information, and donation scams… Japanese just can’t live with a peaceful mind anymore. Imagine how tough it could be to have a peaceful mind in those kind of circumstances.  [ Read More ]