October 15, 2008 at 10:02 am (Japan FAQs and SAQs, Japanese English, Japanese health, Japanese language)
In Japanese, that name has the same pronunciation as the first two syllables of “ibuprofen”, which is what it is
So, not because it is especially designed for women as I thought. Took me an unbelievably long time to work that one out- sorry if it is obvious to everyone else in Japan!
October 14, 2008 at 7:51 am (Japan and Korea, Japan FAQs and SAQs, Japan links, Japanese books/ Books about Japan, Japanese education, Japanese immigration, Japanese international relations, Japanese language, Japanese minorities, Japanese politics, Japanese television, Lives of young koreans in Japan, NHK)
Tags: politically correct
…ハングル being, properly, only the name of the Korean alphabet.
“There is no politically neutral way of describing the Korean language in Japanese, and NHK feared criticism from South-leaning Koreans if it described the language as Chosen-go… or from North-leaning Koreans if it called it Kankoku-go…” Read the rest of this entry »
October 13, 2008 at 10:32 am (Japan and Korea, Japan FAQs and SAQs, Japanese food and drink, Japanese language, Japanese restaurants, Lives of young koreans in Japan, Yakiniku)
Tags: quotes, Zainichi
Horumon (ホルモン) being the sign that proudly displays the posibility of grilling lungs.
“Yakiniku cuisine was invented by Zainichi Koreans shortly after the war, initially as a way of making the internal organs of cows more appetizing at a time when widespread poverty meant that most people could not afford more expensive kinds of meat” Read the rest of this entry »
October 12, 2008 at 10:16 am (Japan FAQs and SAQs, Japanese food and drink, Japanese language, Japanese monsters, Sushi and sashimi)
A kappa is a strange and interesting Japanese monster that really likes cucumbers (“maki” just means “wrap”). This also explains why some of my students think it is funny that foreigners use that name in English, I think, as it is a quite idiomatic nickname that has become standard.
October 11, 2008 at 10:12 am (Japan and Mongolia, Japan FAQs and SAQs, Japanese international relations, Japanese language, Japanese politics)
Tags: north korea, politically correct
Kita Chosen (北朝鮮) is supposed to be just a geographical name, and therefore to save giving the North Korean government the same legitimacy as the “Country of Koreans” (韓国 – Kankoku) in the South
October 9, 2008 at 12:20 pm (1)
Tags: Japanese English, Japanese shops, Japanese signs
Often with capitals to make the division even clearer – “Bar Ber”. The only possible suggestion my imagination offers is that they used to have the word on the turning red and white pole things so that half of it appeared at one time, and that eventually transferred to the normal shop fronts??
October 3, 2008 at 7:34 am (1)
This was due to a general slump in interest about Japan linked to really getting into reading and writing about TEFL teaching (www.tefl.net/alexcase), followed by something really odd happening to my WordPress dashboard just when I wanted to start posting again. Anyone know what is up with WordPress? Yet another example of even them not understanding what having both categories and tags is supposed to achieve?
Japan Explained FASAQ 