Posts

Going to Atami (Famous hot spring place)

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Staying at Akasaka, Tokyo Leave Akasaka around 9:30 in the morning and head for Atami. Looking at the timetable in Jordan,  https://world.jorudan.co.jp/mln/en/ it is 4390 yen per person for the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Atami, and it takes 37 minutes for the Shinkansen from Tokyo.  2nd option is "Izu no Odoriko" (Izu Dancer) train takes 1 hour 21 minutes and costs 4000 yen per person. 3rd option is Tokaido, the local train takes 1 hour 53 minutes and 1940 yen. Other friend families go by car. Since only 5 people can ride in the car, it is already over capacity, so we talked about going by train. I decided to get to Atami around noon, so I didn't hurry and my son had to pay an adult fee this year so I decided to save and go on the Tokaido. I thought that it would be possible to sit down during the daytime on weekdays, but it seems that there are many people thinking about the same thing. By the way, there is a reserved seat on this Tokaido, and it was 780 yen p...

Stay at Tokyo, Akasaka.

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I went back to Japan this summer with two children. The next day we arrived, We were going to Ito (Shizuoka) with my family and friends, so I stayed in the city for a night booked in the reservation site. It's not a hotel, it's like a private residence (with private bathroom with shower), it's not a fancy place or anything, but it's in a convenient location and the reviews are good, so I decided here. My two children were quite big (13 and 8), so I didn't want to sleep on a tight bed, so it was attractive to have a single bed for each person. This room has two bunk beds and the area is nice. I've lived in Tokyo for many years, but I am not familiar with Akasaka or the inside of the Yamanote Line. I arrived at Akasaka around 5:00 in the evening and was full of people after work. The impression of Akasaka is modern buildings and old shopping street merged. Since two suitcases were sent to my brothers' house, I will arrive at the inn with a small ...

greeting in Japanese! ... With meanings..

Greetings in Japanese、Aisatsu, in Japanese. おはよう こんにちは こんばんは   ありがとう さようなら すみません ohayou おはよう is "good morning".  we usually don't use Kanji for this word but if you use it, it says お早う the Kanji in the middle means "early" or "fast" It makes sense since it's early in the morning. Ko n ni chi ha こんにちは is "hello" but we say this for the afternoon. 今日は the first two Kanji characters says Today, は pronounces "wa" even though it spells "ha". In Japanese, this は pronounces "wa" works as "is" or "are" in English. postpositional particle I looked upon a dictionary.. so, "Konnichiwa" really means "today is" Same as  "Konbanwa" night greetingsこんばんは 今晩は means "tonight is" Arigatou ありがとう is Thank you,  in Kanji, it 有難う the first kanji means "there" second one is "difficult" so Arigatou means "difficult to be there" so th...

Let's write words in Japanese

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Hello everybody, こんにちは。 I've made how to type and write Hiragana on the computer before, based on Hiragana chart. Lets talk about Katakana for a little bit today. all the sounds are the same as hiragana. Katakana look boxy and has edgy shapes compares to Hiragana. Japanese Alphabet (Katakana) Poster by falkdesigns By the way, This chart is sold at zazzle.com Please visit the the link at the bottom for more info. Katakana is used to express foreign words like, McDonald = マクドナルド  Ski = スキー  America = アメリカ cake = ケーキ party = パーティー all sounds are flat in Japanese. uses the long line to express long sounds or extend sounds you may not recognize the words when it pronounced in Japanese but you'll surprised to know a lot of English words are used in Japanese. how to write / type Katakana is basically the same as how to write Hiragana. Let's practice writing / typing words. First, change the setting to Japanese typing mode, to type Japanese, ...

Writing / Typing Japanese: Dotted letters and so on

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I'll tell you how to type beyond usual Hiragana chart. Japanese Hiragana and Katakana, if you add two dots  after those letters for example かきくけこ Ka Ki Ku Ke Ko add " at the right above those letters, they becomes がぎぐげご it pronounces Ga Gi Gu Ge Go Same for さしすせそ becomes ざじずぜぞ Za Zi Zu Ze Zo だぢづでど Da Di Du De Do ばびぶべぼ Ba Bi Bu Be Bo Then, if you put small circle at the right side above, they becomes ぱぴぷぺぽ Pa Pi Pu Pe Po Next, if you put little や、ゆ、よ after certain letters, you will pronounce for example, きゃ = kya きゅ = kyu きょ = kyo Like when you type kyouto (Kyoto) きょうと =京都 in Kanji you will see よ is little smaller. Sha Shu Sho しゃしゅしょ Tya Tyu Tyo ちゃちゅちょ Nya Nyu Nyo にゃにゅにょ Hya Hyu Hyo ひゃひゅひょ Mya Myu Myo みゃみゅみょ Rya Ryu Ryo りゃりゅりょ Gya Gyu Gyo ぎゃきゅぎょ Ja Ju Jo じゃじゅじょ Bya Byu Byo びゃびゅびょ Pya Pyu Pyo ぴゃぴゅぴょ Japanese Alphabet (Hiragana) Poster by falkdesigns

Writing / Type in Japanese on your computer

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Hi, I'll show you how to type (write) Japanese on your computer. Japanese Alphabet (Hiragana) Poster by falkdesigns There are ways to type in using the alphabet. before you start, you need to set up input enabled in Japanese, If you are using a mac, go to System Preferences from the Apple menu, click on the blue flag icon labeled Language & Region. Click on the button marked with a plus sign in the lower left to add a new language, then select Japanese from the menu and click the Add button. You also need to add the setting for the keyboard. go to the keyboard, input source, add Japanese.   I think it's similar for Windows users, please google "how to type Japanese on windows" and find out. Lately, Japanese people use this type of keyboard on the smartphone. You tap the letter until you get the one you want on the row of, for example, if you want to input "う" you press "あ" three-time sinceうlocates at the third letter of a row...

Japan trip - Shizuoka and Tokyo

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I went to Japan to see my family in May.   I left Japan 20 years ago.  The price of the food is really affordable if you choose. For breakfast, I had rice, miso soup, salmon, and pickles set for only 500 yen or so, I bought a ticket at the machine and gave it to the lady who works by herself cooking, serving, clean up, doing everything! There were at least 8 customers including me. She was working hard. at 8:00 AM it was the peak time serving for guys before going to work. After everybody left, I told her, "You were doing all by yourself, what a hard worker you are!"  I didn't take a picture of the food. Too bad. On the other hand, expensive food like this one a cake for 780 yen 810 yen with tax exists. It was good though. Potato cake (heavy and filled me up)  I stayed at Shizuoka where Mt. Fuji is, and also my family. In Tokyo, I stayed at Shin Okubo (near Shinjuku). This area is a Korean town in Tokyo. I booked at booking.com the rat...