Let's write words in Japanese

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, you need to know how it pronounced the word in Japanese.

type in  = McDonald = makudonarudo = マクドナルド
 hamburger = hanba-ga- = ハンバーガー
hotdog = hottodoggu = ホットドッグ

small つ is used when you skip the sound. to write small つ、type the consonant twice. you can also make the words smaller if you type in x before the word

only works for vowels and small tsu っ　

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Writing / Typing Japanese: Dotted letters and so on

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

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 of あ.

There are three kinds of letters in Japanese.

One is Hiragana,　ひらがな

then,  Katakana　カタカナ

the last one is Kanji,　漢字　 Chinese characters have meaning in each one.

Let's start from Hiragana.

By the way, I made this Hiragana and Katakana chart sold at zazzle.com please visit the page, you can see the image and study or you can order a poster online!

Japanese Alphabet (Katakana) Poster
by falkdesigns

change the setting to Hiragana. on the top right side, change the icon to hiragana usually says "あ" in Japanese. there is a shortcut on mac control and space, for windows, alt, and shift.



The first row is vowels, a i u e o

あいうえお

you'll notice the underline shows up, if you press the space key, it will give you the option to change to kanji, you need to press enter to make "あ" to confirm the letter.

when you add consonant, K it becomes Ka ki ku ke ko

かきくけこ

next line is S, Sa si su se so

さしすせそ

T Ta ti tu te to (it pronounces chi and tsu)

たちつてと

N Na ni nu ne no

なにぬねの

H Ha  hi hu he ho

はひふへほ

M Ma mi mu me mo



Y Ya        Yu       Yo

やゆよ

only have 3 on this row since the pronunciation is the same as vowel "i" and "e"

R Ra ri ru re ro

らりるれろ

 I think it's rather pronounced L There are no pronunciation represents L and R differences in Japanese. It's still hard for me to say in English. There's a simple reason why Japanese people can't pronounce R and L correctly. They don't exist in Japanese.

wa wo only two letters on this row.

わ　を

n is the last word. Type twice then hit enter.

ん

Japan trip - Shizuoka and Tokyo

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 rate was 8500 yen a night. I met up with my brother to visit my dad and grandma at the graveyard. After that, I went to Yurakucho to see my friend. 

When I got off the station, I thought I was in Harajuku. There were tons of teenagers who love K-pop (Korean pop idol group) like BTS and Twice.

I took Shinkansen to go to Shizuoka. It takes only one hour. The day I got to Japan was raining hard. I couldn't see anything but on the way back to Tokyo, I could see Mt. Fuji very clear.

Mt. Fuji from Shinkansen.

The view of Shizuoka

Shizuoka Oden: Shizuoka's soul food.

The statue from Kita san Yaji san: Travelers who walked all over Japan in the Edo era. (Fiction)

Some Shrine near Shizuoka Station.

Japanese Korean Town in Tokyo Shinokubo

Shin Okubo is filled with young people but is hard to see in this picture.

Omoide (memory) yokocho at Shinjuku. I love a little street like this.

Boba at Shin Okubo. 

I had Takoyaki (Octopus ball) final snack before leaving Japan at Narita.

Reserve your flight and hotel! Booking.com 

Gift for Dad 

Gift for Dad
by peacewing

Spark Joy or not? Tidying Up With Marie Kondo

I read a buzz about Marie Kondo's Netflix show so I watched the first episode yesterday. Marie Kondo is very famous in Japan and she's called "Konmari" in short. I've read her book once or twice and I tried her method, (don't ask me if it worked or not) but after I've watched it, and I actually wrote about her book 3 years ago and I totally skipped the most important thing she's talking about.

"Does it spark joy or not for you?"

I have watched the first episode with a young couple with two little adorable children in a beautiful house. Their house doesn't look so bad but got a lot of junk.

Before starting tidying up the house, Marie Kondo sits down on the floor in the house and greet to the house, like meditating.

Then, take out all the clothes you have and put into one pile

Next, take the clothes one by one in your hand and see if that particular thing spark joy or not. If not, you say "thank you" and say goodbye.

She separates into four categories; Clothes, Paper, Miscellaneous, Sentimental (maybe wrong, but something like that) and does (let the family do) the same method.

After completing the cleaning, everybody's life gets better with extra space, and most of all, they can live life with something sparks joy for you.


By the way, 1/21/19 was a full moon, but not the usual full moon, it was

SUPER BLOOD WOLF MOON

within the spiritual people, we wish to the moon twice a month. Once at the new moon,  then at the full moon. You make a wish at the new moon and at the full moon, you let go your old thought that you don't need like negative thoughts, and see how you're doing towards your wish.

so until the next new moon which is Feb 4th, 2019, it's a good time to let go that doesn't spark joy for you.

Carton Box Compost for the small area gardening

I have a little gardening space in front of my apartment. I planted tomatoes, watermelon, but the soil is poor, and space on my side is shady, I planted flowers but they would not grow another flower bulb or just withered.

I wanted to try "Cartonbox Compost" I read in Japanese. It's a compost system made in a carton box so it doesn't need big space, you can put fruit rind, peel, vegetable scraps, it's eco, environmental, so I tried.

You need,

1) Carton box, you need one more layer of carton box at the bottom for the extra reinforcement.

2), 3) Peat Moss and Charcoal (ground) ratio 2:1



Espoma PTM8 8-Quart Organic Peat Moss




Wakefield Biochar Soil Conditioner - Premium - 1 lb Bag

4) Mix with vegetable/ fruit/food waste and mix every day.

5) Cover with big t-shirts the box to prevent bugs to get inside.

6) Put the box on an upside-down basket or grates for the airflow under the box.

in 2-3 weeks, the compost is ready!

You are supposed to use "Rice husk charcoal" but I couldn't find it. Maybe this is the closest one, it's not the charcoal though.




Rice Hulls - Organic Use - Weed Free - 1lb Bag

If the compost is successful, it gets fermented and warm. You might find some fruit flies, bugs, when you find those, add some rice hulls or fish guts to make compost extra fermented and kill off the bugs, or I sprayed some essential oil (like peppermint),  with alcohol and water mixture.

What Halloween Costume are you gonna wear this year?

Shop early for the Halloween Costume

Halloween is coming soon. I just went to Costco and Target with my 7 years old daughter. She is not in a "Princess Phase" anymore. Last year, she became a wonder women, this year, she wanted to be Jojo Siwa, or something cute and scary but Costco didn't have her size already! She took a witch costume but she didn't click on it so we went to Target. I was surprised her size was out already, I didn't ask the store so not sure if they are really out or not, but my daughter wanted to buy the Descendant costume and wig. We went home and try out but she didn't like it, so we went back to exchange for target brand (hyde and eek) Magical fawn costume. It's not a princess but it's cute and girly.

Time to put on last year's costume on eBay

I tried posting on eBay for the first time. I just sold one Mario Brothers two listing still there. It's good to buy pre-owned because it's cheaper and better for the environment. 

Wonder Woman Costume 4 -6 years old girl

What's this 2018 trend?

Judging from what my kids like for now, maybe Fortnite and Jojo Siwa would be hot this year?

Have a happy halloween!