神戸: Kobe

The sakura have mostly been gone for a few weeks now. No more hanami, but at least everything here has started turning green. Now, it's high time I shared some of the pictures from my excursion into the Kobe area nearly a month ago.

Having 2 weeks of free time but not much cash, I decided to keep the traveling simple by visiting a friend in Kobe and wandering around the Kansai region (the area just south of Fukui that includes Kyoto, Osaka, Nara and Kobe) for as long as the 4-day Kansai train pass would allow me to wander.Here we see the lovely port city of Kobe from above. I really liked Kobe. It offers easy access to both mountains and coastline as well as all the commodities of a major metropolitan hub.
Among the most essential commodities, of course, is Bubble Tea - the Taiwanese tapioca pearl tea sensation that is a favorite drink in China Towns the world over. You can't see it in this picture, but my friend and I bought matching Kung Fu shirts here. That same night we also watched the Stephen Chow classic Shaolin Soccer.
Not only does Kobe offer mountains, a port and bubble tea but also some of the finest creepy modern art this side of Dali's twisted time piece.
The best part of Kobe, naturally, was the colorful restrainless chair lift that takes sightseers up and down the mountain overlooking the city. Sure, the seats never rise more than a couple meters off the ground, but, still, in the States this sort of ride is a lawsuit in waiting.

That's my friend taking a picture of me in the picture. Someday, I think I may create a photobook of pictures of people taking pictures.
Some background on the friend: a few years ago we both lived in the same city outside Nagoya while exchange students at Nanzan University. Since we lived in the same city we also rode the same train to school. We even ended up testing into the same Japanese courses. He was really the first friend I made in Japan outside of my host family. Although he grew up on a dairy farm in upstate New York (not the city) - a part of the world I've never seen, "Battisti" and I managed to connect through a mutual interest in the Japanese language and a love for all things Stryper.

For the sake of personal embarrassment, I shall provide links here to a couple of pictures from my old Nagoya blog: A B

漢字とかな： Japanese Writing

I've recently begun private lessons in Chinese and Japanese. A large portion of both involves writing, and my homework requires a lot of memorization - an old technique I'd almost forgotten since the atrophy of my mind began with all the wasted free time at work. Now, I'd like to share some insights into the tedious work of achieving literacy in Chinese and Japanese. Don't worry if any of this gets confusing. Japanese students spend 6 years of primary school, 3 years of middle school and some of high school learning this stuff. I'm sure it's the same in Chinese speaking countries.

漢字： Chinese Characters (read "kanji")
The Japanese had no writing system until delegates from China introduced their ideographs about a millenium and a half ago. The characters taken from Chinese are not phonetic (ie. not an alphabet), but rather represent an idea. Some resemble images, some are abstract images of the ideas they convey, but most seem rather arbitrary. A few examples:
木：　tree
森：　forest (a gathering of trees)
女：　woman, 　子：　child, 　好：　good/like (woman and child)
魔法：　magic (how could you make a picture of magic?)
凸凹：　bumpy/jagged (no, not tetris - these are actual kanji)

So, anyway, the Japanese took on this system of writing which required a knowledge of several thousand characters for complete literacy. This was great for scholars who already spoke Chinese, but did little to help anyone who spoke only Japanese since the two languages are very different in grammar and pronunciation. Thus, the debate began regarding how to properly read the characters. Characters which originally had one reading in Chinese then took on a Chinese and Japanese reading in their new island home. Some characters even developed several readings.
examples:

南： south
original Chinese reading: nán
possible Japanese readings: nan (from Chinese), minami
(this kanji is pretty standard fare - 2 common readings)

not all kanji are so simple, however:
生： life
original Chinese reading: sheng
a few possible Japanese readings: sei, i, u, nama, sho, ki, ha, o
(a bit of an extreme case, granted, but not unusual)


Generally speaking, kanji use their Japanese reading when used by themselves, but when combined with other kanji they take on their Chinese reading (which often sounds little like the actual reading used in China today). Of course, there are exceptions (no need to waste time on that here).

Kana
From the kanji Japanese scholars went on to develop two more writing systems called Hiragana and Katakana. The Kana systems together form an alphabet-like syllabary (mix of syllables) of 46 characters each (92 total).

ひらがな： Hiragana (The characters read "hi-ra-ga-na")
Used for native Japanese words not written in Kanji or any time the Kanji cannot be recalled.
カタカナ： Katakana (ka-ta-ka-na)
Used for words taken from foreign languages (not Chinese) or to draw attention to a word

Here's an example of the same word in all 3 writing systems:
残忍： atrocious/inhumane (kanji "zan-nin")
ざんにん　(hiragana "za-n-ni-n")
ザンニン (katakana "za-n-ni-n")

All three systems are used simultaneously. Thus, a typical sentence looks something like this:
ブラピの映画を見ました。 I saw a Brad Pitt film
ブラピ： "bu-ra-pi" (katakana nickname for buraddo pitto - Brad Pitt)
の： "no" (hiragana)
映画： film (kanji)
を： "o" (hiragana)
見ました： 見： kanji for "to see" / ました： hiragana "ma-shi-ta"　

Note that the above sentence has no subject. Those usually aren't necessary. It could just as easily be translated as "You saw a Brad Pitt film", or "we saw...", or "he saw...", etc.


Chinese - Japanese
A person who is fluent in Japanese can read and understand a good deal of written Chinese and vice-versa. It's possible to understand the meaning of kanji without knowing their readings. Thus, even though Chinese and Japanese cannot speak each others' languages, they can make themselves understood through kanji - usually. The Chinese write only in kanji, and many of the kanji that they use are written in a different manner or are entirely different kanji from what the Japanese would use.

Even within Chinese speaking countries different kanji are used. After WWII, the communist government on mainland China decided to simplify the Chinese writing system in order to encourage literacy, but Taiwan and Hong Kong were not under communist control and did not follow along with the PRC. This is why you'll notice "Traditional Chinese" (Hong Kong & Taiwan) and "Simplified Chinese" (the mainland) whenever you see text translated in Chinese.

Here's an example of how Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, and Japanese compare:
"Hello, teacher! Are you listening?"
TC: 老師好 ! 　　　　　 您聽不聽？
SC: 老师好！　　　　　 您听不听？
J: こんにちは先生！ 聞いてますか？


Finally, a word on "inspirational" kanji. Perhaps you've read in an email forward or heard from some public speaker something about dual meanings of Chinese characters. For example,
"in Chinese 'opportunity' and 'struggle' are the same word", or "the Chinese write 'challenge' and 'opportunity' with the same character", or, perhaps, "in Chinese 'Wisconsin cheese' and 'heavenly substance delivered to man on the wings of Pegasus' are the same character" or "the Chinese say 'California cheese' and 'tasteless imitation of real food' with the same word" or any number of similar things. Well, I can't confirm or deny any of this (pretty certain on the cheese ones though), but I did discover an inspirational kanji on my own while studying this week.

介： The Chinese character for "mediate" is also the character used for "shellfish"
紹介： introduce
魚介： fish & shellfish

Knowing that made my studies feel all the more worthwhile this week.　　

The Sadness of Spring

If you come to recognize no other kanji (Chinese character) that I've ever written on this blog, at least get to know this one:
桜：sakura (cherry blossom)
Last week the cherry blossoms began blooming across Japan. I took the above picture at Himeiji castle, near Kobe. The blooming of the cherry blossom is, perhaps, the most important natural phenomenon to occur in Japan. Sakura is a proud cultural symbol that figures prominently in music, literature and artwork. Newspapers and newscasts give predictions of when the blooming should begin in various parts of the country, and people step out in droves to delight in the newfound springtime beauty.
花見： hanami (flower viewing)
A group of tourists enjoy hanami along a river in Kyoto.

The arrival of sakura marks the end to the long, cold, wet, miserable winter season. As one of the most easily recognizable symbols of Japan, it brings much happiness with its beauty, but also a tinge of sadness. The blooms only linger a couple weeks. Thus, although their arrival is a joyous occasion, those who view them do so understanding the oft clichéd phrase that all good things

must end someday.

梅花： Plum Blossom

While driving back from Sumo in Osaka, my entourage and I stopped at a shrine on Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake. I thought I'd share a few of the pictures.
The plum blossoms had just begun to bloom. That's a tori, the name for a shrine gate, in the background.
The highway splits two of the tori.
Here, the two passengers of my car (oh, yeah, got a car in March - will show a picture sometime soon) sit and admire the tori. Look closely and you'll notice that it's in the lake itself.

Haven't quite given these two nicknames yet. Let's see, the guy on the left is in my calligraphy class and well-versed in various Chinese characters, so I'll call him Kanji Fiend. The girl on the right just started driving after coming to Japan and nearly killed me in October, so I'll call her New Driver.

相撲: Sumo

A couple weeks ago I had the chance to attend a Sumo tournament in Osaka. Tournaments are held in Osaka on the weekends of March and in other months in Fukuoka, Nagoya and Tokyo. This first picture is the part of the tournament when the wrestlers are introduced to the crowd.
Sumo is believed to have origins dating back a couple thousand years, but its current form developed predominantly in the past couple hundred years. The rituals at Sumo tournaments rely heavily on Shinto beliefs and traditions, and the Sumo lifestyle is strictly regulated by the Japan Sumo Association. Currently there are less than 1,000 professional Sumo.
The winner is the Sumo who forces his opponent out of the ring or on the ground. Even though most matches seem to end in a brief burst of force, there are actually dozens of recognized techniques that a Sumo may use to force an opponent out.

The Sumo league is divided into an East and West division with the top wrestler from each division carrying the title of Yokuzuna. In spite of the fact that Sumo exists almost exclusively in Japan, there have been many foreigners in the league. The 2 current Yokuzuna, for example, are actually Mongolian. There is also a very successful Bulgarian who is quite popular with the ladies. Foreign sumo take on a Japanese name once they're accepted into the league.
Here you see an example of the Shinto influence on the sport's rituals. The sword is one of the three imperial emblems (the emperor, once believed to be descended from the sun goddess, is also closely tied with Shinto). Before each match the Sumo toss salt on the ring to purify it in Shinto fashion.

All in all, I'm glad I spent a day at the tournament. It's not something I'd do very often, but it was a good experience. The atmosphere for most of the day was very relaxed, but as the higher ranking Sumo began competing the audience gradually became more and more excited.

I was able to take a few videos with my digital camera. You can find them on youtube by looking up videos under my username: huancaina

Or, you could just click on these links:
Yokuzuna Hakuho
Yokuzuna Asashoryu
"Robocop"
I have a few others posted as well. Just look around if you want more Sumo.
As you can see in this photograph, Sumo are normal blokes with the same interests as anyone.
Anyone with a strange affinity for naughty cartoons is also included in that aforementioned "anyone"