http://www.contracostatimes.com/entertainment/ci_9768585

Last comment. You seem to be having a nice moment with what could be your final tuna/egg salad sandwich combo. Definitely won’t find that freshness at a 7-11 in the States. Gotta love the 120yen drink selection too….

As the late, great Warren Zevon said: “Enjoy Every Sandwich”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enjoy_Every_Sandwich:_Songs_of_Warren_Zevon

One comment about overdosing on American political news while abroad. Your observation is correct. Those living in the US are able to take it in small doses, since there’s endless celebrity gossip to distract us. I was just listening to this podcast walking the dog this evening, then read this column in the morning paper. This is what really passes for news in this country, but I like the guy’s editorial comments.

http://tinyurl.com/6xkr85

Shine on!
David

I will try to put few things together in audio.
Last call - better to contribute now than never

Ricanraisedonrock

Wow we got a mention, seems kind of cool after listening for so long.

There’s definitely going to be a number of people who are going to miss the podcast, subjects discussed, and areas travelled through.

It’s making me think, if I do a stint in Japan should I do some kind of blog podcast as well… I really wouldn’t know how to put together, I’m a PC user, and wonder if there is some easy to use software that now makes the process nice and easy.

Looking forward to the last couple podcast.

Enjoy your last couple of weeks.

Rob.

Best wishes for the future!
I have been listening roughly since ep.15, (and of course checked the old ones since), and got used to my regular FJ fix, so I almost feel nostalgic now…

By the way, I am in Dublin too, so if there is any meet-up of some sort, you can count me in!

Just wanted to drop you a note, have been listening to your podcast a few months now. I’m based in London and love things about Japan, try to visit each year and explore.

Sad to hear your Podcast might be coming to an end shortly, this is the first time I’ve looked at your blog though, so go to tie into what you are actually doing.

Anyhow, great podcast and interesting style (not like some others, so that is good to have a mix of J Podcasts).

Thanks for the all the info and work.

Regards,

Rob.

i think it’s a bit sad that FJ will be ending, but i’m really excited to hear what comes next from you! all of your ideas mentioned in this show are really interesting and i’m excited to hear more.

let me know once you are coming to Ireland! as a fan of your podcast I would be delighted to walk you trough the Dublin area!

take care!
Woytec

thankx

George: Thanks, glad you enjoy the show. Hopefully I can keep up with the demand for new episodes!

てんまるさん；　面白さは、本物がばかなことですけど、日本ポイのは、ぜんぜん変わっています。そのままその人が可笑しくて、日本風でもっと可笑しいことになります。　ですから、アメリカ人にとって面白くになりました。本の番組を見たければ、下記のURLをクリックして下さい。

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6Wl-N9iOts

「くすだま」の知らせるも、ありがとうございます。そのことをまだ分かりませんでした。

ohhhh pamu.

There used to be a place called Lollicup here in Charlotte that served the bubble tea. It was pretty tasty, but closed down for some reason. I guess the appreciation hadn’t developed enough around here.

PS: Clever idea with the Asian intermissions between sounds. Before I listened I was wondering how I was going to distinguish the sounds without you telling when a new one comes up. Very cool idea.

but what i don’t get is, that video doesn’t look like it’s the last train.
crazy….

407 739 9496 Adam

Oh by the way…from the sounds of your miracle fruit eating journey, I’ve gathered that you crunched up the seed, which is toxic and tastes horrible…chew a miracle fruit seed…just clean the seed.

Anyway, you’re right about the US/Brazil visa, they charged us only because we charge them. However, Japanese citizens need a visa to visit Brazil (as Hernan’s girlfriend found out last year at the airport as she was on her way to São Paulo).

Next show will be the sound scene/seeing/tour show!!

Also, getting the packing out is not as bad as I thought it would be. If I had to go through the process again, I would do it. Best of luck with your surgeries (if they have not already occurred).

in regards to visa issues, the last thing i did in canada was pick up my stamped passport from the embassy in calgary (3-hour flight from home), sleep over night in the airport and i was off to Nagoya that morning. so stressful! i can relate man, but i’m glad you’re settled!

many thanks

Luke
AUS

For some time Im trying to figure out the structure and idea for my podcast.
After this episode I realized that its not necessary good idea to focus on one particular thing and ignore all other points of interest. Such as Art, stock investing, technology…

I always tought that with such a spread of topics I will never be able to find any audience at all.

This episode (one of the best Ive ever heard) changed my mind.

Thanks a lot. I will update you with my first episodes once ready

take care !

@Whitely et. al. Yes I know. I apologize terribly. Between being sick for about 2 months, taxes, equipment issues, and a host of other things its been hard to get the stars to align. I appreciate the kind words though. I have recorded two segments that just need to be edited and have more sound tours for all of you.

@Pat - I use an Edirol R-9. Fantastic little piece of hardware that I highly recommend. Look it up!

It has been nearly a year since I’ve commented on your podcast. I’m busy with school but I still listen when I’ve got a chance. As far as what you said about learning kanji…I’ve been using the DS Software 大人の感じ練習　to both review and learn kanji.

I briefly mentioned it on my blog/podcast last year (see above). I think its is hard to learn kanji with this DS Software unless you have the characters reinforced with a some thing else, either a book, paper flashcards or some thing that gives you the English meaning with the character.

As this tool is made for Japanese people, it does not give you the English and so a lot of words it uses to help you lean the kanji are words I haven’t learned yet but are words I should learn. I often keep my Japanese dictionary with as I’m doing the characters. I tend to memorize the kanji better if I get the English meanings for the words while I’m practicing it.

I like the study system the software uses because you have a “Daily Review” of characters which you can test your self on after you have reviewed them. It won’t let you pass a test for the next group of kanji until you score at least an 80%. It keeps track of every kanji you missed on the tests and stores it in your “heta” kanji list. One you have re-reviewed the kanji in the “heta” list it is taken off. However, if you miss it again on a test, it will get put back into the heta list. I’ve found it great a tool which I can take with me where ever I go and just spend 15-30 minutes a day with it.

I have different profiles setup, one with my age as 0, one with my true age and one with my age as a middle school student. If you set your age as zero it forces you to review and be tested on every single kanji before you can continue to the next test. This is forcing me to re-learn and master a lot of characters. If you set your age higher, you can skip a lot of the tests for Elementary age students and just start on the more advanced tests.

The software allows you to review at any level you want at any time.

Good luck,

Carl

@saya: ちょう疲れていたよ！！

@karamoon: Woah nice. Even better that they have a website. Thanks for sharing that with the folks here on the comments. Yeah we will be there Sunday, I just sent off a mail to you.

@kuma: Thanks for the recommendation, I will see if I can find that. Its not on iTMS so I’ll have to dig around.

@Scott: Nice nice nice!!!! Tuesday night jazz around the world! You’ll have to let me know where that is so the next time I’m over in those woods I can check it out.

@Drew: I’ll see what I can do. I am always putting aside music for future shows. I think I have a list here somewhere…

@steve: Definitely, and thanks for the tip. The flavia machine at work actually dispenses hot water only for free so I may take that route. There is 178 yen coffee there too (at another shop) but its not nearly as good.

@Mark: Those cards look great. I think I’ll even get the Kana ones for Linda. I’ve got this idea in my head with how I want to “see” Kanji. A bit like San described but more interactive. I’ll have to think it through a little more. Thanks for the link!!

@San: Its all love. I’ve gotta get back on the horse with studying Japanese. I actually feel like I’m loosing so much of it. I’m getting lazy. : - (

@Alex: But but but …. its Windows. 出来ないよ！

http://www-alg.ist.hokudai.ac.jp/~jan/kangoroo.html

I use it all the time. It’s a japanese and kanji dictionary that let you make a list of kanjis and vocabulary you know, and let you see all the words that use a given kanji, starting with the ones you marked as known. It also allows to recursively remember kanjis by combination of building blocks.

Kanji? There is a way I do it, but the problem is that everyone is different Why everyone can’t be like me is beyond all comprehension! I use elements of Kanji to remember them easily, starting with radicals and moving on from there. I am a pretty visual person, so Kanji is easy for me. How are you finding it?

Thanks for the dedication. Whalers for life yo.

If you have been studying Japanese, you have already probably come across these - but in the off chance you haven’t check out White Rabbit Press’s kanji flash cards.

http://www.whiterabbitpress.com

I’m not sure if they do the kind of grouping you were describing, at first glance it doesn’t appear so, but I’ve only used their kana flashcards so far.

To that end, I highly recommend them. They have the same size and texture of playing cards, so they are durable and you can keep a deck with you. Then you can pull them out when you’ve got a couple free minutes throughout the day.

I was really surprised how much more quickly I learned the kana than with the other methods I had tried. I bought the first kanji set but haven’t started learning them yet.

Also, if the flashcards above don’t do what you would like, you could try contacting the author - Max Hodges. It seems like he is usually looking for new product ideas, so maybe he’d be interested to hear your thoughts and put something together.

http://www.inj.or.jp/stpatrick_e.html

See you on Sunday?

- Karamoon

@aaron: Thanks. Hopefully I can keep it up now.

Go Whalers!

神戸の南京町の広場の写真がありましたが、
私もよく行きました。横浜の中華街より規模が小さいけど、
中国という感じが凝縮している雰囲気で好きでした。
広場の近くに小さな豚饅頭の有名なお店があるのですが、
いつも行列だったのを思い出しました。
http://www.roushouki.com/

これからもブログ内で楽しく仮想旅行させてくださいね。

One thing that I thought was especially amusing was a bit of sound buried in the back of part of the recording. It’s something I don’t recall ever hearing before in any “in the wild” Japan podcasts I’ve listened to - the sound of a misbehaving child. I think it was as you were getting off the train and looking for exit 42; there in the mix was the sound of a squalling kid. I guess it just caught my ear as a parent, but it was something I hadn’t heard before.

Good stuff as always, keep it coming.

Speaking of White Day, Korea has another one, not sure if Japan does, called Black Day. That’s the 14th of April when all the people who couldn’t get dates on Valentines/White Day get together and eat Jjajangmyeon (black bean noodles). Sad huh?

I liked the sound scape, although some times I couldn’t hear you over the loudness from Tokyo. I guess that’s why people like places like Tokyo. It explodes on the senses!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2311/2268853618_2e24f19d7b.jpg

it looks like you wear much more important clothes than i do christopher! i’d like to challenge anyone else to show some photos of their laundry stations

I have been thinking about this a lot because I have been wanting to learn to draw (or at least draw better), so I bought a simple how-to book and have been trying to work through it. I have a hard time getting starting practicing the exercises they recommend, although I do enjoy it once I get going. It’s hard to force myself to do it when I’ve gotten home from work, exercised, cooked dinner with the wife etc. and there is only an hour or two of truly discretionary time in each day. So as I say, I will be very interested to hear how this time management experiment works out for you–maybe you can write the unofficial sequel to Getting Things Done if it does!

On a completely different note, its odd to be three comments down without a post from San.

http://www.saizeriya.co.jp/cgi-bin/menu/views.cgi?n=9

which includes something my kids would get in their grade school lunchroom. A bare hot dog, a bare hamburger patty, a few potato wedges, a ball of rice, cup of applesauce(?), and… a few shrimp? I hope that’s the kid’s menu I found

And the apologizers came out sounding just fine. I was wondering what hey were apologizing about when I heard them, so thanks for the explination.

And was it just me, or did your McDonalds worker sound quite happy? I don’t usually hear that pleasant a tone of voice in the ones around here.

Also, see here for the other video of some of the ride:

http://www.findingjapan.com/2007/05/21/208/