皆さん、according to very reliable sources 桜・さくら・sakura (cherry blossoms) have begun to bloom in Tokyo. Here are some links to back up our statements:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2011_when.html
http://www.japan-zone.com/culture/hanami_spots.shtml#forecast

Here are some famous locations for 花見・はなみ・hanami (flower viewing):
http://www.japan-zone.com/culture/hanami_spots.shtml

I love it… “he shows how inadequate I am”… “YES!” poor Peter!

I have just added myself on Frappr, but you can’t see me on the map, because there is someone else from the exact same place. They say they’re 21 and going to university, I wonder if they’re doing the same course as me… I don’t recognise their face… anyway I think it’s a really good idea to have a Frappr community, it lets us know who we’re talking to a bit better (and a chance to show pictures, such as my wall of kanji!)

Those 花見 sites are good, though it says they’ve already opened not only in Tokyo (which I knew) but also in Hiroshima and Fukuoka… hopefully Kyoto will hold off for another 6 days, then I can be there to see them open!

Cherry blossoms are sooooooo beautiful.
The only thing irritating it’s that it’s so hard to draw them…I’ve been trying for so long!
I bet it’s just that i don’t have enough skill for that!

Anyway, it’s been a wonderful podcast as always!

I wasn’t sure where to put this because it’s kind of a general question.

Can anyone recommend children’s books (e hon? kodomo no hon?) in Japanese that would be good to read to increase vocabulary and get a good feel for the language.

I drove down to a book store in San Jose and got a few books that looked interesting (I had no idea what they were, really). But it took me about 30 mins to translate a sentence because I had to look up almost every word and all the words are strung together so I have trouble parsing them.

eg:
I know the story was Puss In Boots, but my translation of the title was: “Boots o Toothache Cat”!
(na ga gu tsu o ha i ta ne ko)

And the other book was about insects. My translation of the first sentence:
“Under the forest and the field, in the garden, various insects depend.”
(chikakuno moriya noharakara, utsuno niwani, iroirona mushiga yattekimasu)

Obviously even this is too hard for me.

Anything more simple you can recommend. The equivalent of “See Spot run” perhaps?

Doumo arigatou!
Laura

Laura-san - It depends on what is available to you, unless you’re willing to pay amazon.jp’s shipping costs. I have a couple of books from a Japanese bookshop which are little red riding hood and heidi, and they’re pretty good, although it’s mostly in hiragana, with only a very few kanji (with furigana) which can make it difficult to read. Which brings up a good point, is it better to get a simple book for children in mostly hiragana or is it better to get something which uses kanji (with furigana) at a more advanced level? I guess that bit’s up to you. Either way, check out your Japanese book store and see what you think.

Of course, the more you read, the less you have to look up, eventually, so it may be worth investing your time in an older children’s book…

Laura-san - I can’t help you with looking for a Bangers and Mash style book, but I better understand your problem now.

For a good grammar book I’d suggest Japanese for Everyone, it’s a very good book and explains everything in a really simple way, and of course, you can’t just read, so that will be nicely supplemented by listening to these podcasts!

Don’t worry too much about Kanji at this stage, you will know when you want to learn more kanji, and shouldn’t force it at an early stage. Also, getting a good grip of how particles work will help with looking up words, as you’ll know where one begins and the other ends!

I’m not quite sure what your grammar book told you about wa and ga but I don’t understand your explanation of it. Wa vs. Ga can be a difficult topic, but basically, Wa is a topic particle, whereas Ga is a subject particle. See here: http://guidetojapanese.org/particles.html for more details. Don’t worry too much about wa and ga, though, as they can often trip up even advanced learners. So long as you have a basic understanding of them, and things like ni, de, o, mo, etc etc then you’ll be fine.

Again, just keep on listening to the podcasts, and search around the internet for things like grammar explanations. I haven’t listened to the first podcasts, but I’m sure they’re great at explaining everything!

Sakura is just so adorable!

賛成（さんせい）！ \o

Laura-san, just to reinforce what Rob-san has already said, don’t be concerned too much with kanji right now. Learn both hiragana and katakana first, and get them down cold first. Also, the difference between “wa” and “ga” is very subtle and a bit difficult to explain. For the time being at least, it may be best to think of them as doing basically the same thing. Learn when they’re used, and don’t worry so much about why they’re used that way just yet. At this point, it’s better to know that for the other particles first.

If anyone’s looking for slightly more advanced, but not too much, reading material, I highly recommend Yotsubato! (you may aslo see it as Yotsuba&!) by Kiyohiko Azuma. It’s awesomely cute. The only thing is that there’s a lot of colloquial Japanese in it, so if you’re not familiar with it that could be a stumbling block.

This two-volume set was a lot of fun and had some good info:

Mangajin’s Basic Japanese Through Comics
Mangajin’s Basic Japanese Through Comics, Vol 2.

Thanks for the wa/ga link.

I think the grammar book was pointing out one way to think about ga vs. wa. Kind of a “sashimi = sushi - rice” explanation (from the beginners lessons ^^).

ga = selecting something new (from the set of all things) to bring into the conversation.
wa = adding information about something that is already part of the conversation.

I know it’s more complicated than that though.

I read a bit more on grammar and I get the Puss title now!

na ga gu tsu o ha i ta ne ko
is
nagagutsu o hai ta neko
Cat Wearing Boots

Nihongo ga(?) dai suki da yo!

I would say “dai suki da yo”, but I used that at work meaning “I love it” and the guy got embarrassed.

Laura

Laura-san,
I recommend the book Teach Yourself Beginner’s Japanese Script by Helen Gilhooly if you wish to learn more Kanji and have more practice with hiragana and katakana. It teaches just over 100 of the most common kanji and introduces you to their radicals and components. I don’t remember the word for many of the kanji, but I do remember the meaning of several. Together with the furigana I can figure out more and more of them.

The lessons found here have helped me the most with reading, speaking and comprehension. They are the most fun, and cheapest too.

I have found the cheapest books to be on ebay in the used books under learn Japanese, shipped media mail here in the US.

Best of luck to you.
よろしくおながいします

Laura-san.
I think you are best finding a second hand Japanese book shop. There is one about 1 hour 10 minutes drive away from where I live, which I go to sometimes. I buy books there for about £1 (one pound) Childrens books are a fun way to learn, but my word of warning is this….being childrens books means they also use a child like language. So there will be some words you may not find in your dictionary and also some words that will not really benefit your learning of Japanese. But, I like trying to translate Japanese childrens books.

Technically, “wa” is the topic particle, and “ga” is the subject particle. The difference between the two is subtle and difficult to explain. I understand the details to a point, but after a good while I kinda just developed a sense of when to use them. I don’t depend on what slim grasp of the details I have to decide when to use which. And that’s what I’d suggest you do, because I really think trying to grasp the details at this point is just going to drag your studies down. And I agree with the others that the book’s explaination is just bad. Don’t put too much stock in it. My ex-Japanese teacher took like 10-15 mintues to explain it to us one time. But she ended saying not to worry about it that much.

If you’re in the intermediate level, I recommend the comic Doraemon. If you’re not used to casual language, it might be a little hard at first, but once you get used to it, it’s pretty fun if you have a good book to read. It’s also nice to have a comic that’s already tranlated into English, though.

Justin-san…yes anything like Doraemon or even Anpanman and of course some One Piece are all good. I have a hard-book manga of a couple of Studio Ghibli films. It is good to find something with some simple kanji as well.
Personally it is Katakana that I find the hardest. So I ten to avoid anything with lots of katakana…which is not a good thing really as I need to learn.
But if you must have childrens books, then maybe it is best to buy books that teach Japanese. I really wish I could find the books I borrowed once, in a book shop. They were great. They taught sentence structure and kanji.

Nate-san,

The pleasure is all mine

Hi all…

Been busy at work (and getting ready to help the students with the J2 final) so I’m behind on the lessons (which makes me cranky!).

But I wanted to pop in since I noticed that Laura-san mentioned going to San Jose for a bookstore. Laura-san, if you are close to San Jose, CA, and would like to talk to someone who has been through Japanese 1-3 at DeAnza (local college), you can e-mail me: rhondavb@gmail.com. I might be able to help some?

I’ll catch up soon and be less of a lurker!