Love the podcast.

Maybe better luck with #3

Vicky-san, doumo! Thanks, I’m getting better! Have a great day!

Cindy-san, thanks for posting and voting.

As for me, since my man Takahashi is out, I also vote for #3!

Oh Peter-san, I heard about Nathan-san. Good for you, bad for me!
I want to go too!

Yamazaki-san kirai desu
(Hey, he likes to climb mountains and he has “yama” in his name:???:)
Anyway, poor Natsuko, Bachelor #2 is a real jerk. No, no, no! He isn’t the one.

One of my favorite parts of this podcast was when we heard the sound of the beer can opening and then the sound of a cork

Thanks for another great podcast and the continuing saga!! Will Bachelor #3 be a better choice?

Thanks for mentioning “Chicago”, my area!! I wonder how many listeners there are here? I know about Hen Na Gaijin.

This is more of a follow up to other podcasts but I have a feeling if I post under them there it well never be read.

(culture lesson - harajuku) I have heard that the actual reason that the dog hachiko kept returning was that there was a yakitori vendor that feed the dog, not because the dog has faithful to its owner. Not nearly as romantic.

I also have a question from intermediate lesson 2 about the difference between kimochi ii and ii kibun. While I think it is true that kimochi (ga) ii is physical and ii kibun is mental I am not sure about kimochi (ga) warui.

I think that kimochi warui, or kimoi as often used in slang, can refer to a mental or physical feeling or even a physical feeling brought on by a mental response. kimoi (kimochi ga warui) is more directly translated as “gross” in English.

This may just be how it is commonly used rather than the correct usage. I have had a similar problem distinguishing “verb masu stem-nikui” and “verb masu stem-zurai”. Both mean hard to do but nikui is supposed to be something that is physically hard to do as opposed to zurai which is hard to do for mental/emotional reasons. But nikui seems to be used for both…..wakarinikui deshou (or should that be wakarizurai???)!

hahahaha you dont have much luck with men natsuko. should have gone to kabuki at least you would have had a seat. hahahahaahaha good luck on the next mountain.

go for it bachelor number 3. i have to see what he has up his sleave.

Vicky-san,
I have friends in Japan. They are 日本人。
I went there in 2004 and will return in 2007. Hope I can speak some Japanese by then!!

How about you?

Love of mountains? Well then, seeing as I literally *just* finished uploading my pictures of Japan (including lots of hiking/mountain pics)
You can check it out here. (And yes, I know the titles & captions suck.)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rene_malenfant/sets/72057594098153268/

Tim:
The difference between づらい and にくい is explained here:
http://www.nhk.or.jp/a-room/kininaru/2005/04/0413.html
気分 and 気持ち が悪い is here:
http://home.alc.co.jp/db/owa/jpn_npa?stage=2&sn=188

(Both links in Japanese.)

I believe Natsuko should date the Date Game show host.
At least he will be making enough money to take her to an expensive restaurant. Hell, our Natsuko is worth at $250 on a date.

Hmmm, my last post to the forum said “waiting for moderation” or something, and now it’s just plain disappeared.

Anyway, in it, I answered your questions, Tim.

Question #1: 気持ち vs. 気分 (が悪い)
The answer is here:
http://home.alc.co.jp/db/owa/jpn_npa?stage=2&sn=188
and here:
http://home.alc.co.jp/db/owa/jpn_npa?stage=2&sn=68
(”Kimochi ga warui” is directed towards a concrete thing; an OBJECT of disgust. “Kibun ga warui” refers to a situation or an event that caused the bad feeling.)
Example from the page:
殿様ガエルは鳴き声もグロテスクで、気持ちが悪い。
(Bullfrogs have a grotesque croak too. They creep me out.)
人前でからかわれて気分が悪かった。
(Being laughed at in public really made me feel bad.)

Although “kibun” and “kimochi” can both be used to refer to one’s health, in the above example, they are NOT interchangeable. “Kimochi ga warui” is directed towards a concrete thing (the frog). “Kibun ga warui” is directed towards a situation.

Question #2: にくい vs. づらい
http://www.nhk.or.jp/a-room/kininaru/2005/04/0413.html
(”Nikui” means “hard to do for reasons from without oneself”. “Zurai” means “hard to do for reasons from within oneself”.)

There are two different ways to say “It was difficult to read the letter from my ex-girlfriend.”
元カノからの手紙が読みにくい。Hear “nikui” is used, meaning that her letter was difficult to read for external reasons. For example, she has sloppy handwriting.
元カノからの手紙が読みづらい。Hear “zurai” is used, meaning that the letter was difficult to read for internal reasons. For example, maybe we had a messy breakup, and I’m not ready to talk to her yet.

Hope I could help. (And note to “moderator”, please don’t delete this!)

Hey, I like Brenda’s idea… how about this time Natsuko-san get to tell the guy what to do!!! We women love to give out orders!

Dear Lily,

I like your script. However, being only 19 years old…..:???: You know guys don’t usually grow up until they are at least in their mid forties. Then they are too old to do anything fun. Tough life for women.

Wow we are making some bad choices for Natsuko-san! Gomen nasai!! I guess we’ll have to find out how #3 does!

Or maybe she needs to go on a different game show - this one doesn’t seem to find suitable bachelors for her.

Ahhh, and I was gonna introduce Natsuko-san to my famous friend Nakata from the soccer team. zannen desu ne. Anyway, I’m with Peter-san. Shakespeare Takahashi all the way!! (By the way, I’ve adopted Shakespeare Takahashi as my Japanese pseudonym; thanks for it!)

Hey René-san, really great photos!

As for Natsuko-san - this last guy was hilarious, but let’s try out #3!

René-san,

Thanks for the great links, and very nice pictures, too! The post was not deleted, actually - any post with more than two links is automatically flagged for moderation, but they’ve been approved

皆さん、

I agree, where are all of the good guys?

I’d love to see Natsuko have a go at that other montain peak before trying Bacheor Number 3.

Hi Lily,

October is probably a little late for Fuji-san, which is only open from June - mid-September, depending on the conditions (July and August are the most popular months). Although it’s not technically difficult (i.e. you won’t be climbing any sheer faces or anything like that), it is a pretty intense and long hike． Generally people will hike close to the summit on one day, spend the “night” eating and sleep a few hours at a mountain hut, and wake up super-early to view the dawn and the rising sun from the top then start the descent. It is a truly wonderful experience (talk about a すばらしい　景色!), definitely one of my top Japan experiences but with the altitude, the climb and the cold especially at the top, it can be a challenge.

じゃね、

Todd

Maybe not the best starting point, but at least it gives an overview.

http://wikitravel.org/en/Mt._Fuji

Just a silly question, Andreas, is it your real name or just a Nickname?
Just because it’s my Mr. Right’s name

夏子（なつこ）さんかわいそう。 ;_;　どいつもこいつも変（へん）な奴（やつ）ばっかり。

Bullfrogs have a grotesque croak too. They creep me out.

Hahaha! That has to be one of the greatest example sentences ever. Coming in a close 2nd is one I had in Greek that was “if there’s a camel in the room, you should leave.”

The word isn’t “eran”, it’s “erande.” It’s the te-form of 選ぶ/えらぶ/erabu.

Got it!!!!!

For anyone else wondering: erabu means to choose, to elect.

Its gotta be Shakespeare Takahashi! That guy makes my day - he should win some kind of podcast acting award.

opss that should be 全然大丈夫 (zen zen daijyoubu).

hello, just wanted to say i really enjoyed this lesson..brought back a lot of memories!! i spent the summer of 2005 in Japan doing an internship. during the obon vacation i went to visit the tokyo area and one of those days I went and climbed to the top of Fuji-san with two other interns. (btw-6 hrs is a great time..it took us 7!). And yeah, climbing Fuji-san was TOUGH (at the end i was also like Natsuko-san, freezing cold, out of breath, begging for water).

anyways, just wanted to say ありがとうございますfor these great and entertaining podcasts!! i haven’t been to Japan since my internship and I really miss it. 懐かしい。

Hi Peter, hi everyone… this is my first comment here and I hope it will not be the last one. I don’t know if you also read all the comments leaved in the past lessons, but… Well I would like to say you MANY THANKS FOR EVERYTHING , because learning Japanese with you is Amazing, I hope to keep going on studying and I hope I will not give up. Sometimes I feel sad(really) because I have no one to talk to in Japanese. I know some guys who are attending at Japanese school classes and they keep saying me that I will not learn anything by my own, that I am only losing my time and so on… but I still attending to your lessons, still listen to your voices, still learning a bit everyday, so I feel relieved. Peter, you are amazing, AMAZING, Natsukosan, you are amazing too, Takesan, I literally LOVE your voice [I’m sorry, my English is not so good (learned by myself too)]. Well I have not heard yet this lesson, but the title reminds me that learning Japanese by myself is quite like climbing a mountain . Thanks again for everything,

がんばれangieさん！！！

I am way too much behind!

Well, not that it would seem to matter, but the Kanji Close-Up for this lesson does not, with the exception of just one, tie anything in the lesson together. Six out of seven appear to come out of left field. Words in characters that are in the lesson appear nowhere in the Close-Up.