Good luck on the ceremony. One-year-after-death anniversary is called 一回忌(ikkaiki)and Ikkaiki usually has more relax atmosphere than funeral. So It should be OK.
Your wife Kanako knows it probably has already told you about this, but be aware of the dress code. (Black suits, a black tie and a white shirt. ) And I advise you to wear black sock too. Because you might have a chance to take off your shoes.

Well, it’ll be a great cultural experience. Please let us know how it goes.

First nice surprise - the Website design has improved. A LOT. It is much more usable this way. Kudos.

Second, wow, I do remember a lot of stuff, even from the 2006 and 2007 era lessons. Surprised myself there.

Kanako’s grandpa died in November last year, so the entire family is getting together for his one-year-after-death Buddhist ceremony thingy. I don’t really know what to expect - Kanako described it as a very solemn, very formal ceremony lasting about 30 minutes followed by one of those aggressive mass drinking binges that seem to feature so prominently in Japanese ways of socializing. For the first time, I will meet not just her immediate family (which has always been lovely to me - very warm and not at all prejudiced) but also her extended family. Uncles, aunts, great aunts, cousins, second cousins. All kinds of people. NONE of whom speak any English, and many of whom have never met a foreigner. All of this is going to be in Kyushu, incidentally, and Kyushu-ben really is not intelligible to me at all. So it promises to be pretty harrowing.

Game plan: stick very close to my wife. Smile a lot. Drink a lot. Lean heavily on that way that, for Japanese people, a foreigner speaking Japanese is a lot like a talking dog: what’s remarkable is not that he does it well, but that he does it *at*all*!

Wish me luck everybody. On the plus side, we did buy a JR Pass, so we get a couple of weeks to travel around Japan after the ceremony and see some sights. (Dogo Onsen here I come!) It should be great fun. But man…kincho suru!!!

The original form of 「きづく(気付く）」　is 「きがつく（気が付く）」. That’s why the “ZU” part is spelled as づ （ “DU” in Japanese keyboard spelling) in Hiragana.

The thing(noun) the subject realizes should be marked by particle に.
ex)
間違い　に　気付いた。
テストがあること　に　気付いた。
However “informal speech ＋quotation marker と”　can also precedes 気付く or 気が付く.
何かが変だ　と　気付いた。

I hope this makes sense.

I think ヤドカリさん’s idea is great! It also would save a lot of space. Also, I’m wondering if the romanjis are really necessary at this level. We all should be able to read kana (although I am still bad with katakanas ). Personally, I would prefer havint the sample sentences in kanjis and kanas rather than in kanjis and romanjis.
By the way, would it be possible to have the reading of the sample sentences written in a normal black color. It’s almost impossible to read, even when I print them out.

I do have a question that kind of relates to my last question I asked you in the last episode of LI S5. At around 16:20 Jessiさん used the たらconditional and 「時」 interchangeably: 「風を引いたら、お風呂に入ればいい。」 and 「風を引いた時、お風呂に入ればいい。」 Why is this correct?
> Both are correct, but the meaning of them are slightly different. As you know, tara indicates the conditional, whereas toki means “at the time when.” Toki expresses exclusively the time clause. Thus, you cannot indicate the condition using toki. See examples below. The first sentece shows the condition when you feel sick. The second sentence is odd because you usaully don’t feel sick at the time you eat mango. Am I answering the question you asked? If you have more question, you can ask any time you want in the comment section

1. 私は、マンゴーを食べると（食べたら）、気持ち悪くなる。 If I eat mango, I feel sick.
2. ×私は、マンゴーを食べるとき、気持ち悪くなる。 When I eat mango, I feel sick.

Jonasan, sorry for the late reply. Tryin to immerse yourself in the culture and lifestyle is one of the best way to learn foreign langauge and culture. I’m looking forward to seeing you speak Japanese fluently in near futre!
As I asked Naomi-san, I will ask you another question, can you recommend any good bars or other kind of hangout spot?
> That’s a tough question!! There are many places you can hangout especailly in urban area: Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ikebukuro, etc. But, the bar I recommend is “Lockup” in Shibuya. I’ve been there, and it was a unique bar, so if you have a chance, please visit. http://r.gnavi.co.jp/g528910/

The original form is
相手が気付く
So, of course you could say…
相手が気付くように、話し方に気をつけましょう。
But if you want to emphasis the subject receives benefit by 相手が気付くこと”her or his realizing”, you add もらう or もらえる.
相手に気付いてもらえるように、話し方に気をつけましょう。
“So that you could get benefit from the person’s realizing, you should be careful how you talk.”
I know this direct translation is awful. But I hope this helps.

このセンテンスの文法ポイントはちょっとわかりにくいんですから、ちょっと説明してくれたらうれしいです！　→　相手に気づいてもらえるように、話し方に気をつけましょう！

なんで　気づいてもらえる　になるのですか？　I don’t understand why もらえる is where it is >_

Thanks for the suggestion as well - we’ll see if it’s possible to do something like that.

I especially thought the vocabulary sample sentences were very good and useful this lesson. Thank you for not making them too esoteric.
質問があるんですけど＝Does 食料品 しょくりょうひん translate as “food items” as in a purely technical written expression, or can I also use it to say the common colloquial expression “groceries”

I also have a suggestion=instead of separating kana and kanji it would be amazing if the format of manga and books for kids was used, where the kana is written above the kanji within the sentence. This is probably too complicated to do, but i think it would make the site even more professional and effective.
うまくやっていただきありがとうございます！

Gitellesさん,
No problem! I hope it helped you out.
The sentence you wrote looks great!

Thank you, I could really use those tips. From now on I’ll be more carefull.

どうもありがとう
きょう、ぼくはべんきょうしました。 (is it well written? Kyou , boku wa benkyou shimashita.)