PodFinder UK is an innovative mix of podcasts, video shows and new media programming produced by PodShow UK. Each week the video show Podfinder UK, hosted by the lovely Josephine Laurence, reviews six of the best podcasts and video shows on the web. This week's Episode 17 features JapanesePod101. The show can also be viewed directly here in mp4 format.

Today we would like to introduce you to our new friend videocaster Yukako Tajima, AKA Tajee. Tajee is a video podcaster from Tokyo, who currently splits her time between the US and Japan podcast/videocast scene. She produces videocasts to help people who are interested in Japanese culture, and the language, and currently, she maintains the following blogs: What's Hot in Tokyo - Tajee, a podcaster from Japan, introduces hot culture and useful Japanese words! Check out the latest one on Suica! She also produces another blog on what is hot on the podcasting scene! This is really nice, as it is bilingual. あみのタジーのポッドキャスト冒険ブログ Tajee's Podcast Adventure! - A bilingual blog on what is hot on the podcasting scene! Mina-san, be sure... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary In Urdu (the national language of Pakistan), the word kal means both "yesterday" and "tomorrow." Context determines the intended meaning. In a similar way, the meaning of 後 slip-slides from compound to compound, as we can somewhat grasp from its assorted yomi: GO, nochi: after, later KŌ, ushi(ro): behind ato: afterward, subsequent, later, back, rear, remainder, retro- oku(reru): to be late, to lag behind, to fall back I say "somewhat" because in one sense, all the definitions look like close cousins. But from another perspective, that's not necessarily so. Concepts of "after" and "behind" can be tricky in both Japanese and English. To explore this, let's think... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary In my first blog for JapanesePod101.com, I sought compounds with a neat repetition of shapes, such as 宝玉 (hōgyoku: jewel, gem, treasure + jewel). Soon afterward, I found repeating shapes inside 読売 (to read + to sell), which says Yomiuri, as in the prominent newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun. As Yomiuri isn't a real word, I can't help wondering if the founders coined 読売 partly for its visual appeal. Repeated shapes within a compound can be visually arresting. Just look at all these words containing two or more instances of 力 (RYOKU, chikara: power):   助力 (joryoku: help, assistance)     help + power   努力 (doryoku: effort) ... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary You've likely heard of "voiding the check." Well, today we'll be doing the inverse—checking the void. That is, we'll look at more ways in which 空 conveys a sense of emptiness ... or even a yawning void! A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Empty Empty the mind, empty the mind. That's supposed to be the goal of meditation. But what if people really were empty? That wouldn't be optimal, according to this compound: 空け者 (utsukemono: fool, idiot, dunce)                 empty + person On Options forInsulting Someone ... When 空 has the kun-yomi utsuke, it means "empty-headed" or even "dumb"!... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary Musically and astronomically, we know about the dark side of the moon. But what about the dark side of the sky—or rather, the dark side of the "sky" kanji, 空? As I mentioned in my last blog (when discussing 空々しい　(sorazorashii: false, hypocritical) and 空手形 (karategata: bad check; empty promise)), 空 has a seamy side. This kanji often means "fake" or "sham." Take, for example, these words: 空名 (kūmei: empty name; false reputation)             fake + name 空夢 (sorayume: fabricated... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary A Japanese friend wrote a tongue-twister and presented it to me in rōmaji, challenging me to convert the words into kanji and hiragana. I did fine until I encountered this line: Kono bin itsu kara kara, kinō kara kara, ototoi kara kara? I associate kara with "from" and "because," so I thought the repeated kara kara phrases might have meant "because it's from." Wrong! For every kara that appeared before a punctuation mark, I should have written 空, meaning "empty" in this case. For The Answer tothe Kara Kara Puzzle ... Just as kara has multiple personalities, so does 空. Look at all its yomi! KŪ: sky, empty a(keru): to empty, leave blank kara, kara(ppo):... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary When a Japanese friend emailed me a recipe, one ingredient jumped out at me: 玉ねぎ (tamanegi: onion). I hadn't realized that "onion" contains 玉 (GYOKU, tama), the character for "jewel." I momentarily enjoyed thinking of onions as the gems of the vegetable world! As I soon found, though, 玉- is also a prefix meaning "spherical" or "round." That's the sense 玉- conveys in 玉ねぎ. On 玉- as a Prefix Meaning "Spherical" ... Oh, well. Seeing the 玉 of 玉ねぎ as "round" is a little more mundane than imagining a white onion as the pearl of the produce store, a yellow onion as a topaz, or a red onion as a ruby! On Jewels ofMany Colors ... The "onion" compound isn't the only food... Show more

Golden Week is here and what better way to celebrate than with an Instant 25% Savings on ANY Basic or Premium JapanesePod101.com subscription. With the country closing down for almost a week, everyone in Japan will surely enjoy something good. At JapanesePod101.com we don’t want you to miss out! Make this year's Golden Week a memorable one by taking advantage of this limited time offer! Simply enter coupon code GOLDENWEEK in the coupon field provided during the registration process to take advantage of this incredible opportunity. New to JapanesePod101.com? * Click here to SAVE 25% and Sign Up for a New Subscription * Coupon Code: GOLDENWEEK * Expiration Date: Saturday, May 5th, 2007 at 11:59pm EST Previously a JapanesePod101.com... Show more

We are pleased to announce that very soon we'll be a launching a new header and footer design on JapanesePod101.com. Here are the key changes that will be introduced in the new design: New Header Navigation - We conveniently separated out "Help Center", "About Us", and "Contact Us" from the main header menu to reduce the clutter and improve navigation. Footer Quick Links – We expanded the number of links available in the footer to allow users to quickly and easily access the information they seek. A Fresh New Look - Last but not least, we felt it was time to give the header and footer a fresh new look. We hope you like what you see and find the navigational tools overall more useful. Below is a screenshot of the new header and... Show more