JapanesePod101.com Blog

  Daniel here. Reporting for JapanesePod101.com. In the Samurai Theologian in Tokyo series, I plan to give a behind-the-scenes look at JapanesePod101.com and to provide reviews of places and events in and around Tokyo. Some reviews, like the previous one on anpan, will look at more traditional Japanese topics. However, I also plan to review spots where foreigners can get a taste of home. In this entry, I review the Blue Parrot, a used book store in Tokyo that caters to the needs of English-speakers. The Blue Parrot is located in Takadanobaba near the station. The station is on the Yamanote Line, the line that circles Tokyo. It is also served by the Seibu-Shinjuku Line as well as the Tozai Subway Line. From the train station,... Show more

The Premium Podcast Feed is the very latest in the line of groundbreaking innovations brought to you by JapanesePod101.com! Available to all Basic and Premium JapanesePod101.com members, this password protected RSS feed brings flexibility and convenience to whole new level. Simply subscribe to the feed on iTunes and automatically receive all media files including the audio podcast, any informal or bonus audio tracks, videos and all PDF lesson materials for each new lesson as they become available. To get started and to learn more about the new Premium Podcast Feed, click on the icon below: We would love to hear what you think about this new feature, so please let us know by posting a comment here. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.... Show more

I went to a concert last night, put on by a Japanese band playing African drums. Everyone I met was 日本人1.　Just before leaving, I went over everything I had learnt about saying goodbyes in Japanese. I rehearsed it in my head: 「でわ、さきにしつれいします」2.　Arms by my side, lowered eyes and a bow from the waist. A bow as deep as I could, look at the floor for 3 seconds, then come back up. I quite proud of my bowing technique, I'd practiced it in the トイレ3　earlier. But instead of returning my carefully rehearsed bow, everyone kept shaking my hand, patting me on the back, giving the half-hug. Everyone kept saying "see ya", "bye", "Thanks for coming", "再见"4. It was a bit strange. After hearing so much about ritualised traditions in Japan, and preparing... Show more

Daniel here. Reporting for JapanesePod101.com. In the dialog and explanation for Beginner Lesson Season 2 #10 - Morning Coffee, they discussed あんパン (anpan), which was described as a bun filled with sweet bean paste. Also, they discussed 木村屋 (Kimuraya), the bakery in Ginza, Tokyo, that is most famous for it. So, I headed down to Ginza to get a closer look. But, first, a look at the origin of anpan. Yasubei Kimura was a samurai in latter part of the 19th Century who, like many others, lost his job during the Meiji Era. He took on the role of baker and moved his business to Ginza. He was unsatisfied with taste of the bread at the time, and came up with anpan as a bread that was more to the liking of the Japanese palate. He knew he made... Show more

We have successfully rolled out version 2.0 of the Learning Center. Many thanks to our community whose fabulous suggestions and feedback helped shape the new design, which features a new look & feel, improved user interface, and superior site organization. For some screen shots and a partial list of features please visit the V2.0 Learning Center announcement page. We encourage everyone who has previously signed up for an account with JapanesePod101.com (Free, Basic, or Premium) to check out the new Learning Center and for those of you new to JapanesePod101.com, to sign up for a 7-Day Free Trial. Please note that while the Learning Center can be accessed by ALL active and expired subscribers, only active Premium subscribers can use... Show more

On Saturday, January 27th, 2007 from 12am to 3am EST, we will be releasing version 2.0 of the Premium Learning Center. During this time, the JapanesePod101.com will not be available! The next generation Learning Center will feature an entirely new layout, an improved user interface, and superior site organization. For questions concerning this upcoming release, please contact us by email at support@japanesepod101.com or post a comment here. We appreciate your understanding as we continue to improve the JapanesePod101.com site. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu. Eran

Well, here I am. Thrice I said that I would post my next entry, and today will make it thrice that I have fallen short of fulfilling that promise. On the upside, I've spent that time helping to make sure that you get your daily lessons! However, today, instead of simply telling you that I might post my entry next week, I will give you something a little different (that should be a much quicker writeup). As I mentioned previously, I have recently started attending a Japanese language school here in Tokyo. Whether it's been one or two weeks since I started, I can't quite remember. Nonetheless, I know this topic may be of interest to some of you, so I will intertwine updates about this experience with my kanji learning entries from time... Show more

My apologies. I just began attending a Japanese language school here in Tokyo this week. Due to this, I have unfortunately been too busy to write my new entry that I had promised on the 11th. (Peter's PDF promises seem to have rubbed off on me in some way.) So let's move my promise forward one week. If you're interested, school is fun so far! Thank you again for your patience and understanding! Until next week (hopefully), Nathan

爱香 and I were on the outskirts of 上海, looking for a comic called '乱馬1/2'. I had bought an English copy of 乱馬1/2 in Sydney, but now needed the Japanese version, so I could study it.. We had gone up and down 福州路, which is where the major concentration of bookshops are in 上海, but had no luck finding the original Japanese version. Our last chance to find 乱馬1/2 was to head out to 古北区, where the biggest concentration of Japanese expats and shops are. After reading a tiny ad in a Japanese magazine, we had gone up and down the same road three times, into an apartment block, back out the same apartment block, to the security guard at the front of the apartment block, and finally to a スーパー　across the road. As soon as we entered, I had a bad... Show more

Mina San, We have just added a great new plugin from Alex King called "Share This" that allows you to save, catalog, and share posts and lessons that you find interesting on our site with others via social bookmarking sites (e.g. Digg, Del.icio.us, blink, furl, etc.) or by email. You can find the "Share This" link at the bottom of each post below the tag list (or category if no tags are available). We hope that you enjoy this convenient way to share our content and encourage you to do so. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu. JapanesePod101.com