Study through Sake
24 December 2002, 05:21
Kim and I have both recently stepped up our commitment to studying Japanese. Now, there are many theories about how best to study a language, and I will bore you all later with a post about my theories on how best to go about remembering the Kanji. But in the meantime let me relay a little story as I introduce one of the most effective ways to remember vocabulary - learning by action.
Last week’s word was bo-nen-kai, and it was easy for us to remember this word because we went to one. Our brain often finds it difficult for a new word to stick unless there is some ulterior motive for remembering it. But with the introduction of this personal link, the word becomes second nature.
This weekend the new word that has been permanently etched onto Kim’s brain is futsuka-yoi.
Futsuka-yoi literally translates as “drunk for two days”. It is the way that Japanese express the concept of a hangover. Of course, in Japanese it would be too impolite to mention that someone is actually physically ill from the excess consumption of alcoholic beverages, so they just imply that they are “still drunk” (which of course is much more acceptable in Japan). I also find the word amusing because of its potential double-meaning: yoi is also the word for “good”. Thus, I originally took the phrase to mean “you’ll come good in two days”.
Kim’s futsuka-yoi was the result of the Orphan’s Christmas Party that we threw at Albert’s place on Saturday evening. Not only were orphans (foreigners living in Japan) present but we invited a few of our Japanese friends along to show them how Aussies and Canadians celebrate Christmas (the Americans snobbed us, but we don’t hold that against you Mark L and Stephen).
Highlights of the evening include me winning the booby prize in Secret Santa, and a 1:30am brainwave to trudge through the cold night air to a karaoke house that is always packed, we knew would be packed, and in fact turned out to be packed. Kim demanded that it was worth us waiting around for 40 minutes until a room became free because singing karaoke is fun. She managed to communicate this to me even though she had lost her voice.
Luckily it was a three day weekend.
Permanent Link | What is it with...
21 December 2002, 04:52
...the Japanese and cold red wine? It’s not like our asian friends are gun-shy of warm alcohol with the quintessential sake enjoying a few seconds on the stove, but they murder a perfectly good Australian wine by throwing it in the fridge. The fridge.
Its one of the many Japanese mysteries, up there with those funky white mouth masks (they say its to keep the germs in, but do they really mean it???)...
Bo-nen-kai
16 December 2002, 09:02
Yes, the fabled bo-nen-kai (end of year) parties have begun with a vengeance… 6 weeks of non-stop drinking, partying and of course, karaoke. There is nothing better than a beer and a rendition of “Last Christmas” to break down those cross-equatorial boundaries.
As was to be expected, after two weeks of these shenanigans, I caught the obligatory cold. I don’t care that my nose is as stuffed as an antique reindeer, that my throat has gone ten rounds with a christmas tree. No. All I care about is that we are hosting our Orphans Christmas party next Saturday and I am in no condition to do karaoke.
o-yuki-sama
10 December 2002, 05:03
You know you are really in the Northern Hemisphere when you leave your apartment in the morning and your street is blanketed in snow.
You know you are really in Japan when your subway (note, called a subway for the reason of it being below ground) stops for two minutes at every station because of the “danger” of snow (“Abunai! Abunai! Snow approaching!”).
Luckily for this snow-starved antipodean, I was too busy frolicking in the white stuff and day-dreaming of evening snow-fights with Matt to really give a f@#k about being late for work…
Genki?
1 December 2002, 21:22
Genki?
Japanese people have a love affair with caffeine. Empirical and circumstancial evidence supports this:
1. Starbucks
They have embraced Starbucks with a fervour usually reserved for copulating rabbits. Determined to outdo the Americans, they have also opened a slew of their own American style coffee chains, such as Doutor, Excelsior and Caffe Veloce, charging exorbitant prices for a “Kafe Ratte” (300yen or A$4.50) cos they know Japanese and foreigners alike will fork out the cash for it.
2. Vending machine coffee cans
In keeping with the tradition of all things vent, the Japanese love their canned coffee and dole them out of vending machines. These little suckers come in mini-coca-cola-size cans, and, while being overly sweet, are the darlings of food-product companies with brands such as ‘Roots’ and ‘Boss’, and the saviour of impoverished, caffeine-addicted locals, at a mere 120yen a can.
3. Green tea (“ocha”)
The Japanese insist that you imbibe green tea with every meal. They will swear that its healthy, fail to inform you that it is chockfull of caffeine, then smile secretly to themselves while you bounce of the walls.
4. Genki drinks
Genki (Japanese for “healthy”) drinks are the little bottles of liquid vitamins with exhausting-sounding names like ‘Dekavita’ and ‘Arinamin V’. They look and taste like medicine and have some ridiculous caffeine content. Not satisfied with the level of caffeine, they also balance their genki drinks with a nice hit of nicotine. During the past year, out of hundreds of different types, I have discovered one genki drink without caffeine and about five without nicotine.
5. Cold and Flu Tablets
In Australia, the one lifeline at the end of an insufferably snotty and flu-ridden day, was the vaunted Codral Night tablet. In Japan, these pills of the gods do not exist. Every cold and flu tablet here (while being half the strength and twice the price of ones we are used to back home) has…you guessed it, caffeine. In a country where nearly everyone works from 9am-11pm to impress the “boss”, the overwhelming need to sleep is a civil right only for those without the flu. Now, whenever we have a guest stay, we beg, plead and bribe them to supply us with a cache of Codral Day and Night tablets from home.
Japan has reduced us to becoming addicts to non-addictive substances.
