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June 2018

Logan Paul: An Apology on Behalf of my People

I’m a bit late to the party on this one, I think the kerfluffle happened before I even started blogging.  But I want to chime in on this anyway, because I think it’s really important for me to. Logan Paul is (or, maybe, was) a YouTuber who was known for his over-the-top style of videos.  That’s fine.  Logan Paul went to Japan.  That’s fine. Logan Paul managed to get himself in so much trouble he’ll likely be arrested if he ever sets foot there again. He took a video in the… Read More »Logan Paul: An Apology on Behalf of my People

Ganbatte

“Ganbatte” is a word that, in Japanese, means “try your best”.  It seems to be a very frequently used word, particularly in competitive contexts, such as variety shows, etc.  But looking at the context in which it’s used, I don’t think it translates very well.  The reason is, as with many things, cultural. In English, “Try your best” has a connotation of “Do the very best that you can, and it’s okay if you still fail”.  I mean, obviously you don’t want to fail, but English speakers tend to have a… Read More »Ganbatte

Sunday Song #2: What is Love (もーニング娘)

Life is hard, with many contrasting things, all fighting with each other for supremacy.  Sometimes you laugh, sometimes you cry.  Sometimes you are burning with passion for something, sometimes the passion leaves.  But through it all, you have to ask yourself – is what I’m doing helping or hurting? If I can’t even make one person understand me, how can I change the world?  If I can hurt someone, how can it be said that I’m making the world better? This is something that many people are grappling with today,… Read More »Sunday Song #2: What is Love (もーニング娘)

Understanding Spoken Japanese

Understanding spoken Japanese – especially when done at speed – is hard. It’s hard for several reasons, but I think the primary reason is that the Japanese language tends to take a lot of shortcuts in speaking.  Vowels are much more important in Japanese language than in English – especially considering the fact that every syllable ends in one – and they tend to run together.  Couple that with the fact that vowels are often silent simply because the syllables are spoken so quickly that they kind of run together, and… Read More »Understanding Spoken Japanese

Appropriation

One of the big bugaboos of western culture right now seems to be the idea of “cultural appropriation”.  I, personally, don’t give a toss about cultural appropriation – not only do I not consider it a thing, I consider it something that – except in the most egregious of cases – is just the product of people looking for offense and with too much time on their hands.  (And by egregious, I mean something about on the level of cosplaying as Al Jolson). That being said, if one can manage to… Read More »Appropriation