Saturday, April 23, 2011

Just Another Week in Japan: 1st Edition!

First of all, Happy Easter to those who celebrate it!

Today wraps up the third week of April, 2011 (4月第3週目2011年). This is the start of a new series, which I hope to continue weekly, of highlights that I found either important, entertaining, or interesting for this 7-day span. So here's what was going on this week:

Video Games
  • I found an interesting blog called Failthroughs. Apparently it's about the experiences of these two guys who play through Japanese games without any (or hardly any) understanding of the Japanese language. What caught my eye is that they're currently playing Romancing Saga 2, which I've been playing a bit myself recently. 
  • Earlier this week I wrote about a sim game for the iPhone/Touch that I found quite novel: Game Dev Story. As much as I hate to admit it, maybe the iPod is becoming a legitimate gaming platform.
Japanese Study
  • Rene at Shoujiki Shindoi featured another post on Japanese onomatopoeia, this time focusing on words associated with anger and agitation. 
  • Bobby Judo posted a video at the Daily Yoji, which has been struggling in recent months to come out with new content. Bobby talks about how many Americans have difficulty distinguishing between Asian cultures and races but also how the same thing happens in Japan. Worth a watch! (Bonus note: around 5:40, one of Rene's vocabulary words, イライラした, makes an appearance).
  • Moji Maki shared some recommended websites and Firefox plugins useful for supplementing your Japanese studies. I use Chrome, personally, but according to Google Analytics, many of you prefer the big FF.
Blogging
  • On Monday Ashley of Surviving in Japan featured a guest post by yours truly on how to track pollen in Japan. Her site is useful for all kinds of Japan-related how-to's.
  • Chris of Confessions of a Badboy in Japan looks to be starting up a new site or network of sorts with the goal of linking all of the more "adult" Japan-related blogs out there. If you enjoy reading more mature content, this may be something for you to keep an eye on.
  • Kirk of Jamaipanese received 5000 yen from a fan, for the, uh...Send Kirk to Japan Fund. Someone has some quality fans!
  • Recently been reading a lot of posts over at Reviewz 'n' Tips, a blog about blogging. I've linked a thoughtful post about 5 things you'll need to succeed at blogging.

Have anything good to add? If anything comes to mind, please share what you consider to be some of the best posts/links of this week.

9 comments:

  1. What a lovely round up! I also like your formatting, I might gank it ;) I always mean to include more of the outside world, but always forget to save my favorite links. Will definitely have to get better about that.

    Thanks for the mention! :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the comment, Alice! Since I was finally inspired by you to add this feature, I think that's only fair. =)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for the shout out!!

    Much Appreciations bro!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sure thing - good luck with the project!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Game Dev Story is a fun little app :) I think the devs are working on another, similar title, though I have no clue when the release date might be...

    You should try "Superbrother's Sword and Sworcery: EP." I can't say I've played it yet myself, but check out the trailer on Youtube and tell me you're not intrigued.

    ReplyDelete
  6. A great round-up and lovely formatting too. Wish I had thought of this! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Defendership - Thanks for commenting! Wow, yeah - that does look interesting. Especially dig the music. Gonna consider that one.

    Ali - Thanks! Feel free to do something similar if you like - I have no copyright on this kind of thing. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks for the link! It's much appreciated. Neat site you've got here, too!

    ReplyDelete