Just another picture of the day 1/31/10

Golden yenners

Japanese yen come in both coins (玉, tama) and bills (札, satsu). The coin variety includes 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, and 500-yen pieces. In America, coins of a higher denomination than 25 cents have never really caught on. We've had 50 cent and $1 coins introduced, but no one really seems to use them. I think that's a shame.

In Canada, Loonies and Toonies (one and two Canadian dollar coins, respectively) are widely used. In Europe, there are one and two-euro coins, as well. Britain has the 1-pound coin, and of course Japan has the 100 and 500-yen coins. What is it about Americans that we can't succumb to the allure of the high-denomination coin? I mean, holding a fistful of 500-yen pieces is like grasping a small hoard of pirate gold. Who doesn't love pirate gold?

Coins are easier to handle than bills (although I suppose their cumulative weight is the flip side of that) and they are also cheaper for the government (and therefore us) to make. Coins wear out much more slowly than bills, and thus have to be replaced and recirculated much less often. It also makes Coinstar much more exciting - in America I could usually expect one or two hundred bucks from a couple big jars of coins. A couple weeks ago I deposited a jar of yen and got the equivalent of about $350 for it! But despite these benefits, America lags behind in the coinage arena.

One of my favorite aspects of the high-value coins are how easy they are to spend or not spend. I'm sure I'm not the first to blog about this, but I am a subscriber to the practice of saving 500-yenners. About half a year ago, as close as can remember, I began dropping all my 500-yen coins into a little box. Over the months, I've conditioned myself never to spend them. It's gotten to the point where I inwardly wince when I see other people drop a 500-yen piece. And it's been paying off. To date, I've saved just under 70,000 yen - that's around $700.

I do find myself wrestling with the question of what to do with the money when I do decide to cash it in, though. Do I invest it? Spend it on a vacation? Get myself some fancy gadgets? Only time will tell...

Let's enjoy Japanese: Never, sometimes, or usually

Fairly early on in one's 日本語教育 (Nihongo Kyouiku, study of the Japanese language), one learns how to transform mundane statements like 寿司を食べます (Sushi o tabemasu, "I eat sushi") into slightly more detailed constructions like よく寿司を食べます (Yoku sushi o tabemasu, "I often eat sushi").

In my experience, there are six basic frequency words that are usually learned at this point:

ぜんぜん（全然） - zenzen, never (寿司を全然食べません - I never eat sushi.)

あまり - amari, not very often (寿司をあまり食べません - I rarely eat sushi.)

ときどき （時々）- tokidoki, sometimes (ときどき寿司を食べます - Sometimes I eat sushi.)

よく - yoku, often (よく寿司を食べます - I often eat sushi.)

たいてい - taitei, usually (たいてい寿司を食べます - I usually eat sushi.)

いつも - itsumo, always (いつも寿司を食べます - I always eat sushi.)

These cover a good amount of ground. There are, of course, other frequency words out there to be seized for your Word Hoard. Personally, one of the next ones to be thrown into my rotation of normal usage was 普通 (futsuu). ふつう, or sometimes ふつうは or ふつうに, depending on the usage, is a way of saying "usually" or "normally."

For example: 私は普通に車で仕事に行きます。 (わたしはふつうにくるまでしごとにいきます)

"I usually go to work by car."

You also may also recognize 普通 from the train station, as it's used to indicate a regular or local train.

Another way to say "normally" or "usually" that seems to be used more regularly than 普通 is 普段 (ふだん, fudan). ふだん is one that I just recently became aware of and have since recognized in a number of places (funny how that works). I believe it is used much the same as 普通.

Example: 昨夜、私は普段より飲めませんでした。 (さくや、わたしはふだんよりのめませんでした)

"Last night I wasn't able to drink as much as I normally do."

Lastly, let's have a look at a couple of words using the kanji 「常」. I don't have extensive experience with it, but I do know that it is used fairly frequently. If I read more, which I plan to do, I'm sure I'd be a lot more familiar with it. First, we have 常に (つねに), which means "always" or "constantly."

I'll use an example right from Denshi Jisho: 火は常に危険だ。(ひはつねにきけんだ）

"Fire is always dangerous."

Last, we have 日常 (にちじょう), which means "ordinary" or "everyday." You may recognize this from 日常漢字 (にちじょうかんじ) - everyday kanji. There are a number of useful compounds you can make from にちじょう, like 日常生活 (にちじょうせいかつ, daily life) or 日常会話 (にちじょうかいわ, ordinary/daily conversation).

I'm sure there are a number of fine vocabulary words relating to time and frequency that I've left out, but we'll just have to talk about them some other time. Or, uh, maybe 決して(けっして, never). We'll see which comes first.

Just another picture of the day 1/24/10

Just another picture of the day 1/21/10

(Thanks to Eggngoo for the picture)

Just another picture of the day 1/20/10

Is this bartender really fun or batsh*t crazy? You be the judge...but I'd go with the latter.

Katamari Commercial

Ever play the game Katamari Damacy? I never had any interest until a few years ago when a friend of mine gave me the first one as a gift. Ever since then I've been a fan. Quirky gameplay, catchy music, and a very unique personality. Anyway, here's a Japanese commercial for my favorite random-clutter-ball-making game.

I heart food

Just picked up this delicious-looking specimen at the store. A day old + foreign origin = big discount.

For those of you not impressed by slabs of animal flesh, here's a large lump of juicy plant matter that I intend on eating this week. Feast your eyes upon the almighty Starburst Pomelo - a pomelo-ruby grapefruit hybrid.

Picked up two of these badboys at Costco the other day and I look forward to gorging.

This thing is as big as my freakin' head.

"Don't you wanna?" Japan style

I don't watch much TV these days as most of the programming is pretty lacking. But as we all know, among all the crap Japanese commercials there are some gems. Here's a series of Fanta commercials that stand out. In particular I like the shogun and the gangster. Insolence!

Let's enjoy Japanese: That's a first

Another interesting thing about Japanese is that often you can take a kanji (or word) and just smoosh it together with a number of other kanji/words to form all kinds of cool compounds. One prefix that you'll see used quite a bit is 初(in this case はつ、 hatsu). 初 means "first" or "new" and is used to indicate something to which either of these adjectives applies. Here are a few examples:

初 + 雪 (ゆき, snow) = 初雪 (はつゆき, hatsuyuki), "first snow"

Last week there was a slight dusting outside, which I guess was a big deal since it doesn't snow too often around here. I overheard some excited teachers in the staff room exclaiming "あっ、初雪です！" - "Oh, first snow (of the winter/year)!"

初 + 詣 (もうで, pilgrimage) = 初詣 (はつもうで, hatsumoude), "first shrine/temple visit of the year"

The first pilgrimage of the New Year usually occurs on New Year's Day or in the week or so following. It's my understanding that while Japanese used to visit shrines, these days temples are visited as well.

初 + 恋 (こい, love or passion) = 初恋 (はつこい, はつこい), "first love"

Interestingly, this one seems to hold a slight but important difference of meaning in Japanese. It might be better to translate it as "first crush." I wasn't aware of this until last night, actually, when I was out with an American friend and some Japanese. Someone asked my friend and I about our 初恋, and we both answered that ours were in college. One of the girls remarked something like "ちょっと遅いじゃない？" - "Isn't that a little late?" After a short, confused discussion we realized that we were working with two different definitions of "first love."

There are a number of these "hatsu" compounds out there. Keep your ears open and perhaps you'll be able to exclaim "初耳ですね!" (Hastumimi desune) - "This is the first time I've heard it!"