こんーこんーこんーこんにちは。 日本語勉強

I’ve been taking a lot of Japanese classes since I came to Japan.

I had that one community class with just me and the talking-so-fast-I-couldn’t-understand-a-word teacher from August to December 2010.

Then I started the private tutoring class once a week to prepare for the JLPT.

Then I got a different teacher at the community class and things went better.

And I was doing the mail-in JET course as well.

So in case you were wondering why my Japanese is so breathtakingly good (冗談！), that’s why.

I took the JLPT Level 3 on December 4, and I am fairly certain I failed miserably. I ran out of time on the reading section, guessed my way through the kanji part, but maybe have a fighting chance on grammar. Mmmm, so maybe it’s not so breathtakingly good after all . . .

On top of all these classes, I started a new one in Tamamura on December 2^nd. Unlike my other classes—which basically consisted of one or two students per teacher—this is an actual class class, taught by certified JSOL (Japanese ESOL?) teachers and with enough students to fill up a decent-sized classroom, about 15. Every student except one is female, and together we represent the U.S., Peru, the Philippines, and China. This class, unlike the others I’ve attended, facilitates guided conversation. The teacher gives us handouts on different topics, then we talk about them in groups and as a class. So far, I’m really enjoying it, especially because the main teacher is a hoot. She’s Korean, tall, beautiful, and stylish, and speaks Japanese like a pro. Plus she has a sneaky habit of making fun of us students when we can’t speak correctly. I’ve been the butt of several of her jokes. I’m sure she’s laughing with me when I make a mistake . . . right?

However good the class, though, it’s still a pain to get to. I’m going with two other girls from Maebashi, and all of us have to jump through several hoops to get to the south side of Takasaki. One girl has to ride her bike half an hour to Maebashi Station then take the train one stop away to Shin Maebashi Station, where I pick her and the other girl up. The other girl takes the train, too, but the bike ride is shorter. We all ride together to Gunma Prefectural Women’s University, where the class is, then I take them back to Maebashi Station before driving back to my house. I always knew I hated driving—working at the CNNC did it to me—but I doubly hate it in Japan. Why can’t there be more convenient trains in Gunma?! But since there’s no ginger, we just suck up and bear it.

To make my life a little less stressful, though, I’ve dropped out of my other two Japanese classes. I now have my Monday and Thursday nights free again. And I’m biking to school every single non-rainy day, too, which is making me a much happier person.

After this class finishes in February, I’ll probably start up my other classes again. I just want to use the winter to relax a little bit before life speeds up again in the spring. 

Music Japanese Junior High Schoolers Like

One of my last 3rd grade (14- and 15-year olds) lesson plans was on My Favorite Song. This was immediately following the Stevie Wonder lesson plan in the Total English book. Needless to say, they were not too impressed with Mr. Wonder, with all due respect. After listening to four Stevie Wonder songs and filling out a 5-question sheet on each one (this song is happy/sad/angry....the rhythm is fast/slow/medium...I give it a 1-10, etc.), we did the same with our favorite songs. Their song choices were interesting to me. I had expected a wealth of Arashi and AKB48 (idol pop music) but was astounded by the variety of their choices.

I haven't listened to all of them, but I've probably seen 30 or 40 of their recommended videos on YouTube. It seems like students really love Greeeen and Nishino Kana, as well as Exile, Funky Monky Babys, and Monkey Majik.

Here, for your listening pleasure, are some of the ones I enjoyed (and others that are just funny).

Enjoy!

Song for You - Mongol 800
Future Gazer - Fripside
Chocolate Disco (チョコレートティスコ）- Perfume
Sazaesan's Opening Theme (Japanese cartoon)
Iindeska (いいんですか）- Radwimps
Yell - いきものがかり
Oyoge Taiyaki-kun - およげたいやきくん
Even if (たえおえどんなに) - Nishino Kana (西野カナ）
Love Song - Funky Monky Babys
Miso Soup - Tegomasu

Thank you, guys!

If anyone wants my entire list of about 100 songs, feel free to ask. Because nothing beats YouTubing unknown J-Pop songs when you've got nothing else to do.

Tsukimi Part Two, But This Time It Was An Eclipse

            Last night, Saturday, December 10, 2011, from 9:30 p.m. to well past midnight, there was a full  lunar eclipse seen here in Japan (and throughout the rest of the world, for all I know).

            Mark and I got together the same team from September’s Tsukimi—Mr. K, the 60something hippie, Ryo, the nice Chinese guy, Ms. M, Mark’s Japanese teacher (this time, without her 16-year old daughter), Mark, and me. Unfortunately, Sho is in Canada and couldn’t join us, but our friend H from Australia came in his stead; not exactly the same, but quite a worthy substitute.

            Before leaving for the park, Mark, Ryo, H and I feasted on Ryo’s mouthwatering nabe—a huge hot pot filled with carrots, spinach, mushrooms, cabbage, mochi, and I don’t know what all else—to warm ourselves up. I put on about eight layers of clothing and we brought blankets and hot drinks to keep us warm. Then we went to the same baseball field in Maebashi, this time to watch the moon go black. It was deathly cold, but sitting in a circle with five other people kept us toasty warm—lukewarm toast, maybe.

            At first, it looked like someone had spilled ink on one side of the moon (an analogy stolen from Mark, I believe). Just the corner of it was turning black. As the shadow fell over more and more of the moon, though, the color changed to something in-between red or brown, not black. I was actually expecting the moon to be completely blotted out from the sky, so I was surprised when even at full eclipse (full shadowing?) the shape of the moon was still visible.  

            As we sat under the starry sky, we told moon stories like we did last time at Tsukimi. Gradually the conversation moved to moon songs, so H sang us a song in Spanish about a man who wants to die under the moon, Mark recited “Hey Diddle Diddle,” and I sang “Moon River.” (Audrey Hepburn would have been proud.) Since the six of us we were representing six different countries—Japan, Canada, the U.S., China, and Australia/Colombia—the topic of national anthems came up. So there we were, sitting in a near-freezing baseball field, watching the moon be swallowed up by shadow, each of us singing a few lines from our countries and talking about what it means. It was a fun night.

            Towards midnight, we were getting drowsy and it was getting to be colder than we could handle. A couple of us were lying back in the grass staring upwards, when flash! a shooting star darted across the sky. In the excitement of seeing a shooting star for the first time in years, I completely forgot to make a wish.

            We didn’t stick around long enough to see the moon become unveiled. Instead, satisfied by our Brazilian snacks, hot tea, and moon viewing, we retired to our separate houses, to await the next moon event that will bring us all back together again. 

Team Tsukimi

(All photos credit Liang Hongbo. Thank you!)