Japan (good hotels, movies, school)

[Colddiamond102]

Originally Posted by RobE

You can only get them outside the U.S. Information about them is here. What will happen is that after yo buy it, they will send you a receipt that you exchange at any Japan Rail office in Japan (there is one inside Narita Airport) for the Rail Pass. I think they have passes that are good for 7, 14 and 21 days. Just remember that for Shinkansen, you must go to the Shinkansen counter (I always go a day or two before to secure my ticket because they can sell out) at Tokyo Station or other specified stations and tell them what time you want to make your trip and you just show your Japan Rail pass as payment. Note that there are a couple of lines (I think one of them is the Nozomi) where the rail pass doesn't apply.

On regular Japan Rail trains (the Yamanote Line, for example), you go to the counter on one side of the turnstyles where the employees are and flash your pass. They will wave you through.

Also, one of the lines from the airport (the Narita Express) goes right into Tokyo and you can use your pass on that (you must go to the counter for that line and get a ticket by using your pass). However, the Keihan Railways has its own Narita express (the Starliner is what I think its called) train and that does NOT take the rail pass since they are a separate private outfit.

Also, if you decide to forego the pass, a lot of hotels have limousine bus service for about $30-40 and direct to and from the airport. So when you book your trip, check to see if your hotel has this convenient service. The Century Southern Tower does, for example. You have to go to the limousine bus counter at the airport or at your hotel and buy a ticket.

One other thing: before you arrive in Japan, print out your itinerary to show immigration (they will sometimes ask where you will be staying and what you will be doing). You can stay up to 90 days without a visa if you are a U.S. citizen.

Just a general travel tip: do not do currency exchanges at hotels. They charge a premium for that. Exchange your dollars at a foreign exchange booth before you leave the U.S. instead.

Will I be in trouble if I tell them the truth, that I dont know on either count?
I dont have my heart set on seeing anything in particular except my S/O.

[leaana]

YouTube - Junsu Turns in Learning Japanese Dances

you can also learn some traditional japanese dance for cultural enrichment. though it's funny from this perspective, actually it's very dramatic and beautiful imo when it's done on stage. the traditional japanese theater ecompassed a lot of heartfelt feelings and express deep emotions, especially the hardship of life and the resolve it takes to face up to it's challenges. it has an unexpected soothing and cathartic quality that is quite beautiful and very unique about asian artistic expression in drama similar to classical asian music. i would even say it's hauntingly beautiful.

well, this is not really a dance but an exit. it's like the military or something, heehee

[firebll31]

Originally Posted by dougie86

LOL
Thanks for the warning.

We discovered the deer at Nara really like pistachio ice cream, they hang out near the ice cream vendors!

If you are anywhere near Hiroshima, a visit to the Peace Park and Museum is a must. Puts nuclear weapons in real perspective. Then hop the ferry to the nearby island of Miyajima at high tide for the "floating" shrine and torii gate. Very picturesque and serene.
My favorite city was Himeji. The castle is just amazing, the open shopping area has a little bit of everything, and the street food is cheap and tasty. There were a lot of things to do and it was very pretty. Can't remember what else was close by.....

[Unknown Memory]

Originally Posted by 5chevin5

Actually I'm the one failing Hiragana, though I'm finding it easier then Katakana...must be because kids learn it when they are 5 years old! Perhaps one day I will be smart enough.....Then Kanji....Joy!

Ah... I've been meaning to respond to this post for awhile. Keep forgetting! ^_^ Actually, learning kana can be easy if you just write them out in a systematic order repeatedly. Think of the English vowels: "a", "e", "i", "o", and "u". Then, just add them with a "k" to make: ka か ke け ki き ko こ ku く (katakana: カケキコク). Hiragana are always going to be the kana with curves. Katakana are always going to be with straight lines. Then, you have to remember the small kana punctuation rules like a circle on "fu" becomes "pu", which may be the part you're stuck on but I'm sure you'll get through them.

Kanji is definitely worth saying "joy"! >D Understanding what certain kanji mean is the easy part but trying to memorize their on-yomi and kun-yomi are hard. @_@ On top of that, understanding grammatic sentence structures, conjugating verbs, and telling certain verbs from godan verbs. Looking forward to starting my Japanese I class this semester! Self-teaching yourself can only get you to a certain point.

Chevin, wish ya lots of luck with mastering kana!

[Anders15]

What resources do you suggest to learn the language? I have this book but I don't want to confuse myself or learn it the wrong way so I have not done much with it. How long did it take you guys to learn Japanese at a level where you could make it on your own in Japan?

Unknown Memory could you keep a blog or tell us how Japanese 1 class is like? Are you taking it in college? I have been thinking about taking a real class also.

[Chi-townChica]

Get Lonely Planet's mini book. I found it quite help when asking for directions and very easy to use. Tip: Write down useful phrases on the first page.

Originally Posted by Anders15

What resources do you suggest to learn the language? I have this book but I don't want to confuse myself or learn it the wrong way so I have not done much with it. How long did it take you guys to learn Japanese at a level where you could make it on your own in Japan?

Unknown Memory could you keep a blog or tell us how Japanese 1 class is like? Are you taking it in college? I have been thinking about taking a real class also.

[RobE]

Originally Posted by Colddiamond102

Will I be in trouble if I tell them the truth, that I dont know on either count?
I dont have my heart set on seeing anything in particular except my S/O.

Being there to see your SO is fine. But they will want to know where you will be staying. So whoever you will be staying with get their information from them. You can stay in Japan for up to 90 days at a time and 180 days total for the year without a visa.

Also, your U.S. cellphone won't work in Japan.

[RobE]

Originally Posted by Anders15

What resources do you suggest to learn the language? I have this book but I don't want to confuse myself or learn it the wrong way so I have not done much with it. How long did it take you guys to learn Japanese at a level where you could make it on your own in Japan?

Unknown Memory could you keep a blog or tell us how Japanese 1 class is like? Are you taking it in college? I have been thinking about taking a real class also.

Get the Learn Japanese series (four volumes).

And supplement it with:

Nelson's English to Japanese Character Dictionary.
Effective Japanese Usage Guide.
Kodansha's Basic English-Japanese Dictionary.

Taking classes would help you pick up the basics of the language better than trying to do it on your own. Japanese is a very regular language structurally (unlike english, which is full of all kinds of grammatical irregularities) and isn't that hard to learn (learning kanji takes time, but it isn't that hard, either).

However, I also have to say that classes are not going to teach you everything you need to know. So you will have to do a lot of self study to supplement things that you won't run into in the classroom like dialects (start with the Osaka/Kansai dialect since it is the big one after standard Japanese/Tokyo dialect), for example.

There is also demand in the corporate workplace for people who can speak Asian languages. So if you start studying it, stick with it because it will be worth it.

As far as how long it will take to speak the language serviceably, that depends on you. For me, it was four years (because I focused more on being able to read it than speaking it and I still read better than I speak it). Then I was sent to Japan by the company I was working for at the time, which really helped ramp up my understanding of the language as well as my speaking ability.

[Unknown Memory]

Originally Posted by Anders15

What resources do you suggest to learn the language? I have this book but I don't want to confuse myself or learn it the wrong way so I have not done much with it. How long did it take you guys to learn Japanese at a level where you could make it on your own in Japan?

Unknown Memory could you keep a blog or tell us how Japanese 1 class is like? Are you taking it in college? I have been thinking about taking a real class also.

That book you have is kanji. It's better to start with the basics first, which is kana (a.k.a. kinda like our english ABCs.)

RobE made a very good recommendation so I don't know if there's anything else to add to that.

The way I did it was using the "Kana de Manga" book. Brought it on a cruise ship and sat in their study/longue room for a long period of time. I wrote kana repeatedly until I understood the character well. I continued the study when I got back home. Picked up some of the books that I have in Japanese and try to read both the kana and furigana (kana pronounciations next to kanji). It took me about a month to understand both hiragana and katakana.

I bought vol. 1 of "Kanji de Manga" but I realize better learning books/online material out there. I have "Book of Kanji 1 + 2" on my external HD which is really good because there's no English in it, but I wish it was still being published because it would be easier to work with them on paper (and save printing time/paper).

I guess, reading manga kinda helps but we can't really rely on it. Then again, I can't just rely on learning formal Japanese because at this day and age, not everyone actually uses formal Japanese (from what I read).

Yeah, I'm taking Japanese I in college. Kinda nervous since I haven't had a foreign language class in awhile (since jr./sr. high school - 5 years of Italian). As for a blog about this, I'll think about it but I might be too occupied like crazy with my other courses (since I'm taking 3 in one day). ^_^ But, I think it's best that you try it out yourself as well. You can always switch out if you don't like it. (Of course, this all depends on your teacher and type of class environment.)

And I know someone's going to say it but self-immersion (going to Japan for some time) helps learning for certain people. Others can do it without. It all depends on how fluent you want to be. (Me, I just want to learn enough to just read it. I don't really aim on speaking but it might help to my grandmother... If I can't learn my native Taiwanese, I'll learn Japanese! Whahahaha...)

[RobE]

The main thing to do when learning a language is to try to look at it like your a baby. Don't analyze Japanese through an english speaking prism, but rather just on Japanese's own terms. I tried to immerse myself in the language as much as I could, watching Japanese tv shows and movies and trying to see what I could pick up. Also, even if you can't initially understand what they're saying, you can still pick up body language and tonal cues. Keep in mind, though, that if you're going to watch movies set in the Japanese feudal era, the Japanese that was spoken then is quite different (kinda like compairing Shakespearean english to the contemporary brand). Even the Japanese spoken before WWII is different in some respects.

After my first year, I started working on memorizing the kanji in the Nelson kanji dictionary and began to try to read Japanese magazines. I would circle words I didn't know and make lists of those words for further independent study. By my senior year, I was able to read Japanese at the same speed as I can english. But this was basically after studying the language every waking hour when I wasn't working or dealing with other assignments.

One other thing: Japanese and Americans do not have the same sense of humor (and satire just really isn't their thing). Plus they tend to value indirection over directness, especially from women (for example, there are "women's words" and "men's words" every now and again). So until you get a real feel for the internal logic of the culture and language it is best to leave humor out of it when talking to Japanese. And doing business has its own customs and protocols, too since it is a process and gesture driven culture as opposed to the results uber alles culture we have in the west.