靖国神社 / Yasukuni Shrine

Yasukuni Shrine is a controversial Shinto shrine that is located in Tokyo. You've probably heard about this shrine due to Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe's visit to it last year, which was criticized by South Korea and China. Some consider it a symbol of Japan's imperial past. In addition, war criminals are among those enshrined there.

You can read more here:

Yasukuni Shrine

Japanese Prime Minister Abe visits controversial Yasukuni war shrine

3.11

Today is the third anniversary of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that devastated an eastern part of Honshu.

In my Reading and Writing Japanese class this week, my teacher taught us about Japan's natural disaster warning system. We learned phrases and vocabulary having to do with emergencies and evacuation.

My teacher was teaching a level 1 Japanese class during the spring 2011 semester. She observed that the lower level Japanese students were confused and scared because they only knew basic Japanese at that point and couldn't understand anything on TV. She told us that out of her 12 level 1 students, fewer and fewer came to class in the days following the earthquake. In the end, she only had one student left. I heard that in the spring semester in 2011 there were also 300 to 400 exchange students at Kansai Gaidai, and due to the huge earthquake about two-thirds of them returned home. Many were forced by their parents or their home institutions to leave Japan following the disaster.

267,000 still evacuees three years on: Disaster-hit communities struggle to rebuild but progress slow-going

Survivors still overwhelmed by 3/11 losses

[Photos] Tohoku three years after the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami

Asian American

The Forgotten Minority: That Moment When You Realize You’re Not White by Connie Zhou

Transformed Into White Gods: What Happens in America Without Love by David Byunghyun Lee

Michigan in Color: Our sacrifice, our shame by Carlina Duan

My least favourite question: where are you from? by Patricia Park

Links

Why do the Japanese draw themselves as white?


Japan Gender Reader, November 2013

What’s Holding Japanese Women Back

‘You Mean Women Deserve Careers?’ Patriarchal Japan Has Breakthrough Moment


Japanese Prime Minister Stokes Wartime Passions

New evidence of Japan’s wartime sexual enslavement emerges

‘Comfort women’ take on Hashimoto

Japan Didn't Really Change

Japan Grapples with the Rise of Hate Groups (video)


映画『ハーフ』予告編　Hafu: the mixed-race experience in Japan [Official Trailer] (video)

Hafu: Half Japanese

There is more to my son than the fact he’s a ‘half’

In Japan, Will Hafu Ever Be Considered Whole?

Double the trouble, twice the joy for Japan’s hafu

Hafu Film Official Website

«Bist Du ein Hafu?» (in German)

Prove you’re Japanese: when being bicultural can be a burden

White Japanese People – 白人系日本人


J-Pop's dream factory

Momoiro Clover Z: What We Talk About When We Talk About Idols

Sexy Zone: This Isn't It

Igawa Mototaka says he witnessed sex favors being given by idols, netizens discuss identities


Why Japanese Web Design Is So… Different


Myth of Beauty: Facial Features and Skin

Pictures: From October

Random pictures I've taken this month.

I made my own pancakes by myself for the first time

food

I bought this calendar. There are tons of adorable calendars to buy here. They're so cute!!!

I received mail from my parents ^_^ thank you

my room

All of the bedrooms in the seminar houses have futons and tatami mats. Almost every room is for two people, though each seminar house has a couple singles (RAs have their own rooms and sometimes people's roommates move out, leaving someone with their own room then).

In my experience, most Japanese homes only have one tatami room, if any. None of the Japanese students I know sleep on futons. That's what grandparents do.

I guess in a way our rooms are more Japanese than those of many Japanese people. I like it. I don't mind the tatami at all and I love my comfortable futon.

I'll also add that our room is emptier than those of my friends. That's because their rooms are messy.

Hello Kitty noodles

Last week I saw that the tea bottles look different. They have characters on them now! Milk tea tastes the best.

This is a bus for young Japanese children, to bring them to school or pre-school I assume. I've seen it a few times, and luckily my friend was able to photograph it.

One thing about Japan, which is not that uncommon in countries where English is not spoken or is not an official language, is that there are random English words everywhere. You can see English words and phrases on just about anything: clothing, food packaging, pens, covers of notebooks, even on plastic hangers for laundry. What stands out is that the English is often random and therefore seems odd or stupid. When it comes to sentences and phrases, the English is almost always incorrect.

I have a few examples of clothing with weird English on them. I'll point out though that my examples are very limited. I've seen a ton of hats and shirts with English on them that I'd never want to wear in the U.S.

I did find this, for Halloween ^^

I haven't posted any links to articles or news on this blog I think, and I do have a few I may put up eventually, but I'm not certain I'll actually do it. However, I wanted to share this:

Rhetoric Not Enough for Japan’s Working Women

Don't take this too seriously! I'm fine. It's not a big deal. Everything's ok.

I was annoyed and I felt like complaining so I made a post. If I were really having trouble I wouldn't be blogging about it.