Bret Mayer

((Here is a translated version of the interview I did with the Kanji Aptitude test people.  The original can been found at the source link under the title.))

((In June, I went to the first Lifetime Kanji Learners seminar, which is a network for people who passed pre-1 and 1 and want to continue studying.  At the seminar, one of the association people approached me about doing an interview for the site.  The interview was then done through email.  They gave me a number of questions and then took the answers and formed them into a cohesive narrative for the site.))

I'm going to pass level 1, no matter what!

source: http://goukaku.kanken.or.jp/gokaku/voice/syosai.php?gokaku_no=513 

I first experienced the world of kanji when I was fifteen; I was living in America at the time.  It's a little embarrassing, but my foray was initiated by Sailor Moon videos that my friends imported from Japan.  I was amazed by the imagination of the Japanese people, but more than that, it was the kanji on the screen that really gave me a sense of "Cool Japan," and I was completely hooked.  Right away, I went directly to the bookstore to look for books on kanji, and that's where my relationship with kanji began.  On top of that, Dragonball was one of my favorite reads when I was fifteen.

(("Cool Japan" is a kind of government initiative that involves using pop culture as a gateway to entice foreigners into seeking a deeper appreciation of Japanese culture and history.))

I first learned about the Kanji Aptitude test in early spring of 2008, when I was working as an English instructor.  I loved to study kanji, but I didn't have a clear goal, and so, I wasn't really improving at all.  Around that time, I was speaking about kanji so passionately that a student of mine finally told me about the Kanji Aptitude test.  My heart leapt at the chance to test out my kanji ability, so I quickly moved to take on level 8 in June of 2008.

The first time I took the test, I was nervous.  I was in a small study hall with only about 4-5 elementary school students, but I couldn't sit still.  I didn't feel like the problems would be hard, but since it was my first time, I was overcome with fear that I'd fill in the answer sheet wrong, or my pencil would be the wrong type.  Not to mention, my kanji looked terrible back then, and I just knew there would be some kind of "bad handwriting penalty" or something.  In the end, I passed the test without a hitch.  From then on, I steadily progressed through the levels and passed level pre-1.

The hardest part about studying for the Kanji Aptitude test is "finding a good study method."  When it's close to test day, I can just run through problems and practice tests over and over.  However, if I've just passed a level and the next test is 4-5 months away, I get lost wondering where to begin and find it hard to make progress.  When that happens, I head out to find new notebooks and writing tools.  Changing the materials I study helps me to refresh, and then I can restart my studies looking for a study method that works for me at that new level.  I improve my studying style through trial-and-error and keep searching until I hit that "eureka" moment.  Revising my study method may not produce tangible results, but even that time spent experimenting is in no way wasted.

The cornerstone of my study for level pre-1 is how I use my kanji practice notebooks.  I set aside a separate notebook for each type of problem: Writing, 4-Character Idioms, Sayings/Proverbs, etc., and use four different colored pens.  In each notebook, I go through the textbook problems and copy down each and every answer.  I write the target kanji or term four times in black with the reading written next to it in red.  Underneath, the meaning is written in brown, and a sample sentence containing the kanji or term in green.  By doing this, I make a colorful notebook where with but a glance, I can quickly discern the target term, its reading, meaning and a sample sentence.

I feel that I am just a regular person; like most people, there are many things I find interesting, but I always give up on them too quickly.  The Kanji Aptitude test has given me a way to rid myself of this bad habit.  When I decided to take the Kanji Aptitude test three years ago, I made a vow that, "I am going to pass level 1, no matter what!"  It goes without saying that my kanji study has been useful in my work as a translator, but now, kanji has really given me something to strive for in life.  That is why I must take on this final challenge with everything I've got.

((The "final challenge" is level 1, which I will take on October 23rd.  If I blow it, my next shot is January 29th, 2012.))

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Adagio opened on February 2nd of this year and brought the growing popularity of the 猫カフェ (neko ka-fe) Cat Cafe to Hamamatsu.  There are already many such cafes in bigger cities where cramped apartments and strict rules make it difficult for many people to own pets.  Hamamatsu is a comparitively small city that has been growing fast in recent years, and with that growth comes new stores and trends that often got their start up in Tokyo.

Essentially, a cat cafe is like a net cafe, but instead of computer time, you pet kitties.  This particular cafe also serves a variety of drinks (tea, coffee, juice) and a few desserts (cheescake, ice cream and cake).

Once Naomi's mom heard there was a cat cafe in town, it was the only thing she would talk about all morning.  "Will they have a striped cat?  Will they have a black cat?  I love cats so much! They probably won't let you take them home."

I usually take Naomi's mom to local cafes and bookstores to keep her active.  I ride ahead on the bike and she gets some good walking in.  Then I just study or work while she relaxes.  So, today we decided our destination would be the new cat cafe.

The cafe has a main sitting area (pictured above) with several couches, a couple chairs with desks, and a big tower for cat napping and claw scratching.  This is also where the most sunlight comes in, so it was very warm and obviously the cats' locale of choice.  There is a large open hallway and another area with chairs, but they were cold and barren during our visit.

There are eight cats in all at the cafe, each named after different musical terms: Alto, Piano, So-La, Sharp, Re-Mi, Waltz, Opera and Bolero.  The owner encouraged us to pet them and take pictures, and even plopped a few of them into the mom's lap.

I'll be putting up the rest of the pictures on my Facebook page.

～猫がいるカフェ～
ADAGIO
浜松市中区西伊場47-17

http://adagio.a-thera.jp/

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Yesterday, I went in for my rematch against the Kanji Kentei, level pre-1.  According to the association that runs the exam, this level tests the ability to read/write 3,000 different characters and includes sections on:

compounds

antonyms/synonyms

homonyms

four-character idioms

original Japanese characters (峠、凧、畠、etc)

irregular readings of characters (事える⇒つかえる、努々⇒ゆめゆめ、etc)

kotowaza (sayings, proverbs)

reading/writing characters within classical literature

There are 200 points in total, and 160 points (80%) are required to pass.  At levels pre-2 and below, you only need 140 (70%).

The last time I took pre-1 was in October 2010.  My score was 143/200 (71%).  This time will be a bit of a nail biter.  Since the test includes a lot of obscure readings that cannot be easily looked up, there remain a few problems to which I do not know the answer.

My best estimates put my score between 155-163, which leans towards the failing side.

The opening section of on-yomi reading problems killed me and probably cost me eight points right off the bat.  Then my weaker section, kun-yomi, I got perfect -- go figure.

The writing section was almost perfect, save for two problems:  ボダイジュ⇒菩提樹 I made the 士 part of 樹 a 土 (maybe it'll still count? please?)  and for ハシゴ⇒梯子 I left off the 子 which means my answer refers to the plant instead of "ladder," which the context of the problem seems to imply. 

One more writing mistake was in the literature reading section. In this section, a passage is presented with either kanji taken out which you have to identify and write, or kanji for which you need to write the correct reading. It's like a reading/writing section, but instead of one sentence per problem, you dig through a full passage of classical-style text.

Anyway, I made a real dumb mistakes and on カンガイ⇒灌漑 I left that stupid lil' tip off the top middle of 漑 .  

Still, despite the poor performance, I was able to walk away happy about some things.  There were a number of problems that I was not familiar with, and originally marked with a ?, but when I went back through was able to figure them out.  Two examples I remember:

鶏糞【けい・ふん】 "chicken sh*t" , the sentence referred to drying something out and using it as fertilizer.  That linked フン(fun) to poop and then chicken, for which the on-yomi is ケイ(kei).

鮫臭い【さめ・くさ・い】 This was part of a proverb which I had not heard before.  I had to go purely on the reading, and thinking クサイ(kusai) could not be anything but 臭い "stinky" I was left to fill in サメ(same) which lead me to 鮫 "shark."

The full phrase is 七皿食うて鮫臭い。which means eating seven plates worth of food and then saying it tasted/smelled like shark.  That is, eating a ton of food, and afterwards, bitching about how it tasted bad.  An example of poor behavior.

So, in the end, if I had to stick to a specific number, I would say I scored a 158/200, or 79%.  This means I would have improved 8% over the previous test, which is encouraging for the next go-round.  I plan to do some light studying until the results come in to avoid falling behind in case I need to take it again in June.

For today, I have just been unwinding with Minecraft.  I bought it today as a present to myself for sticking to my studies until the day of the test.

It's kind of therapeutic, too, -- I'm digging down, down, down into the depths of my disappointment.  Searching for something, anything... a glimmer of hope, like gold or redstone.  Eventually, I hit bedrock... I can go no further.  

I failed, there's nothing left I can do.  I'll just sit here in the darkness.  

Pick at this wall, pick at that wall... whatever.

Wait... what's this?

... diamonds!

I can't just wallow in self-pity!  There's still work to be done!

Now I have a diamond mining pick.  I may have stumbled and fallen, but hard work and experience has me better equipped than before to take on the next challenge.

Back to the surface!  Back to work!  Up and up and up we g--

Lava vein... LAVA VEIN!!

OH SHI---

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There's a lot of talk about tips and things that are soft or stiff today, so you can just skip over this post if you're going to be a giggle-puss.

If felt-tipped sign pens are "beginner," and brushes are "expert," then 筆ペン【ふで　ぺん】brush pens fall somewhere in the middle.  They let you get closer to a brush style without all the necessary equipment and ink-stained hands, but are more difficult to use than felt-tipped pens.

I also find them good for making "smoky" or "fluffy" kind of lines, like this thought bubble, or the flames and charred man within.

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Mr. Dino (@HadrielDM) tweets: Could you please reveal to me what kind of pen you use for writing kanji? They look awesome! :)

This question has come up before after posting hand-written kanji.  I think it's because the felt-tipped pens used for calligraphy in Japan are not as widely avaiable in the U.S.

Last Christmas, the closest I ever found at various stationary stores and calligrapher shops was a Sharpie.

While Sharpies are great for writing on practice notebook covers, and I got a neat case for it, they aren't designed to do some of the flourishes you can accomplish with other felt pens.

Today, we'll start with サインペン "sign pens" and I'll queue up some other stuff to auto-post while I'm flying home and getting settled for the holidays this week.  Be warned that I don't use anything super fancy or expensive, which I guess is good since it means you don't need to blow a lot of money to have nice kanji.

Also, all stationary supplies come from Mr. Bungu -- best store ever for those in Japan.

As for pictures, I also stopped with the flash I used above, since it makes everything look like I work out of a basement dungeon.  I was trying to compensate for the weird blue aura the iPhone4 makes, which is a real pain since I'll have to rely on it for posts from back home.

after trying a lot of brands, I've settled on these sign pens above.

They are Kuretake brand 筆ごこち (Fudegokochi, "feeling of the brush")

These let you hold the implement like a regular pen and still mimic the style of a brush.  The tips are relatively soft, but still quite firm.

The black one is 中字 (medium size) and the cream-colored one is 極細 (extremely thin).

The above comparison was made by pressing down pretty hard to get the maximum thickness from each pen.

A gentle touch lets the black pen write smaller than even the thinner cream one could.  But then by lightening up on the thinner pen, you get smaller still.  The nature of these pens is that you can adjust the thickness of the line with the pressure you place on it.

Here's one more shot with the pens in their packaging.  They cost 210 yen each.

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Although kanji become a lot easier to write as you get used to the stroke order, creating nice, balanced characters is something you can only smooth out through practice.  There are some tips to help you along the way, though.

I used to have endless trouble with the radical 辶 【しんにょう、しんにゅう】 .

I was never satisfied with my shin'nyou, and while the radical represents forward movement and progress, my ability to write it was forever terrible.

Then I learned this trick:

Now here's where I go, NOW ALL MY 辶s ARE PERFECT  , but they aren't always.  They just don't end up like wet noodles anymore.

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Anyway, quick update for today.

Japanese people often ask why I enjoy studying kanji so much.  It's hard to come up with a concrete reason, but I think it's because kanji are like art that I can actually draw.  There's probably more to it than that, but having these wonderfully crafted symbols full of depth and meaning that I can reproduce with the meager talent within my hands provides no shortage of enjoyment.

It's also what I hope will drive me to continue this daily grind -- that by the end I will have honed some measure of real artistic ability.

One of the things I would like to do is make some icons and sigs that people could use on forums.  The above picture is 剣【つるぎ】sword from 剣術士【けん・じゅつ・し】 Gladiator, the discipline from Final Fantasy XIV.  It's picture of a Gladiator wearing armor based off promo shots.  Then the kanji was drawn with a calligraphy brush, pasted over it, given a color overlay, and made opaque.

Even such a simple picture is fun to make, but if I get good enough, I would really like to experiment with combining kanji and pictures in more complex ways, like this sketch below:

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猫に鰹節を預ける
ねこ　に　かつお・ぶし　を　あず・ける
to leave something in decidedly unsafe hands

This phrase serves as an example of choosing the wrong person to handle something for you. The implication is that the object in question is too enticing for them to resist simply acting in their own best interest. Similar to "setting the wolf to tend the sheep."

Cats猫 love fish, so 鰹節【かつお・ぶし】dried bonito flakes, is used as an example of something cats would immediately eat given the chance. Therefore, to entrust(預ける) a cat with fish is to guarantee you would lose it.

I picked up some 4-koma sheets at the stationary store to give it a shot. After everything was drawn, I though dried bonito flakes sounded weird, so I just went with Cheetos.

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医者の不養生

い・しゃ　の　ふ・よう・じょう

not practicing what you preach

養生【よう・じょう】 ⇒ hygiene, caring for one's health

so 不養生【ふ・よう・じょう】⇒ a lack of hygiene, neglecting one's health

A doctor always instructs patients how best to care for their own health, so "a doctor's neglect of health" illustrates someone who doesn't practice what they preach.  The doctor ignores his own orders.

Other examples of this are

坊主の不信心【ぼうず　の　ふ・しん・じん】 a priest's lack of faith

儒者の不身持ち【じゅ・しゃ　の　ふ・み・も・ち】 a Confucianist's poor behavior / misconduct

I did the picture real quick since I'm not feeling well, but while it's just a flipper-limbed doctor with no pants, I did manage to try out a few new things.  Colored pencils were used instead of calligraphy brushes because it's too easy to hit the black lines and make the black ink smudge.  Also, the strong ink colors would often make the black lines harder to distinguish.

We also switched the mobile plan over to iPhone4, so I tested out the new camera to upload this picture.  The quality is much better than the 3GS, but there seemed to be this blue aura no matter what angle I shot at.  Any other smudges or errors are most likely mine. 

That's all for today.

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き・めん・ぶっ・しん

one who has a fearsome appearance, but a kind, gentle heart

Demon鬼 face面 Buddha仏 heart心

This is the opposite of yesterday's phrase: 人面獣心

Now, the individual appears fearsome and animal-like on the outside, but is really just a gentle giant on the inside.

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じん・めん・じゅう・しん

a human figure with a callous and animal-like soul

Human人 face面 beast獣 heart心

心【こころ】 is usually a more metaphorical heart, as in one's mind, spirit or soul.

This phrase describes someone who is human in form alone; their behavior is more characteristic of a vicious, wild beast --  unfeeling and out of control.

The pictures are based off of Gladiator and Ogre from Final Fantasy XIV.  I drew them up for a column I have planned, which I hope to write this week.  So if you noticed the resemblance, that's why.

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【せい・あ　たい・かい　を　し・らず】

the frog in the well knows nothing of the ocean

In other words,

- It is impossible for someone to understand the workings of the world around them if they have a limited or narrow view.  

- One cannot fully grasp concepts which are far beyond their realm of existence.

- Some things are too difficult to comprehend based on a single person's experiences.

Overall, this phrase indicates that some concept or idea is beyond the comprehension of an individual.

Can also be written: 井の中の蛙大海を知らず。【い　の　なか　の　かわず　たい・かい　を　し・らず】

which is neat cause it rhymes.

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@eDRoaCH asked on Twitter about an official list of the new kanji, and this is the best I have.  If you hover your mouse over it, there is a link to download it in full size.

The chart was published in the Yomiuri late last year.

Each kanji is listed with it's official "regular use" readings, with on-yomi in katakana and kun-yomi in hiragana.  On the kun-yomi, the bold characters are the okurigana -- hiragana not included in the kanji itself.

If you see 潰 - つぶす it would be written 潰す

As far as grade levels go, I would assume they will all be JLPT N2 or N1.  Almost all the kanji on this list are from Level pre-1 of the Kanji Kentei.  This makes sense, since Level 2 of the Kanji Kentei tests all 常用漢字, which means these are all higher level than that.

When I took the JLPT N1, the actual section for kanji reading problems was ridiculously short.  However, the entire exam tests your kanji reading ability in a way, because if you can't read all 常用漢字, the problems become more difficult.

It seemed as if characters outside the scope of "regular use," or those just deemed too difficult by the test makers, had readings attached in the form of furigana.  Also, there are many instances were terms were just left in hiragana and didn't use the kanji at all.

My best guess would be that these new characters will be fair game on the test, and will appear in reading sections.  Answers that were once straight hiragana might start using kanji as well.

However, according to JapanToday, these new characters won't be taught in schools until 2012 or appear on entrance exams until 2015.  So, there is no reason to panic for JLPT-hopefuls.

Take the time to go over the list and get familiar with the new kanji.  There may be several that will click based on your current Japanese knowledge:

凄【すご・い】　亀【かめ】　鍋【なべ】　匂【にお・い】　虹【にじ】　羨【うらや・ましい】

If you live in Japan, you probably seen some of these constantly -- like at restaurants:

麺【めん】 noodles

丼【どんぶり】 donburi

At UNIQLO:

袖【そで】 sleeve

On your food:

餅【もち】 mochi rice cake

蜂蜜【はち・みつ】 honey

Or 50+ times a day on random advertisements:

爽快【そう・かい】 refreshing

And thus concludes my uploading of the new 常用漢字 list. Enjoy

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[Edit: brightened/cleaned up picture]

馬耳東風

ば・じ・とう・ふう

ignoring someone's opinions or criticism

Horse馬 ear耳 east東 wind風

A strange combination, but here's how it fits together.

東風【とう・ふう】 ⇒ east wind, but can also refer to a spring breeze.

馬耳 is more literal, 馬の耳【うま　の　みみ】 horse's ear

The reasoning behind this phrase is that while a springtime breeze is nice and refreshing for people like you and me, it has no such effect on a horse's ear.  People enjoy spring as a welcome respite from the freezing winter months, but a horse does not know or care about such non-carrot related things.  

When expressing frustration at not being able to get our point across, we might exclaim, "It's like talking to a brick wall!"

This phrase is more like, "It's like wind brushing against a horse's ear."  That is, devoid of any meaningful response.

Still practicing what my drawing book calls ゴム人間 or rubber people.  These are a step above basic frameworks, but are still simple and cartoony.  The guy on the left is supposed to have a horse's head, but it looks kind of rat-like to me.  Doing head shapes outside of the basic circular type was a little tough.  

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らく・ひつ・てん・よう

skillfully repairing one's mistake

This phrase derives its meaning from a situation involving Cao Buxing, a painter who lived during the Three Kingdoms period in China.  The story goes that the artist accidentally let his brush touch the canvas and create unwanted marks.  However, he quickly covered the error by turning the wayward specks into intentionally drawn flies.

落 means to fall, drop or fail.  For example,

落選【らく・せん】 ⇒ not being selected as winner (lottery, election)

試験に落ちる【し・けん　に　お・ちる】 to fail an exam

筆【ふで】 ⇒ brush

點 is an old form of 点.  

Here, it is used as 点ずる【てん・ずる】 to make a dot or mark with a brush.

蠅【はえ】 ⇒ fly (insect)

Essentially, a fallen brush makes flies.

For this picture, I dared to add hair, and I think it came out alright.  But is the girl horrified by the state of her painting, or because the boy's head is about to topple off his neck?  YOU BE THE JUDGE!

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魁

カイ、かしら、さきがけ

vanguard, leader, pioneer

魁 has both a good shape and meaning attached to it.  I like how the ム is tucked in there and how the 斗 seems to slide right into place and give the whole character a solid, complete feeling.  Like little Tetris pieces.

The character takes its meaning from 斗(ladle) and 鬼(big, round head) and literally means a large headed spoon.  This is taken to represent a large headed person, or rather, one of impressive stature.

容貌魁偉【よう・ぼう・かい・い】 brawny and muscular, an impressive figure

魁傑【かい・けつ】 large and impressive figure

This meaning then carries over to leadership:

かしら means leader, or the head of an organization.  In fact, the kanji for head (頭) can also be read 「かしら」 to have this same meaning.

さきがけ is to charge in front.  It can also be written 先【さき】掛け【がけ】

首魁【しゅ・かい】 leader, pioneer

I wanted to try my first non flipper baby human drawing, so I did a standard leader kind of pose to go with the kanji.  Any hair I try to draw comes out terrible, so I just gave him a top hat.

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轟 is constructed with three carts車 to represent the thunderous noise and rumbling created by a caravan.

轟 is best thought of as a booming reverberation.  It can describe a crack of thunder or even the nervous beating of one's heart.  In essence, 轟 is for whenever something creates a large sound that echoes far and wide.

Other examples include: large waves, waterfalls, stampeding hooves, cannons and explosions.

轟く【とどろ・く】 to emit a thunderous sound

轟轟【ごう・ごう】 thunderous booming

轟音【ごう・おん】 a thunderous noise

轟掛け【とどろ・が・け】 the rumbling of a stampede

The character 轟 itself can even be used to denote a sound effect in manga, similar to how BOOM, THOOM or KRA-KOOM are used in American comics.

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I picked up this gem in January 2010 after a friend introduced me to Carcassonne -- the original game upon which this is based.  It's been a staple of my kids lessons ever since.

The game comes with 36 tiles and 32 little wooden kids.  Lessons for younger students are mostly done at their family's house, so tile games are perfect because they do not take up a fixed amount of space.  Whether you are spread out on the floor or confined to a narrow table, you can shape the game to fit the area.

The tiles themselves are where the game really shines.  The artwork is simple, colorful and bright.  Whenever I take this game out for the first time, students are instantly transfixed and eager to play.  

At this point, the lesson writes itself.  On this tile alone, you have colors (green, red, white, purple, grey, yellow); animals (cat, sheep, chicken); and objects (tree, house, door, flower, road, grass).

The difficulty is easily adjustable for older children as well.  Instead of straight vocabulary, make sentences based on what is happening.  The cat is sleeping.  The boy is walking.  There are three houses.

The rules are very simple: take turns placing tiles to construct a town.  Unlike Carcassonne, there is no way to place a tile that is illegal, so kids can jump right in with minimal explanation.

If it's a one-on-one lesson, I usually take turns with the student.  If there are two students or more, I let them build the town themselves.  Every time a tile is placed, the game pauses so we can identify an object or construct a sentence based on the tile.

Some examples:

"What's this?" -- "It's a duck."

"What color is the cow?" -- "It's brown."

"How many flowers are there?" -- "1.. 2... 3... 4... 5... 6... seven!"

and so on.

Now, there are 32 wooden children pieces split into four different colors: red, blue, green and yellow.  You win by getting all your pieces on the board first.  You are allowed to place a piece on a child of the same color who is on a completed road.  This means the road stops on both ends at a house, lake or wall.

For the really young students, I find this aspect a little complicated sometimes.  In those cases, I just wait until the town gets relatively big and then ask them to "find the blue children" and place down their pieces on them.  

Once the game is complete and all pieces are placed, I have the student collect them by color and count them back into the bag.  Although, beyond counting practice, this is also to ensure I don't lose any pieces. :)

The above example is from a lesson with two elementary school students.  They loved art, so we would pull one vocabulary word from each tile and all practice writing it and making a small drawing.  With animals, we also practiced sounds.  If we came to a tile where everything had been done, simply add a new element: colors, counting, etc. 

Again, with children and animals walking, running, waving, laughing, pointing and more, it is easy to adapt the town to fit more complicated lessons as well.

Counting: "There are 14 flowers."

Colors: "The grass is green."

Adjectives: "The house is big." "The mouse is small."

Verbs: "The girl is running." "The cat is sleeping."

Prepositions: "The sheep is under the bridge." "The girl is next to the cat." 

...the list goes on.

The Kids of Carcassonne is an all-around excellent game for kids lessons.  I just wish it hadn't taken me all year to find somewhere to rave about it.  

For anyone who is interested in more details on the game and where to find it, check out The Kids of Carcassonne on Board Game Geek.

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た・き・ぼう・よう

being confused by an overabundance of options

多い【おお・い】 many

岐【ちまた】 a fork in the road

亡くす【な・くす】 to lose

羊【ひつじ】 sheep

The idea is that multiple paths make it impossible to track down and catch fleeing sheep because you don't know which way it went.  If the wrong path is chosen, the animal will only get farther away, so it's frustratingly difficult to choose.

In that sense, 多岐亡羊 means a situation where there are so many choices before you that you cannot decide how to proceed.  This usually refers to choosing a course of action or formulating a plan.

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