Kinkakuji-Temple, pride of Kyoto

Japan is a land of natural beauty and cultural diversity. Some of the unique and historical sights of Japan such as ancient temples and castles can be found especially in the area around Kyoto and Nara. One of the most fascinating places I want to see personally is Kyoto. It is probably because Kyoto is Japan's ancient capital and has a very enriching historical and traditional elegance beauty all in one.

Kyoto and its vicinity is rich in world-celebrated cultural heritage. Since the foundation of the Heian-kyo capital in 794 A.D., which is now called Kyoto, the City flourished as the seat of Japan's imperial court for over one thousand years, until 1868, when the capital was transferred to Tokyo. In December 1994, a total of 17 buildings comprising of temples, shrines, and castle in the Kyoto region were recognized by UNESCO as World Cultural Heritages. All have structures designated as National Treasures, and beautiful gardens. These historic properties and their environs are now preserved as designated scenic areas. One of which is the Kinkaku-ji Temple that was originally built in the 14th century.

Kinkaku-ji means the Temple of the Golden Pavilion, a popular name of Rokuon-ji (Deer Park Temple), a temple dedicated to the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy, Kannon. Constructed in Kyoto's northern hills in 1398 by Yoshimitsu, the third Ashikaga shogun, it was once part of a much larger villa complex. When he died it became a Zen temple in accordance with his will. Sadly, the original temple burned in 1950 when a deranged Buddhist monk set it ablaze. A good dramatization of the arson can be found in the book The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima

Each floor of the Kinkaku-ji is a different style. The first floor - called The Chamber of Dharma Waters - is inspired by the Heian mansions of the 11th century and often described as the Shinden style. It is merely a large room surrounded by a verandah. The verandah sits beneath the more massive second story and is separated from the interior by reticulated shutters called Shitomido. The Shitomido reach only halfway to the ceiling, allowing ample light and air in the interior. The second story, called The Tower of Sound Waves, is the Samurai house style. Intended as a Buddha hall, it encloses an icon of the Bodhisattva Kannon. The third story is built in the Zen style, with cusped windows and ornamentation. Appropriately, it houses an Amida triad and twenty-five Bodhisattvas. A Chinese phoenix crowns the eaves.

The gardens of Japanese temples reflect the Buddhist worldview, as do the temple buildings. Simply by visiting a temple and experiencing its environment, one comes into contact with the teachings of Buddhism in a form even more convincing than sermons or lectures on Buddhist doctrine. With the dramatic growth of the Japanese economy after World War II, Kinkaku-ji has become an extremely popular tourist destination. Large numbers of people have had the opportunity to experience and learn to appreciate Zen and Zen culture through visits to Kinkaku-ji. As the result of the many people involved with the temple's administration and upkeep over its long history, visiting Kinkaku-ji has emerged as a unique method of propagating the Buddhist teachings.

Today, over 1,660 Buddhist temples are concentrated in Kyoto, continuing to make this city a dynamic religious and cultural center. Many temple observances have become an integral part of the folk culture of the people, timeless traditions which punctuate their annual calendar. Kyoto, having a current population of 1.4 million, ranks as one of the world's loveliest historical cities, together with Paris and Rome in Europe. The scent of history and culture indeed wafts throughout this city.
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Dubbed or Subbed?

If you'd been watching anime for quite some time now, you'd notice that the title you're watching is either subtitled or dubbed. To those who are not quite familiar with them, the subtitled ones are those which retain the original Japanese conversation (i.e. you could hear the characters talking in their native Japanese). The translation of the words come in the script that flashes at the bottom of the screen. The dubbed ones are those whose original conversations are overlapped by another set of voices in another language. Unless you have already mastered your Nihongo, you would have to depend on these two ways of viewing your shows. But of course, one can't help but to compare these two mediums. So, which is really the best way to view your anime?

Subbed: Let's Follow the Bouncing Ball...
If you're the type of person who would love to learn Nihongo, then subtitles are for you (This is especially great if you would love to learn all the swear words they use). As mentioned, you'd get to know what they are actually saying in Nihongo. You'd also get the opportunity to hear the actual voices of the characters themselves. The Seiyuu (voice actor) industry is (an offshoot of the "thousands" of anime titles produced in Japan) also big business in Japan and the seiyuus themselves are famous in their own right. Some of them are pop stars with albums to their name (Hayashibara Megumi and Sakamoto Maaya) while others have their own act on tour (the four Weiss boys, namely Takehito Koyasu, Seki Tomokazu, Miki Shinichirou & Yuuki Hiro). Subbed anime enthusiasts will also tell you that an advantage of watching subbed anime is that you'd get to hear the quirky expressions that a particular character is known for. Kinomoto Sakura's "hoeee" comes to mind, and Himura Kenshin's "orooo" too. But unless you can master the independent action of both eyes (and not getting them stuck that way), your focus will almost be entirely on the words that are trailing on the bottom of the screen and not on the anime itself. Another thing is the quality of the said subtitles. There are a lot of groups online right now that subtitle various anime that are currently showing in Japan, and if you are particularly picky about translation, well, at least you'd have a bunch of groups to choose from.

Dubbed: Kenchi?!?!
Yes, you read right. If you'd watched the english dub of Rurouni Kenshin (Samurai X here) on Studio 23 you'd know that Kenshin became Kenchi, Kaoru to Kaori and Yahiko to Yoshi (the last name switch made me think of Mario's dinosaur). Heck, they called the others by their names just fine, but why did they have to toggle with their names? Well, it sort of ticked me off, because I'm particular about keeping the names right.

As you've read, dubbed titles are the ones where the original Nihongo is overlapped with the translated script in English or in the local lingo. Here in the Philippines, the anime craze took off when GMA 7 started showing Yuu Yuu Hakusho (or Ghost Fighter) back then with tremendous success. Then came Rekka no Honou (Flame of Recca), Hunter X Hunter, Slam Dunk, Dragonball Z, Hajime no Ippo, & One Piece. Of course ABS CBN followed suit, so came Naruto (which was unfinished), Evangelion, Fruits Basket, Inu Yasha, Gatekeepers and Gundam Seed.

With dubbed titles, you can present the anime to a wider audience. And it would be easier for them to understand what was going on (I'm not so sure in the case of Evangelion though...). The setback, though, is that some things get lost in the translation. Nihonggo is a language that is most of the time very enigmatic and full of double meanings. And sometimes the language it gets translated into doesn't catch the nuance or other meaning implied through the use of the word.

Personally, I like subbed anime because I am one of those who want to learn Nihongo and do away with these two formats so that I could, someday, watch anime in their un-dubbed and un-subbed glory and actually understand them. But then, we all can't be Japanese. XD
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Ukiyo-e, Images of the "Floating World”

Ukiyo-e, which means Images of the "floating world", are woodblock prints created in Japan during the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1868). The shogun required that the daimyo (lords of old Japan) and their samurai spend time in Edo (Tokyo) during alternate years. This was largely to prevent revolts against the shogun. As a result, a large recreation industry grew in Edo. This consisted of Kabuki theaters and it's actors, the courtesans and geisha. This industry was referred to as the floating world or ukiyo.

There are 5 main subjects in Japanese prints:
* Landscape
* Bijin (Beauties, prints of courtesans, geishas, etc),
* Actors (prints of Kabuki and other famous actors),
* Sumo (prints of famous Sumo wrestlers) and
* Shunga (explicit sex prints)

Ichitaro Kitagawa
The original name of Utamaro is Ichitaro Kitagawa. The early works of Utamaro were influenced by Torii Kiyonaga and Harunobu. Since 1791 Utamaro concentrated his work on single portraits of women. Two years later, in 1793, Utamaro received wide-spread fame and recognition as a result of a new series of women prints. Utamaro's women express a certain sensitivity that no ukiyo-e artist had achieved before him. After his death, his pupil, Koikawa Shuncho, married Utamaro's widow, took his master's name and continued to produce beautiful women prints in the style of his master until 1820. The total number of Utamaro prints is estimated at over 2,000 prints, plus a number of paintings, surimono prints and illustrated books - among them are more than 30 shunga books (images with erotic scenes).

The prints that were imported to Europe, were in large numbers ukiyo-e of Utamaro Kitagawa images - few originals, many reproductions, many Utamaro II and many fake copies. The main importing country was France - the French loved his elegant women portraits.

Kikugawa Eizan
Eizan was the most prolific, longest-lived and ultimately the best of the late followers of Utamaro, who attempted to carry on the master's bijin style after his death in 1806. Few traces of this eclectic training can be seen in Eizan's early work, produced shortly after the death of Utamaro and for the most part in that master's style. In the following decade, however, as Eizan reached artistic maturity, he began to develop his own figural style, still focused for the most part on prints of beautiful women (bijin-ga). Eizan's work retains the sensitivities and lyricism that marks the Utamaro style, however, not following the earthier realism and more overt sensuality of Kunisada and Eisen in their bijin prints.

Eizan seems to have been particularly fond of the appellation "furyu" ("elegant" or "stylish") for his bijin series, and many of them begin with this phrase, which I will leave untranslated. His major series include: Furyu bijin awase (Collected Beauties), Furyu gojo soroi (Five Cardinal Virtues), Furyu mu Tamagawa (Six Jewel Rivers), Furyu nana Komachi (Seven Komachi), Furyu bijin soroi (A Gathering of Beauties), Furyu bijin kodakara asobi (Beauties and Child Treasures in Play), and several more. Eizan, like Toyokuni I in actor prints, is the last manifestation of the classical ukiyo-e style in bijin work, with harmonious colors and graceful lines and subjects.

Tsukioka/ Taisho Yoshitoshi (Owariya Yonejiro)
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi was the last and greatest genius of traditional ukiyo-é. Although life was hard after his master's death, Yoshitoshi continued to work: he is creditted with forty-four prints in 1862. Kuniyoshi was known for gorey prints of battle, death and seppuku, and Yoshitoshi first made his name in this genre. By 1871, Yoshitoshi had fallen into a deep clinical depression, unable to work, plagued by feelings of worthlessness and imminent disaster. Yoshitoshi had good reason to be depressed. Yoshitoshi suffered from depression, had a volatile life, and suffered a psychotic breakdown just before his death.

By 1873, Yoshitoshi's depression was receding. Newspapers brought Yoshitoshi a wider public. Almost alone, Yoshitoshi refused to compromise his art to save it. By 1884, Yoshitoshi had more than eighty apprentices. While working on the Ghost series, Yoshitoshi developed another bout of mental illness.

Despite Yoshitoshi's innovative genius, ukiyo-é languished after his death.
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Reasons Why We Study Nihonggo... as survey says...

Reason #1 Spoken by over 130 million people, Japanese is the among the top 10 languages on Earth.
Reason #2 In the world of console video games/Anime, it rises to 1st place!
Reason #3 Japanese is the language used by all those wonderful import games you wish you could buy (but don't buy because you don't understand the language)
Reason #4 Even today, Japanese voice actors tend to put more soul and realism into their Anime roles than their American counterparts (not to anger any dub fans out there). Wouldn't it be nice to have the best of both worlds? Good (Japanese) voice acting without having to read your Anime!
Reason #5 There are a LOT of Anime series (and video games) out there in Japanese only. Some good titles too! It would be nice to be able to understand them.
Reason #6 Many of your family, friends, and co-workers believe Japanese is hard. Show them what you can do! ^_^ They'll think you have special talent or something. Actually, anyone can learn it if they want to.
Reason #7 "Speaks Japanese" looks great on a resume, whatever your line of work. Knowing any second language helps, but Japanese will have a greater effect on an employer, since not many Americans know Japanese! (which can't be said for Spanish, for example)
Reason #8 Japanese has the reputation for being hard, but is actually just "different".
Reason #9 Japan has the second largest economy in the world, so their language is very relevant.
Reason #10 Japan has an interesting culture, much of which is reflected in the language.
Reason #11 Japan controls both the video game and Anime industries. This allows you to learn a language while enjoying an Anime or playing a video game! What other language gives you such opportunities?
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Four (4) Myths about Nihonggo which must be broken!

- "Japanese is hard" Japanese is not "hard" or "complex", but "different". It's true that it is very different from English or Pilipino. However, the grammar, spelling, etc. is very straightforward. Making sentences in the language, conversing, etc. can occur very early on. The pronunciation is very close to Pilipino, although the accent is different.

- "You need to learn all those difficult symbols"  Those "difficult symbols" are the Kanji, borrowed from the Chinese. There are 1900 Kanji that are daily use in Japan. While it is true that the Kanji are the most difficult part of Japanese, you can ignore them for quite a while and still enjoy the rest of the language.

To be able to write any word in Japanese, all you need to know are the 2 phonetic alphabets, "Hiragana" and "Katakana". They only have 46 letters each, and can be learned very easily in a matter of weeks. Spelling in Japanese is completely phonetic, which means no weird spellings or silent letters.

- "I don't have time to learn it"  This is a common reason why many people aren't bilingual in Japanese right now. If you don't have a goal in mind, or guidance, you won't notice how much time is spent doing nothing. Wasted time can be used constructively to inch you toward your goal of learning Japanese!

- "You have to learn Japanese in a formal classroom environment"  It is actually convenient to take Japanese in a formal classroom (if one is available), but you can also make use of other resources, including the Internet, that allows one to practice, learn and ask questions.
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Tips on Studying Nihonggo

A. Getting Started
    1. You have to have the right mindset. It's ALL in your mind.
        - Think of Japanese dialog as simply, "words I don't know yet".
        - As you continue to study Japanese, things will seem clearer and more comfortable after a while.
        - Don't treat Japanese like a chore!
        - Don't worry about what you don't know. Focus on what you do know.
        - Take it one step at a time.

    2. Time Management
        - Start thinking about how you could manage your time better.
        - Not much time is required. Around 15 minutes a day is enough.
        - Do a little bit every day.

    3. Resources
        - Anime, Manga, Japanese Music, TV Dorama, Cable TV, Books, Internet

B. Pronounciation
    1. Learn and try to practice how Japanese speak.
        - Don't be shy to use it in front of people.
        - Imitate the way they speak from the start. It's very easy for Filipinos to sound like a native speaker!
    2. Listen to Japanese music, Watch subtitled or raw Anime.

C. Grammar
    1. Polite vs. Plain - Be patient! Polite first. It's very easy to convert to plain form.
    2. For practice: Purchase a good Japanese grammar book, find websites that cover grammar.
    3. Search online for helpful websites. There are a lot of tutorial sites, e-books, forums & teaching softwares.
    4. Keep a daily journal.

D. Vocabulary
    1. Make vocabulary list and bring it with you at all times. Use when you have spare time (which could be anytime!). 5 to 20 words, write English meaning and usage form.
    2. Flashcards - use index cards. Write in Japanese on one side & English on the other.
    3. Post-Its / Stickers - stick them on your walls, on your desk, on your door.
    4. Reminders:
        - make sure you have a new list every few days.
        - study often. 15 minutes a day is all you need.
        - don't confuse yourselves with multiple translations.

E. Writing / Kanji
    1. Flashcards - use index cards.
    2. Write them everyday. Practice is a must.
    3. "Picture the kanji" - a lot of Kanji characters come from real drawings which makes them easier to remember.

F. Summary
    1. Set Goals - A good long-range goal would be "To be ale to speak and understand Japanese". But sometimes the long-term goal seems unreachable and that's where short-term goals (such as learning the hiragana alphabet, or memorizing my list) come in. These are the small "milestones" that encourages you. Easier to see progress.

    2. Use it (Or Lose it) - Don't be afraid to make mistakes. You need to practice, and use your skills often if you want to make them a part of you. When you stop practicing, even for a couple of months only, you will forgot a lot. It helps tremendously to keep a journal. You can practice by trying to translate your favorite Manga, borrow piicture books, children's story books and workbooks from your school library or the JFMO. Try chatting and making friends with Japanese who are willing to help you.

    3. Practice Speaking It - Talk to yourself in Japanese, sing in Japanese songs, buy a cassette book.

    4. It's ALL in your mind - The concept of "hard" and "easy" is all in your mind. People who have the notion that something is hard are affected subconsciously. It's harder for them to learn because of their negativity. Believe you can do it!

    5. Slow and Steady - Learn at least 1-2 words everyday, 1 kanji a day.

    6. Listen to it and use it as often as possible, and

    7. Study ONLY when you are in the mood and have time.
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What is JLPT?

The Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) is administered once a year by the Japan Foundation and Japan Educational Exchanges and Services (JEES) since 1984 worldwide. Outside Japan, the Japan Foundation co-sponsors the administration of the test with local cultural exchange and/or educational institutions, or with administrative committees specially established for this purpose.

Objectives:
- to test and certify Japanese ability/proficiency for non-native students in Japanese.
- to be able to put their skills to use in a wide variety of careers and opportunities in Japan.
- for admission to Japanese universities.

Contents of the Test:
The test has four (4) different levels: the examinees can choose the level that best matches his ability and training. Each test covers writing-vocabulary (hiragana, katakana and kanji), listening comprehension and reading comprehension-grammer.

All examinees will be notified of their scores, through their local host institution. Those examinees who successfully pass each level will also receive a proficiency certificate. The Japan Foundation issues a "Japanese-Language Proficiency Test Certificate of Result and Scores", which is an official certificate for submission to schools or companies.
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