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Kobe City Museum: Louvre Exhibit
(May 9)
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The Kobe City Museum currently is exhibiting items from the Louvre until July 6th.
140 items from the French court of the 18th century are on display.
They include gold and silver works, elaborate furniture, and luggage.
This period was known for its excesses, and the items reflect that.
The Kobe City Museum also has a solid collection of artifacts and other historical items related mainly to the port city of Kobe.
Kobe City Museum
24, Kyo-machi, Chuo-ku, Kobe, 650-0034,
Tel: +81-78-391-0035
1,400 yen for adults. Closed Mondays.
Access
It is a ten-minute walk from the south exit of JR Sannomiya Station.
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Sezu ni
(May 8)
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The ?zu suffix on verbs is one that - once you know enough Japanese, but perhaps not quite enough yet - can be rather difficult to grasp the gist of. Because it is not used that much, it can seem difficult. But despite its obscurity, in terms of meaning it is actually very simple.
-zu means ?without doing?. It is basically the same as the more commonly heard ?naide, but could be said to have a stronger nuance of having failed to do, or missed out on doing, something before doing something else, or for something not happening that would otherwise normally be expected to happen.
Suffixing -zu to verbs takes a bit of getting used to. For example, suffixed to the verb suru, or to do, changes it to sezu: ?without doing?. This is an irregular one, but one of the most common, so let?s look at a couple of examples of it first.
(NB For the sake of clarity, the English translations of the following example sentences follow the Japanese sentence structure, even if often at the expense of soun...
Nagoya International Speed Dating May 10th at Tsurumai
(May 6)
Nagoya International Speed Dating Returns May 10th!!Time: 6-9pm registration from 6:00 to 6:30pm
Place: Nagoya Tsurumai City Public Hall, 1-1-3 Tsurumai (very close to JR Nagoya Station)
PREPAY FEE: Men 2500, Women 2000
30 couples only! 30 men and 30 women!
Reserve and prepay to join!
Get off at Tsurumai Station (JR Chuo Line[South Exit] or Subway Tsurumai Line[Exit #4])
Anaguma or Tanuki
(May 5)
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A few days ago we posted a video of what we thought was a tanuki in Shimane Prefecture. One alert reader pointed out the error of our ways and correctly identified the creature as the much rarer anaguma (a badger).
Here is an image of a stuffed tanuki taken at the excellent Ibaraki Nature Museum in Moriya.
Apologies for any confusion caused.
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Qatar Forum Competition
(May 7)
We are holding a competition over on our Qatar website. To enter all you have do is to join our new Qatar forum and post, and you could win $50 dollars either as an Amazon voucher or as money sent to your Paypal account. All you have to do to enter is join the forum - and post! So, if you have ever been tempted to work in a country where there are no taxes and petrol costs 20 cents a liter, or if you are curious about a country which, though just 100 miles long, is the second richest nation in the world, head over to ask your questions.
See you at the forum!
Qatar competition
Kawagoe breakdance
(May 5)
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Kawagoe is a historic castle town to the northwest of central Tokyo, about 45 minutes by express train from Shinjuku. Certain streets of the central city are lined with weighty, ornate old merchant buildings, and, of course, the temples and shrines that grace most Japanese cities. It prospered so much in the Edo era from its trade with nearby Tokyo (then known as Edo) that it became known as "Little Edo."
Kawagoe is now a tourist town attracting over 5 million visitors a year. It is easily accessible from Tokyo on the Seibu Shinjuku Line or the JR Saikyo Line.
As we walked the 30 minutes from the JR station to the historic area, we happened upon something rather more contemporary, the final leg of a breakdancing competition.
Watch the breathtaking acrobatics of the two finalists, all to a DJ beat.
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Japan This Week 04/05/08
(May 4)
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Film stirs debate on free speech in Japan.
NY Times
Virtual golf at Links Bar courtesy of Nintendo.
Guardian
Approval rate for PM Fukuda Cabinet dips below 20%.
Japan Times
Chofu area of Tokyo to be evacuated later in May to defuse unexploded WWII bomb.
Daily Yomiuri
54-year-old Briton found not guilty in drug smuggling case.
Asahi
Chiba Lotte Marines coach Bobby Valentine to feature in documentary.
Yahoo! Sports
History of oral sex in Japan.
Mainichi
Last week's Japan news
Japan Statistics
Average gas prices in Japan hit 153 yen per liter, up 22.8 yen from April 28.
Source: Asahi.com
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Rocket Building Omiya Saitama
(May 5)
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Another of the numerous follies that either (depending on your point of view) blight or brighten Japanese cities up, this gold colored rocket building caught our eye from the train arriving in Omiya city in Saitama Prefecture.
Surely a love hotel we thought, but a later inspection of the place revealed it to be a multi-use building including offices, weekly and monthly apartments and a kindergarten - all rather humdrum for such a whacky, shall we say, flight of architectural fancy!
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Rapi:t Train To Kansai International Airport
(May 2)
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The Nankai Rapi:t train service from Namba Station is the quickest way to access Kansai International Airport (KIX) from central Osaka.
The award-winning Nankai 5000 trains were designed by Japanese architect Wakabayashi Hiroyuki. The quickest service takes 29 minutes from Kansai International Airport to Namba.
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Honorific Prefixes in Japanese
(May 1)
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Last week we talked about some word endings, which are very important in Japanese.
Today, we will look at prefixes, in particular the honorifics "o" and "go."
Using the noun fish, a simple example is ?? (o-sakana). A literal translation would be "honorable fish" or "Mr./Ms. Fish." In Japanese, though, this sounds quite normal and it should be translated simply as "fish."
Why add the "o"?
It sounds polite and softens one's language.
In general, "o" is placed in front of words of Japanese origin. Other examples are:
??? (0-namae) = name
?? (o-kusuri) = medicine
??? (o-yasumi) = vacation, day off
?? (o-kane) = money
???? (o-kaimono) = shopping
???? (o-isogashi) = busy
To make things a bit complicated, there is another honorific: "go."
This is used for words of Chinese origin.
??? (go-shokai) = introduction
??? (go-jusho) = address
??? (go-chumon) = order
??? (go-kazoku) = family
Finally, keep in mind that these are terms to be used for others. You should refer to your neighbor's family as "go-kazoku"...
