Natural Japanese Language

This is a second lesson based on a song "Superstar" by Tokyo Incident. I recommend you to listen to the lesson #9 first, if you haven't. Ringo, the vocal of Tokyo Incident, who also writes lyrics of all her songs, stated with the release of this song "Superstar" that she is an admirer of Ichiro and the song is inspired by him. In this lesson, I am focusing on the second verse (from 1:50- ) Following is the lyric of this part. <Roma ji> Kotae wa mugendai sa Jibun de tsukutte iku Kareyuku ha ga aikawarazu Jimen o mamotte iru Sonna daichi kette aruiteha Koe o sagasuno -------(interruption) ---------- Ashita wa anata wo moyasu honou ni mukiau kokoro ga hoshii yo Moshimo aeta toki wa hokoreru youni Terebi no naka no anata Watashi no superstar <Hiragana> こたえは　むげんだいさ じぶんで　つくっていく かれゆく　はが　あいかわらず　じめんを　まもっている そんな　だいち　けって　あるいては こえを　さがすの -------(interruption) ---------- あしたは　あなたを　もやす　ほのおに むきあう　こころ　が　ほしいよ もしも　あえたときは　ほこれる　よう...

Hi, as I am very intensively featuring Ichiro in this Japanese language course (Lesson 5, 6 and 8 so far and to be continued!),  I remembered this song. "Tokyo Incident" (東京事変 "Tokyo Jihen" in Japanese) is one of my favorite Japanese rock/pops group, especially because of the vocal, Ringo Shiina. The group is formed on 2003 and split up in 2012.  (Ringo continues solo activity) Ringo, who also writes lyrics of all her songs, stated with the release of this song "Superstar" that she is an admirer of Ichiro and the song is inspired by him. This video clip was publicized on the official Youtube channel of the band soon after his retirement announcement. Obviously they are praising Ichiro! Following is a part of the lyric, which I extracted in my lesson in Rooma-ji and in Hiragana. <Roma ji> Mirai wa mugendai sa Jibun de tsukutte iku Tabun anata wa soo iu to wakatte iru noni Honno chotto zawameita asa ni Koe o nakusu no Watashi wa ...

This is the third lesson focusing on Ichiro's retirement press conference video. He is one of the most well known, acknowledged baseball player in Japan and USA, who played in Japanese professional baseball league and USD major league for 28 years. In this part of the interview which we are focusing on today, one important keyword is "Tanoshii". "Tanoshii" is a very simple and common word. It means, "fun", "enjoyable",  "having a good time" etc. And "Tanoshii"  is written in Kanji as  "楽しい".   This Kanji  "楽",  when it is read as  "Raku",   it means "Comfortable", "Relaxed" or "Easy". Does Ichiro describe his baseball career and his retirement game series as  "Tanoshii" ?   Please listen to the lesson and find out!  Keywords "Puro Yakyuu senshu" プロ野球選手 = Professional Baseball Player "Yume ga kanau" 夢がかなう =Dreams co...

This is the second lesson on the video clip from the retirement press conference of very famous and great baseball player, Ichiro. This interview was done on 21 March 2019, on the day of his retirement. Ichiro was 45 years old. In this part of the interview, an interviewer asked him to give a message to the children who want to start baseball. In the beginning of his answer, he said that the message is not necessarily for the children who start baseball. Key Words "Kodomotachi"　子どもたち = Children "Necchuu suru"　熱中する = Be enthusiastic on ... "Muchuu ni naru" 夢中になる　＝　Be into ... "Kabe"　壁 = Wall/ Barrier/ Obstacle "Tachihadakaru" 立ちはだかる = hinder one' way/ block one's way "Mukau" 向かう　= To face, to head for... "Mitsukeru" 見つける　＝ To find "Muku ka mukanai ka" = Either if it suitable for you or not Video Clip From "The Page" in Youtube https://youtu.be/MoschCm4-XE

Recently, I am always looking for interesting/attractive video clips to introduce to you. And I was very happy when I found this one! I would like to recommend this video clips to everyone in the world, regardless if you like baseball or not. Many people (especially Japanese and Americans) would agree that Ichiro is the one of the greatest baseball players, and you would know why after you watch this video! His sincere attitude towards baseball inspired many people who are trying to grow and improve oneself, or people who are struggling in difficulties and challenges in lives, in many other area. Ichiro speaks clearly and slowly, that is another reason why I would like to recommend this video to Japanese language learners. This interview was done on 21 March 2019, on the day of his retirement. Ichiro was 45 years old. As the original video clip is very long (1h 24min.), and there are many points I would like to focus on, I will focus on some selected parts at a time, and cont...

In this lesson, as we did in the #2, we will do live coverage exercise utilizing a very short video clip. This time, it is a video of a baby elephant. It is super cute! I love it! Please try to listen to the podcast without watching the video first, and try to imagine the scene only with my audio live coverage. Then, don't forget to try the live coverage by yourself too! Key words "Zou" 象　＝　Elephant "Akachan" 赤ちゃん　= Baby "Marude ... Mitai" まるで・・・みたい　= As if it is ..... "Toori sugiru" 通りすぎる = Pass by "Chuui o hiku" 注意をひく、”Kanshin o hiku" 関心をひく　= Get Attention "Korogaru" 転がる　=  Roll over "Shikatanai" しかたない = There is no other way to do Video Clip From Facebook Page "I love elephants" https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=245579609366764

In this lesson, I introduce one web video news about actions by some Japanese Buddhist monks which became popular topic in January 2019. According to the news, a monk received a traffic ticket because he drove a car in his robe. The monk and his temple did not accept to pay the penalty insisting that it is very normal and totally safe for them to drive a car in their robe, and it will be very inconvenient if they cannot drive a car anymore in their robes. Several other monks from all over Japan uploaded various video clips on twitter with a hashtag #僧衣でできるもん（"Soui de dekirumon" = I can do this in my robe!). In these video clips, they are showing them doing juggling, Skipping ropes, Skate boarding etc. in their robes. Key Words "Bukkyo" 仏教 = Buddhism "Souryo" 僧侶 , "Oboosan"お坊さん = Buddhist Monks, Priest "Soui"　僧衣 = Buddhist Monks' Robe "Koutsuu Ihan" 交通違反　=  Traffic rule violation Original Video TBS New...

In this lesson, I am doing live coverage of a very short video clip. Please try to listen to the podcast without watching the video first, and try to imagine the scene only with my audio live coverage. Key Words "Jikkyo Chukei" 実況中継 = Live Coverage "Araiguma"　あらいぐま = Raccoon "Wata ame"　綿あめ = Cotton Candy 　 Video Clip https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1990049351304420

If you are living in Japan, you maybe hearing about the change of the emperor and the change of the Japanese Era name, from "Heisei" to "Reiwa" everyday in TV and from the people around you. For you to understand this web-news, I have provided some back ground information about the change of the era and inserted 3 questions regarding the video clip in my podcast. Please enjoy listening. Key Words " Gengou" 元号　=  Era (Japanese era based on emperors' reign) "Tennou" 天皇 = Emperor "Seireki" 西暦  = Western Calendar "Heisei" 平成　＝　Name of the Era under Emperor Akihito (7 January 1989-30 April 2019) "Reiwa" 令和　＝　Name of the Era under Emperor Naruhito  (1 May 2019 - ) "Shamei" 社名　＝　Name of the company "Kigyou" 企業　= Company, Enterprise "Henkou" 変更　=  Change "Houjin Touki" 法人登記　= Corporate Registration ”Shinsei"　申請 = Application Video Clip This podcast was de...

Hi, this is Akiko. In this blog, I introduce my Japanese language course, which is series of radio style Japanese language lessons recorded by myself. I hope this will be useful and interesting learning material for learning Japanese Language, especially for those who doesn't have time to concentrate on the textbooks and videos. You can listen to these lessons while you are commuting, cooking, relaxing etc. This course may be more suitable for intermediate to advanced learner, as I am speaking only in Japanese language, and I am not providing word by word detailed explanation. The type of learners that I have in my mind while preparing this course are those who want to speak Japanese naturally like native speaker and those who are not very satisfied with traditional (or artificial) learning material, and want to utilize living audio visual materials in learning. I was teaching Japanese language in Japan and in foreign countries long time ago. At that time, I wanted to utilize...