I am reading the second entry in the Okazaki Journal. She says she was using a made in Japan lipstick brush and she thought it seemed weak which made her think about how Japanese products are bad and she wants foreign products. She mentions WASPs which I didn’t know Japanese people would know what that is (like maybe some would but she doesn’t explain what it is so she must assume most readers would know). You know, I’m not sure about how it was in 1991 but, Japan is a top producer of makeup brushes and they’re associated with quality. That’s why Lisa Eldridge really wants you to know her makeup brushes are made in Japan.
But then she wonders why she wants to use foreign products because it isn’t like she can be a foreigner. I stopped reading because a package arrived so I’ll read the rest later.
I’m not sure what these are compiled from. I’m not sure if she had a column or if if they were on a bar to the side of her manga as they were published. Cuz you know how sometimes you’re reading a manga and there’s a bar to the side that’s like “Hi, it’s me again! Today I went to the dentist and I was waiting in the waiting room when I looked down at my shoes and I thought ‘these shoes do not suit me at all’”. I think Sailor Moon and Fushigi Yuugi were like that if I recall correctly. Also sometimes they would let you know things like the character’s favorite food is peach donuts.
I didn’t want to do my WaniKani reviews the last few days but I did finish them every day this week. I’ve been kind of bad about doing my lessons, though.
I didn’t read anything but I did go through 2 Japanese youtube channels and listen to a bunch of Japanese this past week. I understood some of it.
This is pretty unrelated to my study log but I recently read the book Filterworld which is about algorithms and culture and the whole time city pop was coming to mind, and I mean that in a bad way. Then towards the end, the author says he’s spoken about the value of getting recommendations from people he knows, so he should give his own recommendation and this man recommends city pop. I think city pop is one of the most egregious examples of decontextualization via algorithms. I could rant for days but I won’t because this is supposed to be about my language study and not my personal diary. But that’s why I watched the videos. Because I just wanted to listen to Japanese people talk about things that I like. The channels were Asterra’s Room and Seabird channel.
I have done my WaniKani reviews. I’ve been finishing them off every day but I have been bad about my lessons so I’m still on level 7. I did do my lessons today.
I’m still pretty far from leveling up but I’ve learned almost all the kanji for level 7. I think I am dealing with an iron deficiency! That’s probably why I’m having so much difficulty with WaniKani. That is my excuse.
I’ve been considering going to Japan this winter but winter will be here soon so I think I will just commit to it. This is a rescheduling of a cancelled autumn 2020 trip but I moved it to winter due to the increase in tourism. One of the cities I want to go to has a snow lantern festival that I’ve always wanted to go to so why not go to it? The dates for that are February 6-11. February 11 is National Foundation Day which may make travel inconvenient and it is not a holiday that seems interesting to me as a foreigner. So I think I will try to get out of Japan on February 10. I plan on flying into Sendai and out of Tokyo. I have time constraints because my job won’t just let me go to Japan for however long I want.
This is the itinerary I’m considering…
Feb 1 arrive in Sendai
Feb 2 Sendai
Feb 3 Sendai
Feb 4 Aomori
Feb 5 Aomori
Feb 6 Hirosaki
Feb 7 Hirosaki
Feb 8 Tokyo
Feb 9 Tokyo
Feb 10 depart from Tokyo
I know 3 days in Tokyo seems crazy but I’ve been to Tokyo before and it was kind of tacked on when I realized how inconvenient flying out of Aomori would be.
Does it seem acceptable or is there anything egregious about the itinerary?
I am running into some issues with my itinerary already. I had it in my head that I need to go to Aomori after Hirosaki but I forgot why and switching it worked better for my dates. Now I remember–Hirosaki doesn’t have a Shinkansen station. So to go from Hirosaki to Tokyo will require going back up to Aomori so I can take the Shinkasen from there. It’s not that big of a problem but it isn’t ideal.
I also forgot I have a dental appointment on February 2. My dentist is always fully booked so changing that might be an issue.
Well I will figure it out.
I will probably be able to level up in 2 days so I will finally be out of level 7.
I’m going to go to my parent’s house in a few weeks so I’m going to get a few of my Japanese learning materials that are still there.
Can I recommend Jisho.org if you haven’t already been introduced? It’s pretty much the first place I go if I want to know what words or kanji might be available It’s also good for double checking phrases since you can paste the whole thing into the searchbar. When I originally read your message it didn’t have a result for that character because it wasn’t a kanji per se; a good indicator that you may not have got the symbol you intended.
I looked up the name of the festival, clicked the suggested result and saw from the pictures that it was the festival in question so I copy pasted it (I guess I probably changed 祭 to まつり out of personal preference).
I’ve been traveling. I haven’t done any lessons. I have been keeping up with my reviews. I don’t have my laptop and I think it’s so annoying to do them on my phone but I have been doing them.
I’ve done my lessons. I’ve caught up on my reviews.
I haven’t started using it yet but I brought Minna no Nihongo back with me. I forget if minna has 1 n or 2 n’s.
I worked an evening shift so usually I work on the bulk of my reviews after work but today I came home to a huge load of reviews. I just finished them but I will get more in a half hour.
クモを殺しました。悲しい。ごめんなさい。
晩ご飯を食べています。ご飯と梅干とおぼろ昆布です。怠惰です。
I have been keeping up with my reviews. I put off doing my lessons for a few days but I have finished them now. I wasn’t going to write any Japanese today but I went to the cake shop and I always make a post about my cakes.
I managed to do all my reviews. I worked an evening shift again so I had a big pile to do before bed. I just got a batch of lessons just now but I’m too tired so they will have to wait.
I’ll try to write a little something.
晩ご飯はほうじ茶の茶漬けでした。梅干しもありました。今、夜中のコーヒーを飲んでいます。
今日、 マニキュアを３つ受けました。色は黄緑、 黒紅と葡萄鼠です。 美しい色です。
It’s also good for double checking phrases since you can paste the whole thing into the searchbar. When I originally read your message it didn’t have a result for that character because it wasn’t a kanji per se; a good indicator that you may not have got the symbol you intended.
