Hello fellows!

Hey, today was the first day I functioned in Japanese!

I can't say much and I can't read much - but I got through and was still alive at the end of it!

I went to buy my first Japanese book, in the Japan Centre Bookshop in London. I remember some years ago when I would have been nervous even thinking about going in the Japan Centre (normal foodshop part with scary labels, never mind the recesses of the book department)! Anyway, I got down to the bookshop and it was a lot easier than before to see what things were. I can't read the words but at least I now recognise they are words!

I was a lot calmer and didn't have that "Kanji Blindness" that I used to get. ~~~~

I wanted to get the Haruki Murakami book I'd heard about, called "A Wild Sheep Chase" 羊をめぐる冒険. I memorised "Murakami" 村上 (that's frames 208 and 49) and it actually didn't take that long to find it, then look for a title with sheep 羊 in it. It's so much better than before!

Of course I can't read the book, but I would enjoy reading it so that's my motivation. I will be finishing RTK soon so got to get learning with real words!!

Anyway, it was nice to actually manage to do what I planned - locate, comprehend, buy!

Learning takes a long time but if you keep going there are moments when you realise you are less bad than before!

How about you?

Well congrats and welcome to the forum! Yes it is indeed very satifying if you find yourself recognising things that were closed to you before.

philiphoward123 Wrote:I went to buy my first Japanese book, in the Japan Centre Bookshop in London. I remember some years ago when I would have been nervous even thinking about going in the Japan Centre (normal foodshop part with scary labels, never mind the recesses of the book department)!

Anyway, it was nice to actually manage to do what I planned - locate, comprehend, buy!

Sounded like a huge undertaking! hahaha
But glad you did your thing and it worked out

Question, I'm not studying with RTK, but since you said you're finishing RTK soon and get to start with real words, you only learn that one character(drawing) and meaning each time and no words/compounds using that character?

Thanks a lot!

Yes I just do the one keyword for each character. I think they are basically all good words (I mean that the Kanji actually means that) but of course sometimes there are a lot more meanings in real life. I think it's worth doing because I want to get familiar with the Kanji first, then i think it will be easier to remember what it really means (including how to say it).

Plus - actually, now I think of it, e.g. if I learn the word "karada" or "body", I'm already thinking of the "body" character 体 (957)...It's clever!

How are you getting on with learning?

[by the way I do know a few Japanese words but not a lot]

Haha I love going to The Japan Centre. Great sushi and other random foods (love those dried wasabi peas)

Also the bookshop is the basement is great; there's so little English down there, it really does feel like you're actually in Japan. I haven't been since I started RtK, might pop in there tonight!

I loved the bookshop in the basement of the Japan Centre. Got some manga from there. Though, I much preferred JP Books, in the basement of Mitsukoshi, which is just around the corner from Japan Centre. There's also Adanami Shobo for used books, not far from Picadilly Circus too.

Can't wait to go back to London, it's the only reasonably priced way for me to get mangab or novels. A day trip involves 3+ hour coach journeys each way though.

nicksan that's really helpful info about those shops!

Gosh it's a very classy forum, this! It must be the only forum I've ever seen where I have found intelligent information (don't know how I'm qualified to tell...maybe I got it wrong)

icecreamsan, I know how you feel! I don't like being in a situation like that! These days I mostly think "oh good, I am embarrassed/shy/terrified - that means I've got something to be learn and I'll be STRONGER (as soon as I come out from behind this tin of wasabi peas)"

mmmm, wasabi peas...the taste of sand, mmm!

You know, I asked in the bookshop if they had おくのほそ道, which I'm interested in reading, and the assistant triumphantly marched me over to the English books shelf and presented me with a copy! She was very kind but I had to admit I was actually looking for it in Japanese And they didn't have it! But I was careful not to make her lose face like I read in some book once

Then the poor shop man was saying everything to me in Japanese as I was buying Murakami I appreciated that though, at least I can say ありがとうございます、or ありがとうざいます using the hasty native pronunciation approximation system.

These crazy Gaijeen buying stuff they can't read yet!

You know, I was looking for an edition of that Basho book (narrow Road to the Deep North, as we foreigners call it) that doesn't have any modernisations etc. Any tips?

Thanks for your replies, kind folk!!!

philiphoward123 Wrote:mmmm, wasabi peas...the taste of sand, mmm!

I can't seem to like those no matter how many times I tried, that and sticky natto (納豆)

philiphoward123: Try http://www.sasugabooks.com. They ship internationally.

It says it's out of stock but they can order it from Japan...

Oh thanks a lot for that groovee_grl! I didn't know about that site - I had a look on Amazon.jp and the prices were fine except the postage charge would require several trillion-dollar bailouts so I changed my mind...

Popped into The Japan Centre today (for wasabi peas) and found they have a sale on.

Annoyingly for all the mangas on sale, the 1st and 2nd issues have been sold, leaving the rest, but I picked up one made for kids which is about some boy motorracer. Furigana for every kanji, so should be a good starter book.

Also by pure lucky, they had some Japanese Video Games magazines for sale; 2 for £7! Well UK games mags cost about £3 each, so this was a total bargain! Just been flicking through them now, they're definitely aimed at the late teens/adult market as I can't understand a thing. Still, being able to read these gives me a goal to work towards.

nicksan Wrote:I loved the bookshop in the basement of the Japan Centre. Got some manga from there. Though, I much preferred JP Books, in the basement of Mitsukoshi, which is just around the corner from Japan Centre. There's also Adanami Shobo for used books, not far from Picadilly Circus too.

The best thing about Adanami Shobo are the (kind of) secret karaoke boxes at the back. Nothing will impress a date more than taking her to this "secret" place that is signed as a laundrette and looks like a "funny" bookstore. You buzz the guy inside and ask for a karaoke box in japanese (and provided you're not too drunk and they are not full) you get let in. Best thing is you can bring your own drinks so don't have to pay the rip off drink prices most places charge.

http://www.shiawase.co.uk/2008/04/14/adanami-shobo/

IceCream Wrote:yeah the Japan Centre's great. Especially at the end of the day when they reduce all that sushi mmm.

Eww. Sushi is gross if it's more than a few minutes old - over-refrigerated (to meet food-safety code), dried out rice, and soggy nori.

I would never eat the stuff I made when I worked as a sushi chef. I would get leftovers free at the end of the day if I wanted them, but that by that point it was inedible.

Jarvik7 Wrote:

IceCream Wrote:yeah the Japan Centre's great. Especially at the end of the day when they reduce all that sushi mmm.

Eww. Sushi is gross if it's more than a few minutes old - over-refrigerated (to meet food-safety code), dried out rice, and soggy nori.

I would never eat the stuff I made when I worked as a sushi chef. I would get leftovers free at the end of the day if I wanted them, but that by that point it was inedible.

Welcome to Australia

Not one, and I mean it, not one sushi I've tried, no matter what restaurant I eat at has ever satisfied me. The best sushi I've ever had was on international food day in primary school when a korean girl brought an obento of home made sushi. mmmmm

liosama Wrote:

Jarvik7 Wrote:

IceCream Wrote:yeah the Japan Centre's great. Especially at the end of the day when they reduce all that sushi mmm.

Eww. Sushi is gross if it's more than a few minutes old - over-refrigerated (to meet food-safety code), dried out rice, and soggy nori.

I would never eat the stuff I made when I worked as a sushi chef. I would get leftovers free at the end of the day if I wanted them, but that by that point it was inedible.

Welcome to Australia

Not one, and I mean it, not one sushi I've tried, no matter what restaurant I eat at has ever satisfied me. The best sushi I've ever had was on international food day in primary school when a korean girl brought an obento of home made sushi. mmmmm

I used to love going to Mr sushi in ashmore on the gold coast when I lived there. There isn't one and I mean one sushi place actually run by Japanese people here in Auckland. So nothing's that great.

liosama Wrote:

Jarvik7 Wrote:

IceCream Wrote:yeah the Japan Centre's great. Especially at the end of the day when they reduce all that sushi mmm.

Eww. Sushi is gross if it's more than a few minutes old - over-refrigerated (to meet food-safety code), dried out rice, and soggy nori.

I would never eat the stuff I made when I worked as a sushi chef. I would get leftovers free at the end of the day if I wanted them, but that by that point it was inedible.

Welcome to Australia

Not one, and I mean it, not one sushi I've tried, no matter what restaurant I eat at has ever satisfied me. The best sushi I've ever had was on international food day in primary school when a korean girl brought an obento of home made sushi. mmmmm

Don't blame all of Australia just cause you live in uncultured Sydney iosama . If you get down to the more refined and cultured Melbourne try the sushi counter at Kenzan - proper japanese trained chefs and equal to anything I have had in Japan.

There is always Tetsuya's. I'm pretty sure they have passable sushi.

Rooboy Wrote:Don't blame all of Australia just cause you live in uncultured Sydney iosama . If you get down to the more refined and cultured Melbourne try the sushi counter at Kenzan - proper japanese trained chefs and equal to anything I have had in Japan.

Where abouts is Kenzan in Melbourne? I've recently moved to Melbourne so I'm still finding all the cool places to go.

blackmacros Wrote:

Rooboy Wrote:Don't blame all of Australia just cause you live in uncultured Sydney iosama . If you get down to the more refined and cultured Melbourne try the sushi counter at Kenzan - proper japanese trained chefs and equal to anything I have had in Japan.

Where abouts is Kenzan in Melbourne? I've recently moved to Melbourne so I'm still finding all the cool places to go.

It's at the top end of Collins St in Collins Place:
http://www.kenzan.com.au/1.html

Ah, thank I'll have to go check it out.

I live in Kyoto, yet I always seem to get bad sushi, haha. Good sushi is damn expensive. I always go to Musashi, on the corner of Sanjo and Kawaramachi. Not great sushi, but the cheapest stuff you can get in Kyoto with a real sushi chef!

Actually, this thread makes me feel good about living in Japan. I've never payed more than $1 for a manga in my life (105円@Book-off), and I just picked up a Murakami book for 305円. Woot!