I just read that link about that 16y.o. who wants to become a Japanese politican. Tight immigration is one of the best policies Japan has, and I hope that never changes.

vonPeterhof Wrote:Move to Japan, reach native-speaker level in Japanese, naturalize and [url=http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20110208zg.html]enter politics in order to reform Japan from the inside out and save its society from the imminent collapse

Haha, that used to be one of my dreams, before I realised a few things:
> My own country needs assistance.
> Becoming a politician is one of the most life-wasting vocations someone could pursue.
So many good men have entered into politics to be churned out conservative, boring, inactive conformists who achieve little but toeing the party line.

These days I'm an optimistic anarchist aiming for social change through alternative avenues, and aspiring to help others. (I'm admittedly a lousy altruist, but I'm trying to improve.)

vinniram Wrote:Tight immigration is one of the best policies Japan has, and I hope that never changes.

The only basis on which I can accept tight immigration is if the country is already incredibly overpopulated, which Japan certainly is. Apart from that, I think it's the duty of the industrial nations to accommodate asylum seekers and a decent proportion of immigrants.

Japan isn't that over populated they just live very densely. Japan needs more young people in their country. They have tax incentives and actually pay parents to have kids. They care less about being over populated than not having enough young people. If you retire at 65 and live to 110 thats 45 years of retirement you collected.

I think 130 million people or so living on a few islands smaller than the size of California is stretching the environmental constraints just a bit.
Economically, sure, it could be great to have more immigrants, more people in general.

NoSleepTilFluent Wrote:Japan isn't that over populated they just live very densely. Japan needs more young people in their country. They have tax incentives and actually pay parents to have kids. They care less about being over populated than not having enough young people. If you retire at 65 and live to 110 thats 45 years of retirement you collected.

Being a bit optimistic aren't we? While there are quite a few centenarians in Japan, the average life expectancy is 82.

wiki:

Quote:A centenarian is a person who lives beyond the age of 100 years. Because current average life expectancies across the world are less than 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. Much rarer, a supercentenarian is a person who has lived to the age of 110 or more, something only achieved by about one in a thousand centenarians. Even rarer is a person who has lived to 115 years old; only 1 in 50,000 centenarians make it to this age.
...
The incidence of centenarians in Japan was 1 per 3,522 people in 2008[11] (but much higher in Okinawa, at 1 per 1,838 people in 2006), and 1 per 4,400 in the United States.

Btw, great username- how is the no sleep thing going?

Great thread.

+Begin reviewing Japanese again (2200+ card backlog)
+Add new Japanese material (at least finish Core 6k and KM2)

+Finish Kana Videos
+Create at least 8 hours of Kanji Videos
+Create basic grammar video series

Sheepy Wrote:Eh to be honest I feel like these kind of threads are useless. Sure its been found that writing your goals makes them more likely to happen but half the time I see people put up ambitious goals but aren't even making an effort anywhere near the goal.
[...]

Boasting and bragging is an importart part of the whole

Nukemarine Wrote:+Finish Kana Videos
+Create at least 8 hours of Kanji Videos
+Create basic grammar video series

Very generous.

thecite Wrote:I think 130 million people or so living on a few islands smaller than the size of California is stretching the environmental constraints just a bit.
Economically, sure, it could be great to have more immigrants, more people in general.

If you don't mind me saying, I think that your idea of the right amount of land for an amount of people is somewhat skewed by being in Australia... Here in England we're doing quite alright as 50 million on a piece of land smaller than, say, Florida. Japan isn't overpopulated at all.

There are serious economic arguments for opening up Japan for more immigration. But, I know I'm not alone here in thinking that even as a foreigner trying to move to Japan, I'm quite happy for Japan to remain as it is.

Besides, it's not really a target for immigration and particularly asylum anyway, I imagine largely due to its geographical location and language barrier.

Not really, Australia's already past its limit, we could probably hold 30 million max for a while before we get significant water shortages. I am taking into consideration geographical differences.

Meh, I suppose Hokkaido could hold quite a few more people (not saying I think it should). Having such a large population in such a small amount of land comes at great environmental costs; barely anything new that I'm saying.

Yeah, non-English speaking countries aren't first choices for asylum seekers, you're right.

I guess I should post a real ambitious goal is, 6000+ kanji in a few years. And master reading, like there is no tomorrow (I.e., traditional literature,etc)
I guess nowadays I'm more keen on context learning.I.e. collecting sentences from context/collecting vocab from context.

start speaking 日本語　on May first till I'm fluent.

Hi everyone, I'm pretty new here. Just started RTK and I'm at 200 right now. So far it's going well! I'm trying to keep my enthusiasm high because I know in a few months I may want to kill kanji...I'm hoping I'll still like studying them though :-).

My ambitious goals:

1) Finish RTK1 by May 15 (average of 20 a day, so far I've been doing 30-50 so hopefully this is doable)
2) Finish Japanese For Everyone by this time next year (will start after RTK)
3) Study 30 vocab a day after finishing RTK (I'd like to finish the core 6k in a year, but if this doesn't happen because of the 2500 vocab from JFE, I wouldn't be upset at myself. I'm sure there is some overlap and the important part is to learn vocab at a steady pace)
4) Exercise 2-3 times a week
5) Play more videogames
6) Spend more time with my bf

4-6 may get in the way of 1-3, but this should also help my time management skills :-)

We'll see if I'm kidding myself!

rekkia-chan Wrote:and try to make it as a mangaka

I'm guessing you mean writing the whole thing yourself, or do you mean just doing the artwork. I'm pretty sure I've read some proffesional English fiction by non-native speakers, but I can't think of any right now. Either way, good luck.

jishera Wrote:Finish RTK1

Those kanji decks grow so fast. It seems like only yesterday that I was learning 子....... sorry for the bad joke.

Splatted Wrote:

rekkia-chan Wrote:and try to make it as a mangaka

I'm guessing you mean writing the whole thing yourself, or do you mean just doing the artwork. I'm pretty sure I've read some proffesional English fiction by non-native speakers, but I can't think of any right now. Either way, good luck.

jishera Wrote:Finish RTK1

Those kanji decks grow so fast. It seems like only yesterday that I was learning 子....... sorry for the bad joke.

First it was 子 and then you learn rare/jp names=澤

Argue with yudantaiteki about Japanese stylistics, in Japanese.

jishera Wrote:4) Exercise 2-3 times a week
5) Play more videogames
6) Spend more time with my bf

4-6 may get in the way of 1-3, but this should also help my time management skills :-)

We'll see if I'm kidding myself!

#4 will certainly help with all the others. Exercising in the late afternoon can give you a 2nd wind that lasts for hours, so I'd start that right away. #5 will get you in far more trouble..

N2 or 1 in 12 months (total time 2 years: 1 gone).

1. Slum through South America
2. Skydive
3. Own a classic car
4. Total said car, walk away, and laugh
5. Buy a bottle of the real Absinthe
6. Publish an essay
7. Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge
8. Fail completely at something big
9. Succeed at something even bigger
10. Have kids and love them to death
11. Change a stranger's flat tire
12. Ride in a hot air balloon
13. Have a drink thrown in my face
14. Jump in a river/lake/ocean fully dressed
15. Spend a week as a Renaissance Fair nerd
16. Laugh because it hurts
17. Look for buried treasure
18. Comfort someone who is dying
19. Learn how to paint
20. Take ballroom dance lessons
21. Buy a $500 bottle of wine
22. Drink a $500 bottle of wine
23. Get a tattoo in the Philippines
24. Do something gentlemanly for a hooker
25. Eat all the green M&Ms
26. Abuse my authority
27. Be subpoenaed by Congress
28. Drive somewhere at three in the morning with a full tank and come back with an empty tank
29. Learn how to cook, but not to bake
30. Change Careers
31. 50(mph) over the speed limit
32. Sleep in until at least Tuesday
33. Get a pedicure
34. Win over a hostile crowd
35. Build a fort with my kids
36. Eat at an Alabama Waffle House at 3 in morning on a weekend
37. Get really good at Japanese

I think you may have missed a few.
(BTW, why is eating M&Ms in bold? :S)

Green M&M's make you horny.

I added this list to my own list. except the change a flat tire for a stranger I don't have that kind of time.

They're all interesting except number 31.
You want speed, go to a race track. Speed limits exist for a reason.

I wish I had ambitions like you guys...
I have a few goals, but since I know I'll accomplish them, they're not that ambitious...

Well, I have two main goals in life.

1. Learn to fluently speak Japanese. I don't take any formal classes, I resort to trying to teach myself using the resources I find available. I've only been doing so for two years. Any good resources you know of, please tell me.

2. Become a published author. I love to write, mainly fantasy and horror. I'm always locked inside my own little world. But it's fun in here.

Please, don't diss me because I don't know very much Japanese. I've already been insulted 100 ways from sunday, I am not a weaboo or whatever. I can't seem to find a place to hang out and discuss Japanese or recieve help because of this! I've already been to countless sites.

If you lurk these forums enough, SaneInsane, there's more than enough sites to go through -- plenty of resources. Tae Kim, perhaps, might be a good place to start for you. People are nice here, so don't be afraid to ask for help.