Coming to Japan for the first time and having learned the language in my home country, there's a lot of things I find i'm missing that I wouldn't have if I'd learned Japanese in Japan. So, I thought it'd be cool if we could make a deck that people can use to learn the things that only living in Japan can teach you!

For example, even if you can read Japanese, I found it kinda hard to choose a drink at the conbini cos I don't know any brands or sometimes foodstuffs are like it's Korean almost, I just get lost and have no idea. 読み方 are weird and names are awkward. So, it'd be awesome if those living in Japan could (even bit by bit) go and take pictures of these things and make a deck with pictures so you can learn about all the different types of things you're likely to encounter at a normal conbini/supermarket.

Also, things like, names of famous Japanese companies/brands that you wind up seeing all over the place. Perhaps even localised versions like big name companies in Toyko where you can see the name of the company on the side of their massive building and you wonder.. what on earth is the correct way to read that? Maybe that's way too big of an ask but I mean, if you took a video from the train, that'd be perfect! Because while riding the train you'll see lots of different stuff and you only get a moment before it's gone. So having studied it a bit before hand, you'll feel right at home!

Just an idea but I think it would be cool!

I found the book store kinda hard to use too. Not that I tried at all (I kinda just walked in and out cos I wasn't actually looking for something) but I noticed that the signage posted around the book store required some effort on my part to actually understand. Something that made me feel a little uncomfy... so it might be cool if we could get a whole lot of signage that you see around Japan a lot. Another example would be the ATM menu's of different banks ATM's. So that you know what's what.

I know maybe it's going a little overboard but in hindsight, it's something I would have thought was a GODSEND if i'd had before coming to Japan. Maybe i'll try my best to get lots of pics while i'm here so I can make a start on it?

Please, to those living in Japan who want to help those who are yet to come! Or for those of you in Japan who are still learning Japanese, we could make something amazing! お願い致します！

Yeah, I think that's a brilliant idea. When I first came to Japan, I had some of the exact same problems. It's just stuff that's not going to show up in a book, or in a dictionary.

Naturally, part of the fun is just trying stuff regardless of the name, just because you're in a strange place with strange products all around you. (Doing a lot of that in London right now.)

Of course, doing a Flickr search for Japanese signs might also help. There are groups based on that, and someone here has a blog called "It's a Japanese Sign!" IIRC. Regardless, a deck like that could be useful.

BTW, if you find something called Coolish, that's one of my favorite frozen desserts. I liked to grab one, let it melt a little until it got a bit soft, then suck it down like soft ice cream.

I just want to know how they collect all the sweat from all of those little Pocaris.

i think that'd be a great idea too... food was one of the main things i had trouble with too, i didn't have a clue how to read a lot of it, it's fun to just pick randomly sometimes, but even when you know you like it, it'd still be nice to read!!

Quote:sometimes foodstuffs are like it's Korean almost

Sometimes they are Korean! heh

Sounds good. These types of things aren't hard to learn but majority of the time, it isn't on priority list for learning. But I know, thanks to the internet and the srs. We could all learn these well. As for the readings, you should play naruto games(some of the readings are just random). I can read a lot of them with ease but some of them are just awkward(but they provide furigana because it's a rare reading)

I actually have one of those postal mail things I got from Japan. Maybe it could fit into this?

Ah forgot about the Point and Speak series about Japanese Food. That's a good book that's somewhat useful about generic Japanese food, because it even includes regional food, but it won't help you understand what the difference between Pocky and Pretz is.

I just returned from my first visit to Japan, and I've had a similar idea. My Japanese is not at a very high level, but one idea I have for a deck is the names of cities and prefectures. I had a hard time reading train schedules, because I did not know the kanji for most of them and they did not always have furigana. Currently, I'm studying to test out of a year of Japanese at school. Then, I'll be studying for the JLPT. Sometime early next year I'm planning on researching train routes and creating an Anki deck for station and city names.

ta12121 Wrote:I actually have one of those postal mail things I got from Japan. Maybe it could fit into this?

What do you mean by a 'postal mail thing'?

Here's a couple pages for book related vocab:

本の構造
http://www.daiichiinsatsu.co.jp/200_supp...isyou.html

書店のカテゴリ
http://wook.jp/categories.html

C.J.

pudding cat Wrote:

ta12121 Wrote:I actually have one of those postal mail things I got from Japan. Maybe it could fit into this?

What do you mean by a 'postal mail thing'?

Whenever I buy games from Japan, I sometimes pay it using their postal service(international service). So I have the postal package(all in Japanese of course). Actually, once I get my new accounts(creating a new youtube,facebook,twitter and pro. blog). I'll be including things like this and interesting projects. Should have it up by next year(I'm planning it out well, so no rushing)

Thanks for the great response guys! Looks like there's a lot of support/need for this kind of thing so it looks like it might really happen

Searching for photos already on flickr and the internet is a really good idea! Also, I can relate with stuff about the trains, I'm horrible at reading place names so a deck of station names in Major cities (seperate decks maybe) could be cool.

I'll do my best to get lots of pictures while i'm here.

Maybe we could start a group project somehow. Perhaps a group flickr account where we can pool photos and decide what should go in the deck or something??

http://i53.tinypic.com/fn4ewi.jpg
http://i55.tinypic.com/2uxtjyw.jpg
http://i55.tinypic.com/30icke1.jpg
http://i51.tinypic.com/nv46fr.jpg

I don't understand the problem you guys are having. As you can see from the pictures, I never had any sort of trouble figuring out what things were. Although...I have to admit, I'm not sure my 300 yen Happy Life Creator is working correctly...

Asriel Wrote:I don't understand the problem you guys are having. As you can see from the pictures, I never had any sort of trouble figuring out what things were. Although...I have to admit, I'm not sure my 300 yen Happy Life Creator is working correctly...

I haven't been to Japan yet, but all products (food, etc.) I bought had also something written in English in case one cannot read the Japanese part.
@Mezbup what signs did you mean actually? Can you upload a picture for an example?
I guess I'd be quite lost in Japan without knowing the kanji compounds for the terminals, cities and districts 渋谷、新宿、立川、国立、成田 - that's about it lol

What I found difficult in the beginning was that a lot of signs omit 送り仮名 to use less space. For example 飛び出し注意 would be 飛出注意 etc.
These are things you usually don't find in books etc, but only when living in Japan.

Tori-kun Wrote:

Asriel Wrote:I don't understand the problem you guys are having. As you can see from the pictures, I never had any sort of trouble figuring out what things were. Although...I have to admit, I'm not sure my 300 yen Happy Life Creator is working correctly...

I haven't been to Japan yet, but all products (food, etc.) I bought had also something written in English in case one cannot read the Japanese part.
@Mezbup what signs did you mean actually? Can you upload a picture for an example?
I guess I'd be quite lost in Japan without knowing the kanji compounds for the terminals, cities and districts 渋谷、新宿、立川、国立、成田 - that's about it lol

I could read all of those actually. I think one just needs to keep reading a lot/srsing a good amount. And guessing readings for certain things become easier.

Tori-kun Wrote:I haven't been to Japan yet, but all products (food, etc.) I bought had also something written in English in case one cannot read the Japanese part.

That may be true, but pictures as blatant as mine are rare*. Which is why I took pictures of them. I think it's funny when it's not a name, but a description of what's inside.

Except the Happy Life Creator. I don't know of anyone that it's created a happy life for.

edit: *in my experience

The 300 yen Happy Life Creator... don't get your hopes up for the kind of Happy Life it will Create for you.