You know, it’s fine someone telling you “hey, read websites in Japanese”, but then…what websites are cool to go to? What websites indeed. Well, here’s one for starters:やわらか戦車（せん・しゃ）[Softie Tanks], the continuing story of a tank who’s mainly good at…retreating. Somehow, it’s just so…可愛いーーーー（cute). Anyway, enjoy.
How to Watch the News in Japanese
by khatzumoto
“Oh, maybe you can speak conversational Japanese, but the news, that’s impossibe, man. The news is so hard. You’ll never understand the news. Even Japanese people don’t understand the news, man”. I’m allergic to BS, so that type of thing is really hard for me to hear. And even harder to type out. Time for…
Kanji Reading Aids
by khatzumoto
So, you want to read real Japanese websites? You know basic grammar, you know what words are doing, but you don’t yet know that many kanji readings? Have no fear, two tools can come to your rescue. The first, and my favorite, is Hiragane Megane (hiragana.jp). Go there, copy and paste the URL (of the…
Book Review: Understanding Basic Japanese Grammar
by khatzumoto
The book is Understanding Basic Japanese Grammar by Koichi NISHIGUCHI [基礎日本語文法教本 西口光一（著）]. に・ほん・ご き・そ ぶん・ぽう きょう・ほん ISBN: 475740168X You probably know by now what I think about textbooks and studying grammar. Textbooks are the devil’s spawn; studying grammar is a confusing waste of time in terms of actually teaching you how to use the language. Grammar is a “why”,…
Language Is Acting
by khatzumoto
This entry is part 6 of 12 in the series Secrets of SpeakingAt university, I was in a comedy troupe. No, the comedy troupe. The best comedy troupe at my school. The greatest comedy troupe since the previous greatest comedy troupe. And I was in it. And I loved it. By the time I’d gotten…
Podcasts: Simulate Real Japanese Friends
by khatzumoto
Here at AJATT, we (me? I?) are (am?) all about input. Input, input, input. And that works well for written Japanese. But what about regular spoken Japanese? Well, hang out with Japanese people. But what if there are no people from Japan in your area? Simulate them. One of my favorite ways to simulate having…