• [メイウェザー、王者マクレガーに10回TKOで圧勝 デビューから50戦全勝 – ライブドアニュース] goo.gl/v6gA5W
• [＜速報＞世紀の異色対決メイウェザーがマクレガーを10回TKO勝利 （THE PAGE） – Yahoo!ニュース] goo.gl/dsiFwL
• [ボクシング：メイウェザーがマクレガーにＴＫＯで完勝 – 毎日新聞] goo.gl/AyVvYG
• [メイウェザー圧勝！マクレガーを１０回ＴＫＯ　デビューから５０戦全勝 （スポニチアネックス） – Yahoo!ニュース] goo.gl/CCPGAA
• [【ボクシング】世紀の一戦はメイウェザーが10RでTKO勝ち – eFight 【イーファイト】 格闘技情報を毎日配信！] goo.gl/YScduP

• [UFC史上最高のスター、コナー・マクレガーとは何者なのか。メイウェザー戦の噂や二階級制覇に至るプロセスを紹介。 – ゴトーのブログ] goo.gl/aWWbgZ
• [【格闘・ボクシング】「メイウェザー対マクレガー」夢対決が正式決定　８月２６日にラスベガスで激突 [無断転載禁止]©2ch.net] goo.gl/qP8sZ5
• [【ボクシング】UFC二階級制覇　マクレガーがフロイド・メイウェザーを２RでKO宣言、その理由とは [無断転載禁止]©2ch.net] goo.gl/czbacR
• [【ボクシング】UFCで史上初の二階級制覇を成し遂げたコナー・マクレガーがフロイド・メイウェザーとのドリーム・マッチに合意！©2ch.net] goo.gl/GegHb3
• [【ボクシング】“最強のボクサー”フロイド・メイウェザー、屈強なボディーガードを引き連れて歩く姿がキッズみたいだと話題に [無断転載禁止]©2ch.net] goo.gl/59RJUN

[GIGAZINE（ギガジン]

Honorable mention to:

• Slashdot Japan — a little…how can I put this politely…there’s a lot of smart and knowledgeable but rude and pedantic people here lol. [スラド — アレゲなニュースと雑談サイト] srad.jp/
• Go-go gadgets unnecessary! [Engadget Japan 日本版 : 最新ガジェットと家電、テクノロジーのニュースとレビュー] goo.gl/LDGa
  Always awesome with the human interest stories; lots of pics: [RABAKYU|らばQ] labaq.com/

Do you have a favorite Japanese website? Now’s the time to share!

It’s similar to the idea of looking up the Japanese Wikipedia pages of topics you’re interested in (ultimate frisbee, anyone?), except that it’s more targeted than that, because, really, who just looks up random Wikipedia articles?

Rhetorical question. I know they have that random article button (おまかせ ¹表示). But that’s kind of beside the point. The point is that one doesn’t simply walk into Mordor or Wikipedia. One goes to Google first, and then has Wikipedia revealed to one.

Anyway, here are some Japanese sites that review English-language media:

ハリウッド・セレブ・ニュース Hollywood Celeb News

This isn’t a review site. It’s trash. “Gossip”. Pure junk. Half of it isn’t even true and the other half doesn’t matter. I know it. You know it. We all know it. Following celebrities will make you stupid. Except if you do it in Japanese. Then you’ll have fun, get smarter, and learn kanji.

Just remember: anything you do in a foreign language is a valid intellectual activity. Anything. Just keep telling yourself that, coz…it’s true.

Time Travel News 時間旅行タイムトラベルニュース

OK, first of all, just so you know, the usual katakana word for time travel in Japanese is actually タイムスリップ (“time slip”). Um…if you’re into sci-fi at all, you’ll love this site. It’s all about (Hollywood) movies, TV shows, books (comics included) and even real-life science pertaining to time travel. Everything from The Twilight Zone to Fringe…it’s all there, browsable by decade if you so desire. Webmaster really knows and loves his stuff ². He doesn’t simply review shows (although he does that too, and very well), he even goes meta with funny lists like “The Top 20 Time Travel villains” — bottom of the list is the Galactica guy who fell in love with the yellow-haired Cylon chick…Gaius whatshisname….I dunno; I’ve only ever seen it in Japanese, so…

Go Johnny Go Go Go Go!! ～本物の笑いとイケメンは国境を超える～

This site is amazing. This guy really knows his stuff. His blog’s tagline reads: “true humor and handsomeness know no borders”. Being both good truly looking and truly funny, not to mention well-travelled, I can corroborate this man’s assertion from deep personal experience. Any guy who likes The Thick of It is bound to be a good guy.

• The Thick of It｜Go Johnny Go Go Go Go!! ～本物の笑いとイケメンは國境を超える～ is.gd/RobOlE
• 今年一番の注目コメディ番組スタートっ！☆A.イアヌーチ先生xジュリア・ルイス・ドレイファス「Veep」｜Go Johnny Go Go Go Go!! ～本物の笑いとイケメンは国境を超える～ is.gd/5kfegz

Super Drama TV

Super Drama TV is a premium cable channel here in Japan. These people know their shizzle: they’re the ones who air the Japanese dub of Spartacus. Yes, the 300-meets-Rome sexy one. Wait, no they aren’t. That’s Fox Japan (also premium cable). Anyway, remember how in the fansubbed Samurai Champloo there was all kinds of background info on the real history behind (and being parodied in) each episode? Well, the Super Drama TV show synopses are kind of like that. You see, as hard as this may be to believe, in Japan, America is a foreign country. Almost as foreign to Japan as Japan is to America. So…

Hold on, I’m thinking of that Dave Barry quote: “Americans who travel abroad for the first time are often shocked to discover that, despite all the progress that has been made in the last 30 years, many foreign people still speak in foreign languages” and it’s making me laugh.

So…yeah, Super Drama often have to go into great detail by way of what’s rightly considered common knowledge in the US — but isn’t in Japan — in order to fill people in on the societal background behind shows, like, say “The Wire”. Sometimes they even include translations of short snippets of real-life English-language newspaper articles. What I’m trying to say is that Super Drama TV show synopses are detailed, well-written and just kind of awesome.

• The Sopranos: 海外ドラマ専門チャンネル スーパー!ドラマTV ： ザ･ソプラノズ is.gd/iXhyJv

Amazon Japan Reviews

If in doubt, crowdsource it. Amazon reviews of TV shows contain the more or less raw opinions of opinionated Japanese folk. It’s always entertaining and sometimes even enlightening  These are typically regular menschen like you and me, and the passion and realness of their feeling almost always shines through. Amazon reviews are to professional writing as the NCAA is to the NFL: technically competent, but filled with childlike energy and exuberance, i.e. without the bland, workaday jadedness of the pros. ³ People write Amazon reviews because  they care, because they’ve been moved, because they want to, not because they have to ⁴.

At least it seems that way to me. I dunno.

Anyway, so, yeah, the basic idea is to look up stuff about your favorite English/American TV shows in Japanese. You know you’ll like the subject matter; you know you’ll get what’s happening; the writing will be lively and filled with personality so it’s not like reading a freaking newspaper AND (bonus) it’s better than all those ridiculous, Tumblresque housewife and celebrity blogs ⁵ with the pictures of food and insipid, personality-free one-liners that are so boring, unoriginal ⁶ and inoffensive that you find yourself wishing some 2chan forum trolls would show up to raise the intellectual level. Coz…yeah…no.

I have nothing against those sites; I just think they’re gay ⁷ intensely disagreeable gay.

In case you’re unsure what to look up, here a couple of suggestions to start you off:

• Stargate SG-1
• Star Trek
• Star Wars (‘thought I’d keep the “star” theme going…)
• The Practice (old skool legal shows FTW, right? )

OK, so, now that we’re back from the off-color humor cliff, let’s wrap this up. We’ve come a long way and seen some interesting sites. Yet there remains a nagging fear inside you, doesn’t there? Gnawing away at you. I know what you’re thinking: “but Khatz, this is real Japanese by real Japanese people for real Japanese people, how do I process it?”

Easy. MCDs .

グ | Google Japan Search Bookmarklet

Source Code:
javascript:(function(){var w=window,d=w.document,s="";;if(d.selection){s=d.selection.createRange().text}else if (d.getSelection){s=d.getSelection()}else if(w.getSelection){s=window.getSelection()}window.open ("http://www.google.co.jp/search?q="+encodeURIComponent(s) +"&hl=ja&prmd=ivns&source=lnt&tbs=lr:lang_1ja&lr=lang_ja","_blank")})()


The basic code is more or less identical to the other bookmarklets you’ve seen here.

Anyway, here it is — link and source code.

• YT
• ユチュ
• ﾕﾁｭ
• ﾕﾁｭ検！
• javascript:(function(){var w=window,d=w.document,s="";;if(d.selection){s=d.selection.createRange().text}else if(d.getSelection){s=d.getSelection()}else if(w.getSelection){s=window.getSelection()}window.open("http://www.youtube.com/results?search=Search&search_query="+encodeURIComponent(s),"_blank")})()

Just for kicks, here’s one for NicoNico video — Japan’s very own YouTube — as well.

• NC
• ND
• ニ動
• ﾆｺ検！
• javascript:(function(){var w=window,d=w.document,s="";;if(d.selection){s=d.selection.createRange().text}else if(d.getSelection){s=d.getSelection()}else if(w.getSelection){s=window.getSelection()}window.open("http://www.nicovideo.jp/search/"+encodeURIComponent(s)+"?track=nicouni_search_keyword","_blank")})()

NicoNico does require you to register in order to watch videos. Here’s how.

• How to register a user on nicovideo.jp | moemania bit.ly/dYDHvl
• Asiajin » English guide for Nico Nico Douga, part 1: How to register bit.ly/emQxg0
• How to register to Niconico douga « dôa bit.ly/eTMDsn
• How to register for NicoNico to watch tons of rad game footage – Page 3 – NeoGAF bit.ly/fBoG18

Google Japan Bookmarklet
Source code:

javascript:(function(){var w=window,d=w.document,s="";;if(d.selection){s=d.selection.createRange().text}else if (d.getSelection){s=d.getSelection()}else if(w.getSelection){s=window.getSelection()}window.open ("http://www.google.co.jp/search?hl=ja&source=hp&q="+encodeURIComponent(s) +"&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=","_blank")})()


Google Hong Kong Bookmarklet
Source code

javascript:(function(){var w=window,d=w.document,s="";;if(d.selection){s=d.selection.createRange().text}else if (d.getSelection){s=d.getSelection()}else if(w.getSelection){s=window.getSelection()}window.open ("http://www.google.com.hk/search?q="+encodeURIComponent(s) +"&hl=zh-TW&prmd=i&source=lnt&tbs=lr:lang_1zh-TW&lr=lang_zh-TW&sa=X&ei=IRRQTIuHOMHXcZyklbEB&ved=0CAgQpwU","_blank")})()

Google Reader Bookmarklet (Courtesy of Google Mania)
Source code:

javascript:(function(){for(i=0;i<document.getElementsByTagName('link').length;i++){if(document.getElementsByTagName('link').item(i).getAttribute('rel').toLowerCase()=='alternate' && (document.getElementsByTagName('link').item(i).getAttribute('type').toLowerCase()=='application/rss+xml' || document.getElementsByTagName('link').item(i).getAttribute('type').toLowerCase()=='text/xml')) { var furl; var fhref=document.getElementsByTagName('link').item(i).getAttribute('href'); if(fhref.indexOf('/')===0) { furl='http://fusion.google.com/add?1&feedurl=' + document.location.href.split('/')[0] + '/' + document.location.href.split('/')[1] + '/' + document.location.href.split('/')[2] + fhref; } else if(fhref.indexOf('http://')===0) {furl='http://fusion.google.com/add?2&feedurl='+fhref; } else { var fhref2=document.location.href.split('/'); fhref2.pop(); furl='http://fusion.google.com/add?3&feedurl='+fhref2.join('/')+'/'+fhref; } document.location.href=furl;} }})();

EOF

[Update 2011/07/30@0917 JST: The old transcript site died, but a new one has been found by enterprising AJATTeers! Right here: 攻殻機動隊関連 : 攻殻機動隊 : CMSB. Also, as a precaution against deletion (domestic Japanese site setup and maintenance prices are about ten times higher than the US, leading to high website attrition), there’s a mirror of this site archived at gits.ajatt.com . Please use the actual site as far as possible, though, ‘coz I think its owner earns ad revenue or something that way…I dunno. Plus they would prolly get a kick out of all the visitors ]

Hey all you boys and girls. Continuing our ongoing series of transcribed Japanese stuff, it happens that just as I was about to start doing it myself, I found that someone had already done it. Done what?

Transcribed all of 攻殼機動隊/Ghost in the Shell (GITS)! That’s right! All the movies [except Solid State Society] and of course all episodes of Stand Alone Complex. The dialog, baby. All of it. In Japanese! Exactly as spoken on-screen.

Those who have looked will know that Japanese/East Asian movies and TV shows that have same-language subs at all, let alone subs that exactly match dialog, are a rare and precious thing indeed. Like, I bet you’ll practically watch a mediocre show just because it has subs (depending on the language, I know I would). Some of the reasons for this are pretty decently summed up here.

GITS notably has no Japanese subs on any of its present DVD releases, despite easily being one of the densest, most literary (is that even the right word?) programs of any kind ever made. Japanese subs for GITS would have been nice. But, whatever, now we have this website — with copy-and-pastable text to boot! W00t.

So, yeah, enjoy. By the way, I would definitely recommend this kind of thing for sentence-picking. And if any of you are inclined to make sentence packs or SRS files for people, this kind of thing, i.e. Japanese by and for native speakers, would IMHO be the best for, like, the health of the world, and in terms of source material [since, as we all know, material made for learners often tends to be some combination of boring and unrealistic].

As an aside, let it also be noted that Ghibli’s 物の怪姫/Princess Mononoke also has exact subs on its Japanese DVD release. Just FYI.

And we’re done! Enjoy!

• Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG on YouTube.
• Script thereof

• うさぎさんの毎日/The daily life of Little Miss Rabbit. It’s a blog. Written by a friend of mine. So, more shameless plug than anything else . She told me she’s worried the content is too “mundane”; I told her we can’t always limit our discussions to what’s in 論点/The Issues.
• This article by Joel son of Spolsky. Suddenly I feel bad about all those 0.1%-funny-99.9%-offensive jokes I’ve made in the past. But it’s a great article about getting things done even when you feel sluggish and useless and like you’re not really progressing, filled with insight like this: “Maybe this is the key to productivity: just getting started.” Read the whole for deeper insight.
• 国立国語研究所/The National Institute for Japanese Language (“Nigel”). I had never even heard of these kids until yesterday, but already I’m officially in love with them. They publish these cool reports with suggestions for Japanese replacements of unnecessary foreign words. And, seriously, as obsessed with words like “コンプライアンス/compliance” so many Japanese companies seem to be nowadays, don’t they really just mean 「法令遵守」? Hopefully I’m not a purist, but when you have one of the most powerful neologism-generation systems ever created by mankind at your disposal, why ignore it just to pretend you know a foreign language and/or are importing a foreign concept when you don’t and you’re not? Rhetorical question. What I love about the 国立国語研究所 is that they’re not in any way denying the value of foreign words; they freely admit the freshness and vitality they can bring; they’re merely redirecting towards sensibleness — away from the descent into katakana absurdity that passes for so many business documents trying to sound “catchy” and “with it” (when the motivation is positive), or (when the motivation is negative) actually trying to break laws by obfuscation: replacing a term for something that is 一目瞭然 clearly illegal or unpleasant when in kanji, with a foreign word in meaningless, emotionally neutral katakana. Nigel take a constructive approach; avoiding blanket condemnation, they identify the prime offenders and actually propose simple, effective solutions. I mean, “パブリックインボルブメント”/public involvement? WTF? 「住民参画」, foo! Anyway, the fact the Nigel exists is a very healthy precedent, and good for the lymph. Take a look at their reports: they’re very well written and easy to read.
• While on the subject of good writing, here comes Uncylopedia — the Japanese edition. And their collection of autologically bad articles on bad (i.e. hardーto-follow) writing. I almost died of laughter In fact, after I get done writing this, I’m going back for some more chuckles. They also had this hilarious disclaimers. 「超フィクション」（笑）. “The contents of this article are entirely fictional, although some of what is discussed may be factual, making this ‘super-fiction’, if you will”. Feels like that guy Alfred E. Tennyson’s famous blog post about half-truths.
• The fact that I haven’t already linked to Sushi and Seduction is a crime. Shame on me! The author, Emergency, is the man now dawg. And he’s the proud parent of three of the most amazing articles ever written. In one, he readies, aims and crushes with his bare keyboard all those crazy, negative, limiting beliefs that prevent so many people fulfilling their Japanese potential; he’s really dug deep and brought into the glaring light of day, all those irrational, nonsensical, unmaliciously racist beliefs [“but those people are just smarter! Their brains are designed for rote memorization! I read it in Mein Kampf!”] people cling to when it comes to Japanese and other Asian languages. But Emergency was just getting warmed up! He then comes out you with the positive beliefs that will help your Japanese self quickly grow big, strong and healthy. And just as a roundhouse kick, he gives his introduction to learning kanji. Keep an eye out for his family-oriented, hand-drawn illustrations that help you understand each article better.
• Glowing Face Man shares his insights on English and why you can’t whine about other languages if you know it. This ought to shut up some whiners for a while.
• Finally, I know I’ve put this up in some form before (indirectly), but that was to a sub-site. This is the main TBS Radio Podcasts site. They have some great podcasts up there, and it’s not limited to news/comedy/politics and general silliness. They also have at least one science podcast up there — Science Xitalk（サイエンス・サイトーク） — that I’m actually listening to as I write this, so check it out.

And we’re done.

• This site is a collection of pictures of building and street signs (plus Google search results for similar sites). Street signs have been intriguing me lately. They’re one of the most important things to be able to read (perhaps second only to contracts), but you don’t get much of them when you’re not in the country. I didn’t actually need to make any special study of them. But, learning to read using street signs strike me as something fun and something that would appeal to people who feel the need to be “learning something useful”.
• This site  is a collection of funny pictures and witty comments thereto appertaining (plus Google search results for similar sites). One of my favorite sites, actually. Back in the day, at least.
• This site is full of street/road signs (both for Japan, and other countries), particularly of the kind that apply to drivers. It’s got plently of place names, too. Looks like a lot of fun — I’ll be going back! And, of course, here are the results of engooglation, for more).

Aaaaand we’re done!

• Original Google Search
• M1: probably my favorite collection of player specs and info
• DVD.co.jp: nice players
• Region-Free.jp: the product I saw sucked, but I haven’t looked at everything yet…anyway, it’s still good for reading
• Kakaku.com: helps you find some of the lowest prices in Japan

Instruction manuals for the PlayStation series.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page, and you’ll find the manuals for the original PlayStation. These come with full furigana. The same goes for PocketStation and PS one. And of course they have sweet diagrams and stuff, too. Enjoy!

Edit: While we’re at it, here are the Wii manuals. These come with furigana and in color!

• A friend of a friend (actually, he’s totally just plain “friend” now, and he says I’m his favorite ) runs this blog that’s tangentially related to his graphic design business. Mostly it’s just about cool-looking stuff he sees and people he meets in daily life. It’s got lots of photos, which helps as a learner because it boths keeps your attention and clues you in to what’s being discussed.
• Goo appear to have launched a new lyrics search service. Mercifully, it’s text-based. None of that Flash nonsense that people have been trying to force on us for a while. Effen Flash, riding roughshod on my lyric-reading attempts.
• Watching Japanese dubs of movies and TV shows you’ve previously seen in another language, or any audiovisual materials that are from a culture with which you are already deeply familiar, is a great learning tool. And so is reading about them. At Goo, you can read film synopses, like this one of The Rock (1996) — “You want me to stick this into my heart?”. You can find more such things using Google Japan. Run a query like [(荒筋 OR あらすじ OR 粗筋) (name of the film in Japanese or original language) 映画]. It’ll get you even meatier explanations of the plot, such as this one.
• Luce e ombra (light and darkness?), by a Japanese person living in Italy. The author, Kanako, has visited this site, so you already know she’s cool. Subject matter is art and personal experiences.
• Ikeda Nobuo writes cool books about economics. And also a runs a blog about it so you can read it for free .
• This blog is all about the musings of a private home tutor. He mainly discusses 国語 (Japanese language) education (for Japanese kids, of course).
• Another blog by someone in the education industry (why do I have so many of these?). This time by a mathematics teacher.
• JSTAGE — The Japan Science and Technology Information Aggregator, Electronic. You can find lots of academic papers here (with a focus on physical science/engineering/computer science) for free. The papers are primarily in Japanese.

That’s all for now. More later .

さて、此間テレビに関する記事（嘆き？）を書いた僕（はい！吾輩は一人称の選べない人間である）なんだけど、ネットサーフィンがてらにこのブログにて「テレビ番組の低俗化に関する一考察」という、テレビをジャンクフードに準えるカナリ興味深いポストを見付けちゃった。僕的には、日本語の勉強に役立って来たテレビはもう完全に見て居られない。今では面白いドラマとか有ったら、DVDで観れるまで待つぐらいだ — 大事な思考力が馬鹿馬鹿しい番組に衰退させられないように。だからこの記事を読んで大同感しました。皆ちゃんも読んで見てね。

テレビが低俗しているのではなく、元々低俗なモノだったという考えもあるみたい。確かに今までパッと見た昭和時代のテレビから判断すると、当時でも特に高尚な番組があったとは限らぬ。どっちみち、俺はもうテレビを見ないけど。

最後に、テレビジョンの悪口を散々言って来た私も、繰り返しだけど実はテレビっ子だった — テレビのお陰で日本語が解る私が居る。なんつーか、語学と地理学の最適無敵な道具なんだ、テレビってのは。あるレベル迄ね。なので、どんだけいかほど低俗な番組でも、その内容をまだ理解できない人には、拒否・批判する資格は無い。テレビを批判するのは、語学的にちゃんと理解できるようになってからの特権なのだ。だから、或る言語を勉強中の方には、その言語でのテレビを大量無差別に見る事を是も非もお勧めしたい。そして、理解できるようになったら、番組を真剣に選んだり、テレビそのものを全面的に否定したりしても構わない。

まあ、恐らく真の問題はテレビの低俗化より、低俗化と面白くない化の同時進行。面白くて低俗ならしょうがいないし、面白くなくて高尚でも受け入れられるが、低俗で面白くないは到底赦せぬ！

The format is simple, OOTA Hikaru/太田光 does the dryly delivered silliness or “boke (呆け)”, 田中裕二/TANAKA Yuuji does the straight-man-slash-wisecracks-on-the-side or “tsukkomi (突っ込み). The quality of subject material, the timeliness of Tanaka’s tsukkomi, and how blase Oota can be while making ridiculous statements, make both BSMD as a group and this show, worth your attention.

Oota manages to weave politics into a lot of his discussions without ever sacrificing humor. Tanaka’s rebuttal timing is perfect, down to the millisecond. And the fact that Oota can go from saying something very profound to something completely stoopid in the same tone of voice is always fun; that’s quality boke.

Another thing I really enjoy about BDSM, I mean BSMD, is that Oota sometimes literally falls in love with certain words or phrases. And he’ll get excited and keep saying them over and over again even when it doesn’t make sense “それからドーした？！！？”. I laugh just thinking about it.

Funnily enough, I do the same thing a lot: a few weeks ago, my friend H-star had to listen to me say “豪華にね、ゴーカに” every few minutes for like 6 hours. I thought it was just something I did because Japanese was new to me — ‘guess not.

Oh yeah, Oota is also a voracious reader, going through over 100 books a year. So you input fiends take note — if you want to talk like the man, consider reading like the man, too.

And just when you thought he couldn’t get any cooler, according to the ‘Pedia, Oota was effectively banned for a time from Nippon Broadcasting System (NBS) in the early 1990s; the deal is that he was sitting in one night for Beat Takeshi, who had a severe cold and was off for the night, and as a joke he very gravely announced that Beat Takeshi had, in fact, died due to complications from the cold. If you know Oota, you can picture him doing something like that; reading about it, I thought it was hilarious. NBS, however, appear to have had a cow…

Anyway, even if you don’t understand all the talk on Bakushou Mondai Cowboy, I encourage you, exhort you, call upon you, to listen to it. The dialogue is really natural, and it’s a good chance to hear someone explain themselves on the fly, as Oota does. You’ll definitely pick up a thing or two, and you’ll start laughing soon enough.

BSMD also do tons of work on TV, so…yeah…keep an eye out.