As previously mentioned I picked up another copy of the Japanese manga Kochikame (こちら葛飾区亀有公園前派出所) on our recent trip to Portland. This one was just as fun to read, if not funner, than the first one I reviewed before.

Either my reading and understanding is getting better or this second was simply easier to understand. I’m guessing it’s the former as I’ve been reading and studying Japanese a lot lately.

Even if your Japanese isn’t great, Kochikame is a great way to improve it (while having a smile on your face) as there is furigana next to all of the kanji as you can see in the example below.

If you’d like to take my two books off my hands they are $5 each plus shipping. Each is almost 200 pages in length.

Posted on April 11th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: akimoto osumu, Japanese Manga, まんが. Comments Off on Kochikame

I’m down to just a few months before heading over to Japan, and I need to sale all 30+ of my remaining issues of Nihongo Journal before I go. I recently reduced my price to $12 per issue (compared to other sites on the internet selling them at $20+ per issue).

From today until they are gone I’m going to offer an even better deal if you purchase 5 issues or more at a time. 5 issues will be just $50 with free shipping to addresses in the U.S.A. Issues ordered beyond the fifth that are shipped at the same time are just $9 each!

You can still purchase individual issues at $12 each plus $3 shipping if you want less than five issues. And I have a few issues left with tapes too.

Posted on April 10th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: Japanese Language Study Methods, nihongo journal. Comments: 5

A new version of the fabulous Japanese and Kanji learning game for the Nintendo DS was released today. I reviewed the prior version here. Kanken DS3 Deluxe (漢検DS3デラックス) appears to include some of the suggestions from my prior review. I won’t know for sure until I actually try it out what all the improvements are, but after taking a quick look at Rocket Company’s website it looks like they have nearly doubled the number of different questions/problems from 60,000 to 116,000.

The dictionary also looks much better. Now there are actually definitions and examples instead of just readings, stroke order, and radicals. Another huge improvement, which puts this dictionary above other DS dictionaries and even some fancy electronic dictionaries, is you can write four character jukugo and get a definition.

Of course, it’s impossible to tell just how much better this product is than Kanken DS 2 without actually using it, but I’m guessing it is well worth the price–just $38.99 delivered.

If you’d like my Kanken DS 2 I’m now willing to part with it for $28 delivered. Email me if interested.

Posted on April 9th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: Japanese Language Study Methods, kanken. Comments: 11

This isn’t the main Kiyomizu structure. Rather it is one you see as you approach the main hall. It seems a fitting photo for the season.

Posted on April 8th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: cherry blossoms, japan pictures, kyoto, sakura. Comments Off on Kiyomizudera (清水寺)

This giant torii gate is located south of the Heian Shrine and Kyoto University. It may look a bit familiar to you if you are a frequent visitor to this site, even if you haven’t been to Kyoto, as I’ve used a piece of this picture as the TravelJapanBlog.com banner.

Posted on April 6th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: japan pictures, kyoto, torii. Comments: 2