Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with Japanese

Read Japanese? Know about sake? Can you tell me about mine?

sirion — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 07:32:18 -0800

Japanese/SakeFilter: I found a sake I like! Can you tell me about it? (Japanese description/website) http://nissin-shurui.co.jp/shopn/11_37.html

I know very little about sake, though I've been skimming through the wikipedia article. What I do know, is that usually I don't like sake, and I had this one in a Tokushima yaki-tori bar, at room temperature, and it was really good.

I get a bottle of it tomorrow in the mail, but for the future, can you tell me what sort of sake I like, for the next new sake I try? ("Hello Sake shop owner! I'm looking for a XXXXX-type sake, with a YYYY acidity and a ZZZ brewing process. Do you have something that is [insert appropriate sake adjectives here]?")

(Here is a somewhat amusing babelfish translation: http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?doit=done&tt=url&intl=1&fr=bf-home&trurl=http%3A%2F%2Fnissin-shurui.co.jp%2Fshopn%2F11_37.html&lp=ja_en&btnTrUrl=Translate )

Oh yeah, and can you tell me what the romanji would be for the name of my sake? As I understand it, the brewing company is Hisagotaiko (or maybe 2 words with those phonemes), and the specific sake is called 本醸造, which I have not yet heard aloud.

Thanks!

Help me buy awesome Japanese stuff from Japan.

mediocre — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 03:07:36 -0800

I am looking for someone to help me purchase goods from a Japanese website. I am a huge fan of the Japanese melodic metal band Galneryus. I want to purchase merchandise from their website, however it is entirely in Japanese with no English option. All transactions are in Yen, and I can't tell how things are bought (PayPal, something else?).

I am looking for price information, shipping, can they even ship international? Sizing information too, if available. For example, is a Japanese large smaller then an American large? I assume so.

I realize this will be an intensive task for whomever is willing to help me, but it would be GREATLY appreciated. Because of the somewhat complicated nature of this, some of this may need to be handled via MeMail. But if anyone here can tell me basic things like will they ship internationally and how payments are recevied it would still be amazing.

A million thanks in advance!

Japanese punk

Taksi Putra — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 02:53:30 -0800

Japanese punk recommendations please. Era irrelevant. That is all. Thank you.

What does this character mean?

killerinsideme — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 17:03:14 -0800

What does this Japanese character on this Daruma doll mean? At least, I assume it's Japanese...

Want to buy Japanese clock from Heroes

BiffSlamkovich — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:19:59 -0800

HeroesFilter: Where can I find a clock from tonight's episode (season premiere)? (No spoilers, but if you didn't see, you probably can't help) Early on, we see a clock on Hiro Nakamura's desk. It's small, made out of silver or some silver-ish metal. The numbers are all in kanji, and it appeared to have a little spot for the day (i.e., Monday, etc., again in kanji). I need one. Any ideas?

Tell me about this Japanese photography blog

Rora — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 20:18:58 -0800

Does anybody know anything about this Japanese photographer’s website? I’m very charmed by his photos of his adorable family and lovely taste in design and décor. I can’t read Japanese or find any information on who he is, what he does, etc. I’m just looking to know a little more about him and his site, even a few translations of some of his captions would be cool.

And I don’t know if it’s frowned upon to have a two-part question, but his blog is a very good example of a specific Japanese style I’ve been seeing around the web. Very natural, somewhat old-fashioned, use of lots of linen, simply woven cotton, crochet work, etc. This shop (linked from his blog) is full of items like this. Here’s a similar shop. Is there a name for this trend (in Japan) and where can I find more examples, or non-Japanese/English resources (other than Muji)?

Short translation

exogenous — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 17:15:10 -0800

Can someone translate the Asian (I presume) symbol and text on this baseball hat? Pic1 Pic2

What does it say on the back of my painting?

iconomy — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 12:56:58 -0800

Could you tell me what's written on the back of my painting? The canvas is stretched and stapled onto wood, and there are some characters on it which I can't read. It's partially pen and partially marker. pen marker whole back

JapaneseFilter: How is 'fureai' pronounced?

coizero — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 19:14:26 -0800

How is fureai pronounced?

What does this tea package say?

fiercecupcake — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 11:34:41 -0800

Asking for a friend: Can you translate this (Japanese?) tea package? PDFs here and here. What kind of tea is this? What are the preparation instructions?

Thank you, hive mind!

Books on Japanese etymology?

Citizen Premier — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 18:42:13 -0800

Are there any layman-accessible, English-language books or (less preferably) websites on Japanese etymology or the development of Japanese? If there's anything like etymonline for Japanese, I'd love to see it, even if it's Nihongo only. But I'd prefer a reference book.

I'd also like to read how Japanese culture is expressed in their language; for example, how "sen" can refer to the future and the past, and other such counter-intuitive facets of Japanese.

I love English etymology, and if I can start to understand Japanese word roots I know it'll be a big boost to my fluency.

Japanese knotweed nightmare

CFMartin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:36:36 -0800

Japanese knotweed is extremely difficult to kill with herbicides such as round up and the like, does anyone have any other ideas or herbicides in mind? I have a commercial property that has a bad case of this stuff that I can't get control of. I have at least 1000 square feet of this invasive plant and it keeps spreading. I useually run over it with a skid steer loader and knock it down and crush it but it comes right back. Round up does not seem to do anything and I look ridiculous with a little spray bottle of Round Up up against a towering wall of this weed. Any help?

Common use of Japanese 'Mu' Prefix

0bvious — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 06:41:32 -0800

I am looking for interesting uses of the prefix 'mu' (無) in Japanese. I want to find an example of mu's general use that attains to its meaning as -less or an absence of. The example I have currently, 無線 'musen' meaning 'wireless', is a little boring. I lived in Japan for 2 years, but my Japanese is very bad and getting worse. Any interesting words or concepts would be extremely helpful.

Thanks

Rising sun rock and roll?

soma lkzx — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 08:56:43 -0800

Tokyo Damage Report's list of shows and venues has sold me on going to see bands play while I'm in Japan, are there any resources like this for cities besides Tokyo? Turns out that going to a show alone isn't so bad when you're in a foreign country and your cultural/language skills are that of a 2 year old - I just need to know where to go! My musical taste in this case is just guitars and energy; I'll take anything from hardcore to twee to psychobilly. I think my guidebook has things like jazz pretty well covered, but feel free to bring suggestions from that end of the spectrum as well.

I'm going to be hanging around in indeterminate cities between Tokyo and Nagasaki for the next ten days, so the net is pretty wide. Show lists, venue lists, or even venue names would all be really helpful.

(And while I'm at it, if you have any amazing suggestions on less rock-n-rolly things to do or festivals in the next week, you can drop that in, too!)

gas explosion in apartmen short film - name?

dabitch — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 05:46:07 -0800

Trying to find a Japanese short film "Tension" that I saw at the Rotterdam Film Festival 1999 or 2000. I saw this film at the Pathé Schouwburgplein either 1999 or 2000. The director was there and ready to answer questions after the screening.

The story: in a grey apartment block, inside a cramped apartment someone leaves the gas on while cooking. Each family member is doing something that theoretically could spark the gas to explode - sister is blow drying her hair, little brother is playing with a toy that sparks, someone is lighting matches - etcetera and so on. Tension builds, the edits get faster, matches are lit (gas does not explode), toy guns are shot (gas does not explode) and all sorts of other things go on until finally, the whole apartment blows up in the most amazing slow-mo explosion you've ever seen (and as I recall set off by an item you didn't suspect would be the one to set it off). We even get a nice shot from outside the apartment building watching the whole floor go kabloom.

Now, I can't for the life of me find out what this film is called or who directed it. Ring any bells?

Do I have to turn このファイル.dat into 00001.dat?

Ookseer — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:51:02 -0800

Is there some way to bulk rename files from kanji/kana to romaji? Or any other solution to keep some of the Japanese file name while only using ASCII characters? I have about 3,000 files that contain at least 1 kanji or kana character. I need to use them with software that refuses to load any file with non ASCII characters. There is no alternative to this software and tech support's answer is "sorry, we'll put this on the wish list".

It would be terribly useful to retain some of the meaning of the original names of the files, but renaming them by hand would take more time than I have. As an absolutely last resort I'll just bulk rename them with arbitrary numbers, but only as a last resort. I don't need English translation (though that would be okay) but something like romaji readings of the Japanese.

Any ideas, cleverness or scripting tricks?

Windows preferred but Mac answers welcome. Need not be free.

Need translation help before I make udon soup.

puffin — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 12:12:12 -0800

Help me read the directions on this Japanese soup stock packet. I also took a picture of the box that the packets came in which has various other ml amounts.

I took a trip to the local Asian grocery store today and one of the staff helped me pick out this soup stock base...but of course I forgot to check for English directions on the package before I came home.

All I need to know is water:packet ratio. I can read "250 ml" and "300ml" on the packets but that is less water than I would expect to use given the size of the packets. Also, I have no idea what all the other (larger) numbers on the box are referring to.

Notcot for Japan?

roygbv — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 08:26:44 -0800

I am in search of the paper flowers used in Lost in Translation. Also, what are your favorite rad Japanese culture-watch resources, shopping websites, etc?

Please help me sort my vocabulary list in Excel!

Vorteks — Tue, 27 May 2008 13:34:08 -0800

Complicated Excel formula question involving text-search and Japanese characters. Can you help? I have two spreadsheets.

Spreadsheet A contains a list of Japanese vocabulary words I need to learn for the JLPT this year. Spreadsheet B contains a list of Japanese characters in one column along with the characters "Heisig number" (an ordinal number indicating where that character appears in the book "Remembering The Kanji" by James Heisig).

I want to add a column to Spreadsheet A that will contain the highest Heisig number among the characters that make up the vocabulary word. The purpose of this is to sort the words in Spreadsheet A so that I can memorize only the words that can be written using the Kanji I've learned so far.

Confused? Here's an example: Spreadsheet A, cell 57A contains the word "朝寝坊". Using Spreadsheet B to looking up the 3 characters in that word, I find the Heisig number for 朝 is 52, 寝 is 1150, and 坊 is 492. 1150 is the highest of those 3 numbers, so I'd like Spreadsheet A, cell 57B to read "1150". Is there a way to set up a formula to do this? I've never pushed Excel this far before.

Thank you in advance, Hive Mind!

The Missing Youtube Video

j1950 — Fri, 09 May 2008 07:13:45 -0800

YouTube video got deleted...can you help me find it? Several weeks ago, I asked a question about a skit from the Japanese TV show "Black Mayonnaise" that I was in. Now, the video has been deleted from YouTube before I had a chance to save it/disseminate it properly.

This is the original link. Can you help me find the video again...my Japanese isn't good enough to search.

Thanks!

Microsoft Vista Business in Japanese/Chinese

schnee — Thu, 01 May 2008 09:48:46 -0800

Where can I buy the Japanese version and a Chinese version of Microsoft Vista Business online for use in the United States? Media and license. I've done a quick Google search and keep comping up with bootleg copies instead of legitimate copies. My normal vendors do have the Japanese version, but I need both.

I don't need the foreign language pack add-on that you can download from the Microsoft website. I need the full OS in the language.

Another plant identification question.

kiripin — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:00:40 -0800

Can you identify this shrub? I saw it last January in the Japanese Tea Garden at Golden Gate Park. It was somewhere between 4-6 feet tall, as far as I can recall. The multicolored berries(?) were growing in groups of three, and leaves were emerging from some of the larger ones.

I've done a lot of googling, but to no avail.

私と voulez-vous coucher?

n y my — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 05:21:06 -0800

no more Sukiyaki: after-work in-japanese karaoke battle song needed! what's your suggestion? looking for a japanese song for karaoke, and i really don't know any. what are your favorites? in general, i'm especially a fan of songs with themes along the lines of "what are we waiting for" "we should hook up" and "i really really want you" and "i really really want you (and have no idea how to tell you)," but am open-minded.

details:
*must be pretty easily found: available on youtube or something for practice, available on a typical (japanese) karaoke place box, lyrics online
*middling speed: too fast and i can't read, too slow and it's boring
*middling range: mariah carey i'm not
*dirty is ok, even recommended for fun-value.
*i can read japanese. i'm just musically unawares.

What is this Japanese Language Learning Magazine?

Meagan — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 09:18:41 -0800

Help me remember the name of this Japanese language learning magazine/CD combo. A long time ago I received a magazine from a friend in Japan. This magazine contained various short lessons about the Japanese language. I'm pretty sure it was a Japanese publication, although it contained the lessons in English, Japanese, and Korean as well. It came with an audio CD that was used in conjunction with the lessons. The publication was very well done, professional, and of high value. I remember the magazine subscription being very expensive. Any idea what magazine this is?

I'm thinking of a song...

edjusted — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:59:49 -0800

Hopefully this won't be too obscure... There was a pretty popular Japanese rock band that had a song which was basically a rocked out heavy metal version of Dies Irae from Verdi's requiem. I think the CD is from the early 90's or so. What's the name of the band? (and no, it's not from the Battle Royale soundtrack. That was a purely orchestral version)