I went to see two rice-planting festivals in Shiga, for the first time. The first one was in Yasu on May 25, 2008. It’s held on the fourth Sunday in… Read more
Did you know that Shiga Prefecture has Japan’s lowest rate of people buckling up in the back seat? According to a nationwide survey conducted jointly by Japan’s prefectural police and… Read more
Video link: http://youtu.be/xeFw0Ld-NaU On Sun., May 25, I went to see the Yokaichi Giant Kite Festival. I got there after 1 pm, just when they were preparing to fly the giant… Read more
I. Romanization = Spelling Japanese words I want to start with the Basics. And romanization of Japanese words is very basic, yet I often see mistakes by Japanese people writing… Read more
Spelling Long Vowels Spelling long vowels has been and will always be a permanent problem for all of us. There is no perfect way to spell long vowels in Japanese… Read more
Hyphens Continuing my English tips on romanization, my next topic is hyphenation. A hyphen is used to indicate a connection between two different units of meaning. At the same time,… Read more
Let me talk briefly about how to be a good interpreter. Obviously, you must be bilingual. But this is not enough. You also need to have good knowledge of the… Read more
Mt. Mikami in Yasu is nicknamed Omi-Fuji because it has a conical shape like Fuji-san. I recently climbed this mountain. Only 432 meters high. It was a pretty easy climb.… Read more