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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2009 0:27:18 GMT
I remember reading, a while ago, about a place in japan where you could take a small little run through class that would teach you about the process of creating a japanese sword by having you work on your own little knife (I guess a kogatana?). There someone put up a youtube video of their experience I belive as well. Does anyone have a link to that/other information?
Next year Im hoping to take a trip to Japan, and I want to plan it out a little bit. I always like to start planning EAAARLY(I start to plan out my halloween almost right after it ends for that year lol). So for the moment, im just getting ideas on sites and places to go. This place would definetly be a must for me. So any suggestions for me to get together for (far) future reference would be nice.
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Post by randomnobody on Mar 21, 2009 0:37:25 GMT
This video? I'd like to have a go at that, myself, but it would be difficult without a firm grasp of the language...
According to the summary, it seems to be referred to as the kogatana koubo, and is apparently in tokyo...but google isn't helping. I totally dropped caps in that sentence and am not going back to fix them.
I'll keep digging and if I find anything I'll share.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2009 0:52:55 GMT
YES! Thank you. But imo, it sees like a tourist attraction no? So wouldn't they want to cater to the non native speaking folk? Or am I wrong. But if its in Tokyo that would be great. For anyone who has been to Japan, what the rates like for at the hotels and such?
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Post by randomnobody on Mar 21, 2009 0:57:34 GMT
It may be seen as a tourist thing...or it could be a "no way you're not Japanese we won't teach you anything" type of thing. I have heard bad stories about how conservative (perhaps not the right word) some Japanese (especially traditional artisans) tend to be... Besides, nobody likes somebody barging in to their workplace, expecting to be taught the whole trade in a single day, oh and by the way I speak a different language so find somebody who knows mine... Slav's been over there, as have a few others... I've been chatting with a friend in California and another in Australia who are planning to visit Japan together this winter, or was it next summer? They're finding some pretty good rates; I'll try to nag 'em a bit for you.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2009 1:07:42 GMT
Thanks, I found this good helpful site, www.Japan-Guide.com , to help with some stuff. I think my biggest question is what is the language barrier like? I naturally do not EXPECT them to speak english, for that is obviously not their native tongue. But how hard would it be to communicate without any knowledge of the language, or perhaps with a J to E (or vice versa) dictionary.
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Post by randomnobody on Mar 21, 2009 1:26:11 GMT
I'd recommend hiring a translator. The people you're talking to probably wouldn't appreciate it if you had to stop them to look up everything they just said... Though I do have a pocket dictionary, myself, worthless as it ultimately is...
Though many Japanese are pretty well-versed in Engrish, so you may be okay.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2009 3:37:31 GMT
If the language barrier is something you're worried about I would suggest Pimsleur Comprehensive it's a very good easy program and I've tried a few.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2009 4:50:42 GMT
Which is? An easy way to learn basic Japanese?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2009 6:08:39 GMT
Which is? An easy way to learn basic Japanese? I'm a Japanese minor, and I've taken four semesters worth of it at my university, and I can tell you there is no easy way to learn simple Japanese. It's not that it's so much more complicated than English, but it's complicated in completely different ways. I doubt you could learn enough to take this class in less than a year unless you were really serious about your studying. Keep in mind, of course, that to learn something like this you wouldn't just have to learn the basics, but also all of the technical jargon related to the process. A Japanese-English dictionary is a good tool for studying or for looking up any words that come up that you don't remember if you have already studied the language, but if it's all you've got it's not going to do you much good. (Also keep in mind that Japanese has an absurd amount of homonyms - words with exactly the same pronunciation but unrelated meanings - so you have to know enough Japanese to be able to tell by context which of the dictionary entries is the one you want.) As for the "conservative"-ness of some Japanese people, some of them are very traditional, and might frown on teaching this stuff to foreigners, since they get a lot of big dumb Americans stomping around and asking too many questions. On the other hand though, most Japanese really appreciate it when tourists at least try to learn the language and culture and will respect you for it, so how much the specific people involved will be willing to teach this stuff to "outsiders" really depends on them, but as has been said since this seems to be open to the general public and is kinda a tourist-y thing I doubt there would be any problems on that end.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2009 12:59:45 GMT
Which is? An easy way to learn basic Japanese? Yes it's pretty easy. My Mom is Japanese and being a dumb kid I never took the time to learn. Now we are having very basic conversations (she's so proud) but it works. And it's very simple. It takes 30 min a day. I listen to it on the way to work in the morning.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2009 15:16:18 GMT
Any links for this? Also than at the very least, how about an E to J one? This way I could grab some phrases out like, Where is a bathroom, and hope for a finger point?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2009 18:23:12 GMT
Any links for this? Also than at the very least, how about an E to J one? This way I could grab some phrases out like, Where is a bathroom, and hope for a finger point? Here's a site you can get it. It also lets you listen to the first lesson so you can see how you like it. You can probably get it cheaper on Amazon or E-bay. Good luck www.pimsleurdirect.com/products/pimsleur-japanese-1
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2009 0:53:01 GMT
Ah my friend had something like this. It was all these online lessons for free. But if you paid for the membership you could get advanced lessons and the ability to download them to your hard drive. It was pretty decent becuase he can speak some basic terms and understand some when watching anime with subtitles off. But he doesn't have the time to keep up with it now, thanks to school and work.
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