August, 2010

All Posts / Language — No Comments
27
Aug 10

The Particle “Mo”

The grammar section of The Japanese Tutor takes a closer look at a number of important particles in the Japanese language. Another particle you’ll hear and use a lot in the Japanese language is mo, which can mean “too,” “as well,” “also,” and sometimes even “and.”

You can use mo in place of the particles wa, ga, or wo. That means that you should place mo after the subject or object or the sentence, whichever is the thing that is “also.” For example, if you heard someone say, “My little sister is a high school student,” you might respond, “My younger brother is a high school student, too” or “My younger brother is also a high school student.” In Japanese, the conversation may occur in the following manner:

Imouto wa koukousei desu.

Otouto mo koukousei desu.

This subject-use of mo also applies when discussing someone performing the same action. For example, in English someone might say, “My little sister went to the cinema yesterday.” You might reply, “My younger brother went to the cinema yesterday as well.” The Japanese translation of this dialog is:

Imouto wa kinou eigakan ni ikimashita.

Otouto mo kinou eigakan ni ikimashita.

When using mo with an object, you place the particle after the object in the sentence. For example, if you want to say, “My younger brother likes dogs. He also likes cats,” you can use mo after the object of the second sentence (neko/cats):

Otouto wa inu ga suki desu. Kare wa neko mo suki desu.

Mo can also be translated as “and” when used in a list. With a few exceptions, you should use the particle mo after each item in a list when talking about three items or more. Sometimes you can use it even when you’re only talking about two items, but you’re more likely to hear the particle to (which usually means “and”) when there are only two items. You will not hear to used in long lists.

For example, if you want to say, “My younger brother likes dogs, cats, birds and hamsters,” you should say mo after each object in the list:

Otouto wa inu mo neko mo tori mo hamusutaa mo suki desu.

Practice using mo in a sentence. Review the lesson on the particles wa, ga, and wo and replace those particles with mo.

All Posts / Culture / Customs — No Comments
20
Aug 10

The Obon Festival: A Tribe to Ancestors

This week was the festival of Obon throughout Japan. Obon, a Buddhist holiday, is a time for bonding with one’s ancestors and deceased family members. The Japanese pray for the ancestors’ happy lives as spirits and acknowledge that they themselves could not have existed without them. Although most Japanese are not highly religious, this Buddhist holiday is a culturally important one. People tend to meet up with their family and return to their hometowns so that the family can pray together and also enjoy one another’s company and celebrate their lives.

Obon occurs on a lunar calendar and is different each year–and is even different in the same year among different regions–but occurs sometime between July and August. This year, most of Japan had Obon festivities from August 7th through the 17th.

Mukae-bon takes place on the first day of the Obon festival. After thoroughly cleaning their home, Japanese families light special Obon chochin lanterns inside the home and the family members walk the lanterns to the family gravesite area (if possible–they may just hang the lanterns outside the door and call them home as well). They call their ancestors’ spirits home and it is thought that these spirits reside within the homes’ Buddhist altars for the duration of the festival. The family keeps the lanterns lit beside the altar and also decorates the altars with flower arrangements and incense. They offer food to the spirits throughout their one-week “stay” in the home. On the last day of Obon, Okuri-bon, the family will walk the lit lanterns back to the gravesite in order to guide them back to the afterlife.

Because Obon takes place in the summer, the thought of ghosts wandering among the living permeates into Japanese culture as a whole. Like Halloween in the West, the Obon festival becomes a time for spooky tales, horror movies, ghost sightings, and the Japanese equivalent of a haunted house, which is sometimes called kimodameshi, a “test of courage.” At night, people will dress up like ghosts in the grounds of a Buddhist or Shinto temple and groups of people will split into groups of no more than two in order to face the dark, spooky path to the top of the temple. (These trials are usually undertaken by teenagers and young adults.)

Have you ever celebrated Obon in Japan? Have you ever gone on a kimodameshi? Would you like to?

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13
Aug 10

Karaoke: More than Just a Sing-Along

Karaoke may not be an exclusive activity to Japan—nor was it necessarily originated in Japan—but the name itself demonstrates how widespread and influential the activity is in Japan. “Karaoke” is a Japanese loanword, a portmanteau of the words “kara” and “ookesutora” which mean “empty” and “orchestra,” respectively. (Incidentally, the word is pronounced “kah-rah-oh-kay,” not “carrie-okie.”)

While sing-along was nothing new even in the US at the time, the concept of karaoke blossomed in the 1970s in Japan. Musical entertainment during dinner has been a long-standing cultural tradition and it was during the 1970s that a drummer named Inoue Daisuke first decided to market a tape player that played music (so that people wouldn’t need to play the instruments) at ¥100 (about $1) a song. The machines were too expensive for most people to purchase, so hotels, restaurants, and bars tended to rent them out for parties at those establishments.

Later in the decade, businesses actually developed with the karaoke machine at the center. “Karaoke boxes” were places that offered sound-proof rooms for small groups to rent while singing with karaoke machines. These businesses really took off, eventually booming in the 1980s (when the phenomenon and the word “karaoke” was exported to the West). They’re still quite popular today.

Karaoke boxes typically serve alcohol (which frees legal adults’ inhibitions and makes them more likely to have the courage to sing in public!) and food upon request. You just need to pick up the in-room phone and place your order. Rooms are usually available at a set hourly rate, although you may be charged by how many people you have in your group as well. You can even rent a room in a karaoke box by yourself if you’re too embarrassed to sing in front of other people! Karaoke song catalogs typically include mostly Japanese songs and Western songs (which everyone tries to sing in English).

Anthropologists have surmised that karaoke is especially popular in a country like Japan where the general population works extremely hard and needs a physically freeing way to unwind. In Japan, most people don’t care how good a singer you are, nor do they make a big deal and laugh if you’re a bad singer. They just enjoy letting go with each other after a hard day at work or school.

Have you ever sung karaoke? Have you sung karaoke in a Japanese-style restaurant or karaoke box? Would you like to sing with a group of Japanese people?

All Posts / Culture / Food — No Comments
6
Aug 10

Donburi: Rice Bowl Meals

In Japan, eating donburi is an easy way to warm up on a cold winter day–or just to enjoy a flavorful, hot dish whenever the craving strikes you. “Donburi” means simply “bowl,” but when it comes to food, it refers to a family of rice bowl dishes. What distinguishes these types of dishes is that meat, tofu, eggs and/or vegetables are simmered together into a stew and then poured atop steamed white rice.

There is no singular simmering sauce used in all dishes, but popular ones include dashi (the stock used in miso soup), soy sauce, and mirin (a type of rice wine). Ingredients typically (but not always) included are onions, eggs, and seafood. One of the most popular types of donburi is oyakodon, which literally means “parent-child donburi.” This is because it consists of both chicken (the “parent”) and egg (“the child”). Oyakodon also includes onions and may be simmered in a variety of sauces, but is usually simmered in a soy sauce mixture.

Another popular donburi dish is katsudon, which features fried pork cutlets, egg, and onions. However, there are many seafood varieties, such as tenshidon, which offers a crab meat omelet over rice, and tekkadon, which features spicy raw tuna and seaweed. There’s also unadon, which includes cooked eel.

You can find beef in donburi dishes such as gyuudon, which features just beef and onions, and tanindon, which is like oyakodon, only with beef in place of the chicken. (“Tanin” means “stranger,” since the beef and egg would have no familial relation.)

Donburi are typically inexpensive dishes available quick to order. You may find a small Japanese restaurant with only counter seating, but turnover is fast since the food is made quickly and you’ll be able to get a seat without much wait. Just don’t linger around more than necessary, as you’ll want to free up your seat for another customer.

Donburi dishes are also popular ways to prepare leftovers and give them additional flavor. Home chefs need only simmer some meat and vegetables from a previous meal together in sauce and serve them over steamed rice.

Have you ever eaten a donburi dish? Which one? Which ones sounds the most appealing to you and why?