Learning from the presentations

Group 1　アンナ、ナッツ、静

    I am one of the group members in the first presentation. In this survey project, I try to generally find out the current image of animation and manga culture in Japanese society with my groupmates. We initially prefered that the AC culture is popular in the society and the Japanese may be proud of it. However, the responds are unexpected, they even worry about the negative impacts of the AC products for the next generations. It surprisesd me and suddenly motivate me to have a profound study on this topic. Of course, it should be started after the exam. :]

    In fact, I think there are several area should be improved during my presentation. First of all, more preparations are needed as the pages in the powerpoint were jumped sometimes. The survey results also should be outlined as most of our audience might not capture the messages at the short moment. Thirdly, the comments given by the respondents had to be translated from Japanese to English since some of our classmates might not understand Japanese.

   Anyway, it is a good experience to present the Janaese classworks in Englsh and the presentation skills I mentioned  may be practiced more.

Group 2　嵐、星、

    I am satisfied by this group's presentation. ^ ^

    The best point I found is the clear and detail charts which analyzed the survey results and the relationship between thier foundings and the figures. It was easy for to floow thier ideas and linked to their survey. In additioin, thier good preparation showed thier knowledge on the "Tokyo Metropolitan Ordinance Regarding the Healthy Development of Youths" and the cultural values reflected by the research.

   I think the only point they may improve is to shorten the paragraphes on the powerpoint. Pointing out their ideas may be beeter than presenting them for sentences.

Group 3

    The most complicated presentation for the first-three groups. = = +

    I think they had put effort on how to present their survey result with analysis in a easy-to-know way. Even though they covered and explained all the questions they designed, I did not be confused and the good organization was reflected. Also, the idea of "Hong Kong = Jackie Chan" is very attractive and it showed the profund knowldege of Japanese cultural values.

    I think this group has little things to improve except the need of rehearsals. Sometimes the presenters might forget the linkage between the contents and the questions.

Group 4　ミリー、きょうこ、サラ、みよこ

    The topic of this group is about marriage value of Japanese, and the title is "The perception of Marriage among Japanese".

    For the survey result, it seems there is not a wide gap of marriage value between Hongkongers and Japanese. Both of them prefer to have late marriage when they are 30 to 40 years old. Women also end up their career life after getting married in order to concentrate on family. The major difference maybe on the willingness of maintaining the relationship. Hog Kong couple may take divorce easily but Japanese partners, as the group presented, would be more serious when making such decision. The unexpected content is that the Japanese are more likely to marry with Western foreigners but with the dilemma being reluctant to leave their family.

    In my point of view, the only weakness of this group's presentation would be the wording typed in PowerPoint as points may be more reader-friendly than paragrsphes.

Group 5　アリソン、エディー、織

    I love this presentation which is about the living habbits of Japanese.

    The topic thet choose is attractive. Before their show off, I did not know the Japanese won't drink Miso soup everyday which is a representative image of Japanese food culture advertised by Japanese government. Is that a bad joke? 

    Further, I think that it is good for delivering informative survey results and full of elaboration. With the relative animation pictures, I can capture thier idea effectively and did not nod off eventually.  :]  However, if they did not jump the PowerPoints, page-to-page, too fastly, it may be better for presentation.

Group 6　レイカ、レイラ

    A little surprised for meeting this topic, Japanese travelling, as the group members may have other interest in some special areas. = = +

    Anyway, I think that I was satisfied for listening their presentation. Their voice were softly and were fluently in explaining the findings of their survey. Unfortunatly, there was a big difficulty on defining the colours of the piecharts (too close...) and it hence confused me to understand the figures.

    The most strange point is the choice of "travelling to Antarctica" for overseas journey - who would like to be Iceman?  =__=b


All in all, the survey projects are supportive and I learn Japanese culture in terms of various aspects. Next time (same, after the exam) we may have a deeply research on different current issues and I hope I can acheive an improvement.

Personal Pronoun Project

There are three types of the personal pronoun, "I", in Japanese I will mention as follow:
1) Gender
Males:     俺、僕
Females: あたし
Both/Formal:      私、わたくし



2) Age
Childish: ウチ、自分の名前
Elder:   わし、吾輩

3) Local Culture

Kansai: ワイ、自分、オイラ、ウチ(Kyoto)

Kantou: 私

Overall, we may find at least three categories for Japanese individual pronoun as follow:

1. Gender

a) Males usually won’t use “あたし” or “ウチ”, and females won’t self-call “俺” or “オイラ” meanwhile.

b) The personal pronoun in the formal circulation is either males or females, like “私” or “わたくし”.

c) The line could be overlapped if males are girlish or females are boyish.

2. Age

a) Without local culture consideration, the Kansai residents probably sound their own name or girls may said “ウチ” during their childhood.

b) The elderly probably use “わし” or “吾輩” to emphasis their long-lived status, which is found respect for in Japanese society.

3. Local Culture

The personal pronouns in local dialect, such as “ワイ” in Oosaka or “ウチ” in Kyoto, refer to the local culture. Although the Kantou language is the offical one in Japan, the local charateristics are not phrased out.

 Reference:
Google Picture
http://www.google.com.hk/imghp?hl=zh-tw&tab=wi

Japanese Writing Project 2 - 日本を行けば、行きたい場所

I will try my best to use Japanese. If there are any mistakes, please don’t mind to point them out, my classmates.

m(。-＿-。)m

私は日本を行くことがないけど、昔から長崎に興味があるので、チャンスがあれば絶対そこへ行きたい：

(Source: http://www.mytour.com.tw/kyushu/)

Prefecture
Nagasaki is located on Kyushu, which is the third largest island of Japan. After the Abolition of the han system廃藩置県 (1868), seven prefectures were divided. They are Fukuoka, Saga, Kumamoto, Nagasaki (included Goto Islands and Tsushima Island), Ōita, Kagoshima (included Ōsumi Islands and Amami Islands) and Miyazaki. [Besides, Okinawa is the eighth prefecture of Kyushu but people commonly mention it independently.] As a historical place, numerous scenes are attracted me – history is my favorite!

Brief development of Nagasaki City
It is the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture. It was a fishing village, as similar to Hong Kong in early 20th century, at the beginning searched by archaeologist. During Edo Period, it developed to a centre of foreign residents liked Portuguese and was the only trade harbor around the whole nation. The rehabilitation of Nagasaki after the World War II was miraculously fast and it comes to a capital city now.






Check Point 1 - The Nagasaki Peace Park

(Source: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4400.html)

In 9th August 1945, the atomic bombing of Nagasaki killed thousands of the residents. Even though the bombings were ended the World War II, people were astonished by its cruelness and destructive power. To memorize the price of the war and the value of the peace, this park was constructed either for the remains of the residents or the victims of the war.

公園の中にはたくさんの西洋彫刻がいる、それは日本人が外国文化を吸収してるの証でしょが。

(Source: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4400.html)

頼むです、新幹線と飛行機！（船でも？！）





Check Point 2 – Nagasaki Chinatown

(Source: http://www.xinhuanet.com/)

This is the oldest one of the three biggest Chinatowns of Japan, and it was the location of the trade harbor in Edo Period. We can have Chinese traditional meal with Japanese characteristics and the assorted noodles are the most famous dish around the town.

(Source: http://tw.japan-guide.com/travel/kyushu/nagasaki/chinatown)

It seems that the relationship between Chinese and Japanese can be harmony.





Check Point 3 - Glover Garden

(Source: http://www.wattention.com/trip-to-japan/kyushu/nagasaki/glover-garden)

Here is an outside museum of Western-style house, mainly resembled to Victorian. The construction idea usually came from British, Portugal, Netherlands or other trade nations importing Western culture to Japan among Edo and Meiji Period. It undoubtedly is an evidence for the huge culture tolerance and application of the Yamato.

As you can see that, I focus on the history-related scenes to visit if there were a free journey ticket provided!

Japanese Writing Project 1 on 20110120 (THU)

For the Hiragana, the examples with their specific functions are as below:

Syllabary: 

ひ = Hi、represent one syllable for each letter

Description:

にこっGRIN = smile (微笑み)

Name:

はやて = Hayate

For the Katakana, the examples with their specific functions are as below:

Onomatopoeia:

ピピピピピ Pipipipipi = the sound a crock make (目さまし時計の電子音)

カチャン KATCHA = the sound a porcelain make (陶器同士がぶっちあった時の音)

コソコソ WHISPER WHISPER = the sound of undertone, an action (声を潜めて話す様子)

Foreign loan words:

コンピューター / パソコン = computer / ＰＣ（計算機）

Emphasizing:

ボール = ball, even though it is normally post as ‘球’, we may use Katakana for emphasize the word

Terminology:

サイコロジー = psychology (心理学)

For the Kanji, the examples with their specific functions are as below:

Ancient Onomatopoeia:

邪馬台 = Yamatai Kingdom (大和)

卑弥呼 = Himiko, the Queen of Yamatai Kingdom (姫子)

[Source: ≪魏志倭人伝≫]

Terminology:

経済 = economy

Name:

明治天皇 = Emperor Meiji

 

For the Romaji, it is used for vocal, especially for foreigners:

Osaka = 大阪, one of the Japanese Provinces

For the Kaomoji, it is used to impress Word Arts, commonly used for emotional reflection on face or actions, by composing American Standard Code for Information and Interchange (some Japanese web-users had been arguing that it is JIS code) in specific order:

(-_-#)  / (▼皿▼メ) = angry / furious (怒る)

(￣○￣) (￣◇￣) (￣o￣) (￣ー￣) = good night, imitate the lips (おやすみ)

[Source: http://www.kaomoji.com/kao/text/ikaru.htm]

Description - Idiom, contains both Kanji and Hiragana:

愛の鞭 = rigours education

頭に来る = something make me mad