お正月

慶太岩原より

みなさん、お元気ですか？クリスマスも終わり、２０２１年ももう少しで終わってしまいますね…。皆さんの２０２１年はどんな一年間でしたか？？思い通りに過ごせた人と過ごせなかった人がいると思いますが、僕は去年と比べて、たくさんの人と出会うこともできたし、勉強も順調に進められたので満足できる一年でした！日本では一年の初め、１月１日に今年はどんな年にしようかと目標を決める習慣があります。昔はその目標を習字で書いていたらしいですが、いまはそれをやっている人は少ないみたいです。もし習字セットと紙を用意できたらぜひ、書いてみて部屋に飾ってみましょう！なかったとしても２０２２年の目標を考えてみましょう！

日本のお正月はクリスマスよりも大忙しです。イギリスではクリスマスは家族の行事、大晦日は友達との行事という認識ですが、日本では逆で、クリスマスは友達もしくは恋人と過ごし、大晦日・お正月は家族と過ごします。クリスマスよりも大きい行事であるお正月を迎えるにあたって、日本人はおせち料理（お正月に食べる食べ物）を用意したり、年賀状を印刷したり、門松や鏡餅を飾ったり、神社にお参りに行ったり…などなど、家庭や地域によってその習慣は様々なようですが日本の年越しの準備は大変です！僕の家庭では門松は飾らないけど、年賀状とお正月料理は用意します！！お節料理は苦手なのであまり食べません…。

どちらにせよ年末やお正月はテレビを見てゆっくり過ごすのが日本の文化かもしれません。特に１月１日から三日間は三箇日（さんがにち）と言い、少なくともこの期間はゆっくり過ごし、そしてその三日の間に神社にお参りに行きます。

他にも、家庭によって年末に観るテレビ番組が違ったりなど、いろんな文化や習慣がありますのでいろいろ調べてみるといいかもしれません！！

それでは皆さん、良いお年を！

けいた

The Blue Sky Library: Japan's Project Gutenberg

By Tom Wilkinson-Gamble

The Blue Sky Library, or 'aozora bunko', is a Japanese digital library founded in 1997 with the aim of digitizing and storing Japanese literature and Japanese translation of foreign literature so that anyone, from anywhere, may access them freely. The site is ran by volunteers who gather works of literature, both fiction and non-fiction, whose copyright have expired or from authors who have given permission to have their work stored. 

The library has faced some problems with finances and copyright law. Since the group is ran on an entirely voluntary basis and that material can be accessed for free, the library is heavily reliant on donations to pay for server costs. Since 2006, the library also functions as a public-policy advocacy organisation and has been involved in disputes with the Japanese government over copyright law. In 2005, at the suggestion of the US, the Japanese government was urged to extend the date of copyright expiration from 50 years after the author's death to 70 years. This would have meant that many of the books published by the library would now be illegal. However, due to the pressure from volunteers and members of the public, the Japanese government decided not to implement this change, allowing the library to continue its mission of preserving Japanese literature undisturbed. 

You can access the Blue Sky Library here: https://www.aozora.gr.jp/

Three Books for Japanese Reading Practice (Beginners)

By Tom Wilkinson-Gamble

Are your Japanese reading skills not quite at the level to read a full-blown novel but still want to practice? Then this is the article you've been looking for. Lingo Mastery have published three books that, if studied in the order suggested below, can improve your skills enough to move onto short stories and novels.

Conversational Japanese Dialogues (2021)
This first book is the simplest out of the three. It contains 105 example conversations on topics ranging from order a meal at a restaurant to being hunted by pirates. Each line of Japanese is followed immediately by the same line in romaji. This creates a repeating pattern of kanji and kana followed by romaji. The Japanese text is then followed by an English translation. All Japanese is covered with furigana. 

Japanese Short Stories for Beginners (2020)

Japanese Short Stories for Beginners contains twenty simple 2-3 page stories ranging from a self-replicating machine that writes novels to a woman whose house is broken into by mute dwarf that is being hunted by the police. Each text is followed by an English translation and a summary, which also has its own translation. This is then followed by a list of important vocabulary covered in the text and then by five reading comprehension questions to test how well you understood the text. All Japanese is covered with furigana. 

Intermediate Japanese Short Stories (2021)

This intermediate version contains almost the exact same features as the beginners, but with one added twist: there is no translation for each main text. This means that learners cannot rely on a translation to help them, and must instead use their own understanding of the text to answer the comprehension questions. The ten texts are considerably harder than the beginners version and cover topics ranging from short horror stories to brief biographies on famous Japanese figures. Like the beginners version, all Japanese is covered with furigana.

 

誕生日

 慶太岩原より

こんにちは、みなさん！！そしてお久しぶりです！けいたです！

いきなりですが、今週の23日火曜日は僕の誕生日でした。イギリスに住んでいる皆さんは遠く離れた日本の誕生日の祝い方は全く違うんじゃないかと思われているかもしれませんが、僕はそんなに大きな違いはないと思います。日本での誕生日の祝い方は様々です。僕が小学生の時は人をたくさん呼んでパーティを開いてる子もいたし、僕みたいに友達は呼ばずに家族だけで過ごす人もいます。僕も2年前にホストファミリーの家でイギリスの誕生日の祝い方を経験しましたが、そんなに違いはなかった気がします。みんなでケーキを食べたり、プレゼントをもらったり、バースデーメッセージを書いたりなど…。バースデーメッセージといえば、イギリスではメッセージカードがいろんなお店で売られていますが、日本ではあまり見ません。全く書かないと言うわけではありませんが、Cardfactforyの様なメッセージカード専門店は僕は日本で見たことがありません。ここはもしかしたら大きな違いかもしれませんね。

バースデーソングですが、実は日本の歌も英語のものをそのまま訳しただけのものです。「ハッピバースデートゥユー♪」って歌います。これはHappy Birthday to youをそのままカタカナに変えただけです。でもこの事実から考察すると、もしかしたら日本の場合は誕生日文化を欧米から輸入しているのかもしれませんね。

みなさんの誕生日も最高のものになるといいですね。

Four Books for Japanese Reading Practice

 By Tom Wilkinson-Gamble

Are you looking to improve your Japanese reading skills but don’t feel confident enough to jump headfirst into that volume of manga you bought from eBay or that novel you scoured Amazon for? Then this is the list for you. 

Japanese Stories for Language Learners (2018)

As probably the easiest of the four books, Japanese Stories for Language Learners is one in a series of Asian-language study books published by Tuttle. The others being Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Indonesian, Tagalog, Thai and Vietnamese. The book contains numerous extras to help you with your studies. Every story has not just an English translation but translation notes, a vocabulary list and reading comprehension and discussion questions. As an added bonus, it also comes with a CD containing audio versions of all five stories. This means that, if you want to practice both your reading and listening comprehension together, you are able to try a sort of audio-assisted reading using the CD. If you have an interest in Japanese mythology, it is worth noting that this is the only book to contain stories written before the 20th century. The introduction contains a brief overview and analysis of each story. 

This book contains five stories:

• Urashima Taro (Unknown, c. 8th century)
• Snow Woman (Unknown c. 14th century)
• The Spider's Thread (Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, 1918)
• The Siblings Who Almost Drowned (Takeo Arishima, 1921)
• Gauche the Cellist (Kenji Miyazawa, 1934)

Breaking into Japanese Literature (2012)

The first of the two Giles Murray books on this list, Breaking into Japanese Literature contains four stories in seven chapters. One of the stories, Natsume Sōseki's Ten Nights of Dreams is in four parts. Each of the seven chapters contains an introductory page explaining the story and its relation to the rest of the author's work. Both writers, Natsume Sōseki and Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, receive their own biographies, containing information about both their professional lives as writers and their personal lives. In terms of educational value, it does not contain any comprehension questions, but every chapter is followed by a vocabulary table, allowing you to revise the words you've just practiced. It also uses furigana in a way that forces the reader to memorise the readings of kanji by showing every reading only once.  

This book contains four stories, one of which is in four parts:

• 1st, 3rd, 5th & 7th nights of Ten Nights of Dreams (Natsume Sōseki, 1908)
• In a Grove (Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, 1922)
• The Nose (Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, 1916)
• Rashōmon (Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, 1915)

Exploring Japanese Literature (2013)

The second of the two Giles Murry books is almost identical to its predecessor in every way other than its different selection of stories. Exploring contains works from Yukio Mishima and Yasunari Kawabata, a change from the same late-Meiji/early-Taisho era seen in the previous two books. Like Breaking, it contains the same biographies and vocabulary lists. 

This books contains three stories:

• Snow Country (Yasunari Kawabata, 1948)
• Patriotism (Yukio Mishima, 1960)
• The Secret (Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, 1911)

New Penguin Parallel Texts; Short Stories in Japanese (2011)

As what is probably the most challenging of the four, this book is a part of a much larger series of parallel texts by Penguin that includes Spanish, German, Italian, Chinese, French and Soviet/Russian. Short Stories in Japanese does not contain any of the more education aspects of the other three, other than an English translation; there are no reading comprehension questions, discussion questions or vocabulary lists. The book, however, does contain a very interesting introductory chapter discussing how the book was put together as well as an overview of each of the stories and their position with modern Japanese literature. Given the highly complex and philosophical nature of some of the stories selected, this is almost certainly the most difficult of the four. Yet, for for the same reasons, it is also possibly the most rewarding. 

This book contains eight stories:

• On the Efficacy of Fiction (Haruki Murakami, 1995)
• A Little Darkness (Banana Yoshimoto, 2000)
• Genjitsu House (Masayo Koike, 2004)
• The Silent Traders (Yūko Tsushima, 1982)
• Mogera Wogura (Hiromi Kawakami, 2001)
• The Maiden in the Manager (Kazushige Abe, 2004)
• Where the Bowling Pins Stand (Shinji Ishii, 2005)
• Love Suicide at Kamaara (Sueko Yoshida, 1984)

Amazon Links

• Japanese Stories for Language Learners (2018): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Japanese-Stories-Language-Learners-Bilingual/dp/4805314680
• Breaking into Japanese Literature (2012): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Breaking-Into-Japanese-Literature-Classics/dp/1568365896
• Exploring Japanese Literature (2013): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Exploring-Japanese-Literature-Tanizaki-Kawabata/dp/477003041X
• New Penguin Parallel Texts; Short Stories in Japanese (2011): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Short-Stories-Japanese-Penguin-Parallel/dp/0143118331/

日本とイギリスの共通点

慶太岩原より

こんにちはみなさん！

ようやく第二回目の記事を出すことができました。おまたせしてすいません…！

さて、今週の火曜日のセッションでは日本語レッスンを行いましたが、その後半ですこし、「日本とイギリスの共通点」というテーマでディスカッションを行ってもらいました。

一番ポピュラーなものとして出ていたのがロイヤルファミリーの存在でした。日本には皇室がありイギリスには王室があります。両国ともそれぞれの存在によって政治の仕組みが、ほかの国々と比べると少しユニークなものになっているのは事実で、「共通点」というテーマで取り上げるものとしては最も興味深いものかもしれません。

ですが他にもたくさんあります。例えば車は日本もイギリスも左側を走行し、ハンドルは右側の席についていますね。（これは日本がイギリスの交通制度をまねたからという説があるらしい。）車の前についているボンネットもアメリカではHoodですが、イギリスでは同じBonnetと呼ぶようで、ほかにも車にかかわる様々な種類のパーツはすべて日本ではイギリスの呼び方になっています。＊日本にはラウンドアバウトはありません。

共通点はまだまだあります！お茶文化、礼儀、皮肉、自虐、島国、エスカレーターははじに寄る、など。政治的な話では、議院内閣制（二大政党制）もそうですね。

みなさんもこの視点で日本について勉強してみるのも面白いかもしれません！

Two Japanese Youtube Channels for Listening Practice: もしもしゆすけ & さきちゃんただいま

By Tom Wilkinson-Gamble

Do you want to improve your Japanese listening comprehension, but can't find any good listening resources? Then this is the article for you. 

もしもしゆすけ (Moshi Moshi Yusuke)

Started in March 2019, Yusuke's channel contains three types of videos; File/Monologue videos, Conversation videos and No-Dialogue videos. The most numerous, and probably most useful, type of video are the File/Monologue videos. These involve Yusuke walking around some kind of public area, usually somewhere like a train station, book shop or restaurant, whilst providing a voice over. Each of these videos focus on a different part of Japanese society that foreigners would have to deal with in their travels. They include topics such as; Suica-cards, public transport, convenience stores and eating out. This allows learners to easily pick a certain video if they are looking for a certain range of vocabulary. The second type of video are the Conversation videos. These are a sort of interview with other Japanese speakers, some of which are Japanese and some of which are foreigners. These videos do not focus on a specific topic and so the vocabulary used can vary. However, they are still useful as a conversation between two fluent speakers sounds very natural and so can be good to study from. The last category, No-Dialogue, only contains two videos. As their name suggests, there is no voice-over from Yusuke and so have very little educational use. However, they are still entertaining as they contain interesting shots of Tokyo and Asakusa. Excluding these two videos, all other contain four types of subtitles; English, hiragana, katakana and, after Sayuri Conversation 3, kanji . This means that, should the listening be to difficult, you can follow along with the subtitles as a sort of audio-assisted reading . Yusuke's channel is extremely useful for listening practice and his vlog-style of videos on a wide range of topics help to keep learners motivated and engaged. 

さきちゃんただいま (Saki-Chan Tadaima)

Saki-Chan's channel is virtually identical to Yusuke's. She uses the same format of walking through streets or in the middle of a large city, while providing a voice-over that is also displayed in English as well as hiragana and katakana subtitles. The main difference, however, is that, unlike Yusuke, she does not seem to create videos based on specific themes. All but one of her videos is her conversing with a friend, usually in a café or restaurant. This, however, is not necessarily a bad thing, as her videos provide a calming, almost comfy, atmosphere. Although her channel is far smaller than Yusuke's, I'm confident that she has a good future ahead of her as a youtuber. 

Links
Yusuke: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcCeJ3pQYFgvfVuMxVRWhoA

Saki-Chan: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_ZrBzYZRYIKEl3naLM4QBw 

プロフィール:岩原慶汰

慶太岩原より

こんにちは、みなさん！

日本文化サークルの新しい会長になった岩原慶汰と申します！

これが僕にとっての初めての記事になりますが、僕は会長として月に１～２回のペースでここに日本語で記事を書いていきます。これらは日本語中級～上級レベルの皆さんの日本語学習に役立てるほか、サークルに実際に来ることができなくても日本文化について親しみを持てるように設計されていますので、ぜひ参考にしてみてください。

さて、恥ずかしいですが、記念すべき初めての記事は僕自身について手短に書いていきたいと思います。僕は現在バンガー大学二年生で法律を学んでいます。サッカーが大好きで、日本にいた時からプレミアリーグを観ており、それがイギリスに来た大きな原因になっています。日本に興味のある皆さんのほとんどは漫画やアニメがきっかけであることが多いと思いますが、僕は逆にアニメについての知識が全くありません。僕はアニメについて語れませんが、ジャパニーズソサイエティではアニメや漫画について話せるたくさんの友達がいるはずですので、是非遊びに来てくださいね。

日本語の記事について何かリクエストがあればいつでも教えてください。