Miles' Japanese Blog!

 Hello, this is a random post, not for any specific assignment, but I wanted to talk about my experience watching an anime that aired this summer: Nippon Sangoku . Its premise is unique: it's set in a post-apocalyptic Japan reduced to Meiji-era technology and social structures. The main character isn't the stereotypical strong guy who wins through physical force; instead, he's a cunning strategist who's able to leverage his intelligence and achieve his goals. There are lots of historical references, since the main character is trying to reunify Japan, like names of old generals and battles. As for more language-related things, I was happy to be able to understand bits and pieces of the conversation, especially when the dialogue was shorter. Whenever they would talk fast or use complex sentence structures with lots of unknown vocabulary, I would get lost. As I learn more Japanese, I'm sure it will be easier over time.   

 こんにちはみんなさん、今日私は一番グリルドチーズの作り方をせつめいします。材料はパンとアメリカのチーズとメキシコのチーズとバターです。まず、パンにバターをつけてから、一分間フライパンでパンをやきます。次に、やいたパンにアメリカのチーズとメキシコのチーズを挟んでください。それから、すべてをフライパンに入れてから、十五っ分やきます。最後に、食べます！美味しくて、かんたんなグリルドチーズのできあがります。

 こんにちは！　ウッドストックのバーモント州は私が好きな所です。中学の時、家族と初めてそこに行きました。ふゆだから、とても寒くて、たくさん雪が降りました。でも、白い山はきれいな景色でした。毎日、いもうととホテルのにわで遊んでから、暑いココアを飲みました。次行く時、秋でした。素晴らし林檎ののうじょうによりました。二三の食べた、甘かったです！森は赤とオレンジと黄色 です。私のゆめはもう一度ウッドストックに帰ることです。

わたしの夏休みはとても忙しかったです。夏休みの間、レンタカーの店でインターンをしました。テキサスの暑い天気の中で、毎日10時間か11時間働きました。 週末は友達と遊びました。映画をたくさん見て、ゲームもたくさんしました。とても楽しかったです。 夏休みの終わりに、家族とカリフォルニアへ行きました。祖父母の家に行きました。ビーチと山でゆっくりしました。景色がとてもきれいでした。

 I'm happy to say my second semester taking Japanese at Notre Dame was even more enjoyable than my first, even though there was a slight increase in the difficulty of grammar topics and kanji covered. This was due to the practicality of the stuff we were learning; now that the basics of hiragana, katakana, and simple tenses were out of the way, we could start ordering food and making plans to meet up. Since I'll be in Japan for my first time less than a month now for my semester abroad, the material seemed more relevant than ever, and I was eager to absorb as much as I could this semester before I went. I thought the pace of the material was good, not too fast as to give us enough time for each topic to set in through repetition. I struggled a bit more to keep up with the homework compared to Elementary I, but this was completely on me and my lack of time management. I'm excited to learn plenty of Japanese over the next 5-6 months, both in my next class and the real world!

  サンクスギビングはどうでしたか。どこで、だれと、何をしましたか。 サンクスギビング の やつみ、私 は Dallas に いきました。おじのへやでばんごはんをたべまし た。私のかそくといとことおばとおじがいました。それから、ともだちとコンサートにいきました。だから、やすみはとてもたのしかったです！

What do you think kyudo is? If you already know something about it, please write it down.  I would have no knowledge of what kyudo is, but I heard ふせ-sensee refer to it as "The Art of the Bow," which kind of spoils the main topic of this activity. I'd assume there's the obvious metric of accuracy involved, as well as some more subjective, cultural measures of skill such as form. What do you think you need to do to become good at kyudo?  I know archery generally requires strong arm and back muscles, especially when using heavier bows that need a shocking amount of force to pull back. Muscle memory, formed over lots of consistent practice, requires dedication and a mind that's focused on improving slowly but surely, which are traits helpful for mastering most physical skills. What questions would you like to ask our guest kyudo teacher at the event? - What was the most impressive shot you've seen someone make? - What's, in your opinion, the biggest factor th...

 For this blog post, I wanted to write about my time watching the first few episodes of Vinland Saga, a historical anime that is set in Medieval Europe during the time of the Vikings. I've read the manga before, and enjoyed the strong character writing and detailed art, so I figured the show was worth watching after putting it off for a while. Our main protagonist, Thorfinn, is still a young boy during these first few episodes though, as the story follows his whole life and his relationship/view of the world.  There were plenty of historical/old-timey words that were used that I couldn't see coming up too often in the classroom or in casual conversation, such as "slave, siege, viking," some of which were katakana loan words that didn't sound too far off from their english counterparts. Basic sentence structure stood out to me in places ("blank" は "blank" です）, and some other verbs/nouns we've covered, like 人 and 大きい. I can't wait to have...

 あきやすみ は、どうで したすか。なにをしましたか。 私のあきやすみはまあまあつまらなかったです。しゅうしん に いきませんでした。Dillon Hall で とても ゲーム をしました。ちょっと べんきょをしました。でも、一ともだちとあそびました。だから、あきやすみはたいへんじゃなかったです！ 

 For this Japanese video blog post, I'll be covering my viewing of Ponyo, one of my favorite Ghibli films, and an incredibly special one to me at that. It was my first Ghibli film, and perhaps anime, when I watched it for the first time as a child on my cousins' farm around early elementary school age. I have fond memories of watching it around the campfire on a projector screen, and I'm happy to say it was just as good all these years later, with the beautiful depictions of marine life and the majesty of the ocean still holding up. It follows the free-spirited Ponyo as she escapes her home in the sea and crosses paths with a boy named Sosuke, and all the ensuing chaos that follows as magical/supernatural forces are thrown out of balance. This might've been my first time watching this movie with the original Japanese audio; however, since I am quite a fan of Studio Ghibli's high-quality English dubs. The voices were obviously slightly different from what I remembere...

 For this Japanese watching blog post, I'll be discussing my experiences watching episodes 1151 and 1152 of One Piece. The Egghead Island Arc is wrapping up, and the Strawhat crew is barely managing to escape the 5 immeasurably strong Gorosei thanks to the help of their allies, the giants and the Vegapunks. The most notable thing that happened in these episodes was Bonney realizing that Luffy was the reincarnation of Nika, the Sun God she'd been hoping would save her throughout her sad, tragic life. She's able to then channel that energy herself, gaining power she wouldn't have otherwise had, using her Future-Future Fruit to distort her future to "the one where I'm the most free" and gains similarly absurd Gear 5 powers as Luffy. It was incredibly cathartic to see her rise up against Saint Saturn, the evil demon who'd been causing her suffering, and finally be able to strike back against him thanks to our protagonist.  Language-wise, I felt that I was ...

1. こんしゅうは　どうでしたか。いそがしかったですか。  私のこんしゅうはとてもしゅくだいでした。だから、いそがしかったです。でも、ともだちとゲーム をしました。だから、こんしゅうはまあまあたのしかったです。 2. しゅうまつ　なにを {しますか／しましたか}。 しゅうまつ、Alen Galaura とChicago に いきます。それから、とても べんきょうをします。にほごやびじねすやエコノミックスやすうがくはべんきょうをします。しゅうまつはとてもいそがしいです！

 For this week's blog post, I'll be discussing my experience watching episodes 八 and 九 of DanDaDan 's Season 二 with Japanese audio and English subtitles.  DanDaDan (ダンダダン) is a hard anime/manga to describe, as it seems like your typical action-shonen but with a surprisingly interesting developing romance between the two protagonists that keeps the general plot going. There's some trope subversion which makes the viewing experience enjoyable, along with the series' random sense of humor and its cool fusion of supernatural powers and science fiction. In the first episode, Okarun and Aira have a brief clash against the spirits of classical musicians late at night in the band room of their school, and Okarun returns stronger from the ordeal to fight the cursed spirit Evil Eye that is possessing his friend Jiji. The second episode I watched mainly consisted of the following fight. I was understanding bits and pieces like my experience last time watching One Piece , but ...

 しゅうまつ、なにを　しましたか。 私 は バンドです。だから、しゅうまつ  どようびに ノートルダム Football Game にいきました。にちようびに、べんきょうをしました や テレビ を みました。こんしゅは たいへん です！

 For this blog post, I'll be discussing episodes 1141 and 1142 of  One Piece , an anime/manga that's very popular around the world. The former episode ended on a cliffhanger with the insidious Caribou finally crossing paths with the deadly crew of Blackbeard, armed with a ton of information that is about to fall into the worst possible hands. There was a break the next week, so I had to wait twice as long for this to be resolved. I watched these episodes in Japanese with English subtitles, and although I wasn't able to recognize a lot of the vocabulary used, I was starting to recognize some sentence structures and certain common words/particles. I've noted in a previous entry that some of the characters' exaggerated or silly voices make it harder to follow along with what's being said, but it just takes some getting used to. I'm looking forward to understanding more and having fewer gaps in my knowledge!

1. Introduction はじめまして！わたしのなまえは Miles Thornburg です。私 は Notre Dame だいがう の 三ねんせです。 私 の せんこうは ビジネス です。おんがくとあにめがすきです。 どうぞよろしくおねがいします。 2. Goals for the Semester Since I'll be studying abroad in Nagoya, Japan, for my spring semester this year, I really want to get as familiar with speaking and reading Japanese as possible to have the best experience during my time there. I aim to master the material covered in Elementary Japanese I and expand my vocabulary and grammatical understanding of the language. Kanji is another huge beast that I have barely scratched the surface of. I'm looking forward to gaining more knowledge about the Japanese language while getting more experience speaking and writing it in class.

 This semester has flown by, and Japanese was one of my favorite classes. To be completely honest, in high school, foreign language was one of my least favorite topics, but now that I know I'll be studying abroad in less than a year, there's been an interest and excitement in my studies that I haven't felt in most of my other classes. I really enjoyed ふせ せんせい's approach to teaching, and it was apparent he was invested in our learning of the material. I knew I wanted to take him again for the next class as soon as I realized I had the chance. I was not struggling to complete the homework in time before the removal of the late penalty, but afterwards, as the material got harder, I appreciated having the extra time to complete it. I never felt overworked in this class, but I still felt like we covered a lot from when I first barely knew anything other than some basic hiragana. I will definitely study ahead a bit in the Tobira textbook over the summer, just to get a jumpsta...

1)  ぼくは 四人 ともだちと はるやすみに South Dakota にりょこうしました。ともだちのうちにいきました。それから、Badlands National パーク をりょこうしました。私 はとても しゃしんをとりました。 2) しゅうまつに どようびに おばやおじと  レストランで  ばんごはんを たべました。ぼくわ ピザを たべました。おばもピザを たべました。それから、おふるにはいりました。

For this blog post, I will discuss my time starting Yakuza: 0, an action-RPG from the popular Yakuza franchise. Video games were a new medium for me to be exposed to the Japanese language, and I chose this series partially for its strong narrative and cinematic storytelling, which would give me plenty of dialogue to listen to. The start of the game was pretty exposition-heavy, as the game was introducing me to the cast of characters, the dynamics between them, and setting up the inciting incident that will jump-start the overarching plot. I had a fun time reading random bits of katakana and hiragana on the neon signage as I walked around Kamurocho, a fictional district in Tokyo, and could even walk into a few コービニ to buy various food and drinks to heal/improve my character. I felt I was still very reliant on subtitles to understand what was being said the vast majority of the time, thanks to my small vocabulary and the speed at which the characters spoke. I will most certainly keep pla...

わたし の しゅうまつ は とても よっかたですた。どようびに いえで にほんご や すうがくを べんきょうしました。それから、ともだちと デパートで かいものを しました。にちようびに ばんに ぱあちにいきました。ともだちとあいました。