Typing in Japanese!

こんばんは！

(If my hearty "good evening" above just looks like a bunch of rectangles or question marks, then you need some help installing Japanese character sets.)

Nana and I finally caved in and got iPhones last week. Language learning was a huge part of the decision: there's no real substitute for carrying a huge dictionary, a big stack of customizable flashcards, and pretty much the whole Internet on a device that fits in your pocket. Plus, typing in Japanese on the thing is totally cool. You can even draw in kanji - provided you know the stroke order, and you don't have stupid fat fingers like mine.

Anyway, after futzing around with the Japanese on my iPhone for a while, I realized that there had to be some way to do the same thing with my laptop. Luckily, it turns out that adding input languages is a lot easier now than it was back in my days of trying to get Korean in Windows XP.

I won't go into detail - YesJapan has an excellent guide. All in all, it took less than ten minutes, and now I can write in Japanese!

Today's Japanese Lesson:

こんばんは

kon ban wa

"This evening [topic]"

Good evening!

Nagasaki Electric Tramway

Streetcars used to be pretty popular in Japan: with its high population density, Japan has a massive appetite for public transportation, and trams are a lot cheaper than subway lines. But trams also take up precious street space, and they're a lot less flexible than buses.

They're a great fit for a town like Nagasaki, though: too small for a full-blown subway, a bit too big and hilly for walking, and with a geography that severely limits the number of major road routes.

Hence the Nagasaki Electric Tramway, which is something of a tourist attraction in its own right.

The tram system has been running since 1914 and prides itself on never having lost any of its original lines. It's still the cheapest, fastest way around the city, and some of the older vehicles have a lot of charm. They don't seem to run on any discernible schedule (unusual for Japan), but we never waited more than a couple minutes before another car came rattling in.

Plus, if you ride out to the end of the line, you get little treats like this.

By the way, this isn't the first time Nana and I have blogged about riding public transit in style: check out our old post at The Educated Burgher on the stunning public buses of Malta.

Today's Japanese Lesson (offered at the request of a loyal reader):

Nagasaki-eki-ni ikimasu ka?

"Nagasaki-station-to go [question]?"

(Does this tram/train/bus/dirigible) go to Nagasaki Station?

The Toilets of Asia: Marina Town Mall

Today's featured toilet:

Gender: Female
Toilet type: Western seated
Special features: Toilet may be self-aware

We often refer to the Marina Town Mall as "the cheesy Southwestern mall" because of its unusual decor (the entrance is marked with a sign shaped like a saguaro cactus, and over the food court you have such oddities as a giant cowboy boot reading "Santa Fe"). What is most frightening about this mall, however, is the restroom. Innocuously clean and convenient... but then you enter the stall, and this happens:

(Note: I promise that the toilet in this video is not in use. There is nothing weird here except the toilet itself.)



So for those of you who didn't watch the video, or those of you who did, you get the point: Marina Town Mall has talking toilets. And if your level of Japanese is vaguely similar to mine, you will be able to figure out the first three words: "Kono toire wa," or "This toilet..." followed by ominous gibberish.

Here are some possible translations of the second half.

This toilet

... wants to know what you are doing, Dave.
... is hazy. Ask again later.
... says that the white zone is for immediate loading and unloading only. There is no parking in a white zone.
... shall fight on the beaches, shall fight on the landing grounds, shall fight in the fields and in the streets, shall fight in the hills; shall never surrender
... will self-destruct in ten seconds.

Please feel free to submit alternate translations.

PS. Video bonus: Yes, that is a midi version of Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" playing in the restroom.

October in Fukuoka

Looks like this. (At least at the beginning.)

Also, since I have an iPhone now, I can blog from the beach!

Friday Photos: Muromi Lantern Festival

Sometimes, Nana and I feel like we're wasting our time if we go somewhere we've already been. Why settle for re-runs when there's so much world to see? At other times, though, this kind of living feels a little superficial. How can you really get to know a place if you're always dashing off to something new?

We hadn't planned on going to the Muromi Lantern Festival this year. Don't get me wrong: last year's festival was a highlight of our early autumn. But we'd already seen it, so as the appointed weekend rolled around, with work piling up fast, we figured we'd probably give it a miss. At the last minute, though, a fortuitous burst of productivity and procrastination found us pedalling upriver, like moths to the flame.

And boy were we glad we did! It was a beautiful night, with a slight chill in the air, and lanterns flickering away as far as the eye could see. There's something so charming in the thought of this community, for no real reason beyond the sheer joy of fire and light, should turn the river into such a spectacle every year.

The heck with novelty - if we're here next year, I'm going back.

So anyway, here's the highlight reel from the evening.

Hard to see, but that thing in the upper-right is a dragonfly.

This is in honor of the Japanese women's soccer team, the "nadeshiko,"
which is also the name of the flower above.

This was the grand finale, at the far end of the display.
Seems to be some kind of boat.

The sail had the kanji for "treasure" on it.

Along the paths, they had little hand-colored lanterns,
made by students at the local middle school.

I was incredibly proud of myself for being able to decipher this one:
Muromi River Lantern Festival.

Wednesday Weirdness: Almond Jelly Dessert Drink

Japan has a very mature market in convenience store comestibles. Some people can - and do - subsist almost entirely on snacks and bento boxes from the local Family Mart.

The market is particularly robust, however, when it comes to "desert drinks." Not only can you find the standard Starbucks-type offerings, you can also find some more exotic stuff - plus some things that aren't properly drinks at all.

Enter almond jelly dessert milk.

Almond jelly is a fairly common Chinese dessert that is pretty popular throughout Asia. We suspected that this almond jelly drink might be more like almond-flavored milk, but no! It's just jelly, to be sipped through a straw.

Tasty, but certainly odd!

Okonomiyaki: Everything & the Kitchen Sink

A highly knowledgeable co-worker took us out for okonomiyaki the other night. 

Pictured: Wisdom and good taste.

It was, believe it or not, our first okonomiyaki experience.

Pictured: Inexperience and exuberance (left).

I have a theory that okonomiyaki must have been invented by a bachelor. The name itself basically means "throw whatever the heck you like on the grill." Batter? Noodles? Eggs? Scallions? Mayonnaise? Worcestershire sauce? Tomatoes? Cabbage? Seaweed? Squid? 

Inside the mind of a desperate man.

The result, like many things Japanese, is surprisingly tasty, but unlike most other Japanese food, okonomiyaki sits like a brick.

A trowel seems an appropriate tool.

 

When you go into an okonomiyaki place, there's a counter with a big grill like you'd see at a Japanese steak house in the US. You pick a variety - the variables are noodle type and topping - and the cooks slap it all down under a huge pancake on the grill. 

The art of the dish seems to consist of flipping it over repeatedly and staring at it with a vague look of concern. 

Also, all the eggs have two yolks. Just in case you were wondering if you should bring your appetite to the okonomiyaki joint.

BONUS: Nana and I went back for okonomiyaki this week, and we managed the whole transaction . . . in Japanese! We were even able to affirm that we'd been there before with our co-worker, who it turns out is something of a regular. Chalk up another minor victory in the long struggle to learn some of this language before we leave . . .