The Honeymoon is Over

If any of you out there are still RSSed up, you will have noticed that we've been a little lax in our updating schedule as of late. To be more precise we have failed to post absolutely anything at all for over 6 months.

I want to talk to you about that some, if that's cool.

See, when I started this blog, I was absolutely smitten with everything about Japanese. Every day, I was discovering charming little quirks that only endeared me more, and I wanted to tell EVERYONE about it. I wanted to SHOUT IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS, like

"OMG you guys, Japanese did the CUTEST thing the other day, you'll never believe it."

I was, for the most part, just happy being with Japanese.

Yeah, we had our squabbles. Some literally brought me to tears. But that's inevitable when you embark on a new life together. There are gonna be some bumps in the road. If you're stubborn and overly proud like me, sometimes you'll just straight up crash into a wall.

But I was in love, and I did everything I possibly could to make it work.

That was

four

fucking

years ago.

I'm here to tell you that the honeymoon is officially over.

Oh, I'm still happy. I still "love" Japanese and all, but it's a different kind of thing.

We've gotten used to each other. We've had years together, and those years have taken away some of our luster. Some of our passion.

I'm no longer at the point where I'm thrilled every time I discover some new little feature or detail. Japanese's dimples are starting to look like pockmarks.

No, it's more like I'm at the point where time has helped me learn the right approach to get Japanese to do what I want it to... sometimes.

I wouldn't say we're in a rut, but I've definitely got my share of pet peeves.

Like, even though I'm still fucking mystified when Japanese just suddenly turns on me, for seemingly no reason at all, somehow, it knows how to push all of my buttons, at all the wrong times.

And if I can confess something here, it's seriously starting to aggravate me that no matter how much time I spend on foreplay, I always seem to get shut down when I suggest that we try going for 1級。

The point I'm trying to make here is twofold:

One: learning Japanese is like having sex with the same person for a long time.
Two: I clearly don't know when to end poorly-constructed metaphors.

Oh, and I'm bringing the blog back.

So, I guess, threefold.

To be continued tomorrow....

Manly Japanese

1級 Grammar: 11-15

ADMINISTRATORS' NOTE:

We're doing our best to prepare for, and hopefully, to help you prepare for the 日本語能力試験１級, but please remember: 1級, by its very nature, consists of grammar that is difficult, highly nuanced, and most of the time, rarely used in regular conversations. That's why it's important that you use our posts as references, to be compared with other study sources, and even more important that you CHECK THE COMMENTS after each post. We're lucky to receive corrections and clarifications from native speakers and other foreigners more knowledgeable than we, and they don't always make it back into the body of the post. Thanks, and 頑張って！

1級 Grammar 11-15:

Rerunning points 11-15, revised explanations and examples, hopefully less half-assed and more accurate than before.

11. ～が早いか
~ no sooner... than
~ as soon as

There are two things that seem to separate 「が早いか」 from similar ２級 points 「かと思うと」 and 「～か～ないかのうちに」. First, all of the book's examples for 「が早いか」 describe things that occur in an objectively short time span:

"As soon as she heard the news, she turned pale."
"As soon as the bell rang, the kids cleared their desks and left."
"As soon as my son had stuck his head in the door and said 「ただ今」, he dropped his backpack and ran off to play."

You can literally imagine all of these things happening in a matter of a few seconds, while the old examples for 「かと思うと」include "Christmas has just ended and it's already New Years." Or "As soon as I finish this job, the boss will give me another one." for 「～か～ないかのうちに.」 I get the sense that the old grammar points lend themselves better to subjective ideas of how fast time has passed. 「が早いか」 seems designed for things that can be objectively established as happening almost at once.

Second, according to the book sentences that include 「が早いか」 end, most often, with verbs in the past tense. The others are not so restricted.

You use it by adding it onto the dictionary form of a verb.

Ex. 散歩に行こうと決めるが早いか、雨が降ってきた。



12. ～からある
~ as many as
~ more than

「か らある」 gets defined as 「もある」, to be used especially in cases when you want to emphasize how large the number is, relatively of course. It seems straightforward enough.

Ex.言語500種類からあるインドという国は歴史が長く、深い文化を持つ国です。

13. ～きらいがある
~ to have a tendency to

I don't know whether or not it's related, but the fact that 「きらい」 is a part of this grammar point makes it easier to remember that it's only used to express a negative judgement about that tendency. Also, it's not used to talk about things like "a tendency to get sick," or a "tendency to miss work" (use ～がちだ for those), but for talking about the essential nature of a person.

Often used in the same sentence as phrases like 「ともとすると」 and 「とかく。」 Use it with the dictionary form of a verb, of following a noun + の.

Ex. インターネットで、簡単に仲間と連絡のやり取りはできるし、色んな情報をすぐ調べることもできるので、本当に便利なものだと思います。しかし僕みたいな若者は、ともするとインターネットに頼りすぎるきらいがあるでしょう。

14. ～極まる　・　～極まりない
~extremely
~ exceedingly
We've talked about 極める in our other posts. It means "to take something to the extreme," and can be used to talk about "mastering," or "perfecting" something. In this case, it only gets used negatively, and only shows up in writing, according to the book.　It expresses a very STRONG judgement.

極まりない is like a stronger version of 「嫌だ,」 or 「不愉快だ.」 It expresses the same idea.

The format for it is : （な形容詞　・　名詞１）＋極まる＋名詞２

or: 　（な形容詞　・　名詞１）＋極まる　・　極まりない　(and you can end the clause here, or add another めいし）.

This ones a bit hard, so here are some book examples.
その小説を読んでみたが、平凡極まるストーリーで、がっかりした。
I tried to read that book, but the story was so extremely cliche that I was disappointed.
電車が近づいているのに、踏切を渡るとは、危険極まりない。
Crossing the tracks while the train is approaching is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS.

And mine:

Ex.授業妨害や苛めなどのような失礼極まる行為を許せません。

15. ～ごとき　・　～ごとく
~ like
~ as
～のような
～のように

This is another one that is only used in writing, and is a very formal way of saying things. Besides that, it doesn't seem very difficult.

名詞　（with or withoutの）+ ごとき + 名詞

or

名詞　＋　ごとく　＋（形容詞・動詞）

Ex. 皆様のごとき日本人が私たちの変な日本語をいつも丁寧に訂正して下さることに感謝しています。

Japan: The Strange Country

This is an awesome video that a student named Kenichi made as his final thesis project. Not only is it great on a graphic design level, but the content is pretty interesting. Check it out. English version available on Vimeo if you want it.


Japan - The Strange Country (Japanese ver.) from Kenichi on Vimeo.

三寒四温

さんかんしおん
san kan shi on

Pretty much everything about winter weather pisses me off, but nothing gets under my skin quite so much as the big Spring Tease we're suffering through in Japan this year.

It was a brutally cold winter and the first time in 4 years I've seen snow stick in Saga. And it didn't just stick, we had 13cms. And after that it started getting warm, I stopped wearing gloves and long underwear (お爺ちゃんパンツ, as my girlfriend calls them), then BAM! Snow again!

Then it jumped up into the 20s last week, but today and yesterday, I was back to using the はる　ほっかいろ that keep me alive during the worst parts of winter.

Talking about this weather with my co-workers, I found out that not only is this weather an annually expected phenomenon, BUT there's a 四字熟語 for it.

Definition:
冬季に寒い日が三日ほど続くと、そのあと四日ほど温暖な日が続き、また寒くなるというように7日周期で寒暖が繰り返される現象
Translation:
Specific to the transition between winter and spring, cold weather that gets warm for a few days, then cold again.
Literally: 3 days of cold, 4 days of hot.

What's more, generally the cold days during a 三寒四温 period are characterized by clear sunny weather, and the warm days are gray and wet. Absolutely true of this week!

For your practical purposes, you can stop reading here. If you're a "knowing stuff" dork like me, please read on.

The original expression comes from China of course, by way of Korea, because the phenomenon is much more common there. This is due to what's called the "Siberian High," a collection of cold dry air. It goes through cycles of growing weak and strong, which are thought to cause the vascillation between warm and cold as winter ends and spring begins. However, Japan feels the effects of not only the Siberian High, but also the Pacific High, equally dry, but subtropical, so not cold.

Because Japan deals with the two, 三寒四温 is not as regularly occurring as it is in China or Korea. It's more of a "Will it happen this year or not?" kind of thing.

Also of note, in recent years the phrase has started to be used to talk about the beginning of spring when the air pressure alternates between high and low, and warm weather starts. While you can't call this incorrect, it's not the original meaning.

As far as examples of use go, this one is pretty much a stand alone thing. Like if someone said "It's so cold today, but it was warm yesterday," I'd be all like "三寒四温。" The End.

Japanese Cultural Trivia of the Day:

So yesterday was Hina Matsuri in Japan.

Hina Matsuri, is referred to as both "Doll Festival" or "Girl's Day" in English, and no, not because of any sexist business about girls liking dolls. The festival is held to pray/hope for the healthy and happy upbringing of female children, and the dolls represent the Japanese Imperial Court, in traditional Heian dress.

The dolls are believed to be able to contain bad spirits, which leads us to today's bit of trivia.

Today many younger Japanese families don't keep up with this practice. About half of the female students in my classes report that their households don't set up the dolls. A handful find the dolls themselves creepy and weird.

But the families who do still have a set of dolls that they display, usually keep one set year round, putting them out for the festival, and taking them down soon after.

The original tradition, still practiced widely, is called "hina-nagashi," in which straw dolls were placed on a boat and set afloat on a river, carrying the bad spirits away with them. In modern cases where putting a bunch of straw and wood in a publicly or commercially used river is not a good idea, some shrines send the dolls out to sea, collect them, bring them back in, and burn them.

I suspect that the families who re-use the often expensive dolls instead of burning them or sending them away, hope that a year in the closet between use will give them time to digest the "troubles" that they are supposed to absorb. But the knowledge that you're NOT supposed to keep them around may live on in a popular superstition. It's one that I just learned about this year, and it inspired the entire post: If you don't put away your Hina Dolls in a timely manner, you won't be able to marry off your daughters!

The origins of this superstition seem pretty old, but from what I've found online, it seems like they have their roots in two places. The first is just what I said above. Moving your troubles into the dolls doesn't help you any if you keep them around after. The second is more interesting for fans of words.

It's kind of a play on the multiple meanings of the word 片付く(かたづく； katazuku), which can made into the transitive verb 片付ける、meaning "to clean up," or "put in order" which is what you have to do to the dolls. But it can also mean "to be married off," which is what you can do with your daughters, if you clean up the dolls on time!

「雛人形を早く片付けるほど娘が早く実家から片付く！」

Japanese Language Trivia of the Day

As soon as I heard this at work today, I knew it had to go on this site. It's exactly the kind of language trivia that keeps me fascinated with Japanese, despite its unforgiving brutality.

(1級 studies are not progressing well)

狐の嫁入り
きつね　の　よめいり
kitsune no yomeiri

Fox wedding; sun-shower

Looking at both the literal translation and the application of this expression side by side, you can imagine how quickly I went running to the internet to find out what was up with this. I got all kinds of folklore-y goodness.

Turns out that this is, as Japanese wikipedia calls it, a "strangeness" of a tale that has been handed down since at least the beginning of the Edo Period (1603) and is known all over Japan, with the exceptions of Okinawa and Hokkaido, where marriage between foxes has yet to be legalized.


On certain nights, just before you fall asleep, you might see a procession of red glowing, flickering lights in the woods, a phenomenon called 狐火 in Japanese: "fox fire." Similar to what we call St. Elmo's fire, or will-o-the-wisp, it can usually only be seen from far away.

Japanese people used to say that the lights were made by a procession of 提灯 (hanging lanterns) carried by foxes on the way to a wedding (except in Tokushima-ken, where they figured the somber atmosphere was more likely that of a funeral procession).

There's even an actually recorded (which is not to say true) incident of a wedding during the Edo Period, in which a ferry-master was paid a large sum of money to commission and prepare numerous boats to ferry guests, procession style, over to the wedding. Everything went of without a hitch, but the next day, he found that all of the money he received had turned into leaves. People said that the wedding had been between the families of two Inari-shrines, famous for employing tricksy foxes as spirit-messengers.

So there's all that.

And then the connection to weather? Well, according to the folklore, strange weather heralds fox nuptials. Depending on the region, the exact kind of weather can be different (rainbows in Kumamoto, hail in Aichi), but raining while the sun's out is mostly widely accepted as the sign, hence the expression.

What I want to know is, if the foxes have to get married when the sun's out, what's the deal with the lantern processions at night?