Toluu

Tofugu.com

A Wonky Japanese Culture and Language Blog

Join Koichi Live for a Free Online Lecture on Learning JapaneseOctober 11

EduFire has been testing out something really cool, called “one-to-many,” which allows teachers on the site to teach to up to 99 students at once. I’ve done this once (thank you to all who came to that one!) and will be doing it again, this time inviting the readers of Tofugu to try it out. It’s currently in beta stages, which means it’s free for you to join in and try it out. I want to push the system, and see what it can do!

I’ll be doing two lectures. One on Monday, and the other on Tuesday. The title is: “10 FREE Online Tools for Learning Japanese,” which means all sorts of Japanese levels will get something out of this. Both the lectures will be the same, but one is made for the American time zone, and the other for the Europeans (or Americans without jobs). The time will show up in your local time, as long as you complete your account properly. Feel free to join whichever one is more convenient for you. There’s a lot of space available in the Europe one, but only around 60 spots left in the American. If you sign up, please be sure to come, so you aren’t taking someone’s potential seat.

Ready? You can see both of my lectures on this page. Remeber, this secti

Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide ReviewOctober 9

Matt Alt from AltJapan sent me this book he and Hiroko Yoda wrote about Japanese monsters. He must have known of my infatuation (perhaps long-term romance is another word) with Godzilla and other monsters, so of course, I enjoyed going through it immensely.

The great thing about this book is the general feel of it. It’s the size of a normal Japanese book (which tend to be smaller and sexier), but it also reminds me of manga that you would find in Japan. Still, on the other hand, the inside is more like a book (though with tons of pictures). The illustrations are really great, and the content is a mix between “facts” and “stories,” which is something I dig as a blogger (separating out information into categories makes things easier to read!).

There’s a little over forty “Yokai” featured in this book, all consisting of a few pages each (including illustration) spanning five chapters (Ferocious Fiends, Gruesome Gourmets, Annoying Neighbors, The Sexy & Slimy, and The Whimps

Foreigner Skinny-Dips at the Imperial Palace: Why?October 7

Have you heard about the crazy gaijin-related incident that happened today? I wouldn’t be surprised if you have; it’s getting a ton of media coverage at the moment. Rightly so, too, as this level of crazy deserves talking about. If you haven’t, here’s a quick run-down of the events that took place:

Apparently, a British man was visinging the Japanese Imperial Palace (皇居 or kouyo) with a Spanish tour group this morning when he decided to take a brisk swim in the palace’s moat, possibly to retrieve someone’s bag that had fallen in. When workers tried to approach the man (via rowboat) to tell him to knock it off, instead of complying, he threw largish rocks at them and swam off. Eventually he became such a nuisance that 50 law enforcers were called in to apprehend him with a motley collection of ballistic shields, safety barriers, and whatever other stick-like things were handy. And, if that’s not ridiculous enou

DragonBall (2009) Live Action Film: Makes Super Mario Bros Seem Oscar-worthyOctober 7

I bet a lot of you have heard about this. James Wong is directing a live action version of DragonBall (and probably going to ruin his career in the process, though there isn’t much to ruin when you directed Final Destination 3). Not since Ramen Girl has anyone tried to ruin a perfectly good Japanese story so unforgivably. Though, I suppose, at least Dragonball will have that potential to become a good drinking game. It has that going for it. Erin brought this to my attention a while ago, when it was still in rumors-ville, but recently, when a trailer actually came out, I decided that it needed a little more attention. We’ll be showing you the trailer a little further down. But first, we have to show you the cast. Try not to throw up in your mouths.

Goku: Justin Chatwin

Okay, so Goku had dark hair back in the day, so Justin’s got that part right. After that, he’s got absolutely nothing. Nothing. He’s a skinny lit

DragonBall 2009 (video)October 7