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Prophecy
Year 1: Boobs, The Wind, Baseball, Lederhosen, Eels, Monkeys, and Doves Year 2: Hotel Lobby Oysters, Condoms, Spinning Around and Around, 街・町, The Town and Its Uncertain Wall, A Short Piece on the Elephant that Crushes Heineken Cans Year…
それが
An interesting conjunction - How to Japanese - September 2023
How to Japanese Podcast – Episode 43 – それが
Ahoy! Here’s the podcast, kanjilubbers! This month I’m talking about the message behind the message, inspired in part by my high school calculus teacher, Dr. Collins. Check out…
Editing Norwegian Wood
Year 1: Boobs, The Wind, Baseball, Lederhosen, Eels, Monkeys, and Doves Year 2: Hotel Lobby Oysters, Condoms, Spinning Around and Around, 街・町, The Town and Its Uncertain Wall, A Short Piece on the Elephant that Crushes Heineken Cans Year…
Old Shoes
Year 1: Boobs, The Wind, Baseball, Lederhosen, Eels, Monkeys, and Doves Year 2: Hotel Lobby Oysters, Condoms, Spinning Around and Around, 街・町, The Town and Its Uncertain Wall, A Short Piece on the Elephant that Crushes Heineken Cans Year…
Booze Bus
Year 1: Boobs, The Wind, Baseball, Lederhosen, Eels, Monkeys, and Doves Year 2: Hotel Lobby Oysters, Condoms, Spinning Around and Around, 街・町, The Town and Its Uncertain Wall, A Short Piece on the Elephant that Crushes Heineken Cans Year…
The Closet Massacre
Welcome to Year 16 of Murakami Fest! This year, as hinted in last month’s newsletter and podcast, I’ll be continuing my look at 遠い太鼓 (Distant Drums), Murakami’s travel…
のだ
A subtle but important tip for written Japanese - How to Japanese - August 2023
How to Japanese Podcast – Episode 42 – のだ
I remember vividly learning how to use んだ in Japanese. My third year teacher did a section on storytelling/explaining, and she had us tell different stories over and…
漢字
Kanji strategies for rookies and veterans - How to Japanese - July 2023
How to Japanese Podcast – Episode 41 – Kanji
I have such good memories of the Fourth of July 2021. It was a perfect day in Chicago. Clear and warm but not hot, and when the sun…
How to Japanese Podcast – S03E10 – Review of The City and Its Uncertain Walls
It took me two months, but I finally got through my review of The City and Its Uncertain Walls. Here are my thoughts. The review itself is online…
The Stakes in “Tears of the Kingdom”
This year has been a bit of a wash so far in terms of my own productivity. I caught COVID in early January, fell into a Murakami hole…
村上
Immediate Reactions to Murakami's New Novel - How to Japanese - April 2023
How to Japanese Podcast – S03E09 – Immediate Reactions to Murakami’s New Novel
Good God, that’s Murakami Haruki’s music! 街とその不確かな壁 (The City and Its Uncertain Walls/The Town and Its Uncertain Wall) launched today in Japan, and holy moly, it’s a wild…
How to Japanese Podcast – S03E08 – Predictions for Murakami’s New Novel
It’s the final podcast before publication of the new Murakami novel! I go over some Murakami vocabulary, predictions I have for the novel, and some comments about potential…
How to Japanese Podcast – S03E07 – Murakami Bibliography – 2006-2023
This week is the third part of my look at Murakami’s complete bibliography. See my Google Sheet version of all this information and follow along with the podcast…
How to Japanese Podcast – S03E06 – Murakami Bibliography – 1988-2005
This week is the second part of my look at Murakami’s complete bibliography. See my Google Sheet version of all this information and follow along with the podcast…
How to Japanese Podcast – S03E05 – Murakami Bibliography – 1979-1987
This week on the podcast I’m taking a close look at Murakami’s complete bibliography for the first eight years of his career. See my Google Sheet version of…
How to Japanese Podcast – S03E04 – Murakami Novel Power Rankings
It’s finally time – here are my Murakami Novel Power Rankings! I spent the last two months re-reading Murakami’s novels, and I feel prepared to put them in…
How to Japanese Podcast – S03E03 – Murakami’s Origin Story
This week, I take a look at Murakami’s famous origin story with the help of writer and translator Matt Schley. We looked at ten different accounts of the…
How to Japanese Podcast – S03E02 – The Murakami Season
Well, I’ve had a week to mull over the title announcement for the new Murakami novel, and I’m still just as stunned as I was last week. Here’s…
街
The Town, and Murakami's New Novel - How to Japanese - March 2023
How to Japanese Podcast – S03E01 – Emergency Murakami Podcast
We have the title for the new Murakami novel due out on April 13! It’s the same title as a 1980 novella that Murakami disavowed as a “failed…
SWET Event – Blogging, Podcasts, and Translation
Last minute notice, but I’ll be participating in an event for SWET (Society of Writers, Editors, and Translators) this Saturday Japan time (Friday evening U.S. time). Really excited…
美術館
A very short message this month about museums - How to Japanese - February 2023
甘えたい
A bit late, but 新年おめでとうございます！ The newsletter went out a couple weeks back, and I wrote a little about 甘える (amaeru), a word that is extremely difficult to…
甘える
Brute forcing difficult words - How to Japanese - January 2023
書き言葉
Tone in Written Japanese - How to Japanese - December 2022
More on だけ
Quick follow-up on my newsletter from last month about the particle だけ (dake). I mostly discussed the non-“only” meaning of the word, which can be replaced with くらい…
Movies in Japan
I wish I kept better track of all the movies I’ve seen in theaters in Japan. The first was some sort of French film at a small theater…
Monthly Manga
For the newsletter this month, I wrote about reading monthly manga magazines. It’s been a revelation. Like suddenly being subscribed to 20 random Netflix shows you didn’t know…
購読
Searching for what comes easily and naturally - How to Japanese - October 2022
告白
Confessions and Rejections - How to Japanese - September 2022
Winning and Losing
Year 1: Boobs, The Wind, Baseball, Lederhosen, Eels, Monkeys, and Doves Year 2: Hotel Lobby Oysters, Condoms, Spinning Around and Around, 街・町, The Town and Its Uncertain Wall, A Short Piece on the Elephant that Crushes Heineken Cans Year…
The Mythology of 1981
Year 1: Boobs, The Wind, Baseball, Lederhosen, Eels, Monkeys, and Doves Year 2: Hotel Lobby Oysters, Condoms, Spinning Around and Around, 街・町, The Town and Its Uncertain Wall, A Short Piece on the Elephant that Crushes Heineken Cans Year…
Murakami in the Asahi Shimbun – 日記から – 1982
Year 1: Boobs, The Wind, Baseball, Lederhosen, Eels, Monkeys, and Doves Year 2: Hotel Lobby Oysters, Condoms, Spinning Around and Around, 街・町, The Town and Its Uncertain Wall, A Short Piece on the Elephant that Crushes Heineken Cans Year…
Kindness
Year 1: Boobs, The Wind, Baseball, Lederhosen, Eels, Monkeys, and Doves Year 2: Hotel Lobby Oysters, Condoms, Spinning Around and Around, 街・町, The Town and Its Uncertain Wall, A Short Piece on the Elephant that Crushes Heineken Cans Year…
Baseball on TV
Welcome to Murakami Fest 2022! This is my first Murakami Fest in Japan since 2009, which is pretty wild. I kept this ridiculous project going for 12 years…
How to Osaka
To be honest, I don’t know how yet. I’m still figuring it out. I got here three weeks ago and had 10 days before work to learn the…
ご多忙かと存じます
The Language of Job Hunting - How to Japanese - August 2022
Meeting Prime Minister Abe
This has felt like a very uneven month to me. I was in the U.S. from July 2-29, so a bit less than a clean month. I was…
How to Seinfeld
I’m in The Japan Times with a look at how “Seinfeld” is being translated into Japanese: “These senbei are making me thirsty? How ‘Seinfeld’ sounds in Japanese.” “Seinfeld”…
How to 菓子パン
I just sent out the May newsletter. I wrote about my love of 菓子パン (kashipan). The croissant above I don’t think technically counts as 菓子パン? My theory is…
菓子パン
Kashipan, kashipan as far as the eye can see - How to Japanese - May 2022