• What’s the deal with earthquake food?
• Big thanks to Edward Chimura.
• Endless depressing summer break.

Links:

• Ramenez-moi by Rachel Baz on Jamendo
• USGS Earthquakes List

• Pedro goes to Tokyo.
• Words are exchanged.
• Dudes don’t dig chicks with self-inflicted scars.
• I will interview absolutely anybody.

• Interview with Pedro
• Agreements with girlfriends.
• Sealing the deal.
• Yes, no, maybe? Please?
• がんしゃしてもいいですか？
• The interview continues next week.

Links of Interest:

• I try not to link to things that would get me in trouble.

• Raising Linguistic Self-Esteem
• Understanding Understanding
• World of Golden Eggs
• Are the Japanese Hygienic?
• Word of the Week: よろしいですか？

Links:

• World of Golden Eggs Clip #1
• World of Golden Eggs Clip #2

• Studying Update
• Invariant Representations
• Broken Senses of Direction
• Seeing Movies in Japan
• Why Sapporo Rawks
• 字幕（じまく）＆　吹き替え版（ふきかえばん）

Links of Stuff of Interest:

• On Intelligence by Jeff Hawkins
• Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea
• Sapporo Cinema Frontier

This just in:

• Mammoth thanks to Edward Chimura.
• I’m addicted to studying.
• In Japan, cleaning a bathroom is like washing a car.
• Katakana is evil, and will be the downfall of the Japanese language.
• Word of the Week: フィストバンプ (Fist Bump)

Interesting Links:

• Japan Talk
• Passing the JLPT2 by Self-Study
• The Political Science of Obama’s Gestures (Japanese opinion column)

• 4th of July in Japan
• Shenanigans
• Correction on a past word of the week.
• Word of the Week, めんどくさい.
• Bonus content*

Links of Interest:

• Remembering the Kanji by James W. Heisig
• Reviewing the Kanji
• めんどくさい on Space ALC
• Japan’s National Foundation Day
• ‘feh’ on a random Yiddish glossary

Comments:

I mentioned something in my story about 4th of July that I never followed up on within the show. Sorry about that. In short, at the end of the 4th of July party we met some people from Bloomington, Indiana taking a little hike through the park we were in. They were a couple musicians in town for the Pacific Music Festival also celebrating 独立記念日 in the park.

*Bonus content is any content that I forgot to mention in the shownotes.

• Doraemon is exactly like Terminator.
• Why the Japanese think sick people are so cute.

Links of Interest:

• ‘AnkiPan’ episode of Doraemon
• Search for Doraemon on Japanese Youtube
• Doraemon on Wikipedia
• Felix the Cat on Wikipedia
• Terminator on Wikipedia

Look for special editions of Japan Study Abroad Podcast in the future about drinking and dating. I’ll try to put those together for the next few weeks in addition to the normal show. Have a safe 4th of July.

The show sounds a little different this week because Garageband decided to have a series of epic failures on export. I had to do a funky workaround. It’s nothing that will stop production, but I need to figure out how to get the show sounding right again. I have a few ideas. No worries.

• Learning Japanese through manga & video games.
• Why manga is so expensive in the United States.
• Late movie release dates in Japan.
• Did I find deodorant?
• A favor.
• The word of the week.

One of the funny things I discovered after recording today was that Speed Racer is one of those 6-month-delayed movies in Japan. That’s ridiculous considering, you know, the fact that Japan invented Speed Racer.

Also, I think that from this point forward that the release schedule for this podcast will be more like Friday morning(EST) rather than Thursday night or Thursday evening. Recording after my early classes on Friday worked well this week, and it frees up my Thursdays a little bit. It was tough to fit it in with all the other things that got planned for that day, but doing it like I did today feels like a fitting end to my week.

Related Links:

• Disgaea
• Dragon Ball Manga
• Prince Caspian Release Dates
• Speed Racer Release Dates
• Wall-E Release Dates
• Indana Jones Release Dates

• Mothballs
• Geography
• Thinking in Japanese
• State of Food Prices in Japan
• Traditional Japanese Meals
• Word of the Week, ‘とか’

Links of Interest:

• Dangers of Mothballs
• Shiokara
• Fugu
• Uni
• Natto

• Yosakoi Soran Matsuri
• Listener Question, from Allison, “How much Japanese is necessary for daily life.”
• Japanese Chit-Chat
• Magical Experiences sans Lawyers

A special note, this show is not being released under Creative Commons because copyrighted music was used. I did not ask for permission, though I do believe this can qualify as fair use. I used less than 30 seconds of the music, and I derived no monetary benefit from it. I would encourage everyone to go on iTunes and get “Umekichi - Soran Bushi” because it is good music. It was always my intention to educate, never to steal.

Links of Interest:

• More About Yosakoi Festivals in Japan on Wikipedia
• Umekichi - Soran Bushi on iTunes

Links of Interest:

• 10 Japanese Customs You Must Know
• J-League on Wikipedia
• ALC search for ‘ふつかよい’

Subjects covered:

• Japan’s neighborhood system.
• Buying a desk.
• The positive aspects of being a foreigner in Japan.
• Word of the Week: アルバイト(Ah-roo-by-ee-to) from the German, ‘arbeit.’

Links of Interest:

• Allen Wrenches
• Japanese Neighborhoods
• Severe Tropical Storm: Halong
• “A chicken in every pot, and a car in every garage.”
• Linguistic forms of respect in Japanese.

Direct link action for luddites.

Now, this episode paints kind of a bleak picture of Japan and how they interact with foreigners, but let me say that this incident is the only one I’ve experienced in the week and a half I’ve been in Japan. I’ve not been barred from anywhere, and haven’t been threatened with any physical violence. The anecdote concerning the cafeteria was an isolated one, but it did happen and I do feel that it is interesting. There isn’t any way I could think of not discussing it in this show. So, please don’t send me hate mail.

This should go without saying, but this week’s show requires a bit of a parental advisory. There are zero dirty words, but there is candid talk about tentacles, rape, and pornography. Though, this is delivered in a historical context. You should feel fine with your 15 year-old listening to this, but maybe not 12 and younger. It’s up to you, but don’t complain that I didn’t warn you.

Direct link for all members of the Flat Earth Society. As well, remember to check the pictures section for a visual representation of Japan.

Links of Interest:

• Golden Week
• Pornography in Japan
• NHK
• Uneducated People Love Hillary Clinton, Doritos, Mountain Dew, and NASCAR. Film @ 11.

Please check out the photos. See how tiny my room is. See some nondescript flower from Japan that I’m not sure is really a cherry blossom.

Direct link for all 8 of you without iTunes or Flash.

Here is a direct link for the less inclined members of my audience.