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| Studying Japanese through Pop Culture TV Shows NHK Nihongo Koza: Nihongo de Kuraso (Letfs Get By in Japanese) is shown on Friday evenings, usually at 11:10pm. The time sometimes changes, but they announce the time of the following weekfs show at the end every week. There are numerous game shows and TV dramas on every night that can be good listening practice, and they often have Japanese subtitles ? good for practicing your kanji skills. Watching the news can be good practice too; again they often have subtitles, and you can always check the English news online to see if you understood correctly. Music Ask your students and teachers to recommend popular singers and groups. You could start a CD swap, borrowing Japanese CDs and lending your CDs from home. Once you know a few songs off by heart you can impress your teachers and Japanese friends at karaoke. Books and Magazines There are a number of magazines published specifically for Japanese language learners. Hiragana Times features bilingual articles on aspects of contemporary Japanese culture. The Japanese articles all include furigana, so you can read them even if your kanji knowledge isnft that hot. Nihongo Journal is another popular magazine. The average Japanese novel is beyond Japanese beginners, but childrenfs books are probably manageable, and are often written in Hiragana, rather than kanji. Check out the childrenfs section in a bookstore near you. Manga and Anime Reading manga (Japanese comic books) can also be a great way to practice Japanese, and learn some slang. Plus, itfll give you something to talk to your students about. Manga are available just about everywhere: book stores, konbinis and used stores. Book Off is a good place to get cheap, used manga. Anime (animated movies) are another good way to study slang. Often there are series tying in with manga, and all feature length movies. The more famous anime movies (such as anything by Miyazaki) tend to have English subtitles on the DVDs. You can rent anime at any DVD rental store, or buy used DVDs at Book Off. ALT Manga and Anime Recommendations Detective Konan (–¼’T’ãƒRƒiƒ“ Meitantei Konan): a high-school detective who got turned back into a small boy, he solves crimes and is popular with elementary school students. Fullmetal Alchemist@(|‚̘B‹àpŽt hagane no renkinjutsushi) (both manga and anime): two brothers travel, studying alchemy and trying to find the Philosopherfs Stone. The older brother is a boy genius, who fused his brotherfs soul to a suit of armour when his body was lost in a transmutation gone horribly wrong. Samurai Champloo (both manga and anime): a young girl travels with a samurai and a morally questionable fighter, each with his or her own purpose but all on the same path. Naruto (both manga and anime): a young boy who becomes a ninja, and, along with his friends, complete a number of missions. Popular with kids and teens, so your students will know about it. Bleach (both manga and anime): Death gods, ghosts, fighting, magic, other worlds. Your kids will also know this one. Death Note (both manga and anime): a dark story about a boy who finds a Death Note, a notebook in which he only has to write a personfs name and picture their face, and that person dies. Beck (both manga and anime): a young boy living in Tokyo learns the guitar and joins a band, and that band goes through the ups and downs of trying to make it big. Eureka 7 (both manga and anime): Story of a boy in an alternate universe who falls in love with a girl who is not quite human. They live on a space ship and fight against the cruel government forces. Samurai 7 (definitely anime, not sure about manga): A young girl searches for samurai to help save her village from destruction by robots. |