Tuesday 25 August 2009

Your Japanese word of the week is...

"mizu-umi" 湖 which means lake. However, this is technically the term for "a body of water". In referring to a specific lake, such as the famous Lake Biwa near Kyoto, -ko is actually used thus Lake Biwa is known as biwako 琵琶湖. Don't ask me why, that's just how the Japanese language works heh.....

As such, I suppose that means this past weekend I went to Lost Lake-ko.... uhh...... yeah.... wait, that would be Lost-ko?? And since lost is mayotte 迷って, that means this lake is mayoko 迷湖?? But then that just says lost lake............ and sounds like "lost child".... nevermind heh......

Either way, Lost Lake and the walking trail that goes around it can be found a short walk from the centre of Whistler Village and is an easy, pleasant way to spend a few hours taking in the nature that Whistler has to offer. Including ducks!

The other interesting thing about going to Whistler is that in preparation for the 2010 Olympics, they've expanded and repaved nearly the entire Sea-To-Sky highway. The section from Vancouver to Squamish is entirely new, much wider with a usable hard shoulder, and two-lanes for a large portion of it. Now this is great because the old road used to be a treacherous little bugger with narrow lanes, unforgiving walls, and mid-corner bumps. And then when it got wet and slick it was worse. And then rocks would occasionally fall on people......

The new road, however, is much safer....... but in doing that, it also means it's much easier to go faster without noticing. Which in turns puts that danger element back in. So while the road itself is safer, it can lull drivers into a false sense of security and then it becomes dangerous once again. However, it's not like people didn't speed on the old highway and no road, no matter how good, can protect against uncontrolled drivers. Thus the new highway is indeed a huge improvement. And on a sunny summer day, early in the morning with no traffic, it's a dream to drive on =P......

Anyway, I spent the better half of the day up there with my friend from Japan including that walk, a bit of lunch, and a lot of laughs. A good day all around then =P......

Thursday 20 August 2009

Your Japanese word of the week is...

"sagasu" 捜す which means "to look for" or "search". There's also "mitsukeru" 見つける which means "to find" or "to locate". It seems then, the easiest way to think about them is that "mitsukeru" is more for items to be found whereas "sagasu" is more for larger things, some perhaps intangible.

The thing I've been looking for lately is a language exchange mainly because it's not easy to keep up a language in a city that doesn't speak it on a regular basis. So I put up an ad looking for a language exchange and while I expected 2 or 3 emails, I ended up with surprising 10 (thus far...). I haven't met any of them yet and nor did I really do any formal "language exchanges" in Japan, but we'll see how it works out heh....

In other news, I'm mostly just cruising through the last few weeks before school starts. I'm still doing the whole MWF karate thing and it's really helping me refine how to teach karate. At times, it's easy to get caught up in the details (for me, anyway) and turn it into a science. But what I've found is that I've brought back a lot of timing or "feel" knowledge that can help others build the same foundation by narrowing the range of how each move "feels".

As I've said before, a lot of it is intangible and often times, it takes countless hours of self-aware practice to stumble upon the once or twice when the move just "feels" right. But having done that and then move towards doing it more consistently, it's also important to consider how to explain the feel. From there, the students can watch and try with a much more focussed target on how things should be. It's like being asked to guess a number from 1 to 10, and then being told that the number falls between 2 and 6. It's just that bit easier.....

Other than that, I haven't really been doing anything substantial aside from just hanging out with friends. However, it looks like I'll be headed up to Whistler for a day this weekend, so I'll be sure to bring my camera and grab some pics......

Cuz, y'know, reading pages and pages probably isn't as interesting heh..........

Friday 14 August 2009

Your Japanese word of the week is...

"sukkiri" すっきり which means "completely" or "thoroughly". I've heard it used as "I completely forgot to do it" so I suppose it could also be applied to these following....

"I'm trying to completely transfer what I learned in Japan to the people in my dojo"

Indeed I am. I've started practicing MWF mornings with the other two instructors of my dojo, Pacific Spirit Wado Kai, and it's been great. It obviously won't be an overnight transformation (as it wasn't for me in Japan either) but they're eager and motivated. The best thing, however, is that they've been telling that training again and being able to learn new things has re-ignited their interest in karate.

And that, to me, is the most important step in helping everyone improve.

We also have lots of plans for PSWK come September and there's lots to look forward to in the near future!

"Tokyo's completely different from Vancouver"

Really it is. It's something I've always known but never really felt. Not even last year as a lot of Shiramizu competitors were here, so I was immersed in a quasi-Japanese culture bubble during the time I spent with them.

But without said bubble, it's quite clear just how different things are. From how people interact to the physical presence of the city, it's the total opposite. Interestingly, however, I find I appreciate Vancouver's attributes more now that I've been away. Things like walking along the SeaWall or just enjoy the multitude of parks and greenery were things I never did or noticed til I stayed in a city where such things were at a premium.

Then again, there are things found in Tokyo not found in Vancouver. But I do concede that a lot of the Tokyo things would be hard to transplant into Vancouver. The transit system, for instance, would never work in Vancouver.

Or this, a life-size Gundam robot built in Odaiba to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Gundam series. I don't think that would happen in Vancouver here either heh....... I'm not sure if I posted this earlier but I wanted to go see this before I left. Unfortunately, I didn't have the chance but enjoy the pics I found on the internet instead heh.....

Thursday 6 August 2009

Your Japanese word of the week is...

"(noun) shika (verb)-nai" ~しか~ない . It sounds really complicated but it's another double negative like this one. This time, however, the shika part can be thought of as "other than" and the nai part is "not".

As an example, futari shika inai 二人しかいない means "Only two people are here" or, technically speaking, "Other than two people, no one else is here".

Likewise watashi wa beeru shika nomenai 私はベールしか飲めない is "I only drink beer" or "Other than beer, I don't drink anything else".

If I'm honest, it makes perfect sense but it's having to wrap your head about the double negative while hearing it said quickly in a conversation that's confusing..... what makes it particularly difficult is that most people learning Japanese soon find that listening for the "nai" at the end of the sentence/verb usually helps them understand that it's a negative verb. However, in this case, the negative modifier has nothing to do with what the sentence means and thus it's very easy to mistake "I only drink beer" with "I don't drink beer".

I bring this up mostly because this is a bit of Japanese I only picked up quite recently (two months ago perhaps) and it's actually used quite often. It comes in handy because a friend of mine from Japan is in Vancouver and every so often, she needs to switch back to Japanese to full express herself, and these bits and pieces show up so..... well, I guess it's quite convenient I figured it out haha......

Besides that, being back in Vancouver is nice.......... for the most part. It's hard to explain because I quite like it here and while there are things to do, they're much less accessible than they are in Tokyo; I have to drive everywhere to do things. And while I love driving, it doesn't change the fact that it's a bit of a hassle considering where to park, paying for parking, decided if going somewhere after is worth the time, etc. But, for now anyway, Vancouver being the novel city that I haven't seen in a long time, it's still nice to be here. And seeing all my old friends again is great...

Of course, culturally it's also different. Vancouver doesn't have, for example, the awesome "Manner Posters" like in the Tokyo Metro. This month's is particularly ridiculous....