Calgary Japanese Festival 2013 Blooper Reel

Some of you on Facebook liked the idea of seeing a blooper reel of my Calgary Omatsuri footage. Well, here you go. Technical issues and sliding guitars make for an interesting time:

The 2013 Calgary Japanese Festival was a grand success. There were more displays, more tents, more food and more cultural programming. It was too bad that some of the indoor programming was cancelled, and that some sessions happened out of sequence. I was really disappointed that the sword making session was cancelled.

If I have one suggestion, it's that the indoor programming repeats. Then attendees wouldn't have to choose between indoor and outdoor events.

Organizers are looking at larger venues for next year. Sugoi, desu ne?

Trying to Not Lose Myself Giving Directions

Last week in Japanese class, we were studying how to ask for direction and how to give directions. Asking is so much easier than giving directions! Since I haven't had a chance to catch up on workbook questions, I decided to hunt for some Japanese language videos online to listen to while I am working.

If you are studying Japanese, you may want to check these out.

This is how I learned "left" and "right":

This is simpler than what we learned, so it's perfect for "survival Japanese":

This one shows the kanji and tips on how to remember them:

This is closest to what we covered in class:

Popular Japanese Study Books

Some of my classmates have been using other Japanese language workbooks to supplement their Japanese studies. Our きょうかしょ is jam-packed with information. However, the print is tiny and it's all in Japanese. It would be nice to have some explanations in English.

I'll be ordering my messenger bag soon, so I thought I would do a quick search

to find some of the popular Japanese workbooks on the market and add one or two to my order. Here are 10 of the most popular Japanese text books and workbooks that I found. どうぞ!

1. Japanese DeMYSTiFieD with Audio CD, 2nd Edition

2. Japanese For Dummies

3. Japanese for Young People III: Student Book

4. Japanese Sentence Patterns for Effective Communication: A Self-Study Course and Reference

5. Japanese for Busy People I: Romanized Version 1 CD attached

6. Japanese For Young People I: Kana Workbook

7. Japanese the Manga Way: An Illustrated Guide to Grammar and Structure

8. Japanese For Young People I: Student Book

9. Japanese for Busy People: Kana Workbook (Vol 1)

10. Genki: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese Workbook I [Second Edition] (Japanese Edition)

These books are also popular on J-List.com. Click on the link below to shop there: