JLC-DeLeon-Kris

      When it comes to homes in Japan I noticed a few things similar to my own culture in Central America. For one, we do not wear shoes inside. In my culture, it's just common practice to not wear shoes inside to keep floors clean, something that I don't understand about American culture. In Japan, it has to do with religion which I can respect, but I also just find it makes the most sense to not want to track mud into the house. We also both wear slippers indoors. My parents do anyway, I have an issue with keeping them on my feet, but I can't help but notice the similarities when I see them.  Japanese culture is a lot more strict on where you place your shoes in the genkan. Not unreasonable mind you, I have a little shoe cubby at the front of my house and I'm sure a lot of people do as well, but the video made it seem a lot more important to make sure the shoes are placed correctly.     That was just the entrance as well, the rest of a Japanese ...

    Watashi wa Kanzasushitī ni sunde imasu. Watashi no ie wa ikkodate desu. Watashi no ie wa ookii to hiroi desu. Chikaku ni shootengai. Kazoku de sunde imasu.

       Reading in Japanese is difficult, to say the least. I found myself frustrated that I couldn't read the words as fast as I wanted to considering all I've learned so far. It was especially disheartening to listen to someone else read something nearly fluently. I felt bad I couldn't keep up. That being said, what I was able to translate I was proud of, and I learned some new words and remembered ones I had already seen before I knew. Like finding out that the moon and moth are the same (月) which I find to make sense in a way. A full moon cycle takes a month to complete so making them the same Kanji seems to make the most sense to me.      This whole situation reminds me of my old Spanish classes. I speak Spanish, it's my second language, but I can't read it too well so when I took the class, I was saddened to see how bad I was at it, even more so to see how fast everyone else picked it up. I'm grateful that I learned something of cours...

          Japanese food is much different than anything in the States. Nothing shocking, everyone can observe that, but I think the cultural impact is an interesting thing. When you think of American food you think of hot dogs and hamburgers, both of which are not considered significant in any meaningful way. They're simply fast food items and the United States is known for fast food. Japanese food, to me, seems to have more meaning behind it. I can't tell you why, but something about eating a meal that you typically eat for dinner or breakfast has to have some sort of significance to it.     The places where you get food in Japan are interesting as well. I've heard about conveyor belt sushi restaurants (or Kaitenzushi as I learned) and find them cool that you can just pick up what you want from the belt as well as order things like a typical restaurant. The soba and ramen restaurants were cool too with how fast they made the meals. It r...

  Asa-gohan wo tabemasu. Gohan o yoku tabemasu. Pan wa amari tabemasen. Watashi wa niku ga suki desu. Juusuwa niku ga suki desu. Tamago wa sukijanai desu.

             When recording my jikoshoukai video I'll be honest and say that I was very nervous to record myself. I don't like being on camera for photos, let alone videos recording myself. A bit self-conscious I would say, but I also don't like the sound of my voice and thus tend to avoid it when I can. However, I did record myself a few times just to try and get the hang of speaking in front of the camera without stuttering and pausing too much, which is why my final video sounds a bit better. No one is going to see my past takes anyway haha.     Speaking in Japanese is very different than how I would do it in English or even Spanish. The sentence structure feels incomplete like it's a few words short of making it sound whole. I think Sensei mentioned it was supposed to sound like Yoda talking mixed with caveman talk and I definitely noticed that when speaking. It felt almost uncomfortable to just read the sentences, like my ...

         Making this poster and translating the list provided to me made me realize just how seriously Japan takes its disaster prevention. I knew when watching some videos on the topic that they did take this seriously yes, but something about this project specifically made the realization click. This list is updated frequently I'd assume as well, or I'd like to imagine. Things like a rope where you need 10 meters instead of seven like in the older list.       This list also made me think about how I was taught how to prepare for natural disasters. Midwest disasters are much different than other parts of the U.S. of course but when it came to natural disasters we were told how. to deal with Tornadoes. we would have to go into a shelter (usually a basement but just trying to get low also worked), bunker down, and pray basically. Sure they told us to bring a few supplies, like an audio and maybe a snack, but nothing as intense as what Japan ...

  Watashi no kazoku wa yo-nin desu. Chichi to haha to watashi to imooto desu.  Chichi namae wa Dario , gojunana desu. Haha namae wa Maria, gojufutari desu. Imooto name wa Emely , juu-go desu. Haha wa kaishain desu Chichi wa mushoku. Imooto wa gakusee desu. Watashitachi wa Kansas ni sunde imasu.

I've known in the back of my subconscious mind that Japan had a declining birthrate. Going into the video, I already had some ideas as to what might have been causing the decline. The main reason it seems is long work hours with inflexible schedules lead to less time to even raise a family (apparently the blame is also placed on husbands but I digress). This reminded me of the current "crisis" in the United States as well with how according to statistics, fewer and fewer people want to start families. For some of the same reasons too, everyone needs to work to make up for the suddenly high cost of living and the seemingly small wages. There are other reasons for the declining birth rate (not just in the U.S. I think but worldwide perhaps?) but that's an entirely different conversation and maybe slightly controversial so I won't touch upon it here. I did find the fact that some offices in Japan are trying to allow a more flexible schedule and some find this method ...

          For my business card, I didn't do anything too fancy. I don't think business cards need to be fancy, just quickly show information about a person.  My card is simple design-wise as well, with the name of the school up top and my name in both Katakana and English. I took inspiration from one of the student's business cards specifically who had theirs set up similarly. Of course, I didn't want to just copy and paste everything, but I really liked the idea of adding a little drawing to represent me as a person and an artist. I don't know if that is what the person I took inspiration from was going for, but that's how I took it.     Japanese business cards are not that different from American business cards. Upon first glance, at least, they display what you'd expect. Name, place of work, contact information, the basics. I did enjoy that some business cards displayed the name in Katakana and Romaji, which is what I used on my ...

      While I was making my poster I was focused on one thing, making sure it caught the vibe of a Japanese class without it seeming offensive. the site I used to help create the poster had cool graphics that I could have used but It seemed too extravagant. I don't claim to know everything about the culture and I don't want to seem offensive, even on accident. That's why my poster is very simple for the most part. A simple design at the bottom as well as the Japanese kanji for prosperity. I had to search this up sure, but I rather be correct than have to translate it on my own. As for the reason for the kanji, I thought it fit because we want all people who learn Japanese (or any language for that matter) to prosper and learn the language as best they can. Prosper and thrive as they say.     I think it's important to establish community early on when taking on a big project like this. It makes a safe space and a place to learn from one another as ...

       Learning Katakana was a bit of a different experience from learning and writing Hiragana. The symbols are much sharper, with fewer loops and softer edges. I remember writing the letters and having to make fast strokes and hold the pencil in a certain way so that I didn't accidentally make the line too long or too short. As well as timing, I feel that went into making sure the letters were at the very least readable. I found the letters to be a bit harder to remember strangely enough, despite how simple the shapes appear to be. I do know that 'RO' looks like a little box and I find that cute and memorable. Like learning Hiragana, this is like learning to write basic words in English in preschool and kindergarten. Matching the shapes and symbols to the pictures shown again is humbling. I feel like a kid again. I find it weird that there have been two writing systems for, speaking mostly English all my life. I won't claim to understand it, but I don't shun it...