According to Wikipedia JP, April is an important time for both school and work because. New students start school in April, and companies often start hire new employees straight from college. In both cases, the person is in a new environment and although they are motivated, it’s hard to adjust.

Then, after Golden Week vacation in May, these new employees or new students come back feeling really tired and unmotivated. This feeling is what’s known as gogatsu-by#&333;. “May Disease” isn’t a real disease, but it’s an effect of stress all month in April catching up after a week of rest. After taking a week off, the last thing you want is to come back to a situation you’re stressed about.

But for some people, the effects of all that stress can be pretty serious. Among possible symptoms:

• Depression
• Fatigue
• Insomnia
• Lack of motivation

I mention this for a reason though. Not all readers live in Japan (I don’t), but May Disease is something that can affect anyone, anywhere, anytime of year. It’s an effect of too much long-term stress in a new environment.

This site recommended 10 suggestions:

1. Don’t expect to be perfect, especially if you’re new.
2. Don’t rush things.
3. Talk about your anxiety with someone else. Don’t suffer alone.
4. Know yourself and the signs when you are stressed.
5. Know your limits.
6. Watch your eating habits; eat a healthy, balanced diet.
7. Get plenty of sleep.
8. Focus your energies elsewhere, keep your mind distracted. The more you think about depression, the more likely you will be depressed.
9. Ensure you have time for yourself.
10. Forget about “pride”; don’t tough it out.

Anyhow, if you’re feeling sluggish, unmotivated and/or depressed, maybe stress or a new situation is wearing you down. Consider some of these steps above.

P.S. As I wrote the last paragraph, I thought to myself, “Holy cow! That’s me!”.

¹ Despite my past rant, I still listen to JPod101 even though I cancelled my subscription to their Korean site. I find it useful to review Japanese that I sort of understood, but wasn’t totally clear on. Part of my strategy to use study to supplement exposure, not the other way around with I’m using for both Korean and Japanese.

Because studying 2 languages wasn’t enough. Recently, my wife and I were thinking that it would be cool to teach our daughter Latin. Like her father, she likes languages¹ and already knows Japanese and English. But also, learning Latin is a great way to learn the “science” of language, any language. Knowing Latin, you can see how things work in other languages, plus you enjoy the historical tradition. So in order to teach my daughter, I decided I need to learn it too.

About 10 years ago, before studying Japanese, I did study Latin on my own using Peter Jones’s awesome introduction, and finished the book, twice. It really helped me learn the basics, and it was nice being able to passages from the Latin Vulgate and such. After reading that book, I finally understood why this scene from Monty Python’s “Life of Brian” was so funny:²

However, I’m very rusty now. Also, Peter Jones’s book is more of an introduction.

Also, having learned Japanese and Korean, my methods for studying language are better than they were 10 years ago, thanks to technology like Anki, and more modern study methods like AJATT teaches. So I feel I can learn Latin more effectively than I did years ago because I have more experience in the process of learning a language. I don’t study it nearly as much as Korean and Japanese but it has become a hobby on the side. Plus there is no speaking/listening required. So I can listen to a Korean podcast while doing a little Latin review.

So, I went to the local bookstore for books on Latin and settled on a couple options:

• Wheelock’s famous textbook. It’s still the best textbook after 50 years. It’s a good balance of depth, challenge and interesting content.
• Latin for Dummies which provides a good supplement. It has very helpful explanations and good summaries but not as much depth as

I also bought another copy of Peter Jones’s book. My old copy was completely worn out. You can see the old copy above. It’s stained, worn out and got lots of usage.

But one other critical tool is Anki. How do I populate Anki though? I’ve seen some discussions on it and people seem to have different ideas because Latin is so heavy with conjugations. Some people suggest many, small cards. Some suggest fewer cards and focus on learning the rules, not the usage.

I have been experimenting with both, but haven’t really found a good format for verbs and nouns. Still a work in progress.

Anki works best when you keep your deck efficient and remove cards that are cumbersome, not straight-foward, or just not very useful, so this process may get refined further.

As with other languages, I’ll write more as time goes on.

P.S. This photo shows various “language” books on my desk. Smart engineers know that “DNS” isn’t a language, but it does have plenty of technical “jargon” you have to learn. It feels like a language sometimes.

¹ She does a really great impersonation of Girls’ Generation’s song “Gee“, both the dance and lyrics. She really picked up the Korean lyrics surprisingly fast. Pretty clever for a 5 year old.

² Instead of punishing Brian for writing “Romans go home!”, the Roman soldiers correct his bad Latin grammar. It shows how complicated Latin grammar is.

This is a Northrop T-38 Talon ramjet taken on a nice sunrise in Texas. The T-38 is a very popular jet airplane used for training around the world, and NASA astronauts train in T-38′s routinely:

I presume this is because Astronauts need to be to familiar with flying at very high speeds using complex equipment.

I never knew that NASA astronauts train in jets until recently when I read issue #13 of the Japanese manga uchū kyōdai (宇宙兄弟), which I talked about recently here among other places. In this issue, the main character Namba Mutta is now a member of JAXA (Japan’s equivalent of NASA) and is training in Texas in a T-38. As part of the training, Mutta’s instructor closes the canopy, so they can’t see outside. Mutta has to learn how to navigate the jet using the equipment only, and without crashing into other jets or the water below. Plus he has to get used to the powerful G-forces on his body, which could make him go unconscious or just get very sick to his stomach (which he does).

Then a week later, I saw the photo by Mr. Fischer. It was such a coincidence I had to write about it. Thanks to Mr. Fischer and his fellow Astronauts for sharing their cool experiences to a new generation.

Not too long ago, I found these postcards hidden in my pilgrimage book. I think I received them when read “Johnl” and I visited a small Jodo Shu temple in the Meguro ward of Tokyo.

Last year, Japan celebrated the 800th memorial for Honen, founder of Jodo Shu Buddhism, and Pure Land Buddhism in general. These postcards are printed with his calligraphy of the phrase Namu Amida Butsu (南無阿弥陀仏) which is means “Praise to Amitabha Buddha“. This is the central practice of Pure Land Buddhism.

It’s kind of cool to have this visual connection to a Buddhist master who lived so long ago.

However, I have a few things Jodo Shu related already, and so I’d like to share these with readers, especially folks who may not have access to Buddhist resources. You could use them either as a souvenir, or as an image for a home Buddhist altar, or whatever you like. If you would like to have one of these cards, leave a comment and a valid email address and tell me about your encounters with Honen and/or Pure Land Buddhism. There’s no wrong answer here.

I’ll pick two winners at random (to be fair), and announce the winners Friday, May 25th Seattle time. Then I’ll contact the winners and send them out the following day.

Good luck!

One famous tradition coming up this Saturday is a tradition called yeondeunghoe (연등회). According to the Yonhap News Agency, this is a festival that always comes before the Buddha’s birthday, and is called the Lotus Lantern Festival because it features a parade of floats that look like lotus-shaped lanterns.

Lotuses are very important symbols in Buddhism. As the Buddha said in the Pali Canon (AN 4.36, the Dona Sutta):

brahman: Then what sort of being are you?

The Buddha: “Just like a red, blue, or white lotus — born in the water, grown in the water, rising up above the water — stands unsmeared by the water, in the same way I — born in the world, grown in the world, having overcome the world — live unsmeared by the world. Remember me, brahman, as ‘awakened.’

–trans. by Ven. Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Anyhow, I found this really nice site in English about the Lotus Lantern Festival. It explains that in the month leading up to the Buddha’s Birthday there are many family-friendly activities, and in the past, the festivities also served to pray for prosperity for the kingdom and for the well-being of others. There was of course lots of dancing, music and food to celebrate. Temples in Korea often open up and provide free meals and tea on the Buddha’s birthday itself.

I’d love to see it myself in person some day. The website above also has a nice photo gallery, and even a guide for making your own paper lotus. Check it out!

나무석가모니불

Clap Your Hands (박수저):

Go Away (Japanese version):

And Ugly:

Happy birthday, 2NE1! 2NE1는 정말 대단해요!

¹ Blackjacks for life.

Recently, I found a funny blog post on Twitter (thanks to Khatz from AJATT) about the two ways to learn a foreign language, using Lord of the Rings as the example.

For those not familiar, if you look on the link above, the pictures on the left are the council of Elrond from the Lord of the Rings. To learn a language destroy the One Ring, they chose the method I have been using to learn Japanese. I purchased some books (some actually pretty helpful), and I also took Japanese courses in college, which were not very helpful. I learned some things, but the format was outdated, and it was a lecture course. I wasn’t really learning much. Worse, I developed some bad habits and misunderstandings I have to still overcome 15 years later.

I like how the character Elrond complains about not having “Ring-Destroying Genes”. That’s a joke of course. People believe that if they’re not born a native speaker, they can never really be fluent at it. During the time I was learning Japanese in college, and first dating my wife, I often felt like that: I wasn’t Japanese and wasn’t living there, so I couldn’t really ever speak it.

But with some advice from my wife years ago (who learned English here in the US and speaks quite fluently), I started reading Japanese more and trying to get more exposure through online news, podcasts, etc.

It helped a lot more than 2 years of college study of Japanese language. Like Frodo Baggins, it’s a long, long road, but you just have to walk, walk, walk. It’s fine to supplement your exposure to a language with study (I recommend it), but the study has to supplement the exposure, not the other way around.

P.S. I was a pretty bad student in school. I had a lot of C’s and D’s in classes and never finished a book I was assigned. My poor grades continued all the way until I was 16 years old. That year, I remember my teacher giving us the reading assignment of Tolkein’s Fellowship of the Ring. Not only did I finish the book (which I never did before), I finished early and got an A on my book report. After that, I loved reading books. Thanks Tolkien!

Recently, my wife and I were talking about a certain famous pop singer. We agreed that this person sings really great, but wasn’t very attractive, then my wife said in Japanese:

天は二物与えず

Ten wa nibutsu ataezu

Basically this means “Heaven doesn’t bestow two gifts”. This is a proverb in Japanese and I think it’s a clever one.

The term “Heaven” needs some clarification though. In traditional Chinese thought, Heaven (天) was seen as a source of order and natural law. There is some overlap with the Western notion of Heaven, but not that much, hence translations can be confusing. As Confucius said in the Analects (trans. by Professor Muller):

[17:17] Confucius said: “I wish I could avoid talking.”

Zigong said, “Master, if you didn’t speak, what would we disciples have to pass on?”

Confucius said, “Does Heaven speak? Yet the four seasons continue to change, and all things are born. Does Heaven speak?”

You can see how in Chinese-Confucian thought, which influenced all of Asia, Heaven tends to work silently, and is responsible for Nature working the way it does. But then again, it also has some qualities of granting and favoring a person. Again, as Confucius said:

[3:16] Confucius said: “In archery it is not important to pierce through the leather covering of the target, since not all men have the same strength. This is the Way of the ancients.”

So, anyway the point is that people might be born with one gift, but may be deficient in other areas. It’s OK. It’s just the way things work. Having one gift is enough, and worth cherishing.

Just a quick announcement that my wife, daughter and I will be taking another trip to Japan in the second-half of August.

Normally we go at the end of the year so we can enjoy New Year’s and also my daughter’s birthday, but the prices for airlines are getting extremely expensive. We spent a huge amount for our trip in late 2011 because the flight was so close to New Year’s and that didn’t take into acount money we spent there. Also, flying around that time was extremely stressful because we just got finished with Christmas, my daughter’s birthday celebrations in the US, and so on. It was just too much. Plus, my daughter had to miss some school

So this time we decided to do it during late August. My daughter’s summer-school will have finished, and she won’t miss any school in September. Also, it will make my life at work a lot easier too, because my company is very busy around the end of the year (holiday shopping, etc). Plus, the airfare was about one-third cheaper flying in August instead of the New Year.

Now, there is one big drawback though to coming in August: it’s super-hot and muggy.

In Japan they call it zansho (残暑), the lingering, long summer heat. I haven’t been to a hot and humid climate since I was 23 in Hanoi, Vietnam (mid-summer), and I usually go to Japan when it’s pretty cold or early Spring. We’ll see how it goes.

As for plans there, I don’t have much. My wife and I and her friends all want to go to Shin-Okubo again. I hope to load up on KPop albums, and my wife might get some dramas as well as albums. I could buy them in the US using YesAsia.com or Amazon, but I had a bad experience with the former, and the latter is fine, but selection is limited.

Also, I hope to visit Sensoji temple in Tokyo again. It’s been a long while, and I’d like to pay Kannon Bodhisattva a visit.

So, if you’re in Japan around August, I’d love to see you! I always try to visit a couple friends every visit, but I’m also happy to meet new faces.

Hope to see you there!

Happy Mother’s Day, everyone! My daughter made this for my wife earlier this week.

Mother’s Day is observed in Japan on the same day as haha no hi (母の日, “Mother’s Day”). Since we live in the US, my wife and I ordered flowers and some sweets for my mother-in-law using Amazon.com in Japan.

I looked up Mother’s Day in Korea, but it seems that it is observed there as Parent’s Day (May 8th).

But to all mothers everywhere, have a wonderful Mother’s Day!

P.S. Posting a day early in the US, to catch the “moms” in Asia and EU who are a day ahead.