DISQUS

I really like the design of those finger things!

I really like the design of those finger things!

＠ならぴょん

アメリカには、どーもくんのことを知ってる人がいっぱいいるんだけど、どーもくんはなぜ有名かと知ってる人が少ないんだと思います。

例えば、私はTARGETにいた時に、どーもくんのポスタを見ている女の子が「あっ、それは何かのアニメキャラクターだ」と言ってるのを耳にしまた。

ヨーグルトランドへ行きたいな～

Zuranthus

I dunno, I've never noticed that Oregon women were particularly plain. Well, maybe some of them. But I have seen some really pretty women there (I live there half the year), too.

Emiko:

Yeah, that was a fad when I was in elementary school.

A lot of kids who did it threw up afterward, ew.

楽 is "easy" and 引く (a verb) is "look up". It's probably hard to translate because 引く has so many definitions (e.g. play an instrument, pull, etc). Hoped that helped!

Not quite sure what you mean, Mark.

If you want to clarify over email, though, we'll try our best to help.

Meg:

Thank you! That's really sweet.

As for typing in Japanese here are the steps:

Start > Control Panel > Regional and Language Options > Languages > Details > Add

Add Japanese. Make sure that IME Standard shows up as one of the keyboard options. Hit ok, and then you should be able to type in Japanese. To switch from English to Japanese, press shift + alt. You should see the language bar (at the bottom of the screen) change from ENG to JP. I would suggest (if you've never written in Japanese on your computer) to right click anywhere on the bar and choose "Restore the Language Bar". Now, hover over the icons on the language bar so that you can see what they are. Do the following:

Input Style >> IME Standard
Input Mode >> Hiragana
Conversion Mode >> General

You should be able to type in Japanese now. To switch back to English, just press shift + alt again. I hope that helps; if you're unclear on something, shoot one of us an email or something, ok?

Evee:

As for brands, I don't really know of any specific ones, since I buy tights so infrequently. I would recommend, however, looking for thicker, more cotton-y tights over ones with too much synthetic material in them (they all have some, though, so it's just a matter of proportions). MyTights.com is a really cool site for buying tights, I think, so you should definitely check it out. When it comes to leg warmers, I can't say that I have much experience with them. How were you thinking of wearing them? if you don't mind my asking.

Eryu:

I'll shoot you an email on this one; the comments aren't meant to be a forum, and I have a feeling that this could turn out to be a long conversation, haha.

Lord Voldemort:

No, it's some random internet person's :{

Kurisu:

They're from this year. Were you out there with me?

Viet:

I mean, I understand no love for me, but extra love for Koichi? No fairs.

Chris:

You are absolutely right, haha.

Mark:

Ah, the evils of romanji. Just for the record, Tofugu Team believes: 1) that romanji makes it harder to discern context, especially for beginning Japanese students, 2) romanji will slow you down in your hiragana/katakana/kanji learning, and 3) it's almost completely useless in the real world. As for the translation site, I wouldn't mind someone using it if they had at least basic hiragana down and used it for that. But romanji? Not so much. Then again, you're free to do what you want.

Irony: people posting links to translator sites in response to this article.

Trogan Bird:

Even if they do get that good (and I have no doubt they will), you said it yourself, "nothing beats learning a language (you can’t carry a computer around you forever), and it’s not very personal to constantly use a translator".

Ouroboros:

You might think so, but you'd be surprised at how many emails we get about using/not using online translators. Glad you're in the know, though.

Tyler:

Yes, I wrote this, haha. Why do you ask?

Aw, that's really sweet that you translated the whole front page. Having that many open layers on Photoshop would drive me crazy D: Anyway, don't think I'll get a mixi anytime soon. Do you think Fujiwar would let me turn mixi-ing into an independent study, though? I bet she would.

Viet:

I agree with you about the Native American whale hunt thing. If they're going to be killing whales for cultural reasons, they really should do it using traditional methods.

Things that usually have an o stuck in front of them sound weird when you take the o away. For example, I always say おぞうに so ぞうに seems weird to me, hehe. Also, you'd better listen to your Grandpa and chew super well if you eat mochi, ok?

Tyler:

J-dorama are just Japanese tv shows (not news, or anime, but just... series). If you want to know more about it or see some recommendations, check out our past posts; Koichi did an article a while ago on it.

I feel like abbreviating Japanese to J is just easier to type :D

You write in Japanese on this website by changing the font on your computer to a Japanese font (hiragana, katakana, etc) and typing like you would in English.

Habit #2 is my biggest pet peeve (especially "kawaii"). Koichi and I are of the same opinion; if you have to use a Japanese word in a sentence (for whatever reason) at least make your whole sentence in Japanese. It's just silly not to.

On a side note, yeah, I might start taking the romanji out of my articles... unless people who are still learning hiragana/katakana/kanji promise to look at the actual Japanese translation as well?