I’ve been reading books like a madman lately. “The Road, The notebook, The hunt for Atlantis (twice now), and Dean Koontz’s Velocity and The husband”. Each and single one great reads. Well actually I haven’t finished ‘The Husband’ yet, but so far so good.

I used to be a big fan of Grisham novels because they’re an easyread, plus “A time to kill” was/is one of my favorite books. Now I’m looking for new good writers. Ive tried the Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum. Tough stuff! Dean Koontz is becoming a favorite and I really like Andy McDermotts’s ‘The hunt for Atlantis’, so I’m waiting anxiously for his next books.

You bookreaders out there. Whats hot? whats not? Any good suggestions?

Want to update more but working overtime a lot lately. Heard today my colleague worked until 3 A.M. in the morning. I know this is Japan, but comon. Is this also in other countries? Is this normal? Ive been pondering about life alot lately. Why are we here, what is our prupose. If this is our only life, then why should we put work above play? Live to work? Or am I just very lazy? never mind….don’t answer!

Welcome to week 2 of Papi’s Japanese Sign Language a.k.a. PJSL. Click on the image for the big version.
I think the image is self explanatory but once again let’s go into details.

The image says the following: 子供飛出し　注意！！！Literal translation:　Caution! Children may jump out (suddenly).

We learn 3 new words today:
Kodomo　こども（子供）- Children
Tobidashi　とびだし（飛出し）- Jump out
Chui　ちゅうい（注意） – Warning, Caution!

These words can be split into various useful kanji. In Kodomo 子供 the kanji for kid/children is 子.
IN the word Tobidashi 飛出し we can find two words. Tobi (飛び) which means Jump, leap, hop. And the word Dasu （出す） which means: “get out, take out, to show” and many more meanings which I won’t elaborate because it might cause acute headache! Chui (注意) Warning/Caution is definitely a word you might want to remember when you visit Japan as it can be found in many places and you don’t want to accidentally enter a Ninja Dojo. 注意注意！！

Today, January 17 2010 it has been exactly 15 years since the terrible Hanshin Earthquake. The earthquake with a magnitude of 7.3 (which is not THAT big, but shaked horizontally instead of vertically (or so I have been told) took 6434 lives and left more than 300.000 homeless.

I thought back about what I was doing at the time the quake hit, 15 years ago. I was only 15 back then, and I didn’t get much info about the earthquake then. Maybe because it was a far from my bed story or maybe I was just too busy playing. In the last 2 years Ive picked up a lot of information and insights from the quake.

The quake that had its epicenter in Awaji an Island below Kobe, had a magnitude of 7.3 which isn’t extremely high. But the quake in Kobe apparently shaked horizontally which is why is caused way more damage than any other earthquake with the same magnitude, not to mention of course that everything in Japan is built adjacent.

Here you can see what I meant:

I found a HD documentary about the earthquake in English which is self explanatory.
Check it out.

Something completely new today. Well new…Not sure if it’s done before, but I introduce you, the PapiGiulio Japanese Sign Meanings Education or a.k.a. PJSME. Errrr something like that. What I do is, I pick (a) sign(s) in and around Japan every week and explain the meaning of the signs and/or the kanji in the signs. Depending on how much signs I have I will for now post only 1 each week.

Readers who are interested in adding signs or would like to know the meaning of some signs, please by all means send me an email with the signs and ill be happy to translate the signs (of course your name will be included in the picture) and post it here.

I thought this might be a good idea for both my study of the Japanese symbols and of course fun for the readers plus for people who want to find their way around Japan, even though they now have almost 90 % translated in English heh. Oh and please DO correct me if my translation is wrong.

Yerrrr well let’s start of with a simple one. click on the image above. What you see is a Japanese firehydrant. And of course very easy, the kanji (Japanese markings) on the firehydrant of course stand for the meaning: firehydrant also known as Shoukasen (消火栓)

The interesting part about this word is that it combines the words Extinguish/Erase (消) and Fire (火) …get it?

So what have we learned:

消火栓　= しょうかせん = Shoukasen　=　Firehydrant

I will not go into the deeper details for each kanji, because that might be too difficult for some of you.

Happy New Year everyone. Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu! あけまして　おめでとう　ございます！
Hope everybody survived new years eve. 2010, a new year, hopefully filled with positive vibes.

I don’t remember talking about the typical Japanese customs on new years day, even though I think it’s not very different from the rest in the world. In the morning everyone starts a grand breakfast. Unless you live alone, it will be prolly a bowl of cereal. In Japan the breakfast usually consist of Sushi, Fishcakes (蒲鉾 kamaboko), Dark soybeans (Kuromame 黒豆) and many other DELICIOUS foods.

What follows after the breakfast (well not necessarily after, but now for the heck of it). People check the mail for New Years cards, or nengajyou (年賀状)

Like many Japanese traditions, there is a specific etiquette that has no equal in Western culture. While Christmas cards arrive anytime from Thanksgiving to New Year’s, nengajyou are expected to be delivered on January 1st. Even though this is a strict rule, don’t be surprised when some cards arrive a day later.

You can buy nengajyou cards almost anywhere in December and they usually come prestamped, saving you a lot of hassle to buy stamps or going to the postoffice. Plus the upside of the nengajyou is that you can put them in special mailboxes that can also be found almost anywhere in December.

Since some of the designs of the nengajyou are quite simple and boring, many people spend some time to make their own designed nengajyou which is usually (I come to find out) a picture of their child(ren) or photo from a big event that year (wedding). But of course you also have other “cool” designs. Unfortunately this year I was a bit late with both the xmas cards and the nengajyou so I had to buy some simple nengajyou’s. But definitely next year I’ll be making my own. Note to self: start thinking on a nice 2010/2011 concept

Waiting for your bundle of nengajyou (they literally arrive bundled together) and reading the flood of New Year’s wishes on January 1st is a cherished holiday tradition, similar to waiting for presents and opening them on Christmas.

So I expect a lot of nengajyou’s from yous! Happy new year