Japanese Video Project

Angles Sensei Guest Lecture

 

アングル先生のレクチャーは とても たのしかたでした。    

マーティンのおすしは よかったです。 でも  おやつは おいしす。

I found the talk to be really interesting, especially the discussion about incorporating ideas and cultural phenomenons present in the mother tongue to the new language that you are beginning to learn and appreciate. I did find it interesting to see even well accomplished speakers like Professor Angles joke about frantically asking native speakers about specific structures and phrasing. After the event, I asked professor Angles about different questions related to translating, not only in terms of literature and the difference between speech patterns and colloquialisms of the era, but also the more modern development of international entertainment like film, television, and music. His comments were insightful, consisting of utilizing historical evidence to support certain ideological representations as well as purposefully mistranslated or mischaracterizing patterns to establish lower intellect of characters(like that of Huckleberry Finn utilizing less kanji than was typical in Japanese in order to represent his lower education status). I am curious about how Japanese natives who grew up in epicenters outside of Japan, like the US or Brazil, view translating, specifically how connotation and ideological representation vary between the two locations. I also found it interesting to see the continued reverence displayed to the art of poetry in Japan, a sharp contrast to the United States which has turned more to lyrical composition.

The event itself had a large turnout, with the room becoming filled quickly before it began, and the food afterwards was good, though the flavors of some of the snacks had a unique taste.

Kimagure Cook- Japanese Home Cooking Channel

 For this weeks Listening/Learning, I took a dive into the world of Japanese content creation- more specifically the world of Kimagure Cook- a home chef in Japan. The channel itself revolves around the creation of delicious looking dishes similar to a number of food channels found in the states, but largely focusing on locally sourced ingredients from Japanese Markets, typically seafood.

In the video, Kimagure created Red Tongue Sole Meuniere with Mashed potatoes, that looked so phenomenal that I was hungry despite having recently eaten dinner. Below is a picture of the finished product:

Other than the handcrafted nature that Kimagure displays in his dishes it was interesting to the cultural difference displayed in the approach to their creation.  In addition to using locally sourced ingredients like freshly caught Sole or Hokkaido raised butter and milk, Kimagure also used some ingredients exclusive to Japan like Sudachi a Japanese vegetable similar to lime to instill Acidity in the dish.

                                                            

The video was also a good way to familiarize myself with Japanese cooking terms, as he adapted terms like Han to describe thing like half amongst other variations that I typically only associated with time and numerical denominations. It was also interesting to hear the use of English phrases like "Number 1" to denote ranks and praise compared to the ichiban learned in class. I'll be sure to to go back and watch more of Kimagure's content, though I wish I lived by the sea to be able to try(and ultimately fail) the recreation of the dishes displayed

Top 5 Japanese Singles(and one more for fun)

 For this weeks Blog activity, I listened to the top grossing singles of all time(by physical copies sold) as well as the top selling digital single, そばにいるね. It was very interesting to see the tastes of Japan in terms of music and lasting appeal. 

 

Starting off the list was  およげ!たいやきくん, a childrens song that held the top sales for over 11 consecutive weeks. Oddly enough, I thought this was one of the best sounding songs though one of the most simplistic in lyrics- with the song featuring lyrics depicting the taiyaki's journey as he swims.

Oddly enough the fifth ranking song was also from a children's tv show, Dango 3 Kyodai- an intro of sorts that  establishes the three brother dango and their different character traits.

                                             

I also found the third ranking song to be quite fun,世界に一つだけの花, especially in comparison to other boy bands at the time- specifically that of NSYNC and Backstreet boys three years prior. This song was arguably the easiest to understand with the lyrics surrounding the idea of being the "prettiest flower in the world"- utilize a lot of ichiban terms as well as the hito identity for humanity.

Though I found the top grossing songs to be fun, it was interesting to see how popular music in japan has changed, as well as been influenced by other pop cultural standards- like that of the US. This was seen not only in 世界に一つだけの花, but also the R&B atmosphere ofそばにいるね, but I am unlikely to add any of these songs into my daily playlists.