Heroes is a TV show from America's NBC. It follows a group of men and women who suddenly develop superhuman powers. There is a woman with a split personality, a man who can fly, another who can paint the future, and a girl who can regenerate her injuries. But my personal favourite1 character is 中村広2, who can bend time and space. Not only is his superpower the coolest, he has the added power of being able to speak Japanese at a native level. 中村広 (広 for short) has a sidekick, Ando, who he speaks almost exclusively in Japanese to. Try closing your eyes and listening to what they say; you might find out you will understand more than you think you could! Here are some words I have learnt from Heroes: 運命・うんめい　Destiny/Karma.... Show more

One day I was at a 上海1 sports centre2, playing table tennis with some friends. Table tennis is very popular here; the place I was at had about 10 tables in a gymnasium. While the others were playing doubles, I had a wander around the centre. Next to the table tennis hall, there was a gym where a group of approximately 20 people were practising 空手3. There were men and girls of many ages, all in neat formation, doing drills. The instructor was at the front, barking out orders and counting. He wasn't counting in English, or even Chinese, but was yelling out in a bloodcurdling voice 「いち・に・さん・よん」 Whenever people practice 空手, they do so using Japanese instead of the language of whichever country they are in. So all over the world, or at... Show more

I went to a concert last night, put on by a Japanese band playing African drums. Everyone I met was 日本人1.　Just before leaving, I went over everything I had learnt about saying goodbyes in Japanese. I rehearsed it in my head: 「でわ、さきにしつれいします」2.　Arms by my side, lowered eyes and a bow from the waist. A bow as deep as I could, look at the floor for 3 seconds, then come back up. I quite proud of my bowing technique, I'd practiced it in the トイレ3　earlier. But instead of returning my carefully rehearsed bow, everyone kept shaking my hand, patting me on the back, giving the half-hug. Everyone kept saying "see ya", "bye", "Thanks for coming", "再见"4. It was a bit strange. After hearing so much about ritualised traditions in Japan, and preparing... Show more

爱香 and I were on the outskirts of 上海, looking for a comic called '乱馬1/2'. I had bought an English copy of 乱馬1/2 in Sydney, but now needed the Japanese version, so I could study it.. We had gone up and down 福州路, which is where the major concentration of bookshops are in 上海, but had no luck finding the original Japanese version. Our last chance to find 乱馬1/2 was to head out to 古北区, where the biggest concentration of Japanese expats and shops are. After reading a tiny ad in a Japanese magazine, we had gone up and down the same road three times, into an apartment block, back out the same apartment block, to the security guard at the front of the apartment block, and finally to a スーパー　across the road. As soon as we entered, I had a bad... Show more

Hi. My name is Max. I live in Shanghai, China and I've been studying Japanese since November of 2005. Or, as might be more appropriate 平成17年. I've always been interested in Japan. My aunt lives in Japan, so one of my cousins are Japanese. I traveled to Japan often as a kid, and was always sorry to leave. Every time I have left 東京羽田空港1 I have sworn to return. I come from a bilingual family, so when someone asks me how long I been learning, I usually dodge the question and say 'quite a while'. I haven't been reading and writing for long, but since coming to Shanghai I have seriously tried to master Chinese. At the time of my last trip to Japan, in November of 2005, I was already seriously learning Chinese. I was so interested in... Show more