Today, we bring you another blog post from Motoko, JapanesePod101.com lesson creator, host and Office Party Planner! Motoko will be sharing more bilingual posts on our blog, so check back often and leave a comment! Hi everyone, Motoko here! In the beginning of summer this year, the Innovative Language staff went on a day trip. Today I’d like to talk about that. We chose peach-picking for fun, and soba-making so that everyone could try a traditional Japanese food! We made soba in a wonderful nihon-kaoku, a traditional type of Japanese house. Do you know what soba is? Soba is a famous type of noodle in Japan that is a greyish-brown color. It gets this color from a special type of flour called sobako that is used to make it. You dip the... Show more

Today, we bring you another blog post from Motoko, JapanesePod101.com lesson creator, host and Office Party Planner! Motoko will be sharing more bilingual posts on our blog, so check back often and leave a comment! Hi all, Motoko here. Today I'd like to tell you about the baseball game the Innovative Language team went to at the end of September. But before I do, which sports are popular in your country? And do you know which sports are popular in Japan? The answer is: soccer and baseball. Soccer came to Japan because it was popular in Europe. Baseball, on the other hand, can be written in kanji (野球), and that’s because it was introduced to Japan much earlier than soccer was. In fact, it came to Japan in 1872. It is said that... Show more

Today, we bring you another blog post from Motoko, JapanesePod101.com lesson creator, host and Office Party Planner! Motoko will be sharing more bilingual posts on our blog, so check back often and leave a comment! Hi everyone, Motoko here! Today I’d like to tell you about another listener meetup we had. The other day, we had two JapanesePod101.com listeners come to visit us. One was from Canada, and the other was from France. It was the second meetup for me, but I still felt nervous beforehand! Andre from Canada, and Becher from France paid us a visit. They met each other through their Japanese studies, and this was their first trip together – they were staying in Japan for two weeks. They told us that right before... Show more

Today, we bring you a blog post from Motoko, JapanesePod101.com lesson creator, host and Office Party Planner! Motoko will be sharing more bilingual posts on our blog, so check back often and leave a comment! Hi everyone! Motoko here. Today’s blog is about the concept of off-kai. At the beginning of this month, two JapanesePod101.com listeners came to visit us at the office. Apparently we often used to have listeners come and visit us, but for me it was the first time, so I was really excited. Christophe was from Switzerland, and said that he tries to come to Japan at least once a year. It was really clear to me that he loves Japan! This time he visited our Tokyo office with his friend, who is also a JapanesePod101.com listener.... Show more

Today, we bring you a blog post from Motoko, JapanesePod101.com lesson creator, host and Office Party Planner! Motoko will be sharing more bilingual posts on our blog, so check back often and leave a comment! On the 17th of April here at Innovative Language Learning, we had an afternoon tea party. Although Kim (a member of our Business Development Team) moved to Hong Kong, last week she came back to Japan for a brief visit, so it was her ‘welcome back’ party. Meanwhile, Pim (host of ThaiPod101.com) is going back to her home country to have her baby, so it was her ‘farewell’ party. We all ate pastries, chatted, and enjoyed ourselves. There was a choice of pastries: strawberry, green tea, custard… It was really hard to... Show more

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, (Formal I know, but "G'Day mates," might be a bit too casual.) Sam (AKA Jkid) here. I have been listening to JapanesePod101 since its debut on the web. Its purpose was simple. To make learning Japanese interesting and fun. As a long time learner of Japanese I was, of course, interested in what it might have had to offer. Since that time I have listened to almost all of the lessons here. At first, that is all I did. However, it didn't take me long to find my way over to the forums and into the comment section of each lesson where I then began to interact regularly with the great community of people that’s been established here. (Although, it should be noted that in the lesson comments I posted as “A... Show more

Hey guys, Marky here! The year is coming to an end. I want it to hurry up and finish as soon as possible because I've been focusing all my energy on 2008. But, the month isn't over yet, so I'd like to get some important information out there about December. ◎　Mixi We finally got off our lazy butts and set up a mixi community. I'll be posting little tidbits here and there about upcoming stories and behind the scenes things. Next year we'll be trying some new approaches, so if you're obsessed with JPod like some people are, you'll definitely want to check it out from time to time. ◎　My Tokyo Travelblogue　 For fans of the Agnes Murakami saga, December is a good month for you! There are 4 Agnes lessons this month. Day 22,... Show more

Recently, listener Todd Mizomi visited us in the Tokyo Office! Todd was visiting Tokyo with his wife, celebrating his 8th wedding anniversary. He brought in some delicious Hawaiian chocolate as well as some heavy camera equipment! We know our listeners are very interested in seeing the faces behind the JapanesePod101.com team, and we took advantage of Todd's professionalism! We had a lot of fun with our mini-photoshoot! There will be lots more pictures in the coming days! Thanks Todd-san! Starting from the left: Brian, Oe, Jon, Marky, Kishimoto-sensei, Jeff, Yuki, and Peter in the center. (Missing: Sachiko, Naomi, Jun, Miki, Sakura, Natsuko, Yoshikai, Take, and Ushijima) We hope you enjoy this. Yoroshiku o-negai... Show more

Last Friday, we received a visit from Favianna Rodriguez a talented and sucessful artist from the Bay Area (California)! Everyone at JapanesePod101.com was wowed by her energy level, personality and the fact that she brought us Ghirardelli Chocolates (Gone in 60 seconds)! We can't thank her enough, as it was great meeting and getting to know her. You can find out more about the talented Favianna-san and her art work by clicking here. Favianna-san managed to track down some more members of the JapanesePod101.com team. So, we would like to introduce you to Sasahara-sensei, Takase and Jonas. Starting from the left: Kazunori (JPod101.com's Alpha-male), Natsuko (holding the Japanese Journal Favianna's art work appeared in), Favianna,... Show more

Last Friday, Dr. Lalo, a doctor from Mexico and an avid listener, stopped by JapanesePod101.com! He was vacationing in Tokyo and wanted to pay us a visit, and he found us! We were so happy to see him! We went to the local sushi bar together; he tried the UNI (sea urchin), and he loved it!! He did all the ordering himself! Dr. Lalo made sure we took some pictures to share with all of you, so "Hello listeners, here we are!" Starting from the left: Kazunori (JPod101.com's Alpha-male), Peter (holding an o-miyage (souvenir) from Dr. Lalo), Kazu (That face is on purpose!), Dr. Lalo, Natsuko, Sakura(holding another o-miyage (souvenir) from Dr. Lalo), and Hatsumi. This is just the first of many pictures and videos to come. We hope you enjoy... Show more