ハッピメリ クリスマス！

人形

A last minute Christmas gift idea for いい子供達 are 人形！

人形？なんですか？

T

人形 (にんぎょう) - Dolls

Get them while you Can!

ジョシュア

P.S. The sign behind it is obscured and the last 漢字 is 見られない, but can you guess what it is? Let us know in the comments or you can send us email at deathbykanji@gmail.com to tell us the answer.

おもちゃ屋

More great クリスマス gift are toys or おもちゃ ー おもちゃが欲しい！

This is a picture of a おもちゃ屋 in なんば, 大阪。

Jack フェイスマット半額 (はんがく) - Jack Face Mat Half the Price

定価 (ていか) - Regular price, list price (in small handwriting under the Tom and Jerry toy)

乗らないで (のらないで) - Don't ride on

倒れる (たおれる) - To fall over, Be destroyed, Crumble, Break

よ - Emphasis at the end of a sentence

Translation: Don't ride on or it will break.

This 漢字-->倒 was vめちゃ難しい to find. When you handwrite 漢字 you need to make sure you are as accurate as possible. Because on the sign the 漢字 looks separate from リ, but it is apart of it to make it one whole 漢字 word. They also drew it 土 underneath when the last line should be slanted.

Other than that, it is all pretty cool and ちょっと高いね。

じゃまた、

ジョシュア

日本物語

A great gift idea for the 日本語学生.

A book of 日本物語  (にほんものがたり) - Japanese Stories or fairy tales

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Each story is in 日本語 with the ひらがな over top the 漢字 the first time it appears and challenges you to remember how to read it when it appears again. Plus each 物語 has a vocabulary reference to study and learn new words and phrases that appear chronologically in the 物語, and the English version for maximum comprehension.

One of the other reasons I like this book it because it includes one of my favorite 日本物語, the 雪女 (ゆきおんな) - Snow Woman, and other interesting Japanese fairy tales that 子供 learn growing up.

The also comes with a CD of the 物語 being read to you, which you can play while you read along or play as a nice bedtime story as you fall asleep.

This copy was from the 図書館 which I always recommend checking out books before you buy to make sure it has the type of learning material and level you are looking for, plus it also saves you money!

Yet after reading this, I would put this on my buy list. I really enjoyed the 物語, the illustrations, the amount of 言葉 and 文法 was 素晴らしい plus the CD helped work on my listening skills.

If you have used this or think it is something you want, let us know in the comments below. And I hope you receive this gift for the holidays!

乾杯！

ジョシュア

レトロげーむ

It's Christmas time around the world and what does everyone want? 

お酒!

Well, not everyone. Lots of people want ゲーム! それは買って下さい.

キャンプ - Camp (Name of store)

レトロ - Retro

げーむ - Game

Translation: Retro Game Camp (visit there website)

This was a fun store in 秋葉原  (あきばはら) that had lots of cool retro games, systems and toys. A lot of these types of stores exist in the オタク centers of 日本 including 大須電気街 (おおすでんきがい) in 名古屋, 日本橋でんでんタウン in 大阪 and the mecca of オタク, アキバ in 東京 pictured　here, and featured in the アニメ Akiba's Trip I wrote about ここで.

If games are on your Christmas list, comment below about which games you want and love to play.

げーむ好きですよ。

ジョシュア

侍音楽

Here's a CD I picked up from the 図書館 (としょかん) - Library

侍 (さむらい) - Samurai

日本 has a wide variety of traditional instruments known as 和楽器 

(わがっき) such as:

琴 (こと) - Koto; a stringed instrument played on the floor with two hands

三味線 (しゃみせん) - A three-stringed Japanese lute strung with fingers or a large pick called a 撥 (ばち)

琵琶 (びわ) - A four-stringed (sometimes 5) Japanese wooden lute

尺八 (しゃくはち) - A bamboo Japanese end-blown flute with 5 holes

太鼓 (たいこ) - Taiko is the general name from 'drum', yet there are many types of drums in Japan used for 能 (のう) - A music and dance drama that depicts ancient stories of Japan; used in festivals or for spiritual ceremonies and other purposes

There are a lot instruments of Japan and a more comprehensive list can be found here on Wikipedia, plus you can search on youtube for lots of examples on the sounds, how to play and music of these instruments that I recommend.

Japanese traditional music has meditative and minimalistic qualities that I like very much, ぼくは好きです！

Although this CD was more of a 侍 Chill beats soundtrack with electronic drum beats underneath the 琴と三味線, that 時々好きです。でも、もう和楽器が聞いてに欲しがりました。

もう、すぎね。

byebyeじゃん、

ジョシュア