Upcoming Content

My apologies for the lack of posts recently, I've been rather swamped with working, finishing up biochemistry courses, and preparing to depart for Japan. I've been thinking about what tools would be the most helpful, and I've decided that these two projects will be my focus:

The Living Japanese E-Book: The information on the site is spread out among a variety of posts, so it can be hard to know which order to read content or what the best methods for studying Japanese are. I'm hoping to address these issues by compiling everything the site has to offer (along with new content) into a single e-book.

Oh, and I'll be applying the organization of the book to the website as well, so it should be much easier to read articles "in order" and get the most out of your reading time.

The Next Reading Pack: For the next reading pack, I think it's time to move away from Yotsubato! and into some new territory. I'll be scouring bookstores in Japan to find the best series to use for the third reading pack, but I've already decided that this one will not have furigana. It's quite difficult to start reading manga that does not have furigana for kanji, so I want to have tools available to help those who are ready to take that next step.

I'll be posting more frequently once I get through with my finals, so until then... good luck with your studies!

(Also, feel free to contact me via email at Tigoris@LivingJapanese.com if you need help or have any questions)

Revised Reading Packs

A couple of kind fellows sent me emails in the last week about the content of the two Yotsubato! reading packs. I've made some changes to the two packs to help make the content more similar, as well as fixing some problems that have been pointed out to me. The big changes are listed in detail below.

Progress Update: Yotsubato! Reading Pack 2

I've been quiet for a while about the second reading pack, but never fear - it's nearly ready! I've had finals to handle and I'm currently working out all of the details of my rapidly approaching departure for Japan, so it's been a bit difficult to make updates. Finals are over now, so I'm going to be finishing up the last bits of the reading pack.

So in case you've missed out on the first Yotsubato! reading pack, here's a breakdown of what will be included with the second pack:

• Vocabulary Reference Sheet: This is a page-by-page list of every word in the manga. Keep it handy while you read so that you never have to look words up in a dictionary. A new feature for the second volume's reference list is a "notes" section for additional information that can help with understanding a word or how it is used in the manga.
• Sentence Excerpts: These are sentences taken straight from the manga with a reading guide and definitions. These sentences will allow you to study grammar and vocabulary in context. For the second reading pack I want to have a larger batch of sentences, so this part of the pack will be more robust than before.
• Anki Decks: The sentence and vocabulary lists will be loaded into two separate Anki decks. Add the decks to your library and you'll be able to remember the vocabulary from the manga long-term.

So if you haven't already done so, check out the first Yotsubato! reading pack. You might also want to get the second volume of the manga so that you can move on to the second reading pack when it's released. Several online vendors with the second volume of Yotsubato! are listed below.

Kinokuniya USA – Located in the US so shipping is much cheaper. Currently in stock.

Amazon.co.jp

Honto

CDJapan

To get email updates on the progress of the second reading pack, 

enter your email address in the box on the right side of the page!

Reading Pack and Site Updates

Thanks to everyone who has left feedback for the Yotsubato! Reading Pack! I've got some information regarding the next reading pack, as well as an upcoming update for the first one. I also have some changes to the site layout to announce and a bit of exciting personal news.

Yotsubato! Volume One Reading Pack:

Several people have mentioned that including an Anki deck of the vocabulary would make the pack better, so I'll be adding one into the pack. Some people have wanted the vocab sorted by frequency of use, but with the way that Anki handles reviews I can't add that in (sorry).

The Next Reading Pack:

With that said, future reading packs will include vocabulary and sentence Anki decks. I haven't decided on the manga for the next reading pack, so feel free to submit any requests in the comments of this post.

An Updated Article Index:

The old “Map of the Journey” page has been replaced with the Articles by Topic page. The old index was getting cluttered, so I finally gave it the overhaul that it needed. I'd appreciate it if you could let me know if there are any issues with the navigation of the new page.

Tigoris in Japan:

I found out last weekend that I've been selected by my university to take part in a year-long exchange program with a Japanese university in Tokyo. I'll be starting classes in September. I'm looking forward to sharing my knowledge and experiences with you all!

The reading pack is SO close...

Let the celebration begin, for the reading pack has been completed! Unfortunately, I'd like to go over it a few more times before releasing it, so you'll have to wait just a bit longer. I hope you guys are as excited as I am!

You can subscribe now and receive an email update when the reading pack is released!

Happy Holidays!

Everyone loves Danbo~*

Happy holidays, Living Japanese readers! I hope you're all having a nice break from work or school. As you know, this holiday season Living Japanese is all about the upcoming release of the first reading pack, so it's time for a...

Posting Resumes Next Week!

There is no escaping finals...*

Living Japanese has gone for a while without seeing an update. That's about to change. Starting next week posting will resume and continue on for eternity!

Here's the tentative line-up for a few of the new posts:

• The completed reading pack for Yotsubato
• Updated guides for Anki 2
• New posts for sentences, vocab, and kana/kanji

Living Japanese, Simply

As of late I've been finding myself stepping back from the concept of "more is better." In the time since I began this blog, it's continued to grow - more articles, more pages, more links, etc. Today I opened my blog and could only think, "What a cluttered mess." So here's the new Living Japanese. Simple.

If you spot any issues with the new layout or have questions about learning Japanese, feel free to leave a comment.

Updates and Revisions Complete!

I've just completed the last of the updates that I'll be doing for now. All content posts should now have a "Related Articles" section to aid in finding other posts on similar topics. I also noticed some divisions among posts while editing them, so I've re-organized the Map of the Journey page to reflect this. I think it's much easier to find similar articles now.

Now that the touch-ups to the blog's appearance and content have been completed, I'll be returning to posting content more frequently. As I've mentioned before, questions really help me to find the areas that I need to write more material for, so please feel free to contact me with anything! I think I'll go work on completing the last bits of Rune Factory so that I can introduce some more games. Until next time~

Further Updates to the Blog

Many of the older articles have been in need of some touching up and editing, so I have finally begun the big revision! The most important addition to each post is the "Related Articles" section. I've started with the oldest articles and have already covered 18 of them. Expect to see more of them revised over the course of the next few days.

Aside from that, I'm somewhat looking forward to starting the new season. As of right now, the only series I know I will be picking up is Ikoku Meiro no Croisee. The anime might not turn out to be all that good, but I liked the manga enough to buy it. The artist (who also does the illustrations for Gosick) is truly gifted at drawing all things cute, so it was impossible to resist buying (I actually bought a one-shot collection of hers as well). I'll most likely do an introduction for the manga later on. Until then~

Living Japanese with a New Look

The long due blog overhaul has commenced (and perhaps been completed). As I am currently working from a netbook, any and all image editing proved challenging. Furthermore, when I finally found a look that I liked, I borrowed another computer and found that it looked horrible at any resolution higher than mine (aka, ever other computer in the world). I did some more image manipulating and I think it should all be displaying well now. If you see anything strange or wrong with the new look, please let me know.

Updated Store Page

In preparation for introducing some more Japanese media, I've added some more content to the Store page of the blog. I'd like to write about some more websites, but I've unfortunately not had enough money to buy anything for almost a year now. Oh well, perhaps soon I can get on that.