The stroke order for the “a hiragana” character is represented in the image below. As you can see three strokes are required. Writing out characters is the best way to learn and memorize the kana alphabets, hiragana and katakana. Grab a piece of paper and try to write the “a hiragana” character now. Getting the correct balance and smoothness with the curves will take a while. I found learning to write hiragana charaters to be a very relaxing exercise. It takes a certain about of concentrateion, but is stimulating in a passive kind of way. Strokes for both the kana alphabets and kanji generally move from left to right and from top to bottom. The “a hiragana” in particular is very beautiful.

Welcome to the first Hiragana Lesson. In this lesson you can learn the first five vowels of Hiragana. Your road to learning to read Japanese starts here. Hiragana is what you should learn first when starting to learn Japanese. Please repeat aloud as you watch this video.

The romaji hiragana for these characters is:  A I U E O

 Now test yourself with these questions

• What is ai in English?
• What color is ao?
• How do you say “house” in Japanese?
• What does ue mean?
• How do you say “many” in Japanese?
• What family member name is oi?

Yesterday, I had a bit of a blue ( an intense argument) with one of my Japanese friends regarding a question he asked a foreigner. Several weeks ago at a small festival some foreigners were selling kebabs. I wasn’t sure where they were from, but was quite sure they weren’t native English speakers. It didn’t really matter. I just wanted to order one of the kebabs they were selling.  We spoke to each other in Japanese when I made my order.

Then one of my Japanese friends happened to by walking by. Naturally we greeted each other and  had a chat. I was eating my kebab at this time. He saw I was eating my kebab and saw the foreigners. As they were working they were speaking Japanese loudly and fluently. They were busy serving customers.  My Japanese friend walked over to one of them and asked “Where are you from?” in English. The foreigner ignored the question and just continued working. I told my friend off saying he shouldn’t have asked him that question and also that he should have spoken to him in Japanese and not English.
 

So yesterday when I met my friend again we argued. He is a very good friend so we are blatantly honest with each other. We were drinking and he brought up the incident and said he had done nothing wrong when he asked the foreigner were he was from in English. I disagreed and tried to explain myself and gave him some advice. My argument was that Japanese should speak to foreigners in Japanese in Japan at first point of contact. Most Japanese assume foreigners can’t speak Japanese. Japanese will rarely give foreigner the benefit of the doubt. I also said his question was pathetic and inappropriate.  The “Where are from?” question and resulting conversation becomes almost a weekly ritual in Japan for foreigners. Needless to say you get sick of  Japanese asking you the same questions. 

 
Japanese are socially challenged and by there own omission generally fear foreigners.  This is something you will have to get used to and not take personally in Japan. It is a result of lack of “worldly experience”, and experience in communication with people in general. Japanese are poor verbal communicators. In fact Japanese pride themselves that they can communicate feelings and thoughts to family members without the spoken word.  Japanese have strong assumptions about all foreigners and are conditioned , almost programmed, to ask the same questions. At the core of each of these questions is the underlying statement – “you are not one of us”.
 
So here they are, the questions you’ll soon hate to be asked if you

live in Japan for an extended period of time.

1.Are you American?

2.Where are you from?

3.Can you eat Natto?

4.Do you like Japan?

5.Have you ever eaten sushi?
 
It gets worse!

Some Japanese won’t even give you the courtesy of speaking directly to you. Often when I am with Japanese friends if we meet other Japanese questions will be asked about me, but not directly to me.  They are the same silly “where are you from?” questions, but your friends will be asked the question instead . It is quite surreal because you feel ignored yet you are the topic of the conversation. Now, I think in most countries this kind of behavior is rude and generally unacceptable, but in Japan because of the “outsider mentality” in is common and a natural social reflex custom. Then if you point out that you can in fact speak Japanese often what happens then is the conversation ends and you are ignored.

Here is a letter from a student I got a while back in Japan. I  thought I would share it with you.

Dear Nick,

Thank you so much for your enjoyable lessons every time! After class last week, I was thinking about what you told us. I do understand you have some stressful life in Japan. I know travelling and living in another country is quite different. I think Japanese people are generally kind and friendly but it would be hard for the people from other countries to live in Japan. The way of life, the tradition, local customs, human relations, and so on.

Tajimi is a small town and we hardly get to know non-Japanese people in everyday life, and most of us speak only Japanese. If you lived in some other big cities like Tokyo, Kobe, Yokohama or Nagoya, you life might be comfortable. You are such a nice and friendly person who tries to understand our culture and way of living, even though you have had some unpleasant experiences. you are fed up of being asked something rude, for example, “Are you American?” They wouldn’t know it is rude. 
 

Since the World War II ended, Japanese people have been strongly influenced by the USA. Probably “Gaijin” means “American” for them. I guess. Well, I have textbooks called “Modern English”. I got in the 1970’s, and the first dialog is written like this. “Excuse me.  Are you American ?” “Yes, I am from New York”.  When I heard your “grumble” last week, I remembered this dialog. In those days the characters in the text were only American and Japanese. I have a recent English textbook for junior high school students, and the characters are  American, Australian, Indian, Chinese, Tanzanian and Japanese. Excellent, isn’t it?!

I cannot express well what I think, also my listening comprehension is still poor, but I enjoy learning English from you. It’s good to know the words we learned at school or from dictionaries but native speakers don’t use actually.  Looking forward to you next lesson.

Kanji…to learn it or not to learn it – that is your question. Learning to read Kanji at a level equivalent to a native Japanese speaker does take a considerable amount of effort, commitment and most of all time. If you are wanting to read a Japanese newspaper or get to level  where you can enter a Japanese university, then you are on very long road to Kanji proficiency.

Being able to read Kanji has numerous benefits and I certainly recommend learning Kanji if you desire to speak Japanese. I often tell new students of Japanese to think about learning Kanji in terms of a very beneficial learning process rather than just a means to be able to read Japanese.

Here is a sample audio lesson from our Kanji Supremacy Package.

If you would like to learn how to read the above passage and actually understand it please take a look at our product Kanji Supremacy. The product has lots of lessons, video tutorials, audio files, several ebooks and lots of bonuses.

I can honestly say that after living in Japan for ten years I have never experienced any racism in Japan. Racism is almost non existent in Japan. I am talking about hate driven racism. Discrimination , however, is something common place and not just limited to non-Japanese living in Japan. The group, not the individual, is primary importance in Japanese society. As a result minority groups and individuals are discriminated in Japan, including Japanese.

When applied to Japanese society, equality is often take to mean that one is treated just like other members in a group to which one belongs, and fair treatment is guaranteed as long as one observes the groups internal rules. If you are not of the group then you won’t be treated equally. Not being part of a group or not being allowed to part of a group is known as “nakama-hazure”. In most countries this type of behavior would be typical in the school yard. In Japan it is common place regardless of age.

Bullying is recognized as a huge problem in Japan. Japanese are conditioned to be homogeneous from a very young to such a degree that anyone who doesn’t fit in is somewhat deserving of being bullied. Without a doubt, Japanese who voluntarily deviate from mainstream norms are subject to discrimination usually due to sexuality, religious beliefs and political views and academic backgrounds.

To the majority of Japanese, the worst way in which they can be discriminated against is by what is referred to as “mura-hachibu” or village ostracism. In olden times, this meant to be excluded from social interaction with other in one’s village. In modern Japan, it means to be excluded from one’s group, so that members are likely to face difficulties. They may not be invited to social gatherings. They may not be offered help when needed. They may have delayed promotions at work, and so on.

Being An Outsider

I often feel fortunate to be a minority living in Japan. Japanese have no expectation of me to be Japanese in any manner. So I am free of cultural complexities such as “giri” and “enryo”. There have been moments were discrimination has boarded on racism, but I know that I am and always will be an outsider in Japan so I rarely take such social discrimination personally. I have been refused service in bars and shops, my Japanese has been made fun of, car doors have been locked by drivers as I have walked by their running cars, and strangers have ignored my request for directions on the odd occasion. Nothing too terrible, but just reminders that I am not of the majority.

So expect a little discrimination when you come to Japan and try not to take it personally. Keep in mind, that anyone in Japan, such as minority groups, can be subject to discrimination in Japanese society. The Japanese concepts of equality and discrimination are defined by feelings based on case-by-case situations rather than by clear-cut laws and/or principles.