How to speak Japanese……..well first of all it is not easy unless you have a great teacher who is honest enough to teach you how Japanese do speak instead of text book nonsense. Learning how to speak Japanese is basically learning how to become Japanese. If you want to speak like a native you need to learn how Japanese behave. You ‘ll need to adopt many Japanese customs and mimic Japanese behaviour as well.

Most students learn Japanese the wrong way for several months or even years. Text book lessons at school and university can only give you a basic understanding of the Japanese language – grammar structure, vocabulary, the kana syllabaries and maybe a few hundred kanji. Learning how to speak Japanese involves a lot of cultural understanding and social conformity.

Japanese use very few words to express their thoughts and feelings. You’ll hear Japanese say the same things all the time. More often than not Japanese express interest, surprise, happiness and other emotions with only a few quirky phrases and sometimes with wordless cries and grunts. If you watch a game show you’ll audiences scream out the same wordless expression in unison when something shocking is presented to them. Very bizarre.

You’ll discover that for the most of their time Japanese don’t speak politely at all. For example, Japanese has no equivalent for “Pardon”. Instead when something is misunderstood in a conversation the confused listener will just blurt out “Ha!”. Sometimes my wife speaks to me and I have to control myself from feeling a little abused or offended. She’ll “rudely” blurt out one word and expect me to understand whatever it is she is trying to tell me. I used to get home from work and the first thing she would say to me as I walked in the door would be an aggressive “Gohan ha?”. This basically means something like “Do you want dinner?” or “Have you had dinner?”. However, if you translated the expression it would be just “Dinner!!?” . It would often give me the impression that my wife wasn’t happy to see me return home and that getting dinner was something she wanted to get quickly out of the way.

To be Japanese you got to do what everyone else does. I am often amazed at how easily Japanese can be assimilated and culturally conditioned. The peace sign is a classical example of this. Every time a Japanese has a photo taken of themselves they will do the peace sign. I found this to be extremely frustrating when having photos taken with Japanese. I went to great lengths to prevent my 4 year old son from being peace sign brain washed while he attend kindergarten in Japan.

To speak Japanese like a native you’ll need to have a split personality. You can be yourself for most of the time, but when you meet acquaintances or work colleagues you will have to put on a bit of an act and meet certain social criteria – being polite or ass kissing.

And finally speaking Japanese will mean you won’t be able to say what you feel or believe for part of the time. The worst thing you can do is cause any kind of conflict or trouble for anyone. So you have to learn to hold back your real thoughts and bite your tongue. So the challenge for speaking Japanese is learning what Japanese are and how they behave. Accepting the culture and learning not to be always yourself is what  it takes to be a good speaker of the Japanese language.

When I was 5 years old I visted Japan for the first time. I don’t really remember that much. I only remember that I was fanciated with baby sitter who cared for me and my brother one night when my father and mother were out having dinner. Since then, I guess I’ve always had a thing for Japanese girls. In fact, I married a very cute Japanese girl. I know lots of guys are searching on the net for hot Japanese girl and cute Japanese girls. Let me tell you about my first encounter with some young Japanese girls. I remember the first time I got on a train in Japan. I was going to check out a trendy area called Shibuya. When I got on the train I was completely blowen away by what a saw. Lots of cute Japanese school girls showing off their legs!

Japanese school girls love to wear their school uniform dresses like a mini skirt. They had hiked up there dresses so high that I was shocked to the point of confusion. I couldn’t believe these young Japanese school girls would willingly hike up the dresses and show off their legs. I was also confused by these white gravity defying socks they were wearing. I saw one Japanese school girl apply glue around her leg half way up the shin to attach her sock. These socks would draw you attention to their legs. I think I was a little overwhelemed by the whole idea that these school girls wanted to look sexy at such a young age. Eventually it all made sense to me (well almost) when a Japanese friend explained that “sexy” and “cuteness” are pretty much the same thing for young people in Japan.

I did for a long time think about the social implications about what I was seeing. “Why are girls this young dressing like this?” “Do they dress like this in school?” “Do their parents know? “Do their parents care?”
For me at the time it seemed to contradict everything I knew about Japanese culture. Little did I know! It didn’t take too long for me to work out where the influence was and why . Japanese society is breeding this Japanese School girl sex culture. In almost every bookstore or convenience store in Japan you are bound to find images of cute or sexy school girls in on the cover of magazines or comics. The story lines and imagery of some of these comics would normally be regarded as pornographic. Looking beautiful and wanting to be wanted are “values” in Japan. Idols – cute young female singers looking sexy are Japan’s main stream music. Computer games allow men to live out their sexual fantasies with hot Japanese high school girls. And for men who can afford to they do live out their fantasies with school girls prostituting themselves. It seems that a lot of men want school girls, and a lot of school girls want money.

Japanese School Girl Uniform

Believe it or not Japanese school girl uniforms are modelled off an early 1900’s uniform that was used by the British Royal Navy. Sailor outfitis are a common style of uniform worn by Japanese middle school and high school girls. It was introduced as a school uniform in 1921 by the principal of Fukuoka Jo Gauguin University , Elizabeth Lee.

Japanese high school girl uniforms are a popular fetish item. Second-hand sailor outfits and other items, including panties, are broker through underground establishments. Although changes to Japanese law have since made such practices difficult. Sailor outfits, along with other styles of school uniform, play an undeniably large role in Japans underground culture.

In the major cities Japanese school girls seem to be everywhere at all hours. I remember being a little shocked when I first saw a group of Japanese high school girls hanging out at a station at 11:00. They also seem to have a lot of money to spend. Japanese high school girls are sure to have a cell phone and a lot of brand accessories with them at all times. In large groups they tend to be quite friendly with foreigners. A great place to meet Japanese girls and women are at “Print Club” arcades. There you can ask to take a photo together and have a chat.

A few nights ago I attended the graduation dinner of some design students who were friends and students of mine. After the graduation dinner we had a second party. Then after we had consumed plenty of alcohol it was time to go crazy and paint the town read. We went to Karaoke. With enough alcohol Karaoke can be very addictive. What could be more fun then belting out your favorite songs with lots of alcohol.

The word “kara” means empty and “oke” referring to orchestra, “empty orchestra.” The idea being a singer performs with an orchestra that is not really there. If you have never been to a Karaoke bar it is a little bizarre when you first walk into one. A fairly large building houses lots of little small rooms. Each room has cheap, but clean vinyl furniture, a TV set, microphones, several remote controls, stacks of song books, and intercom phone and menus for food and drinks. So you can not only sing at these places, but have drinks and eat. Generally the food is junk and the drinks cheap, but nasty. You look through a song book, program a song, grab a mike and start singing.

Karaoke bars are a much needed recreational and social environment for Japanese considering the amount of daily stress the average Japanese has. At karaoke bars Japanese can let their hair down and go crazy. All is forgiven and forgotten at Karaoke bars with bosses mixing with low ranking staff hamming things up and just having a good time. Japanese who are generally shy and socially challenged don’t mind belting out a few songs in front of an audience or friends. Needless to say you can really have a good time at Karaoke bars. The enthusiasm and gusto Japanese have for karaoke has to be seen to be believed.

When I first came to Japan I worked as a trainee in a restaurant. This was obviously great for my Japanese. In was hearing Japanese all day long. Those first few weeks were tough trying to understand what my co-workers and customers were saying. One of the first words I learned at my restaurant was “Okyakyu-San” which I took to mean just “customer’. Every time customers walked into our restaurant they were greeted by shouts of “Irasshaiiamse” and then asked how many were in their party. One thing that surprised me was the staff would address the customers “Okyakyu-San”. I thought it a bit odd to be be calling or addressing customers with the word “customer/s”. In English we only use customer to refer to patrons or guests. We never actually say customer to someones face. As my Japanese in the following months improved I think I wrote this term off as just another polite but impersonal Japanese word.

Now that I am a little older with close to a decade of living in Japanese under my belt I believe I do understand the word “Okyakyu-San” on a deeper level. “Okyakyu” means “honored guest” as well as customer. Adding san gives it a Mr., Mrs, or Miss. meaning. Like with most things in Japan it is all about history. Back in the good old Samurai days the hierarchically arranged society meant that in order to survive the inferior class had to provide “service”, extreme politeness and deference to their superiors. The common people were at the mercy or the elite Samurai ruling class. Although the Samurai were a “barbaric sword wielding mob” ( in Western eyes) , they did have extremely high etiquette standards. The Samurai were also in charge of enforcing them. To put in vulgar Western terms:It was kiss ass or your ass would be kicked. This sort of set in a superior/customer is GOD type social conditioning that was ingrained in the Japanese over a period of more than a thousand years. It became an integral part of social and political systems. Etiquette was everything. It also evolved the Japanese language to extreme mind boggling polite standards. Nowadays, the concept of “Okyakyu” has weakened – there are no sword wielding mobsters keeping the high etiquette standards alive. Particularly, the formal language and certain social customs among younger Japanese is disintegrating at an alarming rate and is in fact something of a major concern.

In business customer is still God and Japanese go to great lengths to build harmonious relationships even before actually doing business. It is very different to the somewhat self absorbed “Lets do business” mentality of the west. However, it can take a while to found out just what your prospective business associates want and when and how they want to get business done. Japanese tend to build business relationship with a long term vision in mind, rather than building business to serve short term purposes or meet goals.

Jonathan Peizer is the owner of one of the web’s best content and shopping site for green tea. Jonathan has been running his web site for several years and already has the top five google search items for Green Tea with 40,000-50,000 visitors a month. I recently interviewd him about his passion of Japanese Green tea.

Your site has lots of great content and lots of tea and related products. Can you tell us a little about your website greentealovers.com?

Its as much an informational site about healthy teas, their history, properties, preparations and effects as it is a purveyor of fine green tea — tea that I would add we drink ourselves. We started drinking these teas long before we began selling them.

What are the benefits of drinking green tea?

Since its discovery, green tea has become renowned for its pharmacological properties. While green tea is not classified as a medicine, it does contain medicinal substances. It is ranked as a leading health-giving substance in traditional Chinese medicine. Scientific research is now proving these benefits are due to the antioxidants present in green tea which have shown to be effective in preventing cancer and improving general health.

Is green tea an acquired taste?

That’s also hard to answer — it really depends on personal preference and I would argue that so many don’t prepare it optimally with the right water temperature or filtered water that the real question may be “Is badly prepared green tea an acquired taste?”. Fresh green tea prepared well is actually quite refreshing, calming and tasty — and teas like Jasmine Green or the stronger Chinese Greens really have quite unique tastes… Some might ask in the American Coffee Culture — if tea (and I don’t mean Chai Latte’s) is an acquired taste…

How many varieties of green tea are there?

Well, all tea comes form one bush Camellia Sinensis and the difference between white (steamed), green (steamed or pan fired), black (fermented) and Oolong teas (semi-fermented) is simply the processing. Types of tea are commonly graded depending on the quality and the parts of the plant used. There are large variations in both price and quality within these broad categories, and there are many specialty green teas that fall outside this spectrum. The very best Japanese green tea is said to be that from the Uji region of Kyoto.

What kind of green tea do you recommend for first time drinkers?

For straight green tea drinkers I would recommend Gyokuro or Sencha.

Gyokuro

Gyokuro tea is generally sweet and delicate in flavor. Selected from a grade of green tea known as tencha, Gyokuro is regarded as the highest grade of tea made in Japan. Gyokuro’s name refers to the pale green color of the infusion.

Sencha

The most common type of green tea in Japan. It is made from the young leaves of uncovered plants. Over three quarters of all tea produced in Japanese tea gardens is sencha. The earliest season (first month’s sencha harvest) is called shincha. Later harvests of sencha have more astringent qualities, a more robust flavor and generally less aroma.

Health Problems

If drinking for a chronic health problem I would recommend our Catechin product with a high concentration of the active ingredient in Green Tea (Catechin). People with food allergies to Catechin products like red wine, cocoa (as in dark chocolate), cherries, apples or cranberries should consult a physician before using this. However, if that isn’t an issue this really does provide a high concentration of catechin easily absorbable in ones body. Its not as tasty as our other teas because Catechin is a Tannin and Tannin is what produces astringency in tea. To learn more click here

I would also suggest for the flavor conscious — the exquisite Madame Butterfly Jasmine Green also on that page. It’s a personal favorite. For first time drinkers who needed the more robust black tea or blend tastes at an economical price I’d recommend our flavor blends which also have a jasmine blend in addition to mint, cherry, lime, Irish Breakfast etc.
How do you prepare green tea?

Well, that depends on the green tea. The primary issue is to use fresh leaves, use filtered water, boil it, let it cool down to the appropriate temperature and then infuse the leaves. When you pour boiling water directly on green tea leaves you actually burn the leaves – this bleeds out the tanin, which makes the taste more astringent, rather than allowing the tastier and sweeter amino acids to dominate the taste when using cooler (but still very hot) water. Water with different chemical contents can also radically alter the taste which is why using filtered water is recommended.

Boil water and wait for it to cool slightly by pouring it into a tea pot and then into cups to warm them and to re-measure the water. Place tea leaves and hot water in pot. Brew tea and water in teapot for a few minutes. Pour equal measures of brewed tea into cups until last drop is poured (It is said that the last drop of tea decides its taste on the whole).

Unlike serving coffee, tea needs to be served from a pot by pouring a little into each cup once. Pour some from the last cup to the first to make the amount and density the same. Do not leave water in the pot after pouring the first brew. You can enjoy the second brew by adding some more fresh hot water to the pot. When brewing tea the second time, 1/3 brewing time is adequate because water has already penetrated into the leaves.

How many cups a day do you recommend drinking?

I drink 3-5 cups a day myself. One is supposed to drink at least that much water and I alternate.

Visit Jonathan Peizer at http://www.greentealovers.com

When learning a language you often find yourself perplexed with what to learn. The Japanese language in particular often overwhelms students – kanji, hiragana, katakana, idioms, dialects and polite language such as keigo. With the prospect of so much to learn most students give up learning Japanese as it seems just too difficult and time consuming. You could spend decades studying the Japanese language. However, it doesn’t take years and years to become proficient in spoken Japanese. If you have a clear focus and good study habits you can speak Japanese with only a year of study.

What should on study first? This a difficult question to answer as will depend on your own goals. However, once you have the basic greetings and some vocabulary under your belt you should start learning questions.  Understanding questions is paramount in any language. If you visit Japan you will no doubt attract attention and be asked questions. Most conversation begin with questions so it is important to develop an understanding of sentence structure. So before you begin to consider learning polite Japanese, Kanji, idioms and Japanese dialects spend plenty of time learning questions.

Here are ten questions on the subject of food. I have provided English translations. Try to memorize all ten and use them the next time you met a Japanese person. Click on the audio player and repeat after Kaoru Sensei.

Audio Lesson – Question On Food

すきなたべものはなんですか
きらいなたべものはだんですか
くだものはなにがすきですか
りょうりはできますか
とくいりょうりはなんですか
きょうのあさはなにをたべまいしたか
きのうのよるごはんはなんでしたか
コンビニでたべものをどれくらいよくかいますか
エスニック料理はすきですか
いままでたべたなかでいちばんかわったものはなんですか

What foods do you like?
What foods do you hate?
What’s a fruit you like?
Can you cook?
What’s something you can make/cook well?
What did you eat for breakfast today?
What did you eat for dinner yestartday?
How often do you buy food at a convenience store?
Do you like ethnic food?
What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?