Jens Petersen has been working in real estate in Tokyo for over 13 years. He initially found interest in Japanese independent music. In recent years his interest has also branched out into the art world. We spoke about learning Japanese, finding an immersive environment, and job hunting at job fairs.

• Cornelius (Keigo Oyamada)
• Swedish university
  • Full-time focus on the language
  • “Stuffing the sausage full of knowledge”
  • Genki Japanese
  •  Flashcards
• Studying English and foreign languages in Sweden
  • Compulsory English
  • Optional second foreign language from 6th/7th grade
• Finding Japanese immersion through a shared interest
  • Importance of getting out of the exchange student community
  • University “circles”
  • Shibuya-kei
  • Escalator Records
  • Kaji Hideki
  • Warp Records, Aphex Twin
• Journalism work in Tokyo
  • JASRAC (Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers, and Publishers)
• Job hunting in Japan
  • Job fairs for bilinguals
  • Boston Career Forum
  • Job interviews
  • Japanese resumes
• Real estate and facilities management/occupancy planning in Japan
• Art in Japan
• Museums
  • Hara Museum
  • Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art
  • Aomori Museum of Art
  • Mori Art Museum
• Galleries
  • Roppongi Hills
  • Warehouse TERRADA – Tennōzu Isle
  • Bakurochō
• Japanese art in Chicago
  • Gutai group (this is the art movement Daniel was referring to)
• Karaoke song
  • Tommy february6 (Tomoko Kawase)
  • The Brilliant Green

There is an official order to the 都道府県 (todōfuken, prefectures) in Japan. I share some thoughts about it and in Japanese discuss the importance of learning how to really devour (貪る, musaboru) your Japanese studies.

This is a nice post with a close look at the numbering. Here is the official website for the 全国地方公共団体コード. And I previously wrote about the alphabet in Japanese.

Molly Des Jardin is a language and computer nerd who came to study Japanese, and later book and media history of modern Japan. She quickly got sucked into both for the long term and enjoyed the ‘B-kyu’ adventures she got to have while working or studying in Fukuoka, Yokohama, and the least cool wards of Tokyo.

• “Inventing Saikaku: Collectors, Provenance, and the Social Creation of an Author“
• Japanese: The Spoken Language
  • University of Pittsburgh Japanese
  • No notes allowed
  • Middlebury Language Schools – Japanese
  • “Learning how to be wrong”
• 「  お聞きしたいんですが」 (I’d like to ask you a question…)
• 「パンになさいますか？」 (Would you like bread?)
• 「左様でございます」 (That is correct.)
• Learning written Japanese/how to read
  • Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies
  • Constant exposure and need to write at Middlebury
  • Remembering the Kanji, James Heisig
  • Adult learners of Japanese as a second language
• JET Program
  • Fukuoka
  • ESID (Every Situation is Different)
  • Application process
• Reading
  • Woman on the Other Shore, Kakuta Mitsuyo
  • 夢十夜, Natsume Sōseki
• Meiji-era Writing
  • Most-read Meiji writing during the Meiji era: Ozaki Kōyō
  • Language in flux
  • Morohashi’s 大漢和辞典
  • “If you can get 15-20% of any novel, you’re doing great.”
  • 変態仮名 (Hentaigana)
  • Higuchi Ichiyō
  • Mori Ōgai
  • 言文一致 (Genbun itchi)
    • Molly recommends the book “Language and the Modern State: The Reform of Written Japanese” by Nanette Gottlieb for more on the topic.
  • Futabatei Shimei, 浮雲 (Ukigumo)
  • Yamada Bimyō
• 全集 (Zenshū “Complete Works”)
  • Orthography choices during reprinting
  • 一葉全集 (link to the Ichiyō Zenshū at the National Diet Library)
  • Osakabe Yoshio’s 村上春樹全作品リスト Part 1 and Part 2
  • National Diet Library
  • Ihara Saikaku
  • Museum of Modern Japanese Literature
  • University of Tokyo Library System
• 廃墟 (Haikyo “ruins”)
  • Not mentioned in the podcast, but Molly recommend this link for detailed background on the haikyo boom.
  • ムック (Mook)
  • B級
  • 団地 (danchi)
  • Gunkanjima
  • Junkudo bookstore in Ikebukuro
  • ワンダーJAPAN
    • Check out lists/galleries of back issues here and here.
  • 土木フォトグラフィ (Doboku Photography) (Not mentioned in the pod, but recommended Instagram account from Daniel for infrastructure.)

Courtesy of Molly, this is a photo of Ozaki Kōyō’s four-volume 紅葉集 (Kōyōshū), pub. Shun’yōdō (春陽堂) 1909 and how one who access the original text (in its original binding!).

What’s something that surprised you about Japan that was completely ordinary? For me it was the access to swimming pools. Living in Japan changed my relationship with swimming for the better. And in Japanese, I talk about 趣味 (shumi, hobbies/interests) and their role in Japanese study.