Blogs for learning about all things Japanese

Part of my presentation to Japanese teachers this week was aimed at providing teachers with some authentic, real-time Japanese resources - for the language and the culture. For me, these are the blogs and sites that I turn to when looking for images or short, reflective pieces on Japanese festivals, food, music, language and so on. These are my favourite J-Bloggers. People who live in Japan or have lived in Japan and blog about Japan and their experiences there.

The best thing about these posts is not only the quality of the images but also the real-time nature of the blog posts. Posts and images on Children’s Day or Hinamatsuri can be found around those days. 

Previously, I have posted on finding images for teaching culture. This new list contains some of those same sites and some added extras that I have found since. It also contains some sites that focus a little more on the language, as well as the culture.

If these don’t satisfy, the best thing to do is to look at the “Blogroll” (usually found in the side pane of the blog) on these blogs.

Muza-chan's Gate to Japan  - Great images and explanations of what's happening in Japan

Kimonobox - From Hinamatsuri to decorations to quirky Japanese products (and great images)

Shibuya246 - Awesome images and easy to read explanations

Japan: Life and Religion - Reflections on Japanese life, culture and Buddhism

A Rinkya Blog - A place to find Japanese gadgets and quirky collectibles.

Caught Red-handed  - A variety of articles on Japan and the language that contains the occasional gem

Rainbowhill Language Lab - Language and culture, including lots of tips for learning Japanese

 Tofugu - Lots of tips and resources for learning Japanese

Hungry for Words: Mostly Japanese - Reflections on the Japanese language and customs

...and keep an eye out for the Japan Blog Matsuri. The recent matsuri on Famous Japanese People was pretty useful.

What are your favourites? Please add any I've missed in the comments section.

 

 

Posted via web from Js Nihongo

Need stories or images to help teach Japanese language & culture?

When I first began learning a language, teachers rarely used "realia" to liven up the classroom or make the learning more relevant. I will forgive this as back then it was not that easy to get your hands on up to the date items that enhanced the teaching of language and culture. However, the days of faded newspapers is long gone. The internet has provided an avenue for classroom teachers to access real life and up to the minute articles, images, videos and more that can help bring the target language and culture into our students' lives. But, if you're after images of the 'Tanabata festival' in Japan or of a particular Japanese food, you can get so much more if you know where to look...

Searching on Flickr will reap rewards, especially if you search particular groups (related to the target language). Try these ones for Japanese:

• Japanese Culture
• JapanSoc
• Nihongo Daisuki

To further enhance viewing these images (or any images / video), use Cooliris

Beyond Flickr: Over the past few months I have discovered bloggers and photographers in Japan who can bring Japan to you via their images and stories. Most can also be found on flickr, but you should really check out their sites...

• Kalandrakas
• Kimonobox
• Nihongo Notes
• Shibuya246
• The Nihon Sun
• TokyoTopia

Further to this, yesterday (July 11 2009) two photographers set out to capture 100 smiles in a day, somewhere in Tokyo. A great concept. Have a look at A Hundred Smiles.

Posted via web from Js Nihongo

Travelling with ning

Must post a blog entry, must post a blog entry ...

After a whirlwind trip to Japan with 17 of our school's finest and then the Christmas / New Year period, I've finally managed to get back to what I started out here.

Prior to leaving for Japan, I set up a ning network for parents and the school to use to track us on our adventures. All seemed to find this useful; though in hindsight, I needed to explain how to access it a little more effectively. I set it up as a private network - by invitation - and some parents were confused by the invitation in their email inbox. Anyway, it was a simple way to post pictures, videos and blog entries on what we had done and where we had been. Really simple. We did not have a laptop with us but the hotels we were staying in all had computers, albeit a little slow, we could use. Feedback on the ning has all been positive and if you are going on a similar expedition, I would recommend setting up your own little network. Ning's can be set up as a private or a public network. The best one to check out is Classroom 2.0. If you're a teacher, I highly recommend it as a place to network and learn. Professional development at its best.

There are, of course, many other features we could have used but didn't, for no particular reason. Next time, I would set it up a little earlier and use the forum to answer questions (that came via email or phone). I'm sure there are plenty of other things that can be done. The next plan is to set up a ning for the language classroom ...