Victory Manual

I found an NHK website aimed at Japanese school children for learning Japanese. (国語)
There was an article on the difference between だ and です forms, and what it boiled down to was whether or not the student was nervous or relaxed. But what I found the most interesting wasn’t the grammar content, but the [...]

I’m sure most of you have already been exposed to the “Gaijin Hanzai File“. Just out of curiosity, I thought I’d see if there was a 外国人犯罪 entry on the Japanese wikipedia, and it turns out there is, and that (surprise, surprise) the neutrality of the article is in question.
What I found interesting is [...]

I came across a pretty funny little bit in the book I’m reading. (The title of the book is うっかりの日本語合ってるようで違ってる!)
「日本そば」や「日本茶」の日本はいらない
「そば」といえばそば粉で作る麺のことに決っています。ところが、ラーメンンを「中華そば」などというために「日本そば」なることばが生まれました。これは中華そばとまぎらわしいときに使うことばで、一般にはたんに「そば］というほうがすっきりしています。ただ、ラーメン屋に「日本そば」というメニューがあるのだったら、なるほどと納得できます。
また、「日本茶］ということばもありますが、これも「お茶」で十分です。さらに、「日本酒」も同様で「酒」あるいは「清酒」のほうがいいと思います。日本人が日本のものに、わざわざ「日本」をつけることはありません。
The text in bold is in the original
And here’s my translation, of which I make no promises on the quality (I can’t explain why, but when I read it in Japanese the narrator in my [...]

My wife is back from her 10-day vacation in Japan. I’m still jealous that I couldn’t go with her this time, but what’s done is done. She brought me お土産 (souvenirs), though! I love me some presents!
I had requested some stationary stationery because my pencil and erasers were well used. Korean [...]

I found a video of Typhoon Nari here on Jeju taken by what sounds to be an Australian. He had a lot more time than me, and a camera that shoots proper video, so have a look at it and see the sort of damage we experienced.
Before you watch, keep in mind that there [...]

I don’t know if all of my friends and family are aware, but our island was hit full-force, head on by typhoon Nari yesterday, with wind speeds at 110 MPH and 1.5 inches of rain per hour (from 6 a.m to about 5 p.m.). The airport grounded 162 flights, which meant our hotel was [...]

I gave myself a small practice project to do on some film editing, and I like the results. Using my new software, I wanted to speed up and slow down an unedited, one-shot fight scene from a Thai film, focusing on all of the action. And, of course, I put it to some [...]

‘Male Rant Box’ is an anagram of my name. I know this because Clay posted a link to an anagram server. Fun stuff.
Then I tried it again, using my full official name, and there were some interesting results in there:
A Barbarian Detoxed Knelt Hymn
A Databank Bleeder Thorny Minx
And then I tried “Tom Marvolo [...]

I did a little searching on the internet and found a solution to my high-speed camcorder desire, and for a much cheaper price!
First, I can just buy a standard camcorder without any bells or whistles. Pretty much any standard HD camera will work for me. The cheaper the better. But, I want [...]