Victory Manual

Sesquipedalian. I don’t think I’ll ever fall out of obsession with that word. The definition is itself. It is its own definition. There’s something so satisfying about that. But that’s not what this is about.
Sesquipedalian is far from being a common vocabulary term. The same holds true of its [...]

Let’s see what happens when I try to use 25 target vocabulary words in one short composition in an attempt to solidify the terms into my long-term memory.
Jack, our redoubtable leader
It was the accolade that Jack had been aiming for; the reason he had been so meticulous in maintaining his magnanimity. A fortuitous sequence [...]

I have the impression that most foreigners who study Japanese get frustrated by the inevitable homophones which accompany a language with so few vowels. However, I prefer to think of them as very useful tools - Mnemonic devices!
I’ll repost my most recent mixi.jp entry below as an example of this.
外国人にとって、日本語の同音異義語は、意味の誤解になる原因だと言われているが、
一方では記憶術として使えるので、便利だと思う！
「東大は学界の灯台」
日本語では分からないが、灯台は英語にするとa light houseで、船を案内する機械という意味だけではなく、「案内して、明らかにすること」という定義も持っているので、「東大は学界の灯台」といったら、「東大は学界の一流」という意味になる。
引き続き、「東大は当代の学界の灯台」もできる。

Toudai in Japanese [...]

I’ve got a goal of going through a list of 6,500+ English vocabulary terms over 261 days (comes out to about 25 words per day). Of course, this project is running parallel with Japanese studies, so my head feels like a mashed-potato-filled beach ball. The English terms themselves are in the incipient stages [...]

I know all of our family and friends out there are in dire need of some LL (Lani Lee) pictures and videos. But here’s the thing - Our cameras have been exceptionally nonfunctional since our big international move.
We’re going to get a new one. I’m not just saying that. We’ve been down [...]

‘Sesquipedalian’ is a sesquipedalian term! Only the grandiloquent would use such a term, just as they use ‘grandiloquent’.

Who’s making news in Japan?
Rockinginhakata.com’s Deas hit a little bit on the issue of balanced coverage in Japanese media of the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election a couple of weeks ago, and it sparked my curiosity.
I ran each name of the three major candidates through Japanese news sites to see how many hits they came out [...]

The over-pious think that unbelievers are in the dark, and the over-skeptical think that believers are misguided. Neither is right.

The first tremors began to hit around 12:30 am, just as I was about to go to sleep last night. The clinking sound of wine glasses was the first sign, then the rolling sensation. The first round lasted about 20 seconds.
Five minutes later came some more shaking. Not as big as the [...]

The solution to Japanese farmers’ bind of not selling any rice because of its high cost is simply to not grow any rice at all! With protectionist policies, they could make a fortune out of growing nothing!
“His specialty was alfalfa, and he made a good thing out of not growing any. The government [...]