Finally managed to get another Youtube video up after several requests to do one based on how to learn the language. Just another silly video. Some people tell me there is some useful information in it. I’d consider it more advice on how to go about learning Japanese.
Check it out if you have 8 minutes of your day to spare. I know it is a bit long, and I tried to cut it down, but couldn’t manage to this time. Either way, enjoy! 
Was at the local Chapters today, searching for some beginner Japanese books for a friend of mine (Melvy). Came across this fantastic book that I won’t be picking up anytime soon, and remembered the one no-name youtube viewer who commented on one of my videos, in regards to learning some “REAL” Japanese swear words.
I didn’t get the name of the author in the picture, but it is by a man named Jack Steward, I believe. Who would want to take advice from someone like this? I don’t really know. I flipped through the book and found words like スケベ (sukebe : lecher) and of all words ボケ (boke : idiot) to be categorized under “offensive swear words.” Are pervert and idiot even swear words in english? Nope. That much alone is almost laughable, and just goes to show that anyone can write a book and have it stuck in some bookstore nowadays.
A general tip to anyone learning Japanese: Stay away from rubbish like this please. It will do nothing but make you look like a fool. Japan is a country based on humility and respect, and learning stuff that might be considered “cool” to someone like Jack Steward (who clearly isn’t Japanese, and therefore holds little insight as to what Japanese words really mean or stand for), is most definitely a waste of time on your part.
If you want to make it in Japan, learn how to say everything in the utmost polite and humble way possible. It will save your ass, and in many cases make you look like a respectable foreigner who isn’t just there to chill with some home fries, ‘naw mean?
Many posts in the future will be dedicated to how I’ve learnt Japanese, and what I consider some of the better ways to more “correctly” pick up the language, and of course enjoy it and be liked/respected by Japanese people.
I was forwarded an extremely useful message from my Japanese professor the other day. Those who are currently taking or finishing up undergraduate degrees concerned with East Asia, or Information technology, you might want to have a look at this.
“In 2008, the University of Tokyo (UT) launches a new International Master’s/Doctoral Degree Program: Information, Technology, and Society in Asia (ITASIA) at the Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies (GSII). This program offers intensive graduate level education designed to foster analytical strength and insight into Asian societies and international relations, at a time when information and communication technology are having an increasingly profound impact on the region.
The program is tailored for both international and Japanese students who are motivated to pursue active professional careers on the regional and global stages. All instruction will be conducted in English, so proficiency in Japanese is not a prerequisite.” — ITASIA Website
Of course this doesn’t apply to me quite yet for several reasons, but I am going to keep it in mind depending on how my outlook on Japan job hunting goes (Job hunting in Japanese is 就職：しゅうしょく：Shuushoku). I’m just putting this out here in hopes that it might reach somebody that is interested. If you’re uber smart and don’t speak Japanese this is a great chance for you to get over to Japan for an extended period of time. Not to mention, you’d be studying at the top university in Japan to boot (the University of Tokyo, also more commonly referred to in Japan as 東大：とうだい：Todai, an abbreviated form of Tokyo Daigaku meaning Tokyo University).
If you’d like to read up on more of the details check out the website: http://itasia.iii.u-tokyo.ac.jp/
Anybody out there that is pursuing a degree in East Asian Studies / Japanese linguistics like myself? Or am I the only one 
