So often I have learnt a kanji, more often than not using a computer or some kind of digital gizmo, only to find that its actual written form is not really much like what I saw displayed on the computer screen.

For these cases, Yamasa Online Kanji Dictionary will come in handy. It gives you three images of any kanji you may want to learn; a standard Gothic-style font, a more artistic, calligraphy-like font (with a stroke order example) and a handwritten example.

To be fair, however, I can't really recall the last time that I sat down and wrote a lot of Kanji after university, but this is still useful nonetheless!

This is a map that shows the colors of women's 勝負下着 shoubu shitagi, or "game underwear," the underwear that they wear when they are 'in the mood' for some action.

Interestingly the only places that prefer patterned underwear in these situations are two prefectures in Shikoku, Kouchi and Tokushima.

Other points of note are that Hyougo is the only place in Kansai that prefers black, while most of the country, and over half of the respondents like pink.

via RocketNews24

Though Japan's image internationally may be one of high technology and youth pop culture, but the sad truth is that it is going to change, and quite quickly, and it's gonna suck for everyone else left in the country, well everyone who has to work to make a living at least. This includes all you English teachers out there!

Basically, Japan has two problems that are working together to cause some eventually serious shit. First off, despite all the beautiful Japanese women out there, the birth rate is pretty damned low, coming in the bottom 15 with just under 9 new births for every 1,000 people. This means that there are less young people entering the population. It has been dropping since the second world war, and is getting worse with other factors influencing it; women are entering the workforce in greater numbers, and delaying (or disregarding) marriage at a much higher rate than 60 years ago.

The second problem is that Japanese people never die! Japan, and in particular Okinawa, have the highest life expectancy in the world at around 80 years. These people retire at around the age of 60 or 65. If they have been good citizens and paid their pensions throughout their working lives, they will receive a, though perhaps modest, pension from the government and continuing health care subsidies. Multiply this by the 20 or so years that they are alive while retired, and you have a serious drain on government funds.

Now lets put those together. Less young people - less people contributing money - and slowly, as time goes on, more old people draining on the economy. Ouch. That one's gonna' hurt.

How can they fix the problem? Unless people suddenly decide they wanna' make babies like rabbits, I would say that Japan needs to open up to foreign immigration. They are open now, yes, but for one, Japan is not the friendliest nor most accessible country for foreigners to live in, and there are not many incentives for doing so, as in many cases we can be treated as second-class citizens.

Oh, what to do...?

Right from the beginner levels, a lot of us Japanese students get a lot of enjoyment out of watching movies and anime. Those that are smart will watch these in their native tongues, finding the raw, subtitled versions to perhaps help their listening (and also listen to the high-quality Japanese voice acting).

Others still will take it a step further.

My recommendation to you is to not only enjoy your Japanese drama with Japanese audio, but also to replace those English subtitles for Japanese ones! So not only will you be exposed to spoken Japanese, but also written Japanese at the same time. The benefits of this are twofold; for those words that you are unable to understand, you have a written equivalent to look up in your dictionary, and vice-versa, you will hear how to pronounce difficult kanji-combinations and perhaps be introduced to clearer meanings when being able to read them.

This works best for the simpler, more childish anime. I would recommend something like Yugioh, One Piece or K-ON. As you get stronger in the language, move up to more serious anime and movies.

Oh, but where can I find these subtitles? Check out this great resource. It's not formatted very nicely, but they do have a decent selection.

Another option for the torrent fiends out there is to find the dual audio, dual subtitled files which are usually encoded in MKV format.

Most media players have provisions to make use of and switch subtitles, but from experience I would recommend GOM Player and VLC.

Want another way to have fun while being immersed in Japanese? Check out this old post of mine.

There is a whole world of movies out there that you have not been exposed to! I'm not talking about the Last Samurai or Kill Bill. These movies rarely make it overseas, and when they do they are usually tucked into a corner somewhere at an obscure (but I'm sure good) DVD shop. I would thoroughly recommend tracking these shops down, or else looking on the internet because Japanese cinema, and Asian cinema in general can be very rewarding.

However, Japanese movies can be intimidating for a few reasons.

For one, there is the language barrier. I mean yes, there are subtitled movies out there for the watching, but I am a little unsure about my feelings on subtitles as of late. Once you get to the level that you can understand most of the content of a movie without subtitles, they can subtract from the experience. I find myself thinking "that's not really what that says in the dialogue," quite a lot. I understand that the writer of the subtitles probably has little choice but to cut content and translate differently at points, but a lot of the time there is just something lost in translation.

On a similar note, culturally there are going to be differences too. You might find yourself wondering why the protagonist is checking to see if the strange girl has legs or not (he's checking if she's a ghost), or why the movie seemed to end so abruptly, without an all-loose-ends-tied ending. Because of the cultural upbringing and historical context of the director or writer, we may be missing out.

That said, whether in raw Japanese, through subtitles, or (shudder) dub, Japanese cinema offers a lot of rewarding and sometimes weird experiences. Here are some of my recommendations, in no particular order. Got something to add? Leave a comment. Click on the names for the IMDB pages!

花火 Hanabi
Fireworks - Drama, Crime
★★★☆☆
For those: who want a deeper, American beauty kinda' feeling

I am usually in two minds about Beat Takeshi's films. On the one hand, they can be pretty beautiful and poetic. On the other hand, it seems like he tries too hard to be poetic. Though, what he does do well is the dark, underworld, Yakuza type movies. This movie is about a police officer who basically goes off the deep end, and its humorous at points, but is very much a serious film full of symbolism and imagery. Almost too much, but just enough to bring some kind of weird, content feeling at the end of the movie. If action and a fast pace is more your cup of tea, you may wanna' give this one a miss.



バトル・ロワイアル
Battle Royale - Gore, Horror, Thriller
★★★★☆
For those: who like gore on a decent budget

Battle Royale is something of a cult classic by the crazy director Takashi Miike, who is known as a horro kinda' guy anyway. Basically the world is crazy, and as a matter of politics, a class of high school kids have to do a last-man-standing on an island, no holds barred.



七人の侍
Seven Samurai - Samurai, Classic
★★★★☆
For those: who love the oldschool samurai movies

Sure, it's long. A whopping 3 hours. But it is good. As with many movies of the time, it moves slowly, and takes a while to heat up, but Kurosawa's defining movie is his most well-known for a reason. Seven samurai take it upon themselves to selflessly defend a poor village from bandits. The villagers don't have enough money to pay, so these 7 samurai basically put their lives on the line as volunteers.



リング
Ring - Creepy Horror
★★★★☆
For those: who want a horror with a twist

Ring made us realize that horror doesn't have to follow any golden rules. Sure, they have the long-haired woman draped in white, but the circumstances of her haunting are interesting, revolving around a (fairly) modern technological device: The modern VHS tape. Basically, you watch it, you die a week later. Expect to have the hair on your neck prick up, and to jump at points. The character Sadako, the ghost, has become something of a cultural icon. Ring has become a small series, with a recent 3D edition.



呪怨
The Grudge - Creepy Horror
★★★☆☆
For those: who want a more traditional horror

More of a textbook horror than Ring, but great nonetheless! The story follows a haunted house, and an unlikely main character, a caregiver for old people who wanders into this house. Though everything seems to be wrapped up at the end of this movie, it did go on to spawn a few other movies of varying quality.



攻殻機動隊
Ghost in the Shell - Animated, Technology, Philosophical
★★★★☆
For those: who like deep, serious anime

Ghost in the Shell takes place in the future and follows an elite defense force, their leader "the major" is, as many people are, more machine than human, chock full of cybernetic enhancements. Even her brain is machine which raises the theme and the title of the movie: if I am all machine, am I a person? Great animation and voice acting in the original Japanese version.



Survive Style 5+
Survive Style 5+ - strange
★★★★★
For those: who want an unpredictable movie

SS5+ is one hell of a ride. The story revolves around 5 different people and their unique situations, eventually coming together. For example, one man kills his wife only to find that she won't stay dead. One man suddenly thinks he's a chicken. It's whack, but is indeed a good watch, and is also full of some of the bigger names in Japanese cinema. Watch it high.



鮫肌男と桃尻女
Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl - Crime, Strange, Comedy
★★★☆☆
For those: who just love Tadanobu Asano

This one is a doozy. I watch it once, and would be very glad to give it another go. It was based on a comic book, so there's that to consider. It is like a mix between a gangster movie, a comedy and a fashion show. Each of the gangsters has their own, very strong personality and style, and just like the previous movie, there are a lot of the big names!



しんぼる
Symbol - Strange, Comedy, Philosophical
★★★★☆
For those: want a riddle until the end

Downtown's Matsumoto Hitoshi is famous for making slightly deep, yet light-hearted comedies. A man finds himself in a room with buttons. When a button is pushed, something happens. He wants to escape. That's it. It gets very deep in the last 10 minutes, but still quite funny!



おくりびと
Departures - Love, Life, Philosophical
★★★★☆
For those: want a sad, eventually happy story

Departures is about a man who loses his job, and is basically forced to become an undertaker. This job is avoided and shunned by those around him, he goes as far as to lie to his wife. The story is about his struggle to have people understand the importance and difficulty that his job has. A great story that may even get you to shed a tear or two.



Useful Links:

Asian Horror Movies has streaming horror movies from all over Asia. Watch in your browser!

Brave Blog has a few other recommendations and in-depth reviews.