Toujin No Negoto　★　唐人の寝言

Nintendo's innovational little, entertainment offering handheld box of technology is something to awe at. In thissss day and age of LCD screens, wireless internet and brain implants, Nintendo has delivered to us a blessing with a touchscreen.

Allowing interaction on a whole new level, the DS unlocks a great potential for sprained muscles and cramping fingers, but also learning (which of those sounds more painful?).

The Japanese realised this potential a long time ago. Games such as Brain Age have made their way over to the US and Europe form Japan. The object of the game is to become faster and faster at solving mathmatical or spatial problems using the DS's touchscreen to write or touch at the answers.

Anyway, it wasn't long before the Japanese started to create games aimed at increasing one's proficiency in language. Various TOEIC games have been released (which I've played, and actually got questions wrong ) for training English, with a Japanese interface. There are also games for learning and remembering kanji! Unfortunately these games are basically all in Japanese, and noone has picked up on the insanely huge market there would be for a kanji game aimed at foreigners.

The one I play most of the time is called:

〇書いてどんどん覚える：驚異のつがわ式漢字記憶術
maru kaite dondon oboeru: kyoui no tsugawashiki kanji kiokujutsu

Aside from being a possible runner up for the title of longest game title, the game itself is quite a good one. You can choose from six categories of kanji: fundamental, business, daily life, common sense, boasting kanji (for showing off), and kanken kanji (from the national kanji examination).

This game uses what is called the Tsugawa method. Basically, Mr (Dr?) Tsugawa says that if you circle the parts that you find hard to remember, your brain will better... remember them. I think it works. I've managed to get some 200 extra kanji under my belt thanks to this game alone, some of which Japanese people have difficulty with.

It is recommended for at least intermediate level students though, as it can be quite tough, though that said, it is probably the easiest of the kanji games I've tried so far.

I really can't do justice the number of kanji games out there, so I'll share a link with you: A blog aptly named Learn Japanese DS has (I think) a small review on every Japanese learning game out there.

*UPDATE* Naruhodo! has a good blog about Japanese DS games.

漢字そのまま楽引辞典
kanji sono mama rakubiki jiten

Can't dish out $400 dollars for an electronic dictionary? That's understandable. That's when this nifty little game comes in handy. It'll set you back about $30, and it provides the barebones of what you'd expect from a dictionary. You can look up Japanese→English, English→Japanese, and also Japanese→Japanese.

But how does one enter the characters with only 8 buttons at your disposal? Don't be stupid, you write them of course. The kanji-recognition system is the big selling point for this kind of dictionary. Even if you have no idea of the meaning or reading of a kanji, just write it in and it'll show up for you. Some people suck at writing, so it can also suggest other kanji that you may have meant.

An invaluable tool, but not foolproof. Of course you'll get a better experience from a real electronic dictionary, but it's pretty darn good if you ask me. Which you didn't.

But using these educational tools is not th eonly way to enhance your Japanese! They say the best way to learn a language is through immersion. So why not replace those boring English games on your DS with their Japanese equivilents?

This'll be easier if you invest in an M3 or R4, a device that lets you download the games from the internet and play them on your DS. With a 4GB memory card you can fit about 60 games.

Some games are better than others at contributing toward improving your Japanese reading/comprehension. One of the best would have to be:

ゼルダの伝説：無限の砂時計
zelda no densetsu: mugen no suna dokei

A very fun game with quite nice graphics. It is aimed primarily at children, so the Japanese isn't so hard, but there's an extra feature that is really, really useful: If you ever have a point where you can't read one of the kanji, just tap it with your stylus, and viola! It'll change to hiragana. When used in conjunction with a dictionary, this game should not stress your brain too much. Though I have to admit, even the English version of the game baffled me for a while at times.

The game itself is like any other Zelda, hack and slash really, with no real RPG elements. You collect gems of some kind, so its a long quest. Using the boomerag is cool though! Movement is done via the touch screen. Learning to control Link can be a bit tough, but you'll get the hang of it.

*UPDATE* In reply to a comment, the games are apparently importable from Play Asia.