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Black History Month Hightlight: The Black Experience Japan

日本語の練習 第160週
Japanese Practice Week 160

2023年02月19日「日」第160週 

日本語のイベント／EVENT IN JAPANESE

次は「The Black Experience Japan」（ザ・ブラック・エクスペリエンス・ジャパン）というユーチューブのチャンネルです。僕にとって、日本に住んでいる黒人は珍しいが、このチャンネルもけむしちゃんのチャンネルも安心してくれた。このチャンネルは。。。まあ、日本に住んでいる黒人についてです。色々なことを話します。たとえば、小学校に行くとか黒人のパン屋さんなどです。

このチャンネルも黒人J – POP歌手とのインタビューです。

二年前ぐらいにクリス・ハートの曲を聞きました。MVを見てください。

それに、日本人に僕たちの文化を教えてくれます。

対話／DIALOGUE

That moment when your sibling makes you feel old (T_T)

[年上の兄弟大変だね]

A: ただいま 

B: お帰り、兄ちゃん。あれ？それってもしかして。。。

A: へえへえ。。。うん。スマブラを買った。

B: ついにやるの？

A: こんなゲームをやるなんて、久しぶりだね。何だっけ？DXか？

B: DXは何だ? 

A: え？知らないの？

B: だって、生まれる前なんだから。

A: げー！

B: 大丈夫？

A: うん、大丈夫。ダメージを受けただけだ。

B: ん？

[It can be tough for older siblings]

A: I’m home.

B: Welcome back big bro. Hey is that…

A: Hehhe… yep. I bought Smash Bros.

B: You’re finally gonna play it?

A: It’s been a while since I’ve played this kind of game. What was it called again? Melee?

B: What’s Melee?

A: Eh? You don’t know that one?

B: Well, that’s because it came out before I was born.

A: Ugh!

B: You good?

A: Yeah, I’m fine. I just took some damage.

B: Huh?

救世の大冒険／KYUUSEI’S ADVENTURE

第35回

ミカンに向かってた。最近発見したばかりのポケモンタイプを使います。はがねタイプポケモンの弱点は何かな？火はこおりタイプジムにはバツグンだから、もしかしたら、ハナビの出番かも。ミカンのコイルは強い。だが、ハナビはひのこの攻撃でコイルを倒した。次に出すポケモンはハガネールというでかいポケモンだった。

イワークの関係かもなあ。ハナビのひのこはあたりだ。けど、あいつのいわおとしのせいで、ハナビは怪我した。

スタティックに入れ替えて、なきごえの攻撃を続けた。あいつのアイアンテールはとても外れないけど、当たると、強い攻撃だった。あいつがイワークと関係あるなら、でんきタイプの技はあかん。かみなりパンチを使ってみたが、やっぱりあかん。すごいキズぐすりでハナビを回復して、ハナビに入れ替えた。もうすぐ倒せるみたいと、ミカンはすごいキズぐすりも使った。あいつのいわおとしはバツグンだけど、スタティックのおかげで、攻撃があまり利かなかった。

ミカンの最後のポケモンはもう一つのコイルだった。ハナビは一発で倒せた。よっしゃ！スチールバッジゲット！

秘伝マシン２３「アイアンテール」ももらった。スタティックが覚えられるかなあ。ミカンは僕を照れくさそうに応援してくれた。次のチャレンジ、レッツゴー！それで、博士は僕に電話をかけてきた。ロケット団はコガネシティのラジオタワーを乗っ取った？！

＃35

Facing off with Jasmine. She uses a type of Pokemon that has recently been discovered. Wonder what steel type is weak against. Fire worked on the ice gym so maybe Hanabi. Her Magnemite was strong but Hanabi was able to take it out with Ember in two shots. She sent out this huge Pokemon named Steelix.

Looks like it might be related to Onix. Hanabi was able to hit it with Ember but she got hurt by Steelix’s Rock Throw move. 

Sent out Static and barraged it with growl to lower its attack. Steelix’s Iron Tail move misses a lot but when it does it packs a punch. If it is related to Onix, then electric type moves will probably be useless. Tried Thunderpunch. As expected, no good. Healed Hanabi with a Hyper Potion and switched her in. As soon as Steelix looked like he was going down, Jasmine used a Hyper Potion. Steelix’s Rock Throw is still super effective but it is a lot weaker thanks to Static.

Her last Pokemon was another Magnemite. Hanabi took it down in one blow. We got the Mineral Badge!

She also gave me TM 23 Iron Tail. Maybe I’ll teach this to Static. Jasmine shyly wished me good luck and I left for the next challenge.Then, I got a call from Professor Elm. Team Rocket has taken over the Radio Station in Goldenrod City?!  

In conclusion, I hope that this series is helpful with your journey to learning Japanese and/or taking an interest in the country’s culture. Until then… また来週！

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What’s in a Title: Detective Conan

米花商店街ダストミストリー

米花（べいか）

This is just the name of the city 米花町（べいかちょう）. However, I still want to shed some light on the kanji involved in making up the city’s name. 

The kanji 米 can mean “rice” and it also comes from another name for America 米国. I find it funny that America is literally called rice country in this context. 

The kanji 花 can mean flower, like はな. It also has another kanji reading か which can come from 花瓶 かびん (flower vase). 

The manga artist who makes Detective Conan, Gosha Aoyama, likes word-play and since this revolves around mystery, the name comes from Baker Street. ベイカー 丁（ちょう）＝＞Baker Street. If you are familiar with Sherlock Holmes then you will know that is the same street the famous detective resides.  

Long story short this means “Beika City”.

商店街（しょうてんがい）

The first kanji 商 can mean selling, merchant. The second kanji 店 means a store or a shop. The last kanji 街 means something like a town or street. Together they make up the vocabulary word “shopping district”.

ダスト（出すと？）

This one was a read head scratcher but when I searched the word on bing this is what popped up.

Still had my doubts so I searched on weblio.jp (has a Japanese dictionary). It can obviously mean dust but in this context it wouldn’t sound right. So the next word that makes sense would be trash or garbage. So from the picture and this vocabulary word together we have “garbage bin”. 

At first I thought the the katakana this word might come from 出すと. The word 出す can mean to throw out something. I just don’t know where the と comes from. But by doing further research, it is short for a wasei-eigo word ダストボックス or dust box. Wasei-eigo are words that come from English but may take on a different meaning in Japan.

ミストリー

And to top it all off we have a relatively easy katakana word derived from English. This word just means “mystery”.

So together we have “Beika City Shopping District Garbage Bin Mystery”.

Looks like I was close enough, according to Crunchyroll.

This episode was interesting. Detective Conan has some interesting titles, huh? This episode title comes from the 1002nd episode.

I remember the excitement when I got to finally watch this episode. It was originally scheduled for 2020, but was postponed. Nice lead up to the movie which is supposed to tie in with the olympics. It did fantastic in the theaters. Just wish I could watch it. It has the same OP (by Mai Kuraki ・倉木 麻衣) who has done a ton of songs for Detective Conan) but with a new sequence. They even threw in a blast to the past reference to the first ending.

Find it somewhat funny that they can’t mention the Olympics. WSG World Sports Games. And the symbol they use for it. But hey, I get it, if you want to mention something big like the Olympics in stuff like this it will cost money. 

The episode had many things going on. For instance at Ran’s high school they had to come up with an idea for the tourists coming to Tokyo. The best ideas would be selected and put into action by the school. Ran came up with a bag that tourists can put their trash in. It was a nice idea on Ran’s part. Since there were going to be more people going to Tokyo for the Olympics, I wondered what they would do to keep order in Tokyo while it was going on. 

花屋さんは大変になったようだね。ちょっと天然ボケですよね。やはり、真犯人は猫だ。おっさんは「目がいい」と言いますか？冗談ですよね。おっさんはメガネをかけても（笑）。

Black History Month Highlight: Kemushichan

日本語の練習 第159週
Japanese Practice Week 159

2023年02月12日「日」第159週 

日本語のイベント／EVENT IN JAPANESE

次は、けむしちゃん（ロレッタさん）です。彼女は10年以上日本語を勉強しています。日本に住んでいて、ブイログをやっています。行ったことのある場所はたくさんあります。

もし僕が日本に行ったら、ロレッタさんのブイログで見る場所にぜひ行ってみたい思っています。また、ロレッタさんは日本での生活や日本語の事を教えてくれました。

日本についてもっと知りたいなら、ロレッタさんのチャンネルがおすすめです。

対話／DIALOGUE

Have to hurry up and eat before work.

[あぶなかった]

A: 腹減った。

B: 何を食べたいのか？

A: えっと、ベーコンとチェリオスしかない。

B: 通勤はとても大変だっけ？

A: ああ。やっぱり、チェリオスにする。

B: 俺も。

２0秒ご。。。

A: ゲー

B: 大丈夫。 

A: 牛乳が腐った。

B: あ、ほんとうだ。危なかった。代わりにアーモンドミルクを使う。おじさんは？

A: コンビニへ食パンを買いに行く。行ってきます。

B: いってらっしゃい。

[That was close]

A: I’m starving.

B: What do you want to eat?

A: We only got bacon or Cheerios.

B: Your commute to work is pretty rough right?

A: Yeah. I think I’ll go with Cheerios.

B: Me too.

20 seconds later…

A: Ugh

B: You good?

A: The milk’s gone bad.

B: Ah, you’re right. That was close. Gonna use almond milk instead. How about you?

A: I’ll buy some bread from the convenience store. See you later.

B: Have a good day at work.

救世の大冒険／KYUUSEI’S ADVENTURE

第34回

ハナビの火で氷を溶かしてみると、じいさんが怒って、僕と叱れた。一か八かだね。ついに到着した。このじいさんはヤナギだな。なんでこんなところに短い袖シャツを着てられるのよ。しかも、短パンをはいていられる。めちゃ寒いわ。見てるだけで寒くなる！はやく勝負しよう。はやく倒して、ここから出かけたいんだ。


やっぱ、パウワウを持っている。スタティックに任せて、かみなりパンチで一気に倒した。次はでっけえポケモンを出した。長い牙がある。イノムーというポケモンだ。さっきのウリムーと関係あるのかな。あいつのこごえるかぜ はハナビの素早さが下がったが、ひのこでもうすぐ倒せる。もう一回できたらーヤバい！じいさんはすごいキズぐすりを使った。まいいわ。ハナビの焔で簡単に倒れた。

パウワウは切り札だったね。次はジュゴン。ウズマキに頼んだ。あばれるの攻撃で楽勝だった。よっしゃ！アイスバッジゲット！

＃34

I was going to use Hanabi’s fire to melt the ice so I could walk across but the old man yelled at me. Guess I gotta do it the hard way. Finally made it to him. So this is Pryce. Why is he in here with just shorts and a short sleeved shirt? I’m cold just by looking at him! Let’s start the match. I just want to hurry up and get out of here. 

Of course his first Pokemon is a Seel. Sent out Static and he took it out with a Thunderpunch. He sent out a huge pokemon with tusks. It’s called Piloswine. Wonder if it is related to that Swinub I saw earlier. It’s icy wind slowed Hanabi down but she almost took it down with Ember. Just one more and- crap he used a Hyper Potion. 

Piloswine must’ve been his ace in the hole. His next Pokemon was Dewgong. I’ll let Uzumaki take over. His thrash attack took it out easily. Great, now we have the Glacier Badge!

Guess I better head over to Jasmine’s Gym next. Flew to Olivine City and healed my Pokemon at the Pokemon Center. 

In conclusion, I hope that this series is helpful with your journey to learning Japanese and/or taking an interest in the country’s culture. Until then… また来週！

What’s in a Title: Shuumatsu Touring

終末ツーリング

終末（しゅうまつ）

The first kanji “終” can mean end or finish. The second kanji “末” can also mean end but it can also mean close. Perhaps to close on something. Like a conclusion. Put together it means “end” “close” or “conclusion”. In this context, it means 世界の終末 or the “end of the world”. 

If you have seen the anime or picked up the light novel you might already be familiar with this word from this title:

終末なにしてますか？忙しいですか？救ってもらっていいですか？

or

What will you do at the end of the world? Are you busy? Will you save us?

ツーリング

This is a foreign word to Japanese. I don’t think that I’ve mentioned this but foreign words to Japan are given the term 外来語（がいらいご） or “loan word”. This word means “touring”. 

Put together it means “End of the World Touring” or according to MAL, “World’s End Touring”. I found this manga a couple of years ago. It is an interesting read. It kind of has the same vibe as Girls’ Last Tour. Here is a link to the first chapter on Comic Walker.

週末ツーリングの第１話　First Chapter 

Black History Month Highlight: Jordan

日本語の練習 第158週
Japanese Practice Week 158

2023年02月05日「日」第158週 

日本語のイベント／EVENT IN JAPANESE

黒人歴史月間なので、日本語を勉強しているとか日本に住んでいる黒人の事を祝したいだと思います。僕も黒人だから、こんな人を見たら、「これができる」と思います。

まず、ジョーダンさんの事を話したいです。ソフトウェア開発者で日本語を勉強している人です。しかも、日本語能力試験2級に合格した。だから、プログラミングと日本語を上達させたいと思います。

ジョーダンさんのおかげで、日本語の本を読み始めました。

ジョーダンさんはこの動画をアップしてくれなければ、Book☆Walkerアカウントを作りませんでした。ありがとうございます。これからよろしくお願いします。

対話／DIALOGUE

Wait, you do what when you play video games?

[変なゲーマ]

A: 曲は懐かしいね。

B: これ？聞いたことないけど。

A: ほんとう？ポケモンサファイアをやったことあるのか？

B: あるけど、プレイしながら、ゲームのボリュームをオフにした。

A: え？！どうして？

B: 夜遅くまでやったから。母さんにバレないように、ボリュームをオフにした。

A: あ、そうか。まあ、もっと悪いかもしれない。

B: どういう意味？

A: カットシーンをスキップする友達がいる。

B: 。。。え？

A: 変だね。

[Weird Gamers]

A: This music is so nostalgic, don’t you think?

B: This song? I don’t think I ever heard it.

A: Really? You’ve played Pokemon Sapphire, right?

B: Yeah I’ve played it. I used to play with the volume off.

A: Eh?! Why? 

B: Used to play late at night. I turned it off so my mom wouldn’t catch on.

A: Oh well that makes sense. It could be worse.

B: What do you mean?

A: Well I have a friend that skips cutscenes when they play video games.

B: … Huh?

A: Yeah, weird right.

救世の大冒険／KYUUSEI’S ADVENTURE

第３３回

マルマインを気絶しながら、ロック・リーはゴローンに進化した。

けっこう遅くなったが、マグニチュードの攻撃力が強くなった。変な電波が止まったらしい。礼で、ワタルは僕に秘伝マシンをもらった。チョウジのジムバッジを持ってないと、渦巻きで使えないか。ポケモンマスターになるため、進めなきゃ。チョウジタウンにいるから、このバッジをゲット。

ここはめちゃ寒い。氷ジムじゃん。ハナビに任せる。ヤナギはポケモンと５０年も付き合っているつわものか？！オーキド博士の年才は同じかもなあ。どうやってこんな寒さを我慢できるのか？まず、ジムトレーナーを全員倒しないと。女の人のトレーナーのジュゴンというポケモンと戦っていた。みずタイプの技を覚えるらしいから、スタティックに入れ替えた。かみなりパンチの一発で終わった。スタティックに頼む。

床は滑るけど、おもろい。次のは男性のトレーナー。ウリムーというポケモンと戦った。あいつはこらえる技を使い続けた。ぶっ飛ばしても、倒せなかった。まるで、キングダムハーツの。。。何だっけ。。。ラストリーヴみたいじゃん。スタティックはワンパンマンみたいにかみなりパンチでポケモンを倒したあとで、かれはヤナギの秘密を教えてくれた。ヤナギの強さの理由は毎日冷たい滝に打たれて身も心も鍛えてるって。。。やっぱ、無理。ジムトレーナー全員倒した。ヤナギとしか戦わない。でも。。。ヤナギのところに来てどうやって。まるで、パズルゲームみたい。

＃３３

While taking down the Electrodes, Rock Lee evolved into Graveler.

He’s a bit slower now but his Magnitude attack is stronger. Looks like that strange radio signal has stopped. Lance gave me HM 06 as thanks. Have to get the Mahogany Badge to use it outside of battle though. If I want to become a Pokemon master, I better keep moving ahead. I’m already here, so I guess I’ll go get the Mahogany Badge.

It’s freaking cold in here. Looks like this will be an Ice type gym, so I leave this to Hanabi. The Gym Leader Pryce has been a trainer for 50 years?! He must be just as old as Professor Oak. Surprised Pryce can manage in this cold. Gotta take out the gym trainers first. Fought a woman that had a Dewgong. This thing looks like it might know water moves so I switched to Static. One Thunderpunch, and it was over. Think I’ll let Static fight for now.

The floor here is slippery but it’s fun. Fought a trainer that had a Pokemon called Swinub. Kept using this Endure move that let it stayed in the fight for a bit longer. Seems like that ability from Kingdom Hearts. What was it again… Once more? After Static knocked a guy’s Pokemon out like One Punch Man, he told me Pryce’s secret. So his secret is that he meditates under a waterfall… yeah I’m not doing that. Well that’s all the gym trainers. Now I’ll face off with Pryce. But first… how the heck do I get to him. It’s like a puzzle.

In conclusion, I hope that this series is helpful with your journey to learning Japanese and/or taking an interest in the country’s culture. Until then… また来週！

Book Review: Demon Slayer Volume 1

For January’s book I decided to challenge myself with novelized version Demon Slayer. The full title is called 鬼滅の刃　ノベライズ　～炭治郎と禰豆子、運命のはじまり編～ or roughly translated to English “Demon Slayer Novelized Tanjirou and Nezuko, Beginning of their Fate”. You can find this book on Book★Walker.

This book goes over the first part of the Demon Slayer anime. It ends on the Tsuzumi Mansion Arc.

ENTERTAINMENT

Throughout the book Tanjirou has fights with several demons with different powers, so it kept things very interesting. If you like the anime or the manga, then this book will be great for you. Speaking of the manga, instead of the usual illustrations that come in light novels, these books take pages from the manga. Really adds more style to the book while bringing up key moments that tie in with the plot.

LANGUAGE LEARNING

Honestly, at my current level, this book was hard to get through. According to Learn Natively, the level of this book is sitting at Level 30 at the moment. It could change in the future when more people read and grade it. Even so, I can see why it ranked as a N2 level book.

The grammar wasn’t to bad, but there was a ton of vocabulary that I didn’t know. The series is in the Taisho Era so perhaps that has something to do with it. Nonetheless, in this book alone I had to look up 138 words. This book does come with furigana on each kanji so it made looking things up very easy. Here are few words that I found interesting:

  • 威圧感（いあつかん）- Intimidating air, sense of intimidation.
  • 生殺与奪 （せいさつよだつ）- To have a life-or-death power over something.
    In other words, to hold an absolute power over something or someone.
    Like a boss having the power to hire (life) or fire (death) an employee.
  • 笑止千万（しょうしせんばん）- utterly ridiculous or absurd. This Yojijukugo was used as a description of Tomioka Giyuu’s attitude when he was telling Tanjirou to give up on Nezuko.
  • 真っ二つ（まっぷたつ）- in two equal parts.
    This was used when Tanjirou split the boulder in half during his training to join the Demon Slayer Corps.
  • 夢遊病（むゆうびょう） – sleepwalking.
    Used to describe the woman who were kidnapped during the Kidnapper’s Bog Arc. This could also be a good way to describe Zenitsu when he shows off his true power. If only he could always be like that.

I’m sure that these vocabulary words don’t come up often in conversation or for tests but they were interesting. The dialogue was easy to follow but when it got to action, I found myself getting lost here and there. Luckily, if you have seen the anime you’ll have some foundation to build on.

To summarize, this book might not be the best to learn Japanese. It is a good way to test how far you have come and you get to see some interesting words. I would recommend this book to test yourself or just for enjoyment.

A SMALL JAPANESE REVIEW

鬼滅の刃というアニメ を見てから、ノベライズを読んでいます。楽しかったけど、少し難 しかったです。比べてみれば、この本は「少年探偵団」の難しさとほとんど同じです。アクションシーンはちょっとわかりにくいです。でも鬼と戦っている炭治郎みたいに頑張ろうって、本を読み終えました。

NEXT BOOK WILL BE…

怪盗レッド－５　レッド、誘拐される☆の巻

Decided to take it easier and catch up on one of my favorite series, Kaito Red. Plus, that will give me time to read more of the Detective Conan manga. Maybe I should start doing reviews for that 😉 . Speaking of manga, now I can catch up with my manga in English that I’ve been putting off this month.

What’s in a Title: Millionaire Detective Balance: UNLIMITED

輝くものすべて金にあらず

輝く（かがやく）もの

輝く is a verb that means to shine or to light up. もの means thing. When a verb or noun or adjective is put together with もの it usually means “____ thing”. For example, 甘いもの (Sweet thing -> Sweets). So if we put 輝くもの together we get “Shiny thing”.

すべて

This means “all”. It also can be seen in it’s kanji form as 全て. Put together with 輝くものすべて can mean “all things that shine”.

金（きん）

金 can mean “money”.  With nouns like this, you will sometimes find it has an お before it. That is just to put some politeness and softness to the words. Women commonly say お金・お酒・お風呂 while men usually drop the お to make it sound rougher from what my Japanese teacher use to tell me.

Anyways, what is really being said here is the word “gold”.

にあらず

あらず　means “it is not so” or “no” or  “never mind”. When put with に it is suggesting that we are talking about something in particular that is not something. When connected with 金 it will mean “it is not gold” or in a shorter term “is not gold”.

So putting everything together we get… “All things that shine is not gold” as a rough translation. However, this sounds awfully familiar to an idiom that I know. So a more accurate translation would be…

This title came from episode 2 of 富豪刑事 バランス：アンリミテッド (The Balance: UNLIMITED part is actually written in English in the original title but I just wanted to type it in katakana) or in English, Millionaire Detective: Balance: UNLIMITED. An anime adaptation of a novel is quite rare. Plus, I like a good mystery so I wanted to check this out. It was a pretty interesting story and the main character shows off his wealth in every episode (he even splurged ￥100,000 to make his own cup ramen company after eating it for the first time.)  

Unfortunately Funimation didn’t translate those when they got it. Checked out Crunchyroll to see if they worked their magic but it’s the same thing I found on Funimation. Must be when they acquired this show from Funimation.

If only we knew what he paid for in these episodes T_T

I gave this anime a 7/10. It was good but it had some problems. Perhaps if it had more episodes to flesh out the characters and the motivations of the antagonist I would have scored it higher. The ending song by OKAMOTO’S is pretty good. Couldn’t find just the ending theme on YouTube so here’s the music video for it.

Kind of reminds me of Black Eyed Peas “Let’s Get It Started”.

The opening song by SixTONES is really good, too:

If you are interested, here is a trailer:

Learning translation with Onimai

日本語の練習 第157週
Japanese Practice Week 157

2023年01月29日「日」第157週 

日本語のイベント／EVENT IN JAPANESE

冬２０２３のアニメをたくさん見ています。今日は「お兄ちゃんはおしまい」の事を話したいです。このアニメとツレカノは同じ翻訳者なので、ぜひ見習いたいと思います。

また、このアニメはユーチューバーのToki Madoushiさんが非公式な翻訳者ノートの動画を作っています。翻訳とか日本語の事が気になれば、動画を見てください。

対話／DIALOGUE

Driving tests can be nerve wracking.

[超緊張してる]

A: 琴子、大丈夫？

B: 全然大丈夫じゃないよ、玲子。

A: どうしたの？

B: 来週、テストがあるので、ちょっと緊張してる。

A: 何のテスト？

B: ドライビングスクールでドライビングを練習してる。でも、縦列駐車は苦手。

A: ああ、大変だね。じゃあ、一緒に練習しない？十分な時間があるので、できると思う。

B: いいの？

A: いいよ。今日は暇だし。

B: サンキュー、玲子。免許を取れたら、一緒に旅行しよう。

A: 楽しみにしているよ。とりあえず、縦列駐車の練習を始めよう。

B: うん！

[Totally Nervous]

A: You okay, Kotoko? 

B: Nope not at all, Reiko.

A: What’s up?

B: I have a test next week, so I’m a bit nervous.

A: What’s the test for?

B: I’ve been practicing my driving at a driving school. But, I’m not good at parallel parking.

A: Ah, parallel parking is rough. Well, how about we practice together? We have enough time so I think you can do it.

B: You sure?

A: Yeah it’s fine. I don’t have anything to do today.

B: Thanks, Reiko. When I get my license, let’s do some traveling.

A: I’ll be looking forward to it. Let’s start practicing for now.

B: Yeah!

救世の大冒険／KYUUSEI’S ADVENTURE

第３２回

パスワードを知ってるロケット団員に勝った。あいつはなんか変。変な笑ってた。パスワードはラッタのシッポか。思ったより簡単だったよ。ちなみに、ワタルはいったいどこに行きやがったのか。僕に汚れ仕事をさせている？ついにボスの部屋に到着した。この瞬間、啓二は僕に向かってきた。ワタルに負けた事を話した。それで、ワタルはポケモンへの愛と信頼が足りないって。それをしたら、たぶん勝つかもね。長々と話し終わったら、あいつは僕にぶっ投げた。上等だ。。。また会える、リベンジしてもらう。とりあえず、あいつらを倒す。

短いむらさき色の髪の男と戦った。あまり強くないから、コチョウとウズマキはあいつのポケモンを簡単に倒せた。ロケット団のボスはサカキだったのか。あいつらはサカキにもどってほしそうみたい。サカキには理由があるはずだから、こんな行動は無茶してるわ。ともかく、部屋を出る前に、テーブルにぶつかった。けっこうおもろい。じゃあ、どうすればいいのかなあ？ん？ポケモンがちゃべた？！本棚のそばにいるヤミカラスは他のパスワードの事を話した。「パスワードはサカキ様　バンザイ」って。何だやねん。このパスワード何を使うのかなあ。お、そうか。あの階には開かないゲートもある。ワタルを探さなきゃあ。
ゲートを開いて、部屋に歩むとき、ロケット団の幹部二人は僕に邪魔した。ワタルと一緒にロケット団の幹部と勝負した。コチョウのねんりきの攻撃でアーボックを倒す。スタティックのかみなりパンチでヤミカラスをＫＯだ。それで、ハナビのひのこでクサいハナが倒れた。あいつらに勝ったけど、ロケット団の狙いはもっと大きい。しもた、あいつら逃げた。お、なるほどな。ワタルは僕が頑張って戦っているのを見て、ちょっと出番を待ってみた。なんだか照れるなあ。でんぱを止める方法は、マルマインを気絶させようみたい。あかん、自爆しないで。

＃３２

Fought another Team Rocket Member that had a password. The guy was kind of goofy. He had this weird laugh. The password is Raticate Tail. That was easier than I thought. Matter of fact, where is Lance, anyway? Am I just doing his dirty work? Finally I reached the Boss’s room when suddenly Keiji came up to me. He talked about how he lost to Lance and Lance lecturing him about caring for his Pokemon. I mean… maybe you could win if you did, ya know? After his rant, he pushed me and left. Alrighty then… I’ll get him later for that. For now, I gotta take care of these guys.

Fought this guy with short purple hair. He wasn’t tough so Kochou and Uzamaki took care of his Pokemon easily. So Giovanni was Team Rocket’s boss, huh? And they’re trying to bring him back. Seems like he left for a reason so it’s kind of pointless to go through all this trouble. Anyways, before he ran out of the room he ran into the table. That was kinda funny. So now what? Hmmm…this pokemon talked?! A Murkrow is by a bookshelf talking about another password: Hail Giovanni. Wonder what I have to use that for? Oh right. There was a gate on that floor. Better find Lance.

I opened the gate and as soon as I walked in, two Team Rocket Executives stopped me from going further. Teamed up with Lance to take them down. Kochou took down her Arbok with Confusion. Static knocked out Murkrow with Thunderpunch. Then Hanabi took down Gloom with Ember. We defeated them, but it looks like they still have more plans. Oh so he just let me take care of the problem since I’m competent… alright then. To stop the radio signal, we have to defeat some Electrode. Oh no, I hope they don’t explode.

In conclusion, I hope that this series is helpful with your journey to learning Japanese and/or taking an interest in the country’s culture. Until then… また来週！

What’s in a Title: Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

 第５話　鉄巨人あらねる！

第５話（だい５(ご)わ）

This is used as a counter for the episode. The kanji 『第』can mean “No.” or residence. The kanji『話』in this context is used as the counter for the episode. So put together we have something like “Episode No. 5” or “Episode 5” for short.

鉄巨人（てつきょじん）

『鉄』just means “iron”. If you are familiar with Attack on Titan (進撃の巨人) you will be familiar with 巨人. If that isn’t the case then, 『巨人』 literally just means “giant person” which can be shortened to just “giant”. So together we have “Iron Giant”. Reminds me of that movie that marathoned on Cartoon Network a lot when I was a kid.

Just in case you don’t know what that movie is here is The Iron Giant trailer:

あらわる

This is a verb. A verb so old it follows the nidan verb grouping when they had more different verb groups than we do today. There are only three groups now, ichidan (いるーverbs and えるーverbs), godan (うーverbs) and the irregular verbs like 来る and する. This is the first time I’ve come across an archaic verb so I had to look this one up. It just means “to appear”.

So all together we have “Episode 5 – Iron Giant Appears!

From what the professionals have it’s not too bad. This show is pretty good. This anime was quite the ride. It is about these three girls who want to create anime. The strangest thing that sticks out to me in this show is how some of the main girls talk. They sound like old men. This title makes it even more evident that is what they are going with. Kind of jarring yet interesting to pick up on.

Here’s a PV:

Playing Persona 3 Portable in Japanese

日本語の練習 第156週
Japanese Practice Week 156

2023年01月22日「日」第156週 

日本語のイベント／EVENT IN JAPANESE

『ペルソナ３ ポータブル』（P３P）と『ペルソナ４ゴールデン』（P4G）は発売中です。Steamでペルソナ４ゴールデンもう買いましたから、ペルソナ３ポータブルしか買いませんでした。ポータブルですから、Switchで買いました。PSVitaでクリアしたのは２回にすぎないですが、女子主人公のルートをクリアできなかったから、楽しみにしています。

「FES」という別のバージョンを聞いたことがありますけど、やったことがありません。「FES」は「ラストアンサー」というエピローグがあるので、このリマスターで「FES」を入れてくれていれば満足ですが、「P3P」でいいと思います。

対話／DIALOGUE

A nice encounter

[あ、落し物]

A: あ、すみません、落し物です。

B: ありがとうございます。

A: すみませんが、聞きたいことがあります。

B: はい。

A: そのストラップはコナンですか？どこで買いましたか？

B: 買いませんでした。これを手に入れるため、謎解きゲームをクリアした。

A: あーそうか。

B: 名探偵コナンは好きですか？

A: 好きです。「名探偵コナン」がなかったら、日本語を勉強し始めることはなかったと思います

B: へ〜すごい。いつから日本に来ましたか。

A: ３ヶ月間です。日本語はまだまだなので、日本語学校に参加しています。

B: ＬＩＮＥしていますか？

A: しています。

B: じゃあ、LINE IDを交換しませんか？

A: いいですよ。

[You dropped this]

A: Oh, excuse me. You dropped something.

B: Thank you very much.

A: May I ask you a question?

B: Yes.

A: Is that a Conan strap? Where did you buy it?

B: I didn’t buy it. I finished a mystery-solving game to get this.

A: Oh, I see.

B: Do you like Detective Conan?

A: I do. If it weren’t for Detective Conan, I don’t think I would have ever started studying Japanese.

B: Wow, that’s great. How long have you been in Japan?

A: Three months. My Japanese isn’t good enough yet, so I’m attending a Japanese language school.

B: Are you on LINE?

A: Yes, I am.

B: Then, would you like to exchange LINE IDs?

A: Sure.

救世の大冒険／KYUUSEI’S ADVENTURE

第31回

その怪しい店でワタルを見つけた。ワタルのポケモンはさっきの男を襲った。地下への階段を発見。あ、ここはロケット団の実験を行う場所だ。この像はなんか怪しいなあ。まさか、目にカメラが入ってる？！このあいつら。。。どうりで僕の位置がバレたわけだ。バトルのあとで、したっぱは僕にスイッチの事を伝えた。このスイッチでカメラを消せる。消さないと、あいつらはまた来る。あいつらはウザイから、スイッチをはやく見つけなきゃ。

研究者と勝負した後で、彼のパソコンでスイッチを見つけた。あ、なるほどな。ここはもともと忍者屋敷だった。２種類の色がある床があった。１種類は普通色。別の色は濃い色です。別の色床を踏んだら、ポケモンが出てきた。コチョウはビリリダマを自爆したけど、ギリギリセーフだった。危なかった。次の階へ行く。

ワタルは僕を待ってくれたみたい。それで、彼はポケモンに薬を分けてくれた。この階はゲートがありそうだな。さっきの階みたいにスイッチがあるのかな。見つけたら、ゲートを開ける。ワタルによって、パスワードが二つで、一部のロケット団員だけに知らされてるらしい。ここで、最強の団員はパスワードを知るチャンスが高い。長い赤色の髪の女と戦った。あまり強くなかったが、一つのパスワードを持っていた。よし、あと一つだ。

＃31

I found Lance at the sketchy store. His Pokemon attacked that suspicious guy that was whispering earlier. We found some hidden stairs. So this is where Team Rocket is running the experiments. These statues are a bit suspicious. Are those cameras?! No wonder these grunts know where I am. One of them told me that there is a switch to shut them off. Looks like they’ll keep appearing if I don’t shut it off. Better find it fast, these guys are annoying.

After beating this scientist, I found the switch to the security on the computer. Ah, so this place used to be a ninja hideout. There was a floor that had a different color. When I stepped on it, Pokemon came out. Kochou almost got killed by Voltorb’s Self-destruct. That was a close one. Onto the next floor.

Looks like Lance was waiting for me. He healed my Pokemon. Looks like there are gates on this floor. Wonder if I can find a switch or something to open them. According to Lance, there are two passwords. Better find out who has them. Probably the strongest Team Rocket members in this place. Fought a woman with long hair. She wasn’t that strong but she had one of the passwords. Slowpoketail… got it. Just one more password to go.

In conclusion, I hope that this series is helpful with your journey to learning Japanese and/or taking an interest in the country’s culture. Until then… また来週！