If you’re learning japanese then using a flashcard always helps. Other than flashcards you can use software that helps you with stroke order. I have reviewed kanji sketch pad that helps you with the stroke order study. These are good ways to start learning japanese but soon you’ll have to increase your vocab and pick on mostly used words as well. [Read more...]
Kanji Sketch Pad
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Learning Japanese will require you to understand 96 characters of both katakana and hiragana (48 each). Once you learn hiragana and katakana later you’ll learn kanji. Depending on your usage of language it depends whether you want to learn 800 or more kanjis. Mind you kanji’s are relatively hard to remember because you’ve to remember more strokes and meanings associated with them. In order to make it easy to remember kanji’s you can use kanji sketch pad. As of now this software is in beta testing and they’re offering you limited version for free.
This software makes use of several modes that eases kanji learning experience. You’ll learn how to draw the kanji’s in free hand mode and also able to track your progress of learning. You can also learn to use the software by following this tutorial series. It is beneficial to read the tutorial before using the program. There are some drawbacks of this software like – no help in other languages, no final version as of yet.
Edit- (Note from Kanji Sketchpad Author Craig : Currently it is FREE, even for the full version. When it leaves beta testing in a few weeks, it will be $5 for the full version. The figure of $10 applies to the full Vocab Trainer which has a number of other features not firectly related to lerning kanji.
If you’re learning Japanese on your own then this sketch pad is definitely going to help you. Get kanji sketchpad here.
How to Say Fresh Milk in Japanese
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In this post i want to explain you about words related to milk and milk products. I’ll also help you make few sentences related to milk. So let’s start with the words -
Milk – Gyunyu or Miruku
If you want to be more specific about milk then you’ve words – low fat milk and condensed milk. Words are -
Low Fat Milk Teishibonyu
Condensed Milk Condensed Miruku
Another word which is quite common in united states (related to milk) is Soybean Milk. You can write soybean milk with this word.
Soybean Milk Tonyu
In order to write fresh cream, you can use – Nama Kurimu
Kurimu is just katakana represntation of the foreign word cream.
Now let’s take a look at words for butter and unsalted butter. (In both kanji and romaji notation)
Butter – Bata
Usalted Butter – Muenbata
I think only yogurt is remained to cover in this post, so let’s take a look at those words.
Yogurt – Yoguruto
Low Fat Yogurt – Teishibo Yoguruto
Nagasaki Castella Sponge Cake
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Sponge Cake is specialty of Nagasaki and you’ll find that there are stalls on almost every lane in Nagasaki. This cake is not only famous among children but also adult as well. I have noticed one good thing about japan. Animation, food and many other things which western or eastern region claims as “for kids” is also enjoyed by adults as well.
Sponge Cake – Cake is said to have origin from Spain which got popular because of portuguesse missionaries who learned it from the dutch. Nagasaki castella tastes a lot different than the Spanish or other European sponge cake recipes.This is because original recipe is modified by locals. There are many locals out there who rarely modify the traditional recipe and always present the original castella cake. If you ever visit those stalls then don’t forget to ask for traditional recipe instead of modern castella cake.
Image Credit : at-nagasaki.jp
There are also some flavors of the castella sponge cake like- chocolate, cheese, raspberry and black sugar. There are some tea flavored sponge cake that can be seen during tea ceremony or other events. Tea flavored cake looks like brown-green in appearance and is quite popular among tourists.This cake is made with the malty syrup. This cake appears to be moist with typical golden brown surface with a sweet aroma. Purely traditional japanese recipe is made from – eggs, flour and sugar mixed with flavors inside the rectangular or circular pot.
If you like sponge cakes then you should definitely check this out when you go to nagasaki. I don’t know if they can be shipped from nagasaki to other worldwide stores but for now i guess they can be only tested here. 
Japanese Tea
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If you live in asia or any european country where people take tea as everyday routine then i’m sure you’re curious about japanese tea. Unlike tea in europe or southern part of asia, the tea in japan is more of herbal. You’ll find that this tea is much healthy in comparison to other commercial tea packs which are available worldwide. It’s not that british tea leaves are not used, kocha (british tea leaves) are often used in restaurants in metro cities. In fact many metro city restaurants often prefer kocha over any other tea leaves. So if you’re looking for british black tea then you should ask for kocha in any restaurant in japan.
Green tea is also available in large number in comparison to kocha. All the types of tea mentioned here are served in japanese tea cup which is different than english tea cup. You’ll find that there is no handle on japanese tea cups. One more important point is that japanese tea is made without sugar cubes or sugar grains. This is good news to those who prefer to avoid sugar in tea.
Chinese tea leaves are also in use at some restaurants. Some of the popular chinese tea leaves are – oolong and jasmine.
Tea Ceremony and Leafs
There are some leafs which are preferred in tea ceremony. Leafs like Houjicha, Gyokuro, Sencha, Bancha and Matcha are the popular leads which are in use during tea ceremony. Houjicha is made from the roasted tea leafs. Matcha is leaf with bitter taste which is mixed with other herbals during tea ceremony. Bancha is tasty tea leaf which is more preferred by restaurants.
This was a small culture post for you. Now some of the words for you to study.
- Kocha – British Black Tea
- Cha – Tea (it is pronounced similar to hindi word -chai)