Ahh, crap! Poor Harumafuji! He was hoping to win the natsu basho and possibly advance to yokozuna within the next few tournaments, but today he lost badly to Kotoshogiku and dropped to 2-1. It’s still early so he might stand a chance, but hmm… Asashoryu, Hakuho and Kotomitsuki are still at 3-0 so the competition is tough. Speaking of Asashoryu though, Goeido really gave him a tough time. Maybe he’s not up to competing with the young ‘uns any more? In contrast Hakuho is in really fine form. He’s the clear favorite to win this one, now that Harumafuji’s chances look bleak.
Sumo!
Yes! The summer sumo tournament is under way! I’ve been a sumo fan ever since I accidentally caught a sumo special on ESPN several years ago, and now that I have access to NHK, I make sure I watch every tournament every day. My favorite wrestler? Asashoryu! I tend to like flashy, controversial sportsmen, so long as they can actually deliver the goods. Asa’s been a little short on the delivery part recently, but he’s still more fun to watch than the other stuffy, sour-faced clean-cut kids like Hakuho and Harumafuji. I used to like Kotooshu too, but maybe all the adulation went to his head because he’s been very meh over the past few years.
Anyway, it’s only the second day of the tournament so there’s a long, long way to go. And I’ll be loving every minute!
Eeee! A mouse!
There’s a rat in my closet! EEEEEEEEEEEEEK! I saw it two nights ago, when I opened my bedroom door to see that filthy nasty, dirty, ugly creature running around my bowls, yuck! I have no real way of telling whether it’s a mouse or a rat, but it looked rather long and lithe, at least as big as my hand so I’m going to think it’s a rat. And then that night I left a bunch of bananas by my bedstead and when I woke up in the morning…they’d been nibbled at! Mr. Rat, these are your last days on earth. This weekend, I’m going to get some rat poison, mix it with the tastiest piece of fish I can find and put it out there for you to eat. And you’re going to eat it, and you’re going to die. Screw PETA! If they want to make themselves useful they can come pick up the dead rat body and dispose of it for me, so I ain’t touching that nasty thing. Brrr…vermin! Maybe I should call an exterminator.
Dear Margo
I’m taking a break from work today. I’ve been down with a cold since last Wednesday, and sitting in an office all day with the AC on isn’t really good for me. As soon as I step in there my nose stops up. So anyway, before I get in bed for some more rest, I thought I’d introduce another one of the agony aunt columns I read. This one’s Dear Margo, written by Margo Howard. It’s updated every Thursday and Friday at wowowow.com. I’ve been following Margo since she wrote Dear Prudence for slate.com (before the current one took over), and to be honest I’ve never much liked her advice. She’s a little too permissive – anything pretty much goes, and even when the writer is clearly an idiot she comes down very gently on them. Much of her advice is fine, just not as tough as I would like. Stylistic differences, maybe?
Pros: Has a comments part for readers to give their opinions.
Cons: Only comes out twice a week, advice a little too namby-pamby
Japanese e-book treasure trove
Remember I posted about Swedish a while back? Yeah, I wasn’t really serious about that. And I’m having second thoughts about the Swedish company anyway, firstly about whether I even want to work for them and secondly about whether it’s worth learning a whole new language for a company I’m not planning to work at for very long. I hear most Swedish people speak excellent English anyway.
So it’s back to my first love: Japanese. Learning Japanese may be time-consuming, but the pay-off is almost immediate in terms of the fun you can have with it: not just anime and manga but also tons of good books, music, movies, dramas, comedies, etc. Today I hit a mini-goldmine of books about learning Japanese. Unlike the results I occasionally get on mininova, these are all uploaded on free file-sharing sites, so no need to worry about seeds. I found them here: Japanese e-books, but since you need to register to see the links (which I recommend you do because they have lots of other great stuff), I’ll just list the results below:
Nihongo Notes
Teach Yourself Beginner’s Script
A Short History of Japan From Samurai to Sony
Japanese Children’s books – Practice reading Hiragana
Remembering the Kanji I, II, III
Remembering the Kana I, II
CultureShock! Japan: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette
Read Real Japanese: All You Need to Enjoy Eight Contemporary Writers
Knuckles in China Land! (it’s a video game, not an e-book)
Guide to Reading & Writing Japanese: Third Edition
Kana de Manga
Kanji Mnemonics – Instruction Manual for Learning Japanese Characters
101 Japanese Idioms
An Introduction to Japanese Syntax, Grammar and Language by Michael Kamermans
Japanamerica
Making Sense of Japanese Grammar
Think we’ll all be experts by the time we’re done wading through this giant pile of books? We can only hope! See you next time!