試し斬り (ためしぎり)::Testing the NIHONTOU

I recently developed an interest in Japanese swords(日本刀::NIHONTOU - the last kanji is the kanji for KATANA=sword), specially after watching some samurai clips and Anime. And today we had an interesting small talk about the nihontou in the nihongo class.

NIHONTOU are one of the sharpest swords in the world. Ukyou sensei has an interesting post about NIHONTOU. Please click here to read it.

Himura kenshin with his ( 逆刃刀) SAKABATOU（Reverse bladed katana）
There is nothing called a SAKABATOU in real life

New-made NIHONTOU are tested for their cutting abilities using bamboo or straw rolls. This is called the TAMESHIGIRI(TAMESHI=testing - GIRI, from kiri=killing someone using a sword..in the past TAMESHIGIRI was performed on executed criminals).

This video shows a modern TAMESHIGIRI.
I don't know how skillful is this man in the video, but it shows how sharp the NIHONTOU is.
In other words, when you see in Anime a NIHONTOU cutting something..the blade passes through it..then it takes sometime for this thing to fall apart..you have to know that this is not a joke, it happens for real! see the video below!



Hope you enjoyed this.
jaa mata ne!

Sunset time colors

The amazingly nice sunset colors of today.

Everything was reddish outside. So unusual ^^
mata ne!

暖かい か？温かい か？:: Is it warm or warm?

It is the "warm" challenge ,,can you say the following words in just one breathe? :p

atatakai 　　　　　　　(あたたかい) 　　　 warm
atatakakunai　　　　(あたたかくない) 　　　not warm
atatakakatta　　　　(あたたかかった)　　　was warm
atatakakunakatta　(あたたかくなかった)　was not warm

Today's kanji treat :

Both words above are read as "ATATAKAI" and both mean "Warm"(Notice the ATATA part is written in Kanji and the rest in hiragana)

Is there a difference between warm and warm?
Actually yes :)
The first word (温かい)　means "warm" as in warm "things", for example a warm soup, warm water, warm person/feelings etc..

The second one （暖かい）is usually used with "atmosphere" like in warm day, warm clothes, warm place..

If you have more additions to the difference between the two, feel free to share ^^

Unfortunately, 今日は 暖かくないです。(Kyou ha(wa) 暖かくない desu = today is not warm)

jaa mata ne!

ひらがなの歌（hiragana no uta）::The hiragana song

A fun song to make hiragana stick in your head forever! (^_^)
..but don't ask me why she sounds breathless when she says "genki Japan.net" LOL



Originally from : http://www.genkienglish.net/genkijapan/menu.htm

ganbatte kudasai!

Wisdom..

I'm wise!
Yes I am!
No wisdom can be gained without pain..
Yes I'm gaining wisdom.. or.. i'm "growing" wisdom..
The thing is... ok enough playing with words.. ...I'M GROWING WISDOM TEETH! (T_T)
いたい!!! X(

雨の後、、
青くなる空、、
歯が痛い！

アマニの心から、、いや、、歯からの俳句です！:p

10 old Arabic dubbed J-Anime..懐かしい～～！

Seems that no weekend can pass without me visiting the youtube website to have some childhood memories back!
I found a collection of Arabic dubbed Anime openings that I'm sure would bring memories to alot of people other than me ^_^

1) Sasuke ..in arabic read as Sasuuki ^^; ساسوكي



2) Kousoku Denjin Arubegasu .. (الشجعان الثلاثة) ..MY FAVORITE!!..must see!!



3) tetsuwan atomu (كوكي .. LOL) .. I don't remember i ever saw this..i just know the Anime and didn't think it had an arabic dub!



4) Anpanman (الرغيف العجيب) .. cute!




5) An old ninja anime, don't know the name in Japanese. (فتى النينجا)



6) A soccer anime, Ganbare! kickers. (الهداف) ..i liked this one too.



7) Baseball anime. (نصف بطل)i loved it so much



8) .. VERY VERY VERY OLD!!(T_T) i remember i watched this as 4 or 5 years old.
I would never have remembered it without the video! , TAOTAO the panda :



9) ..And this is a Japanese song from the anime Hutchi (سوار العسل).
I used to have this episode in which he sings recorded on a video tape.(Sometimes, Japanese songs were kept in arabic versions).
Very nice song, i used to sing it along with him!
I'm happy cuz this means i spoke Japanese when i was 7 years old! ..but ofcourse i didn't understand what i was singing =p ....Now , after more than 10 years, i understand! LOOL



10)Grendizer. Notice the arabic lyrics closely match the Japanese lyrics.



That's all.

Japanese Language Forum

Students of the J.U.S.T. nihongo class,

konnichi wa~!
Please join the nihongo forum, as i will be posting useful materials there.
Also you can contribute by asking questions, posting interesting topics/materials etc..

The link : http://animeclub.just-forum.net
After that choose the "Japanese Language" Forum.

Thanks Ahamado san for the forum.

Talking cats XD

A~lright!..away from serious posts, here is a video that is sure to give you a good laugh!(^▽^)
Introducing...talking cats!

Little Boy

Does this name seem familiar?

No, I'm not talking about some annoying chibi kid from the neighborhood nor about a particular little boy.
What i'm talking about is something that killed 100,000 human beings in a matter of seconds.
"Little Boy" is the name of the first atomic bomb that was dropped over Hiroshima, Japan in the morning of the 6th of August 1945.

Why am I writing this?
While looking at the Yahoo news, one headline attracted my attention.
It says that the pilot who flied the plane that dropped that nasty "little boy" died today on the age of 92 years.
Honestly, I didn't know that he was living until now. But this made me think about how sometimes the decision of 1 person can cause grief to millions and change the history.(I'm talking about HIS decision whether to follow orders and do IT or not)

This is a matter of views.
For him it was "obeying orders", It was war time after all.
For others, it was an act against humanity.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

If you took the first side,did the whole thing and finished your mission perfectly, wont you AT LEAST think about what you did for A MOMENT between you and the HUMAN YOURSELF?
That's what I am criticizing here. The man had no regrets even after 60 years what happened.

For me, I am with the second side that says it was un-human.
It was war time.. true
To avoid being attacked you have to attack.. mata true
BUT there are other ways..other ways to attack when in war situation.. ways other than trying your newly invented mass destructive weapon over people.
Kyouto could have been an atomic bomb victim too.. It was among the cities that were suggested to be struck..but its beauty saved it. kyouto was removed from these suggested targets due to its beauty and historical significance...
Do they expect a reply to this as " oh! how nice and thoughtful from you" ? :p

It's hard to say it is the mistake of one side over the other..wars shouldn't happen from the beginning.
But unfortunately they happen upon the decision of "decision making" individuals..and the victims are?
Right, CIVILIANS.

Refer to the link above to read the full story.
May the whole world live in peace some day.