First of all happy new year everybody. 2020 has been challenging but only working part-time for a while allowed me to concentrate more on studying Japanese and developing a new routine. The best thing I did was to finally start regular Japanese lessons with a teacher on iTalki. I know the costs for the lessons add up but if you want to really improve your Japanese there is no way around 1 on 1 lessons in my opinion. Self-studying Japanese is great and all but with iTalki it’s so easy to find a professional Japanese teacher with tons of experience for a reasonable price – it’s hard to pass that up.
There are some alternatives like Cafétalk but I stuck with italki because I found a nice teacher there and like their professional presentation and apps.
This is not the big iTalki post (will follow at some point). I just wanted to share my excitement with you guys. The big problem for me has always been to find a capable Japanese teacher. Years ago I had one but the problem was that she was not a professional teacher. Just a Japanese woman with no teaching skills who got herself a copy of Minna no Nihongo (which I really don’t like). Finding a good Japanese teacher, familiar with the Genki textbooks is nearly impossible in a small town in Germany. Or let’s just say how it is. It is impossible.
I recently picked the three available books from the new しろくまカフェ series Today’s Special. Been a long while since I read the original ones which I bought at Mandarake in 2013. Hopefully, international travel will be possible again in late 2021 so I can finally visit Japan.
Kotaku crowned the corresponding Anime to be one of the best of the last century. I enjoyed a few episodes of it but ultimately found them to be too repetitive and slow for my taste. Btw. I’m really glad to find the fantastic Anime Ping Pong on that list as well. I just gave the show a re-watch and found it still as perfect, gripping, and enjoyable as the first time around. What a fantastic show with truly gorgeous artwork. If I had just one Anime to recommend – Ping Pong would be it.
I’m currently getting more and more into trading cards again, mainly playing Magic Arena and collecting Japanese Pokémon Cards. Browsing the web I came across Weiß/Schwarz and got intrigued by the very unique concept of the game. Any players/collectors among you?
Have a great start to the new year!
Hi, I found your website while looking for online shop to order Japanese manga. I’ve ordered manga from amazon Japan before but I find their packaging inadequate and often the items get damaged during international shipping. And also their manga don’t come sealed. Do you know any online stores (even the ones that don’t ship internationally is fine) that sell manga sealed with plastic wrapping?
I’m amazon Japan only for a couple of months now because honto.jp is not shipping internationally anymore. Really a shame because their packaging was always perfect and only received my books in absolute pristine condition. But so far I never had any issues with amazon (received about 8 orders so far). Another alternative that I’ve been using is CDjapan but make sure to order a bunch of items at once so that they definitely get sent in a cardboard box. Regarding the plastic wrapping: Never got any manga with a plastic wrapping (not in Japan directly either).
Etwas verspätet, aber besser als nie, auch Dir wünsche ich ein gesundes neues Jahr! :) Schön zu sehen, dass der Wille zum Japanischlernen weiterhin intakt ist. :’D
Bei dem letzten Absatz musste ich kurz lachen, da ein Arbeitskollege und guter Freund von mir wieder auf den Pokemon-Karten-Trip gekommen ist. Nur sehr…ekzessiv. Ist wie Lotto für ihn nur mit Boosterpacks, die er wohl nie aufmachen wird. :D
Sofern du mit Schwarz/Weiß die Edition meinst, meiner Meinung nach eines der besten tatsächlich von den neueren Editionen, hab sogar Schwarz/Weiß 2 geholt gehabt damals. Kannst damit nichts falsch machen. :)
Hey Rito, vielen lieben Dank :) Pokémon Karten sind auch wirklich super. Ein bisschen wie Lotto, ein schöner Vergleich. Ich habe hauptsäclich wieder mit dem Magic spielen und sammeln angefangen. Die digitale Version kommt Ende des Monats auch endlich für mobile.
Mit Weiß/Schwarz meine ich ein weiteres trading Card Spiel aus Japan. Die einzelnen Decks, die man spielt, unterliegen immer einem Manga/Anime. Ist eigentlich ein ganz witziges Konzept. Die Karten selbst sollen auch ziemlich schön sein. Es gab u.a. auch ein Set von Persona 5 und Adventure Time. https://en.ws-tcg.com/