Five Reasons Why You Must Study Japanese

You can study Japanese for many reasons. Japan has breathtaking landscapes, interesting people, a thriving economy, and an ancient culture. You will be hard pressed to pick your best reason, though this incomplete list will try to persuade you; and if it doesn't, then perhaps a hop to Japan will persuade you. But first, the list.

Director Extraordinaire Akira Kurosawa

You have missed the art of extraordinary director Akira Kurosawa if you haven't watched Throne of Blood, Seven Samurai, Dreams, and Ran. Any serious cinema buff need to watch these movies for their climactic scenes, gripping stories, beautiful landscapes, and the director's attention to detail. Because these are all made in the director's native language, you have to learn to speak Japanese in order to experience these movies' timeless elegance.

Anime

You'll likely think Japanese anime strange if you're used to Disney and Pixar animations. The speech bubbles, over-the-top physical features, and onomatopoeic typography aside, it does possess engaging storylines and charming fantastical creatures. To enjoy the likes of Dragon Ball Z and Naruto, study Japanese.

The Japanese Art of Chindogu

Aside from origami, tea ceremony, and ikebana, Japan also boasts of chindogu. This is an art form of creating everyday items that result in humiliations, problems, and inconveniences, even with the noblest of intentions. As a matter of fact, these "unuseful" gadgets can be downright funny and ridiculous!

Do you need a hairguard to keep your hair away from your ramen? How about a hay fever hat - a tissue dispenser atop your head? These may actually be profitable, strangely enough. Study Japanese to speak to the inventors.

Japanese Cuisine

Japanese cuisine is a feast for the tastebuds, from wasabi to sushi. The presentation and preparation demand a perfectionist's attention to detail and a lot of effort, although it seems very basic and simple on the surface. You must learn Japanese to quicken the learning process of how to cook like the Japanese. After all, you wish to study Japanese cooking, not bug your chef-mentor with incessant questions on what anko and umeshu are.

Japanese Street Fashion

If you want avant garde street fashion, then the place to go to is Japan. Even New York cannot rival the outlandish clothes young Japanese people wear on the streets of Tokyo! There are Lolitas, Kogals, Ganguros, and Bosozoku, to mention a few.

And if these reasons aren't sufficient for you to study Japanese, go for the Japanese being the third largest Internet users, and Japan being the fastest rising economy in the world. You can benefit from Japan's business opportunities.

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A Japanese Garden is Not Your Ordinary Garden

Japanese gardening is much different from the Western style garden. Most would say that a Japanese garden is far more soul soothing and inspires meditation. Japanese gardening is a cultural form of gardening that is meant to produce a scene that mimics nature as much as possible. Using trees, shrubs, rocks, sand, artificial hills, ponds, and flowing water the garden becomes an art form. The Zen and Shinto traditions are both a large part of Japanese gardening and, because of this; the gardens have a contemplative and reflective state of mind.

The basic methods of scenery are a reduced scale, symbolization, and borrowed views. The reduced scale is the art of taking an actual scene from nature, mountains, rivers, trees, and reproducing it on a smaller scale. Symbolization involves generalization and abstraction. An example of this would be using white sand to suggest the ocean. Borrowed views refer to artists that would use something like an ocean or a forest as a background, but it would end up becoming an important part of the scene.

There are two types of Japanese gardening. The tsukiyami garden is a hill garden and mainly composed of hills and ponds. The hiraniwa, which is the exact opposite of the tsukiyami garden, is a flat without any hills or ponds.

The basic elements used in Japanese gardening include rocks, gravel, water, moss, stones, fences, and hedges. Rocks are used as centerpieces and bring a presence of spirituality to the garden. According to the Shinto tradition, rocks embody the spirits of nature. Gravel defines surface and is used to imitate the flow of water when arranged properly. Stones create a boundary and are sculpted into the form of lanterns. Water; whether it is in the form of a pond, stream, or waterfall, is an essential part of a Japanese garden. It can be in the actual form of water or portrayed by gravel, but no matter what, it is crucial to a Japanese gardens balance.

There are several forms and types of plants that are signature of Japanese gardening, the main one being Bonsai. Bonsai is the art of training everyday, average plants, such as Pine, Cypress, Holly, Cedar, Cherry, Maple, and Beech, to look like large, old trees just in miniature form. These trees range from five centimeters to one meter and are kept small by pruning, re-potting, pinching of growth, and wiring the branches.

A garden is a wonderful place to relax and meditate. Whether it is a Japanese garden or Western world garden, designing, building, and planting is a great family event.

For more information about Japanese gardening, visit Japanese Garden. For resources about general gardening, visit Garden

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