Kanji: logic and magic

     I have already mentioned Japanese Kanji in some previous posts. Once again, kanji are charachters used in Japanese language, they were borrowed from Chinese. 

      As once a week I have a Kanji class, all the time I discover something new. Until this moment I was always attempting to find logic that would help me memorize characters better. Sometimes it works, but often doesn't. For example this kanji means "alcohol"

this means a "person"

this means "fire"

 this means "oil"

 this means "sea"

  Graphics of those kanji relate to the meaning behind them. 

     However more complex kanji comprising of other smaller kanji exists, making it more difficult to memorize. For example this kanji  means "week": 

     The last category that I have uncovered is kanji that to me make no sense at all (to this moment). For example this one means "big" 

and this one means "dog"

 Is there a logical connection? The connection I am looking for is not there. However logic is still there: dog is a relatively new word in Japanese and when creating a character for dog they had to readjust some other character. This is how our kanji teacher explained relation of those two. But everything has a meaning and its purpose, we just need to search better to find it! 

Keio Media Design

TRAINING ROOM

     As I have already mentioned, many Japanese people are small. But they are very ambitious and hard-working. In our training room some Japanese guys know how to workout, but most of them seem to be newbies in this thing. But they are ambitious as I said. They sometimes start out with weights they barely lift, and after a few repeats and trapped under a heavy bar. But none of the other gym participants is hurrying to help... In gyms in Europe when someone takes a big weight, he asks others to set him up and help. Not always, of course, but it happens. Yet haven't seen it in Japan... 

Entrance to the gym

KANJI CLASS

     Today I have attended kanji writing class. It is a class for Kanji beginners (other classes clash with my main courses, so I have to take this one). If I were a new by and had never studied kanji before, I wouldn't be able to catch up. The teacher just writes a kanji with stroke order on a blackboard, pronounces its readings and goes on. Sometimes she says the meaning of the word in English, sometimes not... For me such a speed was perfect, but I was really wondering how real beginners felt...

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MEDIA DESIGN

     Finally (after the school is already going on) an orientation for the use of campus facilities was planned for today. We were given a small tour around campus (which we already knew pretty well) and then were greeted by the dean of the KMD. 

     The KMD building itself is very modern and new, I have already mentioned that before. There are millions of yen invested in the equipment and the building itself. The dean explained, that it was a state of the art building, with air conditioning triggered by ice cubes (not really familiar with that technology). It was also earthquake free.

     The presentation had a welcome format, but some things were new and important knowledge. This semester we were involved in a business project, working closely with real companies in real projects. In Japan the company culture is very different from Europe.

     Here are few tips we received today: 

- in summer Japan gets really hot and humid, this it is almost impossible to work in wearing a suit all the time. That is why some Japanese companies (but no all) allow employees to switch to "cool biz" dress code, something similar to business casual, without suits and ties, with light colors and short sleeves. 

- There are certain siting priorities. In a taxi cab the most important guy sits behind the driver, least important is next to the driver. In a room the most important person will sit farthest away from the door, the least important will be the closest to the door. Elevator: most important person stands behind the guy who presses buttons, the least important is in front of the door with buttons. 

     After the presentation, a lecture on storytelling was given to us. I like the formats of the lectures at KMD, as they have more of a workshop-style approach, which I find more effective and more fun.