I like dissonant chords

I don't really know much  about music, but I know what music I like.
I like dissonant chords.
Of course I listen to not only music that has dissonance, but also rock, pop, electric and etc.
I don't know why but I get excited when the dissonant chord appears in harmony. I really like orchestra tuning sound before they start to play. I feel tense and peculiar peacefulness simultaneously. Three weeks ago, the concert I saw had accordion and a traditional Korean reed instrument. The traditional instrument played sine-wave-like high-pitched and hard tune. The tune was mixed with accordion sound into dissonance, it made the atmosphere tense. I didn't think an acoustic instrument would make such a sine-wave-like sound. I believe it's awesome but I usually have hard time to explaining it at the spur of the moment. I wrote this post to explain better.

Toronto's library has a wide variety of genre of CDs. I borrowed some Godspeed You! Black Emperor CDs I haven't listened to. It's understandable that Godspeed is a Canadian band, but I can't believe that a library has the genres "ambient" "avant-garde" and "improvisation".  That's too excellent! Recently, I've borrowed CDs  impromptu among the avant-garde genre. I found some cool musician I wouldn't have known, such as Julia Kent, Kardemimmit, A Sunny Day In Glasgow, Tim hecker, and so on..

Thanks, Twist, Skiesoforange

I informed an error in a Ukiyo-e description to the library

I tried to inform the library of an error in the gallery regarding the description on Ukiyo-e. (http://tanakasan-ningen.blogspot.ca/2016/02/mistakes-in-gallerys-description.html)
Thanks to Coolguy's correction, from Lang-8, I easily explained the error to them.
The librarian coped took my advice sincerely.
I'm glad that my knowledge of ancient Japanese letters (it's usually useless) helps with something.

Thank you, RRWcomicsboy, Caramelbelle, Twist and Madox.

Mistakes in the Ukiyo-e description?

This post is related to my previous post, “A to Z exhibition”.

In the gallery of Toronto Reference Library, I enjoyed seeing a small exhibition.

"K” was for Kabuki, Japanese a traditional play, and they showed Ukiyo-e print of Kabuki.

The print was set on “Chushingura”, which was the most popular play in Japan 300 years ago. The print depicted the scene in the story of attacking the villain’s mansion. However, what I was interested in the most was the description. I noticed the errors in it.

<The current description>

Kochosai, 1823-?

Wood block print

1868-1912

<Maybe it’s correct>

Kochoro a.k.a. Utagawa Kunisada, and Toyokuni III, 1786-1865

Wood block print

1890

The current description indicated the painter is Kochosai(1823-), and it was printed 1868-1912, but to my understanding, the signature in the print obviously describes that “it's printed on May 10th 1890. Kochoro drew this according to a request ". Kochoro is the Utagawa family’s successful Ukiyo-e painter, is also known as Kunisada, and Toyokuni III. He was born in 1786.

I guess the signature was written in old Japanese letters, so it couldn’t be easy to read.

I wish I could tell the fact to the library.

If you are interested, please see and compare with the third posted picture. (but it may be a little bit demanding even for Japanese people)

Thanks Coolguy!

"A to Z" Gallery in Toronto Reference Library

I saw an interesting exhibition in the small gallery in the Toronto Reference Library. They hold a small but pretty good exhibition regularly, previous theme was the popular picture book, "Where the Wild Things Are", so I pay attention to the gallery.

The theme this time is "A to Z". They showcase some books, photography or other cultural items from their collection that are associated with the letter "A to Z". For example, "A" is for arctic exploration, so they showed an antique arctic map and a photo of an icebreaker going on a frozen sea. Isn't it interesting? "D" for Dracula, they showed the first edition of Bram Stoker's Dracula. It must be a precious thing. "M" for miniature, there were books and a bookshelf the size of a candy. What a variety of things the library has! What I was most interested in was "I" for incunabula. I didn't know that word, which means books printed in the first 50 years from the invention of the printing press (they are much older than Canada). It was not Gutenberg's printing, but it's definitely difficult see them in Japan. The description of the incunabula said the library has 20 of this kind of book. Despite the size of gallery, the exhibition is always well done.

Thank you for the correction, James.

Cancelled snowshoeing tour

I just got a disappointing call. The tour agent said the snow shoeing tour was cancelled.

I booked it last week so I wouldn't miss this winter opportunity and I was really looking forward to it.

He said that the number of participants didn't reach minimum line. Only one person, me, applied for the tour. It seems it can't be helped because no one applied for it. I wish one more person would have joined to the tour.

Anyway, this is a problem. I thought all I would have to do is to go to the station because it's a package tour. I should search for alternative way to do snow shoeing or this winter will be over and the snow will be gone. It seems I have to go to Blue Mountains, the famous ski resort close to Toronto, by myself.

Thank you Sadie,

I really didnot imagine everyone could get airline tickets cheaply and easily

Flight ticket prices used to be expensive. When I was a child, my parents had to go to a travel agency to book a flight. These days, many LCC airlines have been  established and have become more and more popular. There are a lot of online travel agencies such as Expedia, Opodo, Skyscanner, and so on, which let you  compare each airline's prices quickly without going outside.

It was not until 10 years ago I could imagine that these things could happen.

It seems each airline became just an auction item on the screen. I guess airline companies would be anxious about this situation. Skymark, one of the LCC companies in Japan went bankrupt last year. It would be difficult for a company to win in the price war in this situation. Companies want to add value to their product in order to avoid participating in the price war.

However, I don't think that people will choose an airline just because it has a few pretty good services.

I'm sure I would definitely choose a cheaper one even if they don't allow me to check baggage, and don't offer meals, or TV. I thought something like that while I booked the ticket to go back to Japan.

Thanks 煖湲,

Can Japanese read Hiragana on Ukiyo-e?

Have you ever seen Ukiyo-e before? If you have seen it, and also if you know Japanese letters, you might have been told that the letters on Ukiyo-e are different from modern Japanese letters.

The letters on Ukiyo-e are mostly written in Hiragana and a bit of Kanji. 

I have a question. 

Do you think Japanese people can read the sentences in Ukiyo-e? 

The answer is no. 

Almost everyone can't read it. The reason for this is not because it's cursive, but because it used "変体仮名". Hentai gana, the meaning is not what you think it means. If it's translated it may be called "alternative hiragana" or "another type of hiragana" .

Everyone, including Japanese people, learn 50 Hiragana letters when they start to learn Japanese. However, each Hiragana had 3 or more letters until quite recently. For example, please see picture#2. The four Hiragana letters are all read as "た".

Hentai gana was integrated into the Hiragana that we know about 100 years ago, so almost all Japanese don't know what letters in Ukiyo-e are because they don't learn them in school. Wow, it's a pity. They should have taught me. Actually, it's complicated and they are not  used nowadays, so I don't recommend that you try to learn Hentai gana unless you are interested in reading original Japanese old documents. However, I want to be able to read them smoothly.

For your information the Ukiyo-e above says following.

The only Kanji in the picture are 人 and 大, but they are hard to read.

みかけはこはいが　とんだいいひとだ

大ぜいの人がよつて　たかつて

とふと　いゝ人を　こしらへた

とかく人のことは　人にしてもらはねば

いい人にはならぬ

http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/96058/
(He looks fierce, but he is really a nice person)

Thanks Bri!

Taking a walk in Toronto

Today, it was warm, amazingly the temperature was 5°C, so I took a walk for hours.

Come to think of it, It's a little weird thing thinking "I'll go outside because the temperature is over 0°C." I'm used to Canadian climate thoroughly so I felt 5°C was very warm.

I took TTC subway and then got off Old Mills station, after that I took a walk to Ontario Lake through some parks. In the park nearby Old Mills St., I saw a bridge-railing that was scribbled with graffiti saying "I don't want to GO to work today!" It must be someone's crying heart. It made me laugh.

When I reached the lake, I could see the skyline of Toronto in the distance. The lake waves were calm, but small harbor was frozen. Some ducks walked on the ice. The ice seemed thick, it should be possible that not only ducks but so could I.

I had thought someone who breaks ice and falls water a fool, but I understood the feelings that lead someone to walk on the ice at the moment. If I were a little younger, and I was with my friends, possibly I would walk on the ice recklessly. Haha.

Thanks Hstryk!

Snowshoeing.

Ever since  I did snowshoeing in Japan for the first time, the activity has attracted me.

Snowshoeing is an activity that is slightly different than skiing. In skiing, people slide on snow. On the other hand, as the name itself shows, you wear particular shoes and walk on snow in snowshoeing.

As you know, usually you can't walk on thick snow, but the large shoes that are used for snowshoeing prevent you from sinking into snow. In forest, while snowshoeing, you can see extraordinary snow scenery because you may be one or two meters above the ground.

I really want to do this activity during winter, but it seems that it's less popular than ski and snowboard, so it's a little hard to get information. Considering the nature of the activity, which involves entering foreign unfamiliar forest, it's not good to go by myself. I have to search for information and walk on the snow in a Canadian forest before spring comes.

Thank you Madox, Cherryblossomz28,

Which platform will ’The Last Guardian’ release on? 人喰いの大鷲トリコ

Which platform will the video game entitled 'The Last Guardian' eventually release on? 

It's been eight years since I heard that Fumito Ueda, the game's director, was beginning to work on it. At that time, I was playing 'Shadow of the Colossus' on PS2. I had actually lost interest in video games then, but that innovative game attracted me.They said the director of that game was beginning to work on his next game and that it was going to be released on PS3. I hadn't been planning on buying any new game consoles, but I decided to buy a PS3 after I heard that.

However, I didn't end up buying a PS3.

The game was supposed to be launched for PS3.

Now it is supposed to be launched for PS4, and this time they say it's probably for sure (which actually means it's not sure).

I don't care if the console is PS4 or 5 or any other number, I'll buy any console that the game might be released on.

Ico (2001) 

Shadow of the Colossus (2005) 

The Last Guardian(20112016?)

Thank you TonyMike, RRWcomicsboy!

Shortened word for McDonalds

When I was about to write about McDonald's, I was unsure whether or not to shorten the word "McDonald's" to "Mac", which we call "Mac" or "Makudo" in Japanese. Japanese people tend to shorten words, but English speakers hardly ever shorten words.

I know only a few shortened words such as fridge, ad, veggie, and cellphone.

Then I tried to search "Mac" on the internet. However, I realized that I didn't need to search for the word. I found an item on their menu that clearly said "Big Mac".

The Big Mac has been one of McDonald's  greatest icons. It's well known in the world, not only as an item but also as the economic index, Big Mac Index. Therefore, I was very confident of the existence of the shortened word "Mac".

Surprisingly, it seems no one shortens McDonald's. Even though some people say 'McD's', no one says "Mac".

Thank you Bri, Kita

Contents of Fairy Tales Have Changed

I wrote the article in the following link based on the fact that the contents of  fairy tales have changed  with the times.

http://lang-8.com/1427067/journals/116843267540647470272920577438056042192

However, when I talked my friend about those changes and he wasn't aware of them, so I'll write about them.

Cinderella is a typical example. The  story is quite old, one version of it dates back to the first century BC. The story was handed down many generations, and there are many versions of it.

Comparing the stories,  compiled by the Grimm brothers and by Disney, the Grimms' version is more cruel and bloody.

For example, when the prince looks for a person who can wear the glass shoe, Cinderella's sisters-in-law are told to cut their own toes in order to fit their feet into the shoe by their mother, and they do. Furthermore, in wedding of Cinderella, when the sisters sit beside of Cinderella, a white pigeon sits on their shoulders and pecks out their eyes. The punishment is too harsh for their bullying of Cinderella. These cruel things are no longer included in the modern version of the story. The story has been altered for modern children.

Thank you Tony,  Destine

Fairy Tales and Evil Stepmother

The stepmothers of Snow White, Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, and so on star in many fairy tales and they are generally evil. However, the stereotype is undoubtedly biased. Stepfamilies have become common these days. I don't think many stepmothers are unconcerned with the stereotype in tales. My interest is how this kind of tales will be altered as the times change. Tales have changed and will continue to change as people's common sense and ethics change. For instance, modern Snow White would no longer revenge her stepmother, also the stepmother would try to expel her but never try to kill her. Cinderella's sisters in law wouldn't  have to cut their toes in order to fit their feet to the glass shoes nowadays.

The content of the fairy tale stories may change overtime, whereas the content of literature tend to be maintained. I guess stepmothers will no longer star in fairy tales in the future because of bias against stepmother.

Thanks Keith

Japan Rail Pass (You can freely take almost any train in Japan)

If you are interested in visiting Japan, the following information will be useful.

Have you ever heard of the "Japan Rail Pass"?

It's a kind of discount pass for railway in Japan, which enables you to take any Shinkansen(bullet train in Japan) or regular JR trains. 
They offer 3 types of tickets, CA$360/ 7 days, CA$770/ 14 days, and CA$1100/ 21 days respectively*. 
You may find that to be a little expensive but actually it's absolutely affordable and efficient. Of course if you plan to visit only Tokyo, it would be too expensive. But if you want to go to Tokyo and Kyoto, or Tohoku(the northern area), or Kyushu (the southern area), it would definitely pay itself off. Roughly speaking, the 7-day pass costs almost the same as going round-trip from Tokyo to Kyoto by Shinkansen. In addition, I want to emphasize that you can visit wherever you want by using this ticket, because the JR train system which includes the Shinkansen extends across Japan. 
It doesn't require you to have a reservation, so this could free up your travel. If you hear about a hot spring in Kyushu, you can go to Kyushu the next day with the pass.

If I were to visit Hukuoka, Kagoshima, Okayama, Niigata, Yamagata and Tokyo in 7 days by Shinkansen, it would cost over CA$1000. I could save almost CA$700 if I had the pass, so I want it, but Japanese can't buy it! 
I'm guessing it's probably because the pass isn't profitable for JR. I think the railway company receive subsidies from the government to offer the pass in order to encourage foreigners to visit Japan. It's a good deal, so you should take advantage of the pass when you visit Japan.

* The stronger the Canadian dollar gets, the more cost effective it is.

*CA$ Canadian dollar

Thank you Nateenglishlab!

Travel in Japan: Kagoshima, great caldera in Mt. Kirishima

Travel in Japan: Kagawa, delicious udon, and an ancient temple

Travel in Japan: Beppu, Hot Spring

Japan Rail Pass (You can take almost any train in Japan)

Practice, how to write

…何年ぶりに
4年ぶりにジャズのライブを見た。
I saw a jazz concert for the first time in four years.

…こんなところは他にない
別府ほど温泉がある場所は他にない。
No other prefecture in Japan has more hot springs than Beppu.
Beppu has the most hot springs in Japan.

…何倍
ベネズエラの殺人の件数はインドネシアの11倍だ。
The number of murder victims in Venezuela is 11 times more than in Indonesia.
Venezuela has 11times more murder victims than indonesia.
ベネズエラの人口あたりの殺人発生件数はインドネシアの89倍だ。
The murder rate of Venezuela is 89 times more than Indonesia.
The number of murders per capita in Venezuela is 89 times more than in Indonesia.

…だからと言って〜というわけではない
友達はブラジル人だからと言ってサッカーとサンバが好きなわけではないと言った。
My friend said just because he was from Brazil, it didn’t mean he like soccer and samba.
My friend said just because he was from Brazil doesn't mean he likes soccer and samba.

…たとえどんなに
どんなに気分が悪いとしても、この試験には出なければならない。
No matter how sick I feel , I have to attend the examination.

…しないように
書き間違いしないように、あまり知らない単語は使わないようにした。
I avoided using unfamiliar words so that I wouldn’t misspell anything.
I didn't use any new words so I wouldn't misspell anything.


BというよりAだ
彼のしたことは指導というよりただの罰だ。
What he did was only punishment rather than instruction.

～次第だ。
火曜日に学校に行けるかどうかは火曜日がどれだけ寒いか次第だ。
Whether or not I will be go to school Tuesday depends how cold it will be on Tuesday.

○○してから○時間たつ
カナダに来てから2カ月とちょっとになる。
I've been to Canada for 2 months and a few weeks

○○してから○時間前／後
待ち合わせ場所に30分早く着いた。
I got the meeting place 30 minutes beforehand.
彼はパーティー会場に40分遅れてきたが、山のようにプリンを持ってきたのでみんな許した。
He got the party 40 minutes after it started but everyone forgave him because he brought tons of pudding.

最初に～、　最後に～
最初に買ったCDはなんですか。
What was the first CD you bought?
このガイコツが最後に見たのは何だったのだろう。
I wonder what scene the skull saw last.

～してはじめて
会場に行って初めて入場が有料であるのを知った。しかも手持ちのお金が足りなかった。
It was not until I got to the venue that I noticed there was an admission fee. Besides, I had too little money to pay it. (I didn't have enough money to pay it.)

やり方
ほしいものは手に入れるのがおれのやりかたさ。
I definitely get what I want. This is how I do it.

Thanks G-Wood, Madox!

No Wifi, No Internet, Going To McDdonalds

My homestay family's internet connection died.

I have a laptop, a Wifi-only iphone which is from Japan and an extremely slow cellphone which I've rented in Canada. As a result, I had to go to McDonald's by bus to use Wifi do homework and access Lang-8.

I tried to pack my laptop in my bag, but the laptop was larger than the bag, so I had to carry my Millet 40L mountain backpack  just to go to McDonald's. I thought to myself "What am I doing?" while I was walking through falling snow.

Though I didn't expect that anything new in McD's, there was a machine I've never seen! That rectangular monitors used for ordering and paying. Thanks to this new way of ordering, you don't have to wait in line!

Hmm? Come to think of it, this is just the ticket vending machine. It seems I was impressed too quick, due to its fresh appearance.

Thank you, Bri, Tony, Alice

From Japanese Idiom to Cover song "Hurt"

This is a Japanese idiom.

人のふんどしで相撲を取る (ひとの ふんどしで すもうを とるHitono hundoshi de sumo wo toru)

Literal translation: doing sumo with someone's cloths (loincloths)

The idiom has a negative meaning ; to profit from someone else's achievement and without your own effort.

Cover songs are said to be "人のふんどしで相撲をとる" from time to time.

As you know, there are tons of shallow cover songs.

However, great cover song provides surprises or an alternative aspect to the song. Moreover, it changes the meaning of the song itself.

I was amazed  listening to the song "Hurt" by Johnny Cash. When Trent Reznor sang the song, it suggested self-injury and drug addiction. I like that this song of distress that closes the album. But in the cover song, the meaning of the distress was altered from young desperation into the successful elder's deep regret. He expressed in song the moment just before the sunset by covering a song that is originally written by someone more than 30 years younger than him.

Thank you, Charlicioso, Bori.

The reason they fly

A Petrosaur, which is a type of flying dinosaur, is really mysterious. (Technically, they don't belong to any species of dinosaur). So, every time I see their fossils, I wonder how they were able to survive. First of all, they are too large, and look too heavy to even be able to fly. Even they could fly, they couldn't turn round and back up quick enough, they could only glide away based upon the structure of their bones.

Therefore, big question that comes to my mind is ; What did they eat? Were there other flying creatures, that were slowly enough to be caught by a gliding Petrosaur? In my opinion, based on the the skeleton of the Petrosaur,  I conclude that they weren't able to take advantage of their power, and strength when flying. In addtion, when they landed, they become prey because their only way to escape from predators was to glide away or toddle. However, they were living prosperously. There must be some advantage, or environmental factor that enabled them to live successfully.

Thanks, s0882

Devonian sea

I came back from Royal Ontario Museum. It was too large to see all the rooms in one day.

I saw a lot of dinosaur fossils, as well as other things which were both younger and older than the dinosaurs. They reminded me of my childhood. There were fossils from the period Devonian, I like the sound of its name. I don't know why I'm attracted to the name, I especially like words such as Devonian sea. It sounds like dark blue, quiet and many unimaginable creatures would be there. Words from Paleozoic era are mysterious and attractive. The names of animals in the Cambrian explosion are mostly fascinating. Hallucigenia, Opabinia, Wiwaxia, and so on. My favourite experimental band, Opabinia is named after the animal. 

Thanks, DeliciousMuffins!

The percentage of foreign workers in Canada

The percentage of foreign workers in Canada
The graph showed 23% of the labour force in Canada are immigrant or temporary foreign workers.
Considering the percentage of foreign people living in Japan is 1.5%*, it could be said there are approximately 25 times more foreign workers in Canada than Japan.

*Only data of foreign people in Japan, that of workers was not found, so it can't be compared accurately.

*correction
I was given the data about the foreign workers in Japan.
The number of the workers is not 25 times many, but percentage is.
I'd like to compare the percentage but I realized that I'm not sure definition about Japan's "foreign workers" and Canada's "immigrants" and "foreign workers"
Japan's "foreign workers" includes permanent residents.

Thank you for the correction, Whakahere, Susan
Thank you for the data, Choudoufu

I cannot tell pomegranate and permanganate apart

I can't tell pomegranate and permanganate apart.

I mistook a word in a book for pomegranate but it was permanganate.

They are really similar so I can't tell them apart.

The book is 'Chemistry' of the Eyewitness Books series. In the series, each book has one different topic such as Vikings, fossils, epidemics, and so on. Probably junior students read the series.

However, I gave up reading due to a lot of chemical words in it. I had to look them up in the dictionary for almost every sentence. Sulfur, ferrous, acetic, tannic, bicarbonate, hydroxide, nitrate, copper salts. Sulfur is the only word I  know of them.

Thank you, silverpegasus.

Next Lingua Franca

There is a word, lingua franca, which means international common language. Today, English is virtually a lingua franca, but many linguae francae were used in the past. It has been able to be replaced throughout the history. It can still be replaced in the future. However, which language would become the next one? I suppose no language would become the one in the next age. It would not be language but a program. The perfect translation program would act as the next age's lingua franca. What that happens, language barriers that have existed since the start of humanity would cease to exist. We would know we are separated more than we expected by the barriers, the world would be smaller. The effect of it is tremendous, beyond imagination. It can be called a revolution that follows Agricultural Revolution, Industrial Revolution, and Information Revolution.

Thanks homie_g

Lebanon cedar

Cedrus libani or, Lebanon cedar is seen on the Lebanese flag. Although it symbolizes Lebanon and is related to ancient Mesopotamia, the cedar forest has almost disappeared. The cedar also appears in the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Gilgamesh wandered  to look for cedar with his friend Enkidu, but they found that the forest was protected by Humbaba, a god of the forest. They defeated and killed Humbaba to bring back cedar to Uruk, which was his city.

By the way, I saw a Lebanese restaurant along Warden ave. the other day. I'd like to go there one day.

Thanks, Lawnis

Japanese Idiom ひとはた あげる raising a flag

I had an interesting activity in my class. Each student chose one country's idiom, and literally translated it to English. After that, students guessed what the idiom meant from literal translation. It was a good opportunity to think about Japanese idioms and thier origin.

For example, 

一旗あげる (ひとはた　あげるhitohata ageru)

literal translation: raising a flag

Raising a flag? Is Big sale going to be held? Is it for celebrating national holiday?

The meaning is to start your own business. And the reason why it means that is because, in the past, a Samurai would go to the battlefield with his own flag to have his achievement stand out. If they captured opponent's castle, they raised their flags to show victory. The idiom's 'flag' comes from the flag, and the military achievement was changed to mean business achievement.

※According to the website, the definition of "hitohata ageru" is "to make a name for oneself, to achieve success" (FYI) .

Thanks, Marineve