http://blog.red-bean.com/jimb Wed, 15 Aug 2007 00:35:58 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en It's been two years since we moved, and I'm just now unpacking my books.  What a great feeling.  Just about every book that came out of this box made me say, "Woo hoo!" http://blog.red-bean.com/jimb/2007/08/14/best-book-box-ever/ In Japan, each Shinkansen (bullet train) station has stores selling gift items with a theme that combines the Shinkansen and some local speciality. One of the official specialities in Gifu Prefecture is cormorant fishing, leading to the inevitable consequences: What I love here is the absolute blind adherence to the ... http://blog.red-bean.com/jimb/2007/06/27/the-logical-conclusion/ When I was studying Japanese, a good part of that work was pretty arbitrary: kanji are practically random, vocabulary is essentially arbitrary (although neither of those are quite true, it takes quite a bit of investment before they begin to bear fruit). Rote memorization wasn't only the cornerstone of ... http://blog.red-bean.com/jimb/2007/06/27/enjoyment/