Topic: Questions for the NWR Japan crew

[Ymeegod]

How well can you guys read Japanese and how long did it take.  I might take up Japanese just to get a basic understanding. 

[famicomplicated]

You can learn hiragana (ひらがな) and katakana (カタカナ) in a few days if you have some good learning materials.
After that, with some easy words to practice on, you could read basic phonetic Japanese in a few weeks if you stick with it!

Kanji (漢字) on the other hand is a life-long task, if you really go for it, say learn several kanji a week, it could still take a few years before you reach High School standard.
Even Japanese people don't know "all" kanji, they just know the basic 800-1000 or so (sometimes less) but there are thousands more technical and complex kanji that only the learned elite might know.

Because I don't study kanji at all, I only know about 200 kanji which gets me by in daily life.

I guess it all depends on why you want to learn it, do you only want to read game titles or game menus in Japanese, or do you plan on coming to live/study here?

Hope that helps!

[Ymeegod]

Planning on learning enough for high school standard and figured it's going take 3-5 years for me to learn.  Goal is to be able to play some of these damn imports like my poor Valkyrie Chronicles III and Ni no Kuni: The Jet-Black Mage (thank god the PS3 Ni no game is coming stateside).

Why can't the bloody Japanese developers just add subtitles .  I'm Amercian and I shouldn't required to learn anything!  I'm pretty sure that's a law.

[famicomplicated]

As you may know the 2nd Annual NWR Live Podcast Telethon for Child's Play will be happening on Saturday, November 19 @ 12:00pm (Noon) Eastern time.

The Famicast crew are scheduled to have an hour of live Japan-chat, and we hope you'll chip in to make that happen!

Go here for all the details!



If you have any questions you'd like to ask us directly LIVE, get thinking now! You may even get the chance to win something too!

[noname2200]

If we ask about your onsen experiences live on the air, will you answer...? : :

[famicomplicated]

If we ask about your onsen experiences live on the air, will you answer...? : :

For charity - yes!

[famicomplicated]

OK so this isn't technically a question, but let's pretend someone asked: "Hey can I play with the Famicrew online at MarioKart7?"
I'd answer, "yes!"


Community details:

"Famicast A-GO-GO"
46-6777-0554-7409

[BlackNMild2k1]

Did you get the New Years SwapNote from Nintendo with the new stationary?

and can you swapnote one of us so we can have it too?

[FZeroBoyo]

Any truth to that?                             

[Ceric]

Any truth to that?                             

We have a non-True Believer here.  The crew actually talked about this on Annual Gift Man Approaches.

Your probably talking about the 2 weeks thing.  I don't think they talked about that.
Though I tried to convince my Wife to let us stop and get some KFC on my way to my Mom's for Christmas to celebrate the Japanese way.  She didn't go for that.

[noname2200]

Any truth to that?                             

We have a non-True Believer here.  The crew actually talked about this on Annual Gift Man Approaches.

Your probably talking about the 2 weeks thing.  I don't think they talked about that.
Though I tried to convince my Wife to let us stop and get some KFC on my way to my Mom's for Christmas to celebrate the Japanese way.  She didn't go for that.

Your arteries no doubt thanked you!

I actually like KFC...although I'm addicted to fried chicken in general, so...

[FZeroBoyo]

Ah. Must've missed that. Will go back to it, then. Thanks.                       

[famicomplicated]

I believe one of us (not me) mentioned that you may even have to pre-order your chicken a month in advance!

Did you get the New Years SwapNote from Nintendo with the new stationary?
and can you swapnote one of us so we can have it too?

I believe Daan "NintenDaan" Koopman was setting up a friendcode swapathon for that very purpose!
It's not that amazing though...

[oohhboy]

I would be happy to help pass it out for those who missed out. I already got a copy from Blacknmild.

3222 5727 4873 and PM me your match code.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Did you get the New Years SwapNote from Nintendo with the new stationary?
and can you swapnote one of us so we can have it too?

I believe Daan "NintenDaan" Koopman was setting up a friendcode swapathon for that very purpose!
It's not that amazing though...

I agree that it is nothing really special at all, but shortly after asking, Daan made a thread about it in talkback which had a very surprisingly large amount of request from longtime lurkers. He then passed it to me and I passed it on just as he did, so all is taken care of
thanx.

But you really should join our swapnote circle if you have't already.... just really wish we could re-swap so everyone can share the best ones they receive.

[noname2200]

Did you get the New Years SwapNote from Nintendo with the new stationary?
and can you swapnote one of us so we can have it too?

I believe Daan "NintenDaan" Koopman was setting up a friendcode swapathon for that very purpose!
It's not that amazing though...

I agree that it is nothing really special at all, but shortly after asking, Daan made a thread about it in talkback which had a very surprisingly large amount of request from longtime lurkers. He then passed it to me and I passed it on just as he did, so all is taken care of
thanx.

But you really should join our swapnote circle if you have't already.... just really wish we could re-swap so everyone can share the best ones they receive.

By the by, thanks again for sending it to me. It's like passing along an STD, only it's a good thing!

...

Okay, maybe that wasn't a particularly good analogy. 

[famicomplicated]

I'd be happy to add anyone who's had a letter read out on the Famicast. (gotta filter out any non-believers right?)
Send me a PM with your code if you want in.

[famicomplicated]

OK people, it's that time again!
Send in your questions for the next Famicast, lets start the new year with some good ones!

[S-U-P-E-R]

Have you heard of this??

Speaking of American-style pizza, Domino's Japan is pretty damn sneaky (in a good way for foreigners). They have an English site filled with special deals that you can only get on the English website - deliberately catering to foreigners. I felt so baller getting a medium pizza and 1.5 liter coke for ¥500.

I checked out the Domino's Japan english site and it seemed like the pizzas started at ¥1500. Can you figure out if there's a secret knock or something?

[TJ Spyke]

So people in Japan pay even less than in the US for that? That same deal would be 990 yen in the US.

[S-U-P-E-R]

No, pizzas are some kind of bizzarre luxury food in Japan and you can easily end up paying 50 dollars for some bullshit with corn and mayo on it.

After living in Japan for a while, the idea that there's a secret knock to get something a little more American style and American-priced is almost unbelievable to me.

[Ceric]

No, pizzas are some kind of bizzarre luxury food in Japan and you can easily end up paying 50 dollars for some bullshit with corn and mayo on it.

After living in Japan for a while, the idea that there's a secret knock to get something a little more American style and American-priced is almost unbelievable to me.

That sounds like my Mom's description of Pizza from when she visits Germany.

[noname2200]

What's the Japanese reaction to the Vita been so far? Do you know people who have one, do you get the impression folks are waiting for a price drop, etc.?

Also, what are your most anticipated games for this year? Bonus points if it's some wacky Japan-only thing that'll never see the light of day here!

[famicomplicated]

I have vast experience with ordering pizzas in Japan, I can tackle that no problem!

[Shaymin]

Does Pizza Hut support the rebellion as much as it appears?