This page, しんちゃんのだるま, or Shin Chan's Daruma is my journey to read a manga in Japanese.
In The Beginning
Growing up in the New York City suburbs I had the pleasure of watching early anime like Gigantor and Speed Racer on TV (Channel 11, WPIX).
Many early mornings before school I would soak in the awkward voice overs and still frames used to save on actual animation. Over the years I was aware of, and enjoyed Japanese "stuff' but didn't give it much thought.
Tetsujin 28 (aka Gigantor) in Kobe
The Revelation
Sibling #4 (I'm #5 of 6) married a Japanese woman and they lived in New York City, until 2010 when they moved with their two children to Kobe, Japan.
I love to travel, have been all over the US, Eastern Canada many times, Italy, Israel and Holland (doesn't really count since we didn't leave the airport).
In 2015, I travelled to Japan with Sibling #3 and my two boys for a visit.
The trip was amazing. Despite being jet lagged, herding two 16 year old twins and a bit dazed and confused by the whole experience, I still found Japan to be enthralling. We explored Tokyo, Kobe and Osaka.
In The Beginning
Growing up in the New York City suburbs I had the pleasure of watching early anime like Gigantor and Speed Racer on TV (Channel 11, WPIX).
Many early mornings before school I would soak in the awkward voice overs and still frames used to save on actual animation. Over the years I was aware of, and enjoyed Japanese "stuff' but didn't give it much thought.
Tetsujin 28 (aka Gigantor) in Kobe
The Revelation
Sibling #4 (I'm #5 of 6) married a Japanese woman and they lived in New York City, until 2010 when they moved with their two children to Kobe, Japan.
I love to travel, have been all over the US, Eastern Canada many times, Italy, Israel and Holland (doesn't really count since we didn't leave the airport).
In 2015, I travelled to Japan with Sibling #3 and my two boys for a visit.
The trip was amazing. Despite being jet lagged, herding two 16 year old twins and a bit dazed and confused by the whole experience, I still found Japan to be enthralling. We explored Tokyo, Kobe and Osaka.
In short, Japan and Japanese culture is ultra modern with ancient traditions, enough familiarity to be comfortable and a strange world that keeps you off balance. Japan changed my perspective of myself and the world around me...well, not yet.
After my trip in 2015, it took a month or so for the experience to really soak in. And I already started thinking about my sons' 2016 Spring break. I also figured it might be nice to learn a few more phrases than poorly pronounced "Ohio go zai moss" and "Sue me ma sen".
After my trip in 2015, it took a month or so for the experience to really soak in. And I already started thinking about my sons' 2016 Spring break. I also figured it might be nice to learn a few more phrases than poorly pronounced "Ohio go zai moss" and "Sue me ma sen".
And Then There Was Shin Chan
2016 Sibling #4, my two boys and I travelled to Kobe, Hiroshima, Nara and Osaka. and three things happened.
Nara is a city in Nara prefecture not far from Kobe. Famous for the Nara deer that roam the grounds outside the Todai-Ji temple, bowing, and sometimes attacking, tourists for the deer crackers sold by local vendors. I didn't get to crawl through Buddha's Nostril, and I can't say I experienced enlightenment, but I did begin to really love Japan. All the idiosyncrasies and the love for high tech and ancient traditions.
Next we went to Hiroshima, which is amazing and the Peace Museum and memorials are genuinely emotionally moving. And then, there was Okonomi-Mura (okonomiyaki village).
My sister in-law insisted we were going to have the best okonomiyaki ever. For some reason I couldn't get six little syllables straight and kept mispronouncing it. Then I Googled it, and thought "eww". I'm not a meat and potatoes type of eater, but I'm not exactly a gastronomic skydiver either. The idea of a cabbage pancake was not sitting well. I apologize for the photo, I'm not a foodie and never think about taking a picture until after I decide the taste is worthy of a visual memory. But seriously, this is a Frankenstein's monster that somehow tastes heavenly. Okonomi actually means something along the lines of "the way you want it". There're lots of different styles and ingredients to choose from but the three common themes are pancake batter, cabbage and okonomi sauce. (Just the idea of what "sauce" is in Japan is a whole other blog). All I can say is try it if you have the chance. There are places in NYC and San Francisco that serve it, usually Osaka style, which is slathered in kewpie (umami mayonnaise). Just try it, close your eyes and try it.
The other thing I discovered in 2016 was Shin Chan (Shin is short for Shinnosuke). No idea if it's by design but "Shin Chan" could be interpreted as "New Boy". A crudely drawn boy with no manners and a penchant for mooning people. Something like a mash up of Dennis the Menace, Beavis, Butthead, Ren & Stimpy. Gloriously rude and immature, it speaks to the inner child in me. Don't judge me until after you've eaten Okonomiyaki.
Shin Chan is one of those contradictions: A culture that prides politeness and honor, intermingled with social pressure safety valves like Shin Chan.
The Journey
After getting back home I realized I wanted more. I wanted to learn more about Japan, the culture and the language. And I started studying. Not effectively, at first, with so many resources: WaniKani & Tofugu, Nihongo Shark (now NativShark) and language and cultural podcasts and vloggers like Learn Japanese Pod and Abroad in Japan, apps like Kana Town, Human Japanese and Mirai Japanese. I was overwhelmed, while thinking jumping from resource to resource was a great way to stay interested.
With so many resources and no strong background in learning languages, I spun my wheels quite a bit. And my time was limited, I could spend up to 2 hours during my commute listening to language and culture podcasts, but again, not the most effective way. I was putting lots of information in my head, but not in an organized manner.
Setting Goals
By January of this year I knew a bunch of phrases, vocabulary, katakana, hiragana and over 2,000 kanji. Still, I felt like nothing was gelling. I looked at a stack of unopened children's manga I bought in San Francisco's Japan town in 2019. Deciding that focusing on reading one of these would set me on the path of actually being able to apply all the non-verbal stuff I had been studying.
So I turned to the Daruma Doll. A little representation of Buddha Bodhidharma, colored in the left eye, with the goal of reading a manga before the end of the year.
This little buddha has been staring me for almost 11 months, waiting for me to color in his right eye.
I have three weeks of vacation and due to COVID I'm not going anywhere. Let's see if I can actually achieve my goal. Easy, right?
2016 Sibling #4, my two boys and I travelled to Kobe, Hiroshima, Nara and Osaka. and three things happened.
Nara is a city in Nara prefecture not far from Kobe. Famous for the Nara deer that roam the grounds outside the Todai-Ji temple, bowing, and sometimes attacking, tourists for the deer crackers sold by local vendors. I didn't get to crawl through Buddha's Nostril, and I can't say I experienced enlightenment, but I did begin to really love Japan. All the idiosyncrasies and the love for high tech and ancient traditions.
Next we went to Hiroshima, which is amazing and the Peace Museum and memorials are genuinely emotionally moving. And then, there was Okonomi-Mura (okonomiyaki village).
My sister in-law insisted we were going to have the best okonomiyaki ever. For some reason I couldn't get six little syllables straight and kept mispronouncing it. Then I Googled it, and thought "eww". I'm not a meat and potatoes type of eater, but I'm not exactly a gastronomic skydiver either. The idea of a cabbage pancake was not sitting well. I apologize for the photo, I'm not a foodie and never think about taking a picture until after I decide the taste is worthy of a visual memory. But seriously, this is a Frankenstein's monster that somehow tastes heavenly. Okonomi actually means something along the lines of "the way you want it". There're lots of different styles and ingredients to choose from but the three common themes are pancake batter, cabbage and okonomi sauce. (Just the idea of what "sauce" is in Japan is a whole other blog). All I can say is try it if you have the chance. There are places in NYC and San Francisco that serve it, usually Osaka style, which is slathered in kewpie (umami mayonnaise). Just try it, close your eyes and try it.
The other thing I discovered in 2016 was Shin Chan (Shin is short for Shinnosuke). No idea if it's by design but "Shin Chan" could be interpreted as "New Boy". A crudely drawn boy with no manners and a penchant for mooning people. Something like a mash up of Dennis the Menace, Beavis, Butthead, Ren & Stimpy. Gloriously rude and immature, it speaks to the inner child in me. Don't judge me until after you've eaten Okonomiyaki.
Shin Chan is one of those contradictions: A culture that prides politeness and honor, intermingled with social pressure safety valves like Shin Chan.
The Journey
After getting back home I realized I wanted more. I wanted to learn more about Japan, the culture and the language. And I started studying. Not effectively, at first, with so many resources: WaniKani & Tofugu, Nihongo Shark (now NativShark) and language and cultural podcasts and vloggers like Learn Japanese Pod and Abroad in Japan, apps like Kana Town, Human Japanese and Mirai Japanese. I was overwhelmed, while thinking jumping from resource to resource was a great way to stay interested.
With so many resources and no strong background in learning languages, I spun my wheels quite a bit. And my time was limited, I could spend up to 2 hours during my commute listening to language and culture podcasts, but again, not the most effective way. I was putting lots of information in my head, but not in an organized manner.
Setting Goals
By January of this year I knew a bunch of phrases, vocabulary, katakana, hiragana and over 2,000 kanji. Still, I felt like nothing was gelling. I looked at a stack of unopened children's manga I bought in San Francisco's Japan town in 2019. Deciding that focusing on reading one of these would set me on the path of actually being able to apply all the non-verbal stuff I had been studying.
So I turned to the Daruma Doll. A little representation of Buddha Bodhidharma, colored in the left eye, with the goal of reading a manga before the end of the year.
This little buddha has been staring me for almost 11 months, waiting for me to color in his right eye.
I have three weeks of vacation and due to COVID I'm not going anywhere. Let's see if I can actually achieve my goal. Easy, right?