Entirely too much Japan

Ping, and online design magazine based in Tokyo, has an interesting article comparing some Japanese websites with their more-or-less equivalent US counterparts.

Personally I like hatenatube , checkpad, and 100shiki.

Japan is a country renowned for it’s technological prowess – being on the cutting edge of robotics, hybrid car research, video game entertainment and countless other areas. Strange then, that whilst the rest of the world has seen a huge boom in “Web 2.0?-style services on the internet over the past 12 months, Japan has been somewhat lagging behind. Fear not, however, as Japan is slowly catching up. Here is a quick look at some of the Web 2.0 goodness coming out of Japan and a look at their Western equivalents.

Just wandered through an article on toilets in Japan that is thorough, almost to the point of obsession.

One would hope some options remain optional: It is possible to use the water jet on a high-pressure setting for an enema, and some users take advantage of this.

Whoops! The 1000 ¥ note is being recalled due to an unspecified “typo” or misprint. That’s got to be embarassing.

Via The Raw Feed.

ボキボキ

Japanese sound effects, typically written in katakana, are interesting in that they mimic sounds for which English has no equivalents. Oop-ack.com has a list of these sounds.

Also be sure to read the Wikipedia Japanese sound symbolism article, covering sound mimetics as well as mental and non-auditory mimetic words.

Wikibooks has a Japanese course that is interesting and helpful.

Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese is a comprehensive guide to reading and writing Japanese. Unlike most language guides, Kim explains the reasons behind the choices involved in what form of a grammatical structure you’ll use.

Eric Obershaw has an interesting and obsessive Guide to Japanese Castles, organized by type, condition, location, historical value, rating, or whether he’s personally visited the castle.

Also see Wikipedia’s article on Japanese castles.

Kim Allen’s Japanese for the Western Brian is a decent explanation of the Japanese language. The guide presents things in a practical conversational manner and is an interesting read. Recommended.

Photomann, a.k.a. Douglas Mann, lived in Okinawa for several years and posts his photos of Japan.

He has an interesting photo gallery of Japanese vending machines. Sometimes, we’re so boring here in the US.

As an adjective すぎる means too much, as in よすぎる (yosugiru = too good) or おいしすぎる (oishisugiru = too delicious). In its verb form, 過ぎる (すぎます) means to go beyond.

From Jim Breen’s online WWWJDIC

過ぎる 【すぎる】 (v1,vi) to pass; to go beyond; to elapse; to exceed;