Tokyo Fashion

Hello everyone! Today, I will be talking about fashion in Tokyo. Japan is very known for their style of fashion and it is really different from how others dress around the world. Many people in Japan enjoy wearing cute outfits with a little twist such as cute oversized bows or many like to dress hardcore and like anime characters. You can see much of this in Tokyo and at places like Shibuya 109, Akihabara, and Harajuku~! ^_^


SHIBUYA 109

AKIHABARA

Here are some fashion you might see at these popular places:

 

 

 

Now, if I could wear stuff like this everyday, that would be so awesome~! If you go on YouTube and you watch videos wear people dress like Japanese characters or model as characters then, that is called cosplay. It is the combination of the words "costume" and "play". You are wearing a costume as the character you are playing. I find this very interesting that I would like to try it someday but, things like that can be very expensive, costumes like that and all the accessories and be a lot but, I would like to cosplay Hatsune Miku the Vocaloid and Iris from Pokémon. ^_^

Tips To Improve Your Japanese!

We all know how difficult it is to study Japanese. Remembering kanji, vocabulary, sentence structure, conjugations...we go through it all studying Japanese! Most of us don't even live in a neighborhood or community where there are Japanese native speakers. And because of that, we can't improve and practice our Japanese often so we usually forget many things we learn, make many mistakes from time to time, or even give up! So today, I will give ways you can practice and improve your Japanese without always be frustrated all the time and want to give up~! ^_^

1. TALK TO YOURSELF!:

Yeah, that might sound kind of weird trust me, I thought the same but then again, it really helps a lot! It helps your brain formulate the language by remembering verb conjugations, sentence structure, and vocabulary like second nature so you won't sound awkward translating word to word. And if you are able to, you can record yourself speaking the language and post it on YouTube and see what others think of your Japanese!

2. READ EVERYTHING!:

Reading Japanese will really help because if you go to Japan, everything is basically in Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana! You can't just use Romaji!! Romaji is never really used in Japan. They only teach you Romaji when you first start learning Japanese so you can pronounce the Japanese language correctly. Reading will help you get used to recognizing Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana fluently.

3. WRITE ALL THE TIME!:

When you write all the time, it helps you remember how to write the character and remember its strokes and structure and soon it will become stuck in your mind! It was the same when you were learning your ABC's and you usually didn't know how to write the character correctly and sometimes we be writing them backwards. But, the more you practice the easier it will become and become stuck in your memory.

4. SPEAK,SPEAK,SPEAK!:

Speaking Japanese on regular basis is important so you can be able to be use to speaking the language all the time. And many people are afraid because they think they will make a mistake or accidentally insult them. But, people need to remember that when you speak to native speakers it is okay to make mistakes because you are being corrected on the things you made a mistake in the language. Its okay to make mistakes, no one is perfect. Even many native speakers of different languages make mistakes without even knowing. We even do in our own language!! And if you don't have any Japanese native speakers to chat with, try talking with Japanese people in Hangouts in Google+ !! ^_^ Or you can go to a Japanese restaurant and speak to the Japanese in Japanese to practice!! ^_^

I hope you guys enjoy my tips to learn Japanese and improve your Japanese language skills well!! ^_^

Resources for Learning and Practicing your Japanese

Have you been struggling to study Japanese lately? Do you ever get a chance to at least practice your Japanese? Well, I will give you today my choices of websites where you can study Japanese and practice your Japanese! 

First, I would like to start off with the website:

http://www.readthekanji.com

This website teaches you kanji and teaches you the stroke order, on and kun readings, meaning, etc. It also beings you off with Hiragana and Katakana for those who are still trying to study that. Now, the website is free to use when you are studying Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. But, you only learn the N5 Kanji. You have to pay to get N4, N3, N2, N1 and the others. But, if you just started learning Kanji, then I'll say don't worry about paying because they teach you every Kanji in N5 which is a lot. I really recommend this site and this is the way I learn my Kanji. But, for me to study the Kanji, I draw my Kanji on a flashcard and on the other side, I write the meaning, on-reading, kun-reading, and examples of it being used. I find this very good practice and a good method to me. 

Second, This website helps you practice your Japanese and let you communicate with native speakers from Japan. 

http://www.lang-8.com

Now, if you are learning any other language also other than Japanese, you can also use this website. :)

This website helps you practice by writing journal entries in the language you are learning. Native speakers of that language will be able to correct your journal entries and you will be able to see your mistakes. As they say, You can learn from your mistakes ! ^_^

You can also add them as a friend and get to help each other and communicate in their native language or yours. This website is all free unless, you would like a premium account. But, the premium account is not really important. Basically, all the premium account is mainly for is if you want to go over the minimum of writing more than 500 journal entries or if you want to add more languages than 2. 

Well, those are my 2 recommendation for learning and practicing Japanese. I hope you really enjoy using these websites ! ^_^

がんばってください！！

Japanese Movie Review: Battle Royale

Battle Royale is a 2000 Japanese action thriller film adapted from the 1999 novel of the same name by Koushun Takami. It's the final film directed by Kinji Fukasaku, the screenplay was written by his son Kenta, and stars Takeshi Kitano.
The film tells the story of Shuya Nanahara, a high school student struggling with the death of his father, who is forced by the government to compete in a deadly game where the students must kill each other in order to win. The film was aroused both domestic and international controversy and was either banned outright or deliberately excluded from distribution in several countries.

 

TRAILER:

To me, this movie is very violent and their is a LOT of killing but, the movie is very exciting and fun to watch to see how these people go behind their friend backs and kill them and how they tried to survive the game. This movie is like the Japanese version of The Hunger Games but, I like Battle Royale way more better! ^^ I recommend this to anyone who enjoys action and highly violent movies.

There was going to be a 3D version of the movie in the USA but, was cancelled. But there is a 3D version in Japan and was released on November 20, 2010.

Movie Rating: R-15

I hope you enjoy this movie if you ever get a chance to see it~! ^^

My Top 10 J-POP~!

Hello everyone!! Are you a fan of J-POP? If you are, I am going to give you my top 10 J-POP groups/singers!! ^^

1. AKB48

2. Juice=Juice

3. Arashi

4. KyaryPamyuPamyu

5.  Buono

6. Berryz Koubou

7. Morning Musume

8. SID

9. C-ute

10. Ayumi Hamasaki

So these are my top J-POP groups and singers !! ^^ And for those who might not know them, I have added a video so you could get a taste of their music~!! ^^ I hope you enjoy these J-POP groups and singers !! ^^

Book Recommendation of the Day for Studying Japanese

Today's "Book Recommendation of the Day" for studying Japanese, I recommend to you "Japanese/English Visual Bilingual Dictionary". I find this book very useful because it has pictures above the word and it's written in Japanese Kana and Romaji. It is very helpful for the people who are trying to increase their Japanese vocabulary. To me, it is the best dictionary to use for learning Japanese vocabulary. I rate this book 5 stars. I don't have any cons/bad things to say about this book. It is very accurate, current and useful~! I highly recommend it~!!

This book is $14.95 in USA. And in Canada, it is $16.95. It is a very reasonable price for such a great dictionary~! ^^ It is also available on Amazon. ENJOY!! ^_^

Book Recommendation of the Day: "Japanese Demystified" by Eriko Sato

Have you ever wanted to study Japanese but never knew when or where to start? Or do you just want to improve your Japanese language skills? Well, today I will give you my recommendation on a book to study Japanese! (^_^) For those who are trying to learn Japanese grammar, I recommend you to read "Japanese Demystified" by Eriko Sato.

The book is around $23.00 US dollars. I bought mine from Barnes&Noble. You can also get it as an E-Book on your tablet such as a Kindle Fire or Nook. Also, you can order it on Amazon.

This fast and easy guide features:

• Numerous examples of simple and complex sentence structures.
• Japanese Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji with phonetic/romaji transliterations for all Japanese words.
• Helpful writing and speaking exercises that bring the Japanese language to life.
• Coverage of everyday topics as well as conversational expressions.
• Quizzes at the end of each chapter to reinforce new material.

I would say in my opinion, I give this textbook 4 stars! ^^ If I had never purchase and read this book, I would never really understand Japanese as much as I do now. Because of this book, I can read, write, and speak Japanese sentences and communicate with Japanese speakers with ease. I recommend this book to everyone who is learning Japanese and to the people who are struggling with Japanese grammar and sentence structures!! Good luck on your Japanese learning~! (^_^)

-Keyatta

My Top 10 Anime~!

This is my personal list of my favorite top 10 anime series ! They are NOT in order from the least to best though ! ^^ It is hard for me to choose which one I love the most~!! ><

1.) One Piece

2.) Bleach

3.) Naruto

 

4.) Soul Eater

5.) Pokémon

6.) BeyBlade

7.) A-Channel

8.) Hidamari Sketch

9.) Rozen Maiden

10.) Merry Nightmare

Yep! So these are my top 10 anime that I really love !! ^^ I don't get to watch Merry Nightmare and A-Channel much~! >< Those two are my favorite and the characters are so cute~! ^^ What are your favorite anime?! ^^ Please comment your favorites !! ^^

About Me~! について私は〜！

はじめまして！(Nice to meet you!) My name is Keyatta and I am the owner of this blog. I am 14 years old and from the USA/America. I have been interested in Japan for about 4 years. I have always been interested in Anime such as Pokémon and Beyblade when I was younger (and I still love it now!) but back then, I didn't really know much about Japan and I didn't know that anime is Japanese. As soon as I founded out that it was Japanese, I got interested in reading manga. My first manga was "Hot Gimmick", it was very interesting and was stuff like romance and drama mostly. Soon, I wanted to know more about Japan so, I started discovering even more better things the Japanese own and invented ! There were things I didn't know that could even exist !!

Sooner, I began to be highly addicted to Japan that I dedicated most of my time to study the Japanese language and culture. I'm planning to be an exchange student in Japan. I have been studying Japanese for around 3 1/2 years, now going on 4 years !! (^^) I want to be an international journalist and work around the world writing stories and articles about what is going on in the world. That is why I started this blog and I wanted to share my interest and knowledge about Japan to the people who know not too much about Japan, to people who are studying about Japan, to the people worldwide, ANYONE !! I hope you enjoy my blog~! ^^

OWNER OF LIV N' LUV JAPAN!

Welcome to Liv N' Luv Japan!

ようこそ (Welcome) to Liv N' Luv Japan! This blog is all about Japan! This blog haves everything you are looking for about Japan such as anime, manga, J-POP, pop culture, traditional culture, VOCALOID, Japanese language, EVERYTHING~! And to make this exciting, there are beautiful photos and awesome videos added ! And if there is something you don't see on here or you have a suggestion, feel free to email me at keyattabrooks14@gmail.com ! Your requests and suggestions will help make my blog even better ! ^^ I will also try to update this blog very often as much as I can to make it better. ありがとうございます！Thank you~! (^_^)