Composition #1

    きむらさん！おげんきですか？きょうとのせいかつはどおですか？ニューヨークはとてもおもしろいです。ここせひ来てください。わたしはアパトーが新くて、ひろいです。きむあさんはわたしのアパトーにとまることができます。
　ニューヨークでいろいろすることができます。たくさん店があります。一日に５０店で買うことができます。わたしは５０店で買ったことがありません。。。でも、むりなことじゃありません。
　来てから、いっしょにEmpire State Buildingの上へ行きたいです。びょうきになりたくないから、おもいうぎをもってこなければなりません。Empire State Building高くての上です。そしてちょっとさむくて、人が多いです。でも、ニューヨークのなかでいちばんいいところです。
　すぐ書いてください！つぎの手紙をまつことができません！

About Communication

1) Perhaps most important in this project, I expect to learn how to convey information using Japanese in a simple and effective way. My group's aim is to introduce parts of New York that would not be in every Japanese guide book. In the majority of the locations we will be visiting, we break ground for Japanese viewers. We obviously want the first experiences of these places by our viewers to be good experiences, so we will need to communicate our information not only clearly but also enticingly.

2) Communication, in the scope of this podcast project, means a simple conveyance of ideas and information. The simplicity in communication is not to over-simplify the idea being conveyed, rather a goal towards simplicity would lead to a richer ground for conversation: a two-way exchange of ideas.

What I like to do.

本が好きです。まいしゅうたくさんほんをよ恩でいます。いろいろな世界和本にあります。

私の専門はえいごです。ほんおよみたいから。Fictionがいちばんいいです。

わたしのいちばんいいほんです。

わたしのにばんいいほんです。

わたしのさんばんいいほんです。

Katakana Literary Work (Senryu)

くうこうで
ヒトをみました
みんなもね

ニューヨーク
ふるいパークを
さんぽたい

スクリーム
せかいへきます
わたしのか


ヒト - I used katakana for this word in order to highlight the foreignness of the people around the speaker in the airport.

パーク - I wanted to distinguish between a park in New York and a simple park anywhere. I used the harsh angular style of katakana that would reflect the angular shape of the city (with all of its skyscrapers and criss-crossing streets). I also used the word park instead of こおえん because I wanted to allude to central park.

スクリンス - I used katakana here as well as the English word in order to emphasize the foreignness or otherness of the screams the speaker is hearing. As in the poem above, I also used katakana because of the  sharp angular lines to reflect the mood of the word.

Katakana Analysis Final

     The two katakana samples I’ve chosen are: フジトランスコーポレーション and ストロベリーグミ.

     The Fujitrans Corporation is an international company based in Japan that primarily deals with Import/Export and Freight Handling. There are three reasons why Fujitrans would spell its name in katakana rather than hiragana: “-trans” & “Corporation” are loanwords, international appeal, and savvy marketing techniques.

     Given all possible English words to borrow, the two specific words chosen “-trans” and “corporation” are the most immediate to the needs of Fujitrans for accessibility. “Trans” obviously stands for transportation which is one of the services provided by the international shipping company. “Corporation” is used simply because Fujitrans is a corporation by definition.

     To give the title of the company an international feel, English words are transcribed into Japanese Katakana. Primarily because Fujitrans deals with shipping internationally, there needs to be a presence that foreigners could readily connect with. The usage of the katakana characters denotes an existing relationship overseas with the wider world back in Japan.

     These specific terms are used of all possible combinations of words, English or Japanese, (and word-fragments in the case of “–trans”) because of a branding strategy by Fujitrans. An article in the Japan Times Online on Japanese company names highlights their mixed usage of katakana, hiragana, kanji, romaji, and English. All of these companies aim to utilize an almost discreet force in their very name that focuses on convenience and simplicity. This discreet force works both in the Japanese and International (Primarily English-speaking) domains. The names of these companies are limited to goals of convenience and simplicity so that any potential client would know the products of the company quickly and clearly. Katakana is not only considered more modern but also cleaner and simpler to write and understand.

        My second katakana sample choice (ストロベリーグミ) is interesting in that there is a Japanese word for strawberry already: いちご. As one of the textbook explanations we were given states: the use of loanwords has the effect of making a concept or product more attractive (with its foreignness). Modernization appeals to younger generations. When marketing "Strawberry Gummy" candies, the youth are, most likely, Kusagai Company's target consumers. If we look at the Kasugai website we can see how all of their flavors are written in katakana and are English derived rather than written in Hiragana with the Japanese words.

          Comparing Kasugai’s product with another company’s product, The Japanese word いちご is used on the strawberry flavored Pocky. Perhaps the Glico Company (those who produce Pocky) chose to write in hiragana and use the Japanese word for strawberry to make a closer association to Japan. This is most likely because Pocky is unlike anything we have overseas (at least not like anything here in the US) but we definitely know what gummies are.

Katakana Analysis Draft

The two katakana samples I’ve chosen are: フジトランスコーポレーション and ストロベリーグミ.

The Fujitrans corporation is an international company based in Japan that primarily deals with Import/Export and Freight Handling. There are three related reasons why Fujitrans would spell its name in katakana rather than hiragana: “-trans” & “Corporation” are loanwords, international appeal, and savy marketing techniques.

The reason why of all English words, these two specific words were chosen is simple: “trans” obviously stands for transportation, one of the services that Fujitrans provides across seas. The useage of the word corporation is also obvious: Fujitrans is a company so the use of “corporation” in the title is fitting.

The reason why the transcription of English words into Japanese is to give the title of the company an international feel. Primarily because Fujitrans deals with shipping internationally, there needs to be a sort of presence that could be readily connected with by foreigners towards Fujitrans. Inversely, back in Japan the useage of the katakana characters denotes an existing  relationship overseas with the wider world.

The reason these specific terms were used of all possible combinations of words English or Japanese, and word-fragments in the case of -trans, is because of a branding strategy by Fujitrans. In an article in the Japan Times Online on Japanese company names and their mixed usage of katakana, hiragana, kanji, romaji, and English, all these companies aim to utilize an almost discreet force in their very name that focuses on convenience and simplicity. This discreet force works both in the Japanese and International (Primarily English-speaking) domains. The names of these companies are limited to goals of convenience and simplicity so that any potential client would know the products of the company quickly and clearly.

  My second katakana sample choice: ストロベリーグミ is interesting in that there is a Japanese word for strawberry already: いちご. As one of the textbook explanations we were given states, the use of loanwords has the affect of making a concept or product more attractive. This is because modernization appeals to younger generations; and when marketing "Strawberry Gummy" candies, that is most likely Kusagai Company's target consumers.

Katakana Samples

Katakana Samples

サン・フレア アカデミー : For my first katakana word I decided to go to a Japanese news site. These particular words are taken from an ad at the website for The Japan Times. The katakana here is used to denote foreign words. The three English words: sun, flare, and academy are used. 

フジトランスコーポレーション : Here is another loanword usage. The second word is the English word "Corporation." What's interesting about this is that the first word, the name of the company is "Fujitrans." What's more, the company is Japanese. It seems that the majority of Japanese companies have their names spelled in katakana. 


ストロベリーグミ : My last samples is another loanword usage, the two English words Strawberry and Gummy. It's interesting to note that the company decided to spell the word strawberry out in Katakana rather than use the hiragana word for strawberry: いちご。Perhaps they are trying to market their product with international appeal.