The school approved a Japanese floor on the third floor of Lincoln Hall due to healthy growth in the minor and a rise in student interest.  After several years experiencing extremely low upperclassmen enrollment, the French major is however being eliminated.

The changes are part of a balancing act to accomodate rising interest in Japanese and still meet the needs of those who want to pursue French.

With Japan a major economic power in the world, the Japanese minor has seen a growth in student interest, said Jim Marshall, associate dean of the college.

“We’re dearly hoping for a major,” said Japanese instructor Mioko Webster.  The school is seeking to add a new tenure-track professor to the Japanese program to offer more upper-level classes.

The Japanese floor follows after the Spanish and German houses on campus. The language houses are designed for students to have intensive experience learning a language and culture, and to provide programming and opportunities for the rest of the campus to learn about those cultures.

Students are supposed to speak Japanese on the floor, although there are varying levels of Japanese skills among the residents. The students asked for a Japanese house in the spring of 2009.

About 30 students are enrolled in the four offered Japanese courses, which range from beginner, intermediate, advanced and independent.

Usui’s untimely death, just days before the latest movie version of his comic series hits Korean theaters this weekend, came as a shock for many of his fans in Korea, where his manga and television animation series are hugely popular.

Usui, 51, had been missing on a hiking trip since Sept. 11. He had told his family in Saitama Prefecture that he would be back by the evening, but he did not return, prompting his wife to call the police.

It was last Wednesday when the Japanese media began to report about Usui’s sudden disappearance. Korean fans quickly expressed worry about his safety on the internet, which was reported by local newspapers and online news outlets, illustrating the Japanese cartoonist’s popularity in Korea.

On Saturday, however, a climber in a mountain range straddling Gunma and Nagano prefectures found a body covered in bruises, Japan’s TBS reported on its website. Since the body was located in a rocky area, about 120 meters down from a cliff on the mountain, the local police attempted to retrieve the body early on Sunday.

It was late in the evening on Sunday when the body was retrieved and transported via a helicopter for a confirmation by his family members. Japanese media reported that his family confirmed it was the cartoonist while police hinted that Usui might have fallen from a climbing path. There was no suicide note on the site, the police said.

When there was no sign of his whereabouts, some Japanese observers raised the possibility that he might have disappeared on his own will in consideration of his ties with a religious sect.

Futabasha, which publishes Usui’s popular comic series, expressed shock and sadness over his death, adding that it has his manuscripts in stock but has yet to decide what to do about the series.

Usui made his debut as a cartoonist in 1987 and gained popularity in the 1990s with “Crayon Shin-chan” series featuring the daily life of Shinnosuke, a five-year-old boy who is playful and mischievous, often to the concern of adult readers who do not want their children to mimic the brat.

Set in Kasukabe, Saitama Prefecture, Japan, the series defied such negative reaction from conservative parents and went on to become one of the most popular manga series in Asia and elsewhere.

Recently, Usui put out the 49th volume of the series in its Japanese version. Most of the installments in the series have been translated into Korean, and remain on the bestseller list in the comic book category.

Chris MaGee and Jasper Sharp, co-programmers of the Festival, and James Heron, Executive Director of the JCCC and the Festival, were so pleased with the response that they are already planning the 2010 Festival. “Next year’s Shinsedai Film Festival will run for four days beginning on Thursday evening July 22, with a special opening night gala,” said Heron. “In addition to enjoying the best Japanese indie films, next year’s Festival goers will also have the chance to dig deeper into traditional and contemporary Japanese culture through a series of special onsite workshops and exhibitions running the duration of the weekend.”

“Filmgoers told us that the Shinsedai Cinema Festival was a refreshing addition to the Canadian cinema scene,” said MaGee. “They appreciated the chance to see films that would not normally make it to Canada and they liked meeting and mingling with the directors, producers and actors from the films.

One of the popular elements of this year’s Shinsedai Cinema Festival was the roundtable discussion – Being Indie in Japan – that featured participants from many of the screened films. “The roundtable discussion allowed us to exchange ideas about the unique challenges and issues facing independent filmmakers in Japan,” said Sharp. “I was especially pleased to see the interest from Canadians in the stories behind many of the people associated with these films and the journeys that have had to take to get their films completed.”

The Shinsedai Cinema Festival headquarters are located at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, 6 Garamond Court, Toronto.

According to Japan’s Kyodo News, the girl was riding the subway with another Japanese woman on Aug 6. She had with her a suitcase and the case containing the violin, but when she got out at West Vienna station, approximately 3 kilometers from the city center, she forgot to retrieve the violin.

The girl noticed the missing violin seconds later, but the train had already departed. The violin was made by Italian maker Antonio Gragnani.

Hope it’s insured!

The film’s plot centers around three characters: Ponyo, a talking goldfish who wants to become a human girl, Sosuke, an adventurous little boy who loves the ocean, and Lisa, his hard-working mother who longs for her seafaring husband. One day before school, Sosuke ventures down the cliffs surrounding his house and finds a goldfish stuck in a glass bottle — a peculiar sight. He heads into the water to rescue the fish and gets more than he bargained for. The fish he finds, which he names Ponyo, becomes his great friend right away.

The Japanese creation is one of the few recent hand-drawn films in theaters. Also, the animation isn’t super-detailed. Instead of blurring out objects in the background of the frame, the characters and scenery in “Ponyo” become less detailed and minimalist. Technically speaking, this film is not groundbreaking. The biggest surprise is that it was made in 2-D format. It is a laborious process, and the movie was in development for more than three years. However, the movie’s story fits the visual style, so it’s hard to miss the lack of CGI.

The Japanese House was designed by Yoshimura Junzoo in 1953. In 1954 until 1955 it was on exhibition in New York city at Museum of Modern Art. It was disassembled in 1956 and reassembled at the current site in 1958, with a garden designed by Sano Tansai. The house and garden then underwent extensive repairs, as a gift from the Japanese government and people in honor of the U.S. Bicentennial, in 1976.

Today Shofuso continues to be influential as visitors, including architects and artists, come to the house to learn about Shoin-zukuri first hand, something that cannot be done anywhere else in the United States. Shofuso continues to be a valuable resource, reflecting both the history and current culture of Japan and the United States.

Visitors will be treated to a Canoyu (Japanese Tea Ceremony) & Japanese Sweets Demonstration hosted by the Japan American Society of Chicago.

What’s it About?: This event will include a demonstration of the Japanese tea ceremony as well as an introduction to some typical Japanese tea sweets. Guests will have the opportunity to try matcha, the powdered green tea that is prepared in the Japanese tea ceremony, as well as a sweet.

After years of indifference toward hybrids — in part because many gas-only models that got excellent mileage were already available in showrooms — Japanese drivers are lining up for the Prius, the Honda Insight and other models powered by gasoline and electricity.

The enthusiasm for hybrids is also a result of new models arriving in showrooms. Toyota introduced the third-generation Prius in May; in June, it was the best-selling car in Japan, elbowing aside the Insight, which in March became the first hybrid to hold the top sales spot.

Honda has been selling about 10,000 Insights a month, twice as many as had been expected in the company’s internal forecasts. There has been a five-month waiting list for the Prius in Japan, similar to the situation in California last year when gas prices swept past $4 a gallon.

“Ordinarily, small cars don’t have much status, but people don’t care about changing from a bigger vehicle to a smaller vehicle if it’s a Prius these days,” said Toshiyuki Yokoyama, the general manager at Kanagawa Toyota Motor Sales, which runs about 50 dealerships in and around Yokohama. “Suddenly, everyone wants the car as soon as possible.”

Japanese consumers are only now embracing hybrids because, as in Europe, there have been plenty of cheaper fuel-efficient alternatives. But the sales of new, reasonably priced models have jumped in the past year or so because of government subsidies and a blizzard of media coverage that has fueled Japan’s fad-conscious consumers.

The question is whether the recent surge in sales of “eco cars,” as the Japanese call hybrids and alternative-fuel vehicles, is a lasting trend or one pumped up by short-term subsidies and high gasoline prices.

In the United States, where Japanese automakers had trouble keeping up with demand for hybrids in 2008, sales have slowed (along with the rest of the market). Toyota suspended work on a factory in Mississippi devoted to building the Prius.

Japanese are eager consumers of trendy products — everything from the latest handbags to video games — and sales often fall as fast as they rise.

Automakers in Japan say, however, that sales of hybrids will remain strong even if government subsidies of up to $4,000 are phased out. Though down from the peaks reached in 2008, gas prices are still relatively high, and in a weak economy consumers are looking to spend less on gasoline.

From an early age, Japanese are taught to be more efficient because their country has few natural resources. To reduce the use of air-conditioners, businessmen a few years ago were encouraged to do without neckties. Appliance companies eagerly promote waterless washing machines.

Based on Japanese anime properties Beast King GoLion and Kikou Kantai Dairugger XV, “Voltron” features a “Transformers”-like conceit, in which a band of five robot-lions combine to form one super lion. A group of five pilots control the lions, which are charged with defending the planet Arus from villain King Zarkon, who dispatches evil creatures called Robobeats to fight the Voltron robots.

“Voltron” aired on U.S. television in 1984 and 1985. Since then, the property has remained a favorite in diverse communities, from the fanboy to the hip-hop worlds.

Oftentimes these two terms are confused. Manga means “comic book” in Japanese, whereas the Anime refers to the animation of a Manga comic. Think about the X-men comics… they were “Manga” first (the actual comic books), after which they became Anime (the cartoons) and nowadays, they’re a movie series. Anyway, it doesn’t really matter what you call them, Anime and Manga are a good way to learn Japanese naturally and they’re quite fun to watch/read.

One particular advantage of Anime and Manga is that most of these comic books or cartoons have a limited word and phrase list in use. You’ll be amazed how quickly you can catch on to these basic words, so Anime can be used as a starting point to your Japanese learning process.

Fun Ways to Learn Japanese – Movies and Music

I’d rate movies a much better learning source than music, but hey, if you’re into Japanese music, why not use it as a helping hand in your learning process? Movies have the advantage of offering the audio-video combination which helps you understand what’s going on easier. They can also be subtitled in English, which can be a good or a bad thing, depending on the quality of the subtitles (however, since Japanese words often have extensions in English translations, subtitles can be more harmful than helpful).

One movie I found particularly interesting in this sense was “The Last Samurai” starring Tom Cruise. I won’t go about the movie’s plot, suffice to say that an American veteran finds himself trapped in a Japanese samurai settlement, learning their ways and learning how to speak Japanese. While the Japanese folk are teaching Tom Cruise some of their language, you’ll be picking it up as well.

Fun Ways to Learn Japanese – Flash Cards

Flashcards are well known to be a great way to learn a new language, but they’re even more useful when learning Japanese. Using flash cards to learn Japanese is fun and it will boost your vocabulary in no time. If you can’t find suitable flashcards on the Internet or in local stores, try making your own! Just cut up some cardboard in matching sizes, write an English word on one side and the Japanese translation on the other and practice with it. Try splitting the cards up in nouns, adjectives, verbs and so forth so they’re easier to handle. You can also try drawing up what the word on the flashcard illustrates and it doesn’t really matter how skilled you are in drawing: even a rough sketch or a silly stick figure will help your brain memorize words easier.

I didn’t add raw conversation in between these fun learning methods, simply because if you’re that far into the Japanese learning process as to be able to hold out a conversation, then you really don’t need the above mentioned methods. I found that learning Japanese, more so than any other language, is like a rolling snowball. The further down the hill the learning process is, the faster it goes and the bigger your knowledge base gets. Once you get started, it’s easy to become fluent in it. Just remember, learning Japanese is only as hard as you let it become.