Daily Thread: simple questions, comments that don’t need their own posts, and first time posters go here (March 01, 2024)

12 comments

1. What does わざわざ mean in this sentence?⬇️⬇️⬇️

   どうして苦いものをわざわざ飲むのかしら

2. What does the sound effect mean https://imgur.com/a/1fvQJFB

3. Does the first half of 彼 女 に 泣か れ て 、 私 は 困 っ て し ま っ た 。mean “I got cried to by her”? I’m struggling to understand Passive. Also , is this an example of suffering passive?

4. Where can I find videos of the sessions of the National Diet/Parliament of Japan?

   I am trying to get more into understanding political terminology and want to see how much I can comprehend. I was wondering where I could watch sessions of the National Diet?

   Is it uploaded somewhere? Only on Local TV? I can’t for the life of me find anything. I’d preferably like to find videos of the Question Time with the Prime Minister.

   Is there any place where I could find it maybe even with English subtitles (I’m asking for too much arent I lol?)

   Thanks bunches 🙂

5. >いつの頃からかおふくろの味、という言葉をたぶん世の男性たちが作り、その郷愁にこたえてそういう店もでき、もの珍しさに女の私も幾度かのぞいてみると、何のことはない里芋とこんにゃく、ひじきと油揚げの煮付け、ナッパのおひたしなどのことなのである。

   1) What does 世の男性たち mean exactly here? I have some guesses but don’t want to assume.

   2) I can’t quite make sense of this use of 何のことはない…ことなのだ . A quick Google brings up examples similar to [this question yesterday](https://old.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/1b2lu9p/daily_thread_simple_questions_comments_that_dont/ksmbe3g/). So does that mean she’s unimpressed with the selection?

6. Hoping to understand this a little better. In Pokemon, the character Shirona is an older world-renowned refined champion, and Iris is a rising star (champion). When it’s determined that they will battle each other as part of a tournament, Shirona smiles at Iris and says “お手柔らかにね”, which I understand to be something to the effect of “Go easy on me, okay?”.

   I am having trouble understanding this culturally. If I was Iris, I would be perhaps slightly insulted that Shirona was not taking me seriously by the obvious false modesty. But in the context of the scene, it’s a friendly interaction. Am I applying too much of an egocentric pov here? Wondering how I should read this.

7. Could someone explain to me the 150 hours of Japanese studying before entering a Japanese language school? What am I supposed to be studying specifically for 150 hours?

8. anki and kanji practice

   Im currently using the core 2k/6k deck along with genki 1&2 as well as tae kims japanese guide( Im about 4 months into study 1hr or less a day)

   should I practice writing kanji on my ipad mini using anki’s sketch pad ? specifically the most basic words that id assume will be used quite often? or should I dedicate different time and physical sketch pad for the most important kanji.

   Im asking this as I just will be using my phone and computer to communicate (text+talk)

   I dont live in Japan and dont see the immediate need to write kanji effectively on physical forms and such .

   would love your thoughts!

9. I’m not a Japanese learner but I noticed that people in general don’t pronounce the u present in romanji of “gozaimasu” so it sounds like “gozaimas”.

   However, when I visited Nagano, an elderly lady running a tea shop, would pronounce the u at the end very clearly, making it actually sound like “gozaimasu”.

   It made me really curious, is this some sort of local dialect or a mannerism of an elderly person?

10. A news article (excerpt below) got me thinking about Vietnam and Japan, and the people. What struck me about the statistics is that most notably Vietnam outpaced China in foreign workers. Which to me is no mean feat given China’s absolute size and their reputation to have flocks of tourists coming into the country.

    But my knowledge of Vietnam and Japan’s relationship is abysmal. I have superficial understanding about which. My JLPT books consistently have vietnamese explanations in them – one exclusively did not have English. Does anyone have a curious angle/or a more direct understanding of Vietnam and Japan than me? Anything would help.

    # Record 2 Million Foreign Workers in Japan as of 2023

    The breakdown by nationality shows that workers from Vietnam numbered 518,364 (25.3% of the total), followed by China (including Hong Kong and Macao) at 397,918 (19.4%) and the Philippines 226,846 (11.1%). By industry, manufacturing accounted for the largest share at 27%, followed by the service industry at 15.7% and the wholesale and retail sector at 12.9%.

11. What does 控えた mean in this sentence? I understand the overall meaning, but just confused on what exactly that word is doing?

    韓国・ソウルでの開幕戦を２０日に*控えた* 発表のタイミングについては、「トータルで見た時に、シーズン中よりも入る前がベスト。

    If you need further context it’s from this short news article towards the end: https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/mlb/20240301-OYT1T50039/

12. Was wondering about this:

    > どんなスキルなのかは、作ってみてのお楽しみだ！

    I feel like I’m not understanding this and also what is the の doing after that て, maybe it’s allowed if の just means “one (person etc)” but still looks odd maybe?

    Anyway I think this says, “What of skill, look forward to trying to make it”

    Or maybe it says, “What kind of skill, it’s fun to try making it”

    Context: Character is reading the instruction manual section of a video game and that is the heading of a chapter.