BrotherAnnie

Topics covered: 1) Safety and Japanese People 2) Japanese Food 3) Cultured & Well-Traveled People 4) Anime Nerds. These are four big things I learned while studying abroad at Kansai Gaidai University, in Osaka. Some of them might be more trivial than others, but whatever. I applaud you if you made it through part 1 and 2, awake. Sorry about the cheese, guys.

When I was sixteen years old, I visited Japan for the first time through a program called Youth for Understanding. I lived with a host family in Toyota City (yes, like the car) for six weeks and briefly attended a Japanese high school. Last May I decided that on my way home to America I'd stop by my old "hometown" and see my friend Akane. This was only a day before I left for America after studying abroad in Japan for a year at Kansai Gaidai University.

Sorry for being such a terrible youtube buddy, but I'm back. No, no--I mean it this time.

Japanese dancing boys at Kansai Gaidai University, Hirakata (Osaka), Japan. This is what I got to watch everyday around lunchtime. The people at my school really liked to dance in public--I'm pretty sure these people were in a dance troop, we had a lot of those--but it was still awesome to watch. Sometimes they would dance right in front of a window, not caring who was staring out it. Most of the times there was no music.

This is my take on being a foreigner in Japan. Please keep in mind that these are only my opinions and experiences, and I am a white female from the States, so depending on your demographic or nationality, you might see things a little differently. I hope you guys find this interesting! This is based off of my experiences studying abroad in Japan at Kansai Gaidai University, as well as my travels throughout the country.

These are my top five overall resources for studying Japanese that are FREE and ONLINE. Please take advantage of them! 1. Anki - http://ankisrs.net/ 2. Jisho.org - http://jisho.org/ 3. JLPT Past Tests - http://jlpt.myweblesson.com/school/Le... 4. My Language Exchange.com - http://www.mylanguageexchange.com/How... 5. Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese - http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/...

Rei★R.N.G. is one of the first WHITE female Japanese rappers out there, so check out her channel so we can peer pressure her into making more music! http://www.youtube.com/user/ReiRNG I had way too much fun making this video. I hope you're happy, audience.

This video briefly explains hiragana, the phonetic alphabet of Japanese, and its uses. I know that I lot of you guys are interested in learning Japanese so I thought I'd give you guys something to start from. I'll be throwing these terms around a lot once I start teaching in Japan so I figured it would be in my best interest to edumacate my audience. In my next videos I'll discuss the other two writing systems: katakana and kanji.

NOW WITH QUIETER MUSIC! This video briefly explains katakana, the second phonetic alphabet of Japanese, and its uses. I know that I lot of you guys are interested in learning Japanese so I thought I'd give you guys something to start from. I'll be throwing these terms around a lot once I start teaching in Japan so I figured it would be in my best interest to edumacate my audience.

This video briefly explains kanji, the characters that are derived from Chinese, and their uses. I know that I lot of you guys are interested in learning Japanese so I thought I'd give you guys something to start from. I'll be throwing these terms around a lot once I start teaching in Japan so I figured it would be in my best interest to edumacate my audience.

Loosely based off of the ramen I had while studying abroad in Osaka, Japan, I came up with this cheap dish during my impoverished years as a university student in the States. Please don't mistake this for being authentic Japanese ramen--it is certainly not that. But it kind of resembles what I ate back in the day. It's fairly nutritious, filling, and cheap--I hope you guys try it out. Ingredients: -1 package of instant ramen noodles (preferably "Oriental" flavor) -1 egg -1 handful of baby spinach (or regular spinach) -1 green onion, chopped (optional) -pepper and coriander to taste

This is how I got my first job in Japan as an English teacher at an eikaiwa (英会話）called Merry England in Matsusaka, Mie Prefecture, Japan. I think I'm really lucky to have stumbled upon such a great position and I'm really looking forward to it. Because I graduated late I was unable to apply for the JET program, but it turned out to be the best thing that happened to me. If you're interested in applying for jobs in Japan, check out GaijinPot.com! They have all kinds of jobs, not just teaching positions.

These are some frequently asked questions that I thought I'd address, hope this helps! These answers come from my time studying abroad in Japan at Kansai Gaidai, as well as my years studying the Japanese language. If you found this helpful (or didn't), let me know in the comment section below! 1. Do the Japanese dislike foreigners? 2. What's the best way to study Japanese? 3. Can I live with a host family without studying abroad? 4. What's the cost of living like in Japan? 5. Advice for traveling/studying in Japan?

Welcome to another episode of Nerd Cooking! This is a recipe for Japanese curry that I picked up in Japan (duh), I hope you all enjoy! Ingredients: 1 lb beef chopped into cubes 1 white onion, chopped 1/2 a large potato, chopped 4-5 carrots, chopped 5 serving Golden Curry mix 2 cups white rice (preferably Japanese sticky rice)

After studying abroad in Japan for a year, I'm returning to the land of the rising sun with new insights on what I should bring along. This time around I'll be staying for at least a year teaching English at a private conversation school, but this video should be applicable to anyone planning on visiting Japan.

This is the video I made two years ago for my host family in Hirakata when I studied at Kansai Gaidai University. It was originally intended for just my host family's eyes, but since I love making an ass of myself, I decided to show it to you guys.

Welcome to my first apartment in Japan! It's pretty big compared to most apartments meant for single occupants, and it came furnished with pots and pants and towels and other goodies. CHACHING. This is the housing provided by my company, Merry England (eikaiwa) in Matsusaka, Mie-ken, Japan.

This is the start of a new series of videos I'm doing about little oddities I find in Japan that make this place just a little bit different, because I realized that these are the reasons why I like Japan so much. Hope you guys enjoy!

In this video I briefly go over the basics of Japanese manners. These are just a few things I've learned during my first year living here. Respect in Japan is a very complex issue that I can really only scratch the surface of, but this video should get you started and help you tone down the gaijin. Sorry for the lateness!

I love Japan to death, but their cheese selection in the grocery stores is definitely not their selling point. I hope I don't offend any Japanese people out there, I love your food! Just not your cheese. (heart) Mostly it's just the lack of variety, and any "specialty cheeses" you find (i.e. anything that's not bland cheddar/American) are guaranteed to cost a pretty penny.

I promise I'll stop making videos about dairy products after this! Even though I'm not a huge fan of Japanese cheese, their milk is the creamiest I've ever had in my life, and I don't know why. I know I'm going to get a bunch of comments telling me the reason is because I'm American, but hey, this was a revelation for me!

Known as "suupaa" (short for supermarket), grocery stores in Japan have a lot in common with Western style stores, but what they carry is quite different. I couldn't cover every section but I hope this gives you an okay idea of what these places are like!

Week or so ago I visited Ise Shrine with a friend of mine. In Japanese it's known as "Ise Jingu" (伊勢神宮), and the part we visited was Naiku (内宮). Nearby the shrine is a collection of shops and restaurants which is great for lunch and buying souvenirs (or omiyage - お土産). I settled for some dodgy (delicious) fish on a stick and macha ice cream. Yummers.

Japanese cell phones are PSYCHIC! The predictive text setting in my phone is scary smart.

These are general tips for prospective as well as current exchange students. During my junior year in college I studied at Kansai Gaidai University (Hirakata, Osaka). Hope this helps!

Ishigaki (Okinawa Prefecture) - On Dec. 26-28th, I went on a tour from Matsusaka to visit Ishigaki Island where I actually participated in breaking the Guinness world record in the longest BBQ in history! What a delicious feat. Oh right, and the island was pretty cool too.

Come on down to the ole Shinsaibashi in Osaka for the best Mexican food in Japan (or at least in Kansai)! While Mexican food is hard to find in the land of the rising sun, this place really hits the spot for us foreigners who want a taste of home. It's really more like Tex-mex, but hey, it's still delicious.

I had my first "shinnenkai" with my Japanese friends on New Year's Eve and tried "osechi" (or お節料理）as well! I was going to go to Ise Shrine but I wimped out in the end, sorry guys! I hope you all had a wonderful New Year's Eve!

PLEASE FOR GIVE ME for 1) my tardiness 2) the weird audio syncing issues and 3) stealing the song from the Wild Things trailer, I just like Arcade Fire. I was only a volunteer for a few days, and it was absolutely amazing. I hope you all can find the time and money to help out too, it's a blast guys. Srsly.