JapanLive - Little Stories from Japan

A fter 35 years, the Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art closed at the end of March 2025.  Details see Wikipedia as they already shut down their homepage. Archive.org also saved the museum homepage in Japanese and English

  This sunset has a somewhat dystopian touch.

If you go there early enough in the day, the sun let the colors of the Japanese larch trees explode. Together with the Japanese maple (orange and red) and the Gingko tree (yellow), the Japanese larch produces extravibrant colors in autumn (orangebrown). They are especially beautiful when seen together with blue skies. I added a close-up photo of the leaves as some people couldn't believe that it is a larch. If you scroll through my account you can see many more photos of the Japanese autumn colors. Larix kaempferi or Japanese larch or karamatsu (唐松 or 落葉松) in Japanese, is a species of larch native to Japan, in the mountains of Chūbu and Kantō regions in central Honshū. Acer palmatum, commonly known as Japanese maple, palmate maple, or smooth Japanese maple (Japanese: irohamomiji, イロハモミジ, or momiji, 栴), is a species of woody plant native to Korea, Japan, China, eastern Mongolia, and southeast Russia. Ginkgo biloba, commonly known as ginkgo or gingko also known as the maidenhair tree...

  (Something for the older Germans among us: " Aufi muss I, I muss, I muss. ") Throughout my entire time in Japan, I never climbed it, and I don't think I ever will either , seeing the many people in videos or pictures. I can see it from Narita (distance about 130km), should be enough.

 So you want to learn Japanese? First advice, don't believe the services popping up on Instagram and Tik-Tok or wherever that you can learn Japanese in a month. That is absolutely unrealistic. They only say this that you subscribe to their paid programs. It is a long way until you will be able to say that you can speak Japanese. You can use Gemini or ChatGPT to get help in learning. "How to do" * Start with the basics. * Learn the Japanese writing systems. For a good overview see Wikipedia article on  Japanese language Japanese writing system Hiragana and Katakana Kanji If you have read these articles then you probably understand that you will have to go a long way. But a famous proverb tells you to just start and not to be overwhelmed by its length. " A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step ".  * Learn basic characters, grammar and vocabulary. * Practice regularly. So, what are basic characters? Hiragana Katakana Kyoiku kanji, followed by Joy...

 These files are available now at my  Google Drive : Many influencers/companies try to tell you that you can learn Japanese in a few weeks if you buy their services - even alongside your normal life. Don't fall for that. It is wrong as wrong can be. Even for the basic A1 level you will need several months. Don't forget, you also need to learn reading - and writing - necessary, if you really want to learn the language. Writing and reading requires repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition and repetition. For this, you need some help with prefabricated materials. I will show you how you can make a few by yourself. 1) Hiragana and Katakana: The best is you learn them side-by-sidhttps://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1amUz-wHzwMXsOuNfUh6dEc2asPHSiaTO?usp=sharinge, you see か (which is Hiragana "ka") then you should be able to write "ka" in Katakana too. 2) Kanji You want to learn the Kyoiku Kanji Level 1. If you see one of these Kanji, you should be able to ...