Japanese Hakujin's cover of Cherry

       this is not an original (I don't own the rights). This cover is of Aiko's cover of Cherry by Spitz. Sorry for the pauses, speed ups, mess ups, and the dinky piano. I didn't want to spend another million hours making a video, so this is just a quick bit of video action. I am still trying to fix the order of the blog posts. This blogging platform just LOVES to keep me on my toes and do spontaneous things that I like to pretend are just tough love. 
       This the first take, no edits, the hottest day of Spring, the best song ever, and the world's smallest piano.

Japanese Word of the Day #2

Today's Japanese word is Kin'yobi (金曜日). Kin'yobi in Japanese literally means golden day, and a golden day it certainly is. My school does have 4,000 students but not one Japanese person. So by the time 2:47 rolls around on Friday I hop from my chair with alacrity and ride the first train to Manhattan to see friends to practice my Japanese with. Friday is truly golden.
Days come and disappear in a haze. I feel like every day is just one less I have to wait for before I am on that plane to Japan. I think I have less then 7,000 more hours to go. Until then I just have to sit and wait for time to tick by before I can sit in an uncomfortable leather seat for 14 hours with feelings of pure sanguine and accomplishment. Sometimes I wish school was 7 days a week so I could just be done with it and move on. Waking up early to ride the train to the middle of nowhere, seeing herds of students with hormone levels to match the the amount of calories in their daily Big Gulp from 711, and going home feeling phlegmatic and irritated and filled with ennui.
Kin'yobi is a golden day. Now please hurry up and get here!

--The Japanese Hakujin, Zachary Shimmel

Day 10, Oyasumi Nasai

I wanted to make a quick post because I don't think my mother will be super enthralled if she sees I wrote this post even later than I am right now. I wanted to thank all of my friends, followers, and contributers. Thanks to you all I am already almost at 1K in a little over a week! I will add to this list as AFS updates me on who and what.
My incredible contributors
Victoria
Andrea
Debra
John
Karen
Jenneth
Lili
Judith
Miriam
Melinda
Yvonne
Bryan
David
Pablo
Marc
Britta
Lily
Jeb
Judith
Sandra
William
Sid
Pam
Jim
Shawn

Japanese word of the day #1

While embarking on my journey to learn Japanese I am always coming across new words and I thought I would share them with you. Today's Japanese word of the day is Namari(訛り). Namari means accent. I am trying very hard to work on my namari, but as you can tell from my video it still has a long ways to go. I have heard from many people who have set out to learn a new language that the best way to lose your namari is to live in the place where that language is spoken. I'm hoping to test that theory out!
Today I ate Takoyaki (Japanese octopus fritters) and Karre (Japanese curry). When I ordered these dishes in Japanese the woman didn't understand me at first. Besides the immediate shock of seeing a white boy with blonde hair speaking Japanese throwing her off, I realized that she did not understand me because of my Japanese, but because of my namari.

NAMARI = ACCENT

--The Japanese Hakujin, Zachary Shimmel

TFV Summer camp 2010 omoidekai

TFV summer camp 2010

Day 3 is really looking up!

       I wanted to thank my 5 anonymous contributors for chipping in so generously. I never imagined my number could go up from 0 to $160 so quickly. And thank you mother dearest for lobbying my campaign, and packing me a bentou lunch everyday for school, you're truly lovely.
       Although 160 is far from 0, it is much further from 5,000. I am extremely passionate about going to Japan, and I hope to realize my reverie, Please keep donating with the Chip-in button on the right or send money to me personally. For contact information please facebook me. Thanks so much for reading and thanks so much for all the contributions!

--The Japanese Hakujin, Zachary Shimmel

Day 2, not much progress

       As you can probably see to the right I am 0% towards my 5,000 blog goal. As upsetting as this may be I was so pleased to see my 60 something page views after 1 day. I have been brainstorming lots of other fundraising ideas to come up with all the rest of the tuition. I am thinking that hosting a Japanese dinner would be a really delicious way to make a couple quarters. Plus, I am sure my mother who slaves in the kitchen would be more than excited to see me in the saddle for once. I am still currently working at my local coffee shop, but I only have one piano student right now. I think I'm going to increase the service and try to get two or three new students. Coming up with 14,000 dollars or so is going to be hard in the next ten months, and being a 14 year old sure doesn't make this any easier. Please show this blog to everyone you know, and contribute with the chip-in button on the side. Every little bit helps, thanks so much for reading!

Learning Japanese

       Learning Japanese takes serious dedication. If your thinking about learning Japanese, just know it is ridiculously difficult. I do take Japanese lessons, but this is pretty limited because it is only twice a month so I have found many other cheaper ways to assist my learning. I have a plethora of books to help me learn but I mostly stick to the ancient method of flashcards. Flashcards are only for my on the go study like on the train, waiting in a line, walking around ect.. But when I am at home with a computer available I think the best resource is Japanese television. Some of my favorite shows are Naruto, Azumanga Daioh, Bleach, Boss, Puni Puni Poemi, GTO, Liar Games, My Boss My Hero, and One Liter of Tears.
       These resources I have a pretty great but ultimately the best way is to speak Japanese, and hear it be spoken. I practice Japanese at some authentic stores in the city, and have a lot of Japanese camp friends I keep in touch with. I had the amazing opportunity to attend a Japanese camp twice in Frost Valley NY. This camp was really fun, and a great way to practice my Japanese. It is a sleep away camp, and to give you a quick demographic, I was the only hakujin. The name is Tokyo Frost Valley YMCA so look it up!
       I am hoping to become completely fluent in Japanese, and to be able to read, write, and converse well in Japanese I need to be immersed. To help sponsor my study abroad trip click on the chip-in button to the right. Thank you so much for reading this! Good luck with your studies!


--The Japanese Hakujin, Zachary Shimmel

A little about the Japanese hakujin

       My name is Zachary Shimmel and I am 14 years old. The purpose of this blog is to hopefully raise 5,000 dollars for tuition of my abroad experience in Japan. I am hoping to depart March 2012 and stay for 11 months through a program called AFS. I have loved Japan since I was a kid and had this crazy idea that pokemon were alive and kicking all over Japan. Growing up I made many Japanese friends and did a lot of research projects about the cultures. At after a million episodes of Naruto, and having read every Bleach manga in print, I realized that I had to go to Japan.
        I have always been pretty stubborn and when I have my heart set on something I know i have to set out and go for it, so when I was 11 years old and my mother told me she wouldn't give me 2,000 dollars to get on a plane to Japan I responded "fine" and took my bicycle out for a ride around the neighborhood. It was pure serendipity when the coffee store down my block just happened to be looking for a part time worker. My only criteria was to be able to pour water into the coffee machine, and with that i had my own weekly income. only working three hours every Sunday really paid off when about two and a half years later, my best friend and I arrived in Narita airport.
       Those were the best 10 days in my entire life and not to my surprise I fell head over heels for that country. With only about three months of learning Japanese under my belt, I was completely useless so upon my arrival I really cracked down with steady private Japanese classes. My parents have been total saints in paying for my bi-monthly lessons, but this AFS tuition is a whole other deal. My dream is to speak Japanese fluently and hopefully one day live there so this abroad trip is something I'm incredibly passionate about. I am still saving up money with my job at the coffee shop and teaching piano lessons but I am a long ways away from paying for tuition. Click the chip-in button to sponsor me, and please forward this blog to anyone else who you think would be interested in contributing. Thanks for reading!

 -- The Japanese hakujin, Zachary Shimmel