私はケンタッキーフライドチキンを好きじゃない

Well things are going pretty swell over here. I feel more settled now and i think i have entered a new phase of my life in Japan. The first four and half months were crazily random but now things have slowed down a few gears, maybe not as exciting but i feel much more content.

My Japanese is coming on pretty well. I feel very motivated to learn the language, much more than I did when I was studying french at uni (and probably studying much harder too!) French was something I was always pretty good at so I felt compelled to study it but I never really had the passion or drive to learn it during university and was something of a lazy linguist. With Japanese I feel I have choosen to study it because I want to and am not going through the now conveyor belt motions of the school-university transition. I think it helps that Japanese people are very tolerant so i feel very uninhibited with making mistakes. With french i was always very self conscious because of various peoples snotty putdown attitudes. Many french feel you if you dont speak it correctly you are practically raping their language that is or was to them virginal and pure .

An interesting contrast in attitudes between Japanese and French is that the the wide variety of english words is seen as a positive thing in Japan, a testament to their growing internationalisation. Conversely the french fear franglicisms like the bubonic plague. However this tolerance to loanwords is partially thanks to being given their own special writing system, katakana. Just like the gaijin, katakana works with its indigenous relative very closely, stands out a mile and enjoys playing tennisu, going shoppingu and having a glass of wain or two. Yet just like the gaijin it knows it will always be different, never able to be fully integrated with everyone else.

A lot of people I have met argue that its not worth learning Japanese and that languages such as Arabic and Spanish are far more practical as they have a far wider global remit. That being true that doesn't mean to say a knowledge of Japanese isn't potentially lucrative. If there's a buck to make out of anyone its the Japanese!

And now for something truly peculiar...

question...

what do Japanese people do for christmas? do they snuggle by the fire and play board games? exchange gifts or sing songs???

No, they all go to KFC.

Apparently there are literally queues round the block...

Sorry its very naughty of me to take the mick when christmas has nothing to do with japan. At least theyre not trying to pretend that now its nothing more than a big commercial event!

Anyhow enough ranting please post me and give me some christmas cheeｒ!!!