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These are how I taught myself katakana, they are of varying quality and usefulness,
feel free to add your own if you come up with better ones.
I would highly recommend bumping your browser zoom up to 200% or something to begin with, as some of these characters are laughably similar to each other and have tiny little modifier strokes on them.
n
Kana
Romaji
Mnemonic
ン
n
Vowels
Kana
Romaji
Mnemonic
ア
a
イ
i
looks kinda like an I
ウ
u
upside down U
エ
e
elephant pressing feet together
オ
o
line sticks out
K
Kana
Romaji
Mnemonic
カ
ka
kind of like a cursive k and really similar to hiragana ka
キ
ki
looks like a key
ク
ku
ケ
ke
like ku but the line keeps going
コ
ko
like a room (ロ - ro) with a wall knocked out
S
Kana
Romaji
Mnemonic
サ
sa
salaryman wearing a hat
シ
shi
the eyes are drawn sideways (helps comparing with ツ tsu)
ス
su
submarine with support beam
セ
se
pointing to self
ソ
so
soba noodles
T
Kana
Romaji
Mnemonic
タ
ta
tadpole
チ
chi
cheese on a stick (this one is dumb, but it works)
ツ
tsu
the eyes are drawn from the top
テ
te
t with elevated platform
ト
to
second stoke comes from the top
N
Kana
Romaji
Mnemonic
ナ
na
ニ
ni
two (ni) lines, same as the number kanji
ヌ
nu
nuclear submarine that's been pierced
ネ
ne
ノ
no
arm coming down as somebody says "NO"
H
Kana
Romaji
Mnemonic
ハ
ha
two halves
ヒ
hi
sitting person waving hi
フ
fu
mouth eating food
ヘ
he
looks like a mountain and he climbed the mountain
ホ
ho
clothesline holding stuff up / pimp with hos
M
Kana
Romaji
Mnemonic
マ
ma
mu rotated
ミ
mi
mi is the chinese reading of the 3 character this is similar to
ム
mu
it's kind of like a bucket so it's the one with a u in it (this one really sucks)
メ
me
モ
mo
monkey with a tail
Y
Kana
Romaji
Mnemonic
ヤ
ya
yak head
ユ
yu
kind of like a sideways y and also kind of like a rotated u
ヨ
yo
rotated west-side gangsign yo
R
Kana
Romaji
Mnemonic
ラ
ra
raised platform
リ
ri
when you draw it it feels similar to drawing an R and has an I component
ル
ru
running legs
レ
re
reaper's scythe
ロ
ro
a room
W - These are really uncommon, I think I've seen each of them once, ever. Don't try too hard with them.
Kana
Romaji
Mnemonic
ワ
wa
ヲ
wo
same as the hiragana, this is pronounced as "o"
Usage Notes
As with hiragana, these are modified with ゛ ゜ to change their voicing.
Whenever you see a character above with a voicing modifier, it keeps its vowel component but the consonant part changes.
This applies to all characters in the group like so:
xx
a
i
u
e
o
K
カ
キ
ク
ケ
コ
G
ガ
ギ
グ
ゲ
ゴ
T
タ
チ
ツ
テ
ト
D
ダ
ヂ
ヅ
デ
ド
S
サ
シ
ス
セ
ソ
Z
ザ
ジ
ズ
ゼ
ゾ
H
ハ
ヒ
フ
ヘ
ホ
B
バ
ビ
ブ
ベ
ボ
P
パ
ピ
プ
ペ
ポ
To remember the changes:
゜ Makes a P sound and is circular like pie
Ka
Ga
カ
ガ
Ta
Da
タ
ダ
Ho
Bo
Po
Mnemonic
ホ
ボ
ポ
HoBoPo / hobo police
Su
Zu
Mnemonic
ス
ズ
SuZu / suzuki
BONUS POINTS
ー
Pretty easy, when you see a ー that just means you make the vowel long.
Eg. ラーメン - raamen - ramen
VERY IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT ツ
Besides being the smiley kana, a little tsu (ッ) is used to mark a stop in voicing, as in the stop
when you pronounce "attack" (at-tack)
Pretty much any time you would use a double consonant or a "ck" in english you'll need one of these.
A prominent example is ホット (hotto). You will frequently encounter this in starbucks and the like
where they ask you questions like "hotto desuka?" (do you want your coffee hot?) just to fuck
with you.
COMBOS
Extending the example above, in ホットチョコレート (hotto chokoreeto - hot chocolate) you can see a tiny ョ (yo) following the チ (chi) character.
What this means is you combine the two and drop the vowel (-i) from the chi to make "cho".
You will frequently see this applied to pretty much any -i character and ya/yu/yo.
Another example: キャラメル - kyarameru - caramel
7-eleven atms generally work with australian cards. can be a life saver.
JR Pass & Trains
As soon as you get to the airport you'll have to take a shuttle to get to the airport proper.
Once there you can head downstairs to B1 and there's a couple of ticket offices where you can
exchange your order for the actual rail pass. The staff speak English there ;)
The rail pass does cover you for the NEX (the express train to Tokyo)
but you have to book a seat in advance. They'll probably do it when you do the exchange.
The NEX has 2 main stops in Tokyo:
東京駅 - Tokyo Station (East side)
新宿駅 - Shinjuku Station (west side)
From there you can get JR trains all over the city.
It's important to note that there are a fair few train companies in Japan,
the JR pass only makes your trips free on JR trains buses and ferries.
You can get the Metro trains around too, some of them are closer to key events
but it's way more fun and cheaper to just exclusively use the JR ones and walk around.
Metro train stations are also total catacombs of tunnels so it's very easy to get lost.
新幹線 - Shinkansen - Bullet Trains
You can get every train except for very specific tourist trains and the bullet train called
のぞみ - Nozomi
Unfortunately the Nozomi is the fastest and most common bullet train. You'll be alright on the others though.
When I say "fastest" it realistically stops at like 3 less stations on a 4 hour journey, not a big deal.
Bullet trains at Tokyo and Osaka only stop at big terminus stations that are slightly out of the way.
In Tokyo where stop at Tokyo Station and Shinigawa but NOT
at the absolutely enormous Shinjuku station where practically every other JR line goes.
Same with Osaka where it only stops at Shinosaka station which is across the river from the main
part of the city.
You have two choices getting shinkansen, yoloing onto the train without a ticket or reserving one beforehand.
It's pretty likely if you don't reserve you might either not fit or have to separate from whoever you're with.
Reservations are free with your pass and generally save you a lot of headache trying to find somewhere to put
all your stuff.
Reserve tickets at a みどりの窓口 - Midori no madoguchi. Big green ticket office.
FUN STUFF
Places
東京 - Tokyo
渋谷 - Shibuya
The huge intersection you've seen in photos and Lost in Translation is here.
Also has pretty good shopping.
原宿 - Harajuku
Cosplayers are here on Sundays, although you can see them all the time.
There is really good fashion here. Also there's several really good sneaker shops
in a very small area. http://store.kickslab.com/ Just wander around the block and you'll
find a tonne of good stuff. There's also a really sick toy store here called Kiddiland.
新宿 - Shinjuku
Good shopping, good food, plenty of bars.
There is an area that looks like a shanty town that's actually full
of really classy (and weird) bars.
ROBOT RESTAURANT is here. Book it as soon as you land. You won't regret it.
秋葉原 - Akihabara - Electric Town
Crazy shit. Neons, game halls, panties in vending machines. You probably know all this.
I would recommend doing purikura (photo booths). It's a lot of fun.
麻布十番 - Azabujuban
Expat bars, good noodle shops.
築地 - Tsukiji (ski jee)
Giant fish market, get here REALLY EARLY (like 6-7am) and you can get crazy good sushi.
大阪 - Osaka
梅田 - Umeda
Shopping, kind of like the CBD, there is a cool district to the north of Umeda station
with cafes and stuff.
なんば - Namba
All kinds of good shit. Plenty of good food.
Along the river you can find a 5 storey okonomiyaki restaurant chain called
Chibo. Personally my favourite.
Also highly recommend to get takoyaki here.
There is Amerikamura here which has good fashion.
There is a shopping street that runs for kilometers north until you get to...
Endo-Sushi pretty much the best place for sushi in town. It's towards the start of the fish market. Ask for Omakase. Or two. Ot three!
心斎橋 - Shinsaibashi
There is a really good mexican restaurant called El Pancho on L7 of a building right next to
Shinsaibashi metro station. Their happy hour goes for 5 hours and all the drinks are 1/2 price.
Food is really good too.
Check the sumo calendars because the Osaka colliseum is right near here. Sumo is actually really
fun to watch.
海遊館 - Kaiyukan - Osaka Aquarium
It's pretty sick, the spider crabs are HUGE. Makes you hungry.
Spa World
Can't remember exactly where this is, but it's a big building full of themed onsens.
Onsens are freakin rad. Do them wherever you can.
神戸 - Kobe
Kobe is freakin sick. You can get here in like 30 mins from Osaka.
The European quarter is cool to walk around and just chill.
You can go up the mountain and get a really good view.
You can also get kobe beef yakiniku here for ~$60pp but it's well worth it.
京都 - Kyoto
Hire a bike. It's the best. Kyoto trains are pretty mediocre compared to the bigger cities.
9hrs
There's a capsule hotel here called 9hrs. If you have some nights unbooked I would really
recommend trying a capsule for a night.
Fushimi Inari
This is the temple with thousands of red torii gates. My favourite. There is a market at the base of it too.
Kinkakuji
Golden temple. It's ok.
Kiyomizudera
Big water temple on a mountain, has a sick view. Worth a visit.
Jam Hostel
Good place to stay, has a sake bar underneath it. It's right next to:
Gion
Gion is fucking rad. There are heaps of good restaurants and it's beautiful.
If you just hang around the area near the little stream you can get lucky
and see legit geisha walking in and out of buildings. You can also book old style ryokan (japanese inns) here
which is super exxy but a great experience.
Eat
Vending machines
Buy any and everything.
7-eleven
Same goes. You can buy booze here for really cheap.
居酒屋 - Izakaya
Pretty much a pub with 300en beers.
Get whatever looks good. These come in chains.
My favourite chain is DomaDoma, they have a red and white logo and have hectic good french fries with a buttery salt.
つけ麺 - Tsukemen
Pretty much ramen, but it comes in a bowl to the side that you dip into a broth.
There is an insanely good one called Yasubee http://yasubee.com/ in Shinjuku
You can pick between miso, spicy miso, salt and sesame.
Order at the vending machine at the front of the store. Red is spicy.
The symbols denote the size of the noodle serving.
大 - Big (real fuckin big)
中 - Medium
小 - Small
The thing that costs 350en is like a value pack that adds extra meat and toppings
and generally makes it even more kickass. This is my favorite food in the whole world.
焼き鳥 - Yakitori
Chicken skewers and beer, pretty rad.
お好み焼き - Okonomiyaki
Savory pancakes. I recommend pork or mochi cheese.
They'll probably make and season it for you, I really REALLY
recommend putting the nori flakes and katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes, tastes baconish)
on it. Go fucking crazy with sauce.
たこ焼き - Takoyaki
Octopus dumplings. Use the same sauce as okonomiyaki. Get them on the riverside street at Namba
There's also a really good one at Narita airport where you can score 8 dumplings and a pint for like $10.
Dictionary
hai - yes
iie - no (ee ye)
kudasai - please
sumimasen - excuse me - just raise your hand and say this politely and you'll get service. it's not rude.
arigatou - thank you - anything with "ou" is pronounced like a weird long ohh. kind of like "oh" and "oo" blended.
another one is Tokyo, which is actually Toukyou, it's like Tohhkyohh. It's probably easiest
just to say it like "toe"
kore - this - (ko-reh) anything with just "o" is a short o, which is pronounced like the o in "top"
super effective way to get stuff on a menu. point at it and say "kore o kudasai"