It’s just the summer of bookmarklets this year, isn’t it? This time around, it’s a little something to help you with your immersion:

Google Japan Bookmarklet
Source code:

javascript:(function(){var w=window,d=w.document,s="";;if(d.selection){s=d.selection.createRange().text}else if (d.getSelection){s=d.getSelection()}else if(w.getSelection){s=window.getSelection()}window.open ("http://www.google.co.jp/search?hl=ja&source=hp&q="+encodeURIComponent(s) +"&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=","_blank")})()


Google Hong Kong Bookmarklet
Source code

javascript:(function(){var w=window,d=w.document,s="";;if(d.selection){s=d.selection.createRange().text}else if (d.getSelection){s=d.getSelection()}else if(w.getSelection){s=window.getSelection()}window.open ("http://www.google.com.hk/search?q="+encodeURIComponent(s) +"&hl=zh-TW&prmd=i&source=lnt&tbs=lr:lang_1zh-TW&lr=lang_zh-TW&sa=X&ei=IRRQTIuHOMHXcZyklbEB&ved=0CAgQpwU","_blank")})()

Google Reader Bookmarklet (Courtesy of Google Mania)
Source code:

javascript:(function(){for(i=0;i<document.getElementsByTagName('link').length;i++){if(document.getElementsByTagName('link').item(i).getAttribute('rel').toLowerCase()=='alternate' && (document.getElementsByTagName('link').item(i).getAttribute('type').toLowerCase()=='application/rss+xml' || document.getElementsByTagName('link').item(i).getAttribute('type').toLowerCase()=='text/xml')) { var furl; var fhref=document.getElementsByTagName('link').item(i).getAttribute('href'); if(fhref.indexOf('/')===0) { furl='http://fusion.google.com/add?1&feedurl=' + document.location.href.split('/')[0] + '/' + document.location.href.split('/')[1] + '/' + document.location.href.split('/')[2] + fhref; } else if(fhref.indexOf('http://')===0) {furl='http://fusion.google.com/add?2&feedurl='+fhref; } else { var fhref2=document.location.href.split('/'); fhref2.pop(); furl='http://fusion.google.com/add?3&feedurl='+fhref2.join('/')+'/'+fhref; } document.location.href=furl;} }})();

EOF

Hey all you boys and girls. Continuing our ongoing series of transcribed Japanese stuff, it happens that just as I was about to start doing it myself, I found that someone had already done it. Done what?

Transcribed all of 攻殼機動隊/Ghost in the Shell (GITS)! That’s right! All the movies [except Solid State Society] and of course all episodes of Stand Alone Complex. The dialog, baby. All of it. In Japanese! Exactly as spoken on-screen.

Those who have looked will know that Japanese/East Asian movies and TV shows that have same-language subs at all, let alone subs that exactly match dialog, are a rare and precious thing indeed. Like, I bet you’ll practically watch a mediocre show just because it has subs (depending on the language, I know I would). Some of the reasons for this are pretty decently summed up here.

GITS notably has no Japanese subs on any of its present DVD releases, despite easily being one of the densest, most literary (is that even the right word?) programs of any kind ever made. Japanese subs for GITS would have been nice. But, whatever, now we have this website — with copy-and-pastable text to boot! W00t.

So, yeah, enjoy. By the way, I would definitely recommend this kind of thing for sentence-picking. And if any of you are inclined to make sentence packs or SRS files for people, this kind of thing, i.e. Japanese by and for native speakers, would IMHO be the best for, like, the health of the world, and in terms of source material [since, as we all know, material made for learners often tends to be some combination of boring and unrealistic].

As an aside, let it also be noted that Ghibli’s 物の怪姫/Princess Mononoke also has exact subs on its Japanese DVD release. Just FYI.

And we’re done! Enjoy!

• Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG on YouTube.
• Script thereof

So, I thought I was having…what’s the word…hot flashes? Feminine itching? A dry spell? When I realized I was just taking mean comments to heart. They got moderated: people who say such mean things about Mati from Captain Planet shouldn’t be allowed on the Internet! He took the crappy power bullet for all the ethnic minorities! Anyway, I came across some really interesting sites you might want to see. About half are in Japanese, so we’re still on topic.

• うさぎさんの毎日/The daily life of Little Miss Rabbit. It’s a blog. Written by a friend of mine. So, more shameless plug than anything else . She told me she’s worried the content is too “mundane”; I told her we can’t always limit our discussions to what’s in 論点/The Issues.
• This article by Joel son of Spolsky. Suddenly I feel bad about all those 0.1%-funny-99.9%-offensive jokes I’ve made in the past. But it’s a great article about getting things done even when you feel sluggish and useless and like you’re not really progressing, filled with insight like this: “Maybe this is the key to productivity: just getting started.” Read the whole for deeper insight.
• 国立国語研究所/The National Institute for Japanese Language (“Nigel”). I had never even heard of these kids until yesterday, but already I’m officially in love with them. They publish these cool reports with suggestions for Japanese replacements of unnecessary foreign words. And, seriously, as obsessed with words like “コンプライアンス/compliance” so many Japanese companies seem to be nowadays, don’t they really just mean 「法令遵守」? Hopefully I’m not a purist, but when you have one of the most powerful neologism-generation systems ever created by mankind at your disposal, why ignore it just to pretend you know a foreign language and/or are importing a foreign concept when you don’t and you’re not? Rhetorical question. What I love about the 国立国語研究所 is that they’re not in any way denying the value of foreign words; they freely admit the freshness and vitality they can bring; they’re merely redirecting towards sensibleness — away from the descent into katakana absurdity that passes for so many business documents trying to sound “catchy” and “with it” (when the motivation is positive), or (when the motivation is negative) actually trying to break laws by obfuscation: replacing a term for something that is 一目瞭然 clearly illegal or unpleasant when in kanji, with a foreign word in meaningless, emotionally neutral katakana. Nigel take a constructive approach; avoiding blanket condemnation, they identify the prime offenders and actually propose simple, effective solutions. I mean, “パブリックインボルブメント”/public involvement? WTF? 「住民参画」, foo! Anyway, the fact the Nigel exists is a very healthy precedent, and good for the lymph. Take a look at their reports: they’re very well written and easy to read.
• While on the subject of good writing, here comes Uncylopedia — the Japanese edition. And their collection of autologically bad articles on bad (i.e. hardーto-follow) writing. I almost died of laughter In fact, after I get done writing this, I’m going back for some more chuckles. They also had this hilarious disclaimers. 「超フィクション」（笑）. “The contents of this article are entirely fictional, although some of what is discussed may be factual, making this ‘super-fiction’, if you will”. Feels like that guy Alfred E. Tennyson’s famous blog post about half-truths.
• The fact that I haven’t already linked to Sushi and Seduction is a crime. Shame on me! The author, Emergency, is the man now dawg. And he’s the proud parent of three of the most amazing articles ever written. In one, he readies, aims and crushes with his bare keyboard all those crazy, negative, limiting beliefs that prevent so many people fulfilling their Japanese potential; he’s really dug deep and brought into the glaring light of day, all those irrational, nonsensical, unmaliciously racist beliefs ["but those people are just smarter! Their brains are designed for rote memorization! I read it in Mein Kampf!"] people cling to when it comes to Japanese and other Asian languages. But Emergency was just getting warmed up! He then comes out you with the positive beliefs that will help your Japanese self quickly grow big, strong and healthy. And just as a roundhouse kick, he gives his introduction to learning kanji. Keep an eye out for his family-oriented, hand-drawn illustrations that help you understand each article better.
• Glowing Face Man shares his insights on English and why you can’t whine about other languages if you know it. This ought to shut up some whiners for a while.
• Finally, I know I’ve put this up in some form before (indirectly), but that was to a sub-site. This is the main TBS Radio Podcasts site. They have some great podcasts up there, and it’s not limited to news/comedy/politics and general silliness. They also have at least one science podcast up there — Science Xitalk（サイエンス・サイトーク） — that I’m actually listening to as I write this, so check it out.

And we’re done.

Hey, so, like, yeah. I’ve been doing lots of stuff with images lately. And then I figured, hey — you might want to do that, too. So here are some links to Japanese websites…full of images (and text.)

• This site is a collection of pictures of building and street signs (plus Google search results for similar sites). Street signs have been intriguing me lately. They’re one of the most important things to be able to read (perhaps second only to contracts), but you don’t get much of them when you’re not in the country. I didn’t actually need to make any special study of them. But, learning to read using street signs strike me as something fun and something that would appeal to people who feel the need to be “learning something useful”.
• This site  is a collection of funny pictures and witty comments thereto appertaining (plus Google search results for similar sites). One of my favorite sites, actually. Back in the day, at least.
• This site is full of street/road signs (both for Japan, and other countries), particularly of the kind that apply to drivers. It’s got plently of place names, too. Looks like a lot of fun — I’ll be going back! And, of course, here are the results of engooglation, for more).

Aaaaand we’re done!

I saw this page from How To Learn Any Language a while ago (it might be that someone put it in comments) but neglected to link to it despite how cool it is: a headshot jackpot mother lode of Japanese audio materials with transcripts. They range from children’s books to some more, what’s the word, anyway, there’s a lot of range. What’s exciting to me about this is that it has links to all those European fairy tales you and I grew up with (yay!). I’ve been listening to Snow White and The Emperor’s New Clothes this morning. Anyway, give it try. AFAIK, it’s all free! Freeee!

Hey, so, lately I’ve been looking for a portable, region-free DVD player…Don’t know if I’ll end up actually choosing one or not. But anyway, I used these websites to do some (well, all) of the research. And they’re in Japanese. And it seemed like it would make great reading material. So here are the links:

• Original Google Search
• M1: probably my favorite collection of player specs and info
• DVD.co.jp: nice players
• Region-Free.jp: the product I saw sucked, but I haven’t looked at everything yet…anyway, it’s still good for reading
• Kakaku.com: helps you find some of the lowest prices in Japan