精米機：Rice Machine

Let me introduce you to a thing that I think many native Japanese people aren't too familiar with:

精米機

( せいまいき / seimaiki )

pour the rice in here

You non-Japanese people are saying: "What's this?"

You Japanese people are saying: 「これ何！？」

Well let me enlighten you. Simply, this could be called a rice cleaning machine. If you don't know yet, rice isn't born white. After the rice grows to its maturity, the farmer takes a blade to it and decapitates it. They collect all the heads and then strips each one so that each grain comes loose. Unfortunate these grains still have their shells, and, unless you have tons of kids and tons of time, you probably wont try to deshell them by hand. This is where the machine comes into play:

Pour the (shelled) rice into the machine...and out comes beautiful, deshelled, white rice!

put the bag down here 

Unless your a big-time farmer, you probably don't grow your own rice. You buy rice in big bags like the ones shown above. 

1) Bring the bag of rice to the machine (In the country-side these machines can be found everywhere)

2) Usually these machines are coin-operated. So, pay the appropriate amount (300¥ for 30 kg)

3) Open the bag

4) Pour the rice in the hole

5) Place the empty bag under the hole where the rice comes out

6) Start the machine (or it may start by itself)

7) Wait for beautiful rice to come out!

The whole process takes around 5 to 10 minutes.

Now, I said that some Japanese may not be familiar with this. I say this because I think that this is a machine used mostly by country-side folk (like me!). I mean, I just don't expect Tokyo city-folk to use this on a daily/monthly basis (I may be wrong of course).

Well, that's it about  rice cleaning machines. If you have time watch this video below. If you don't have time, watch it anyways! (Again, the whole process is only like 5 minutes or so). And if you absolutely don't have time, watch it and fast forward through the boring parts.

Until next time, またね～

田んぼ: Rice fields

When I first visited Japan, back in the summer of 2009, I went to where everyone first thinks of visiting: Tokyo. It had always been my dream of visiting Japan, and of course I had to go to Tokyo.

I remember arriving in Narita International airport being totally dazed and confused (I had only studied Japanese for a year at that point). On top of that, I was a little sick. This was during the 2009 Swine Flu Pandemic, and I was actually pretty worried that they would throw me into quarantine and/or deport me back to Hawaii.

Miraculously, I am not stopped, I get my bags, and am ready to make my way into the gigantic metropolis of Japan, when my friend/guide tells me that we gotta ride a train to get to Tokyo. Also, it's going to be an hour or so train ride. Well, I guess I can wait an hour.

We hop on the train, travel through a bunch of tunnels, and then finally the light of day breaks through the windows. I take a peak outside, ready to see gigantic buildings, robots, Godzilla, and Ultraman, but all I see are rice fields. Well, I found out later that Narita wasn't a big city at all. It's basically just farmland and an airport. Really?! An international airport in the middle of nowhere? Whatevers~

Well, let me introduce the word of the day:

田んぼ
( たんぼ / tanbo )

If you come to Japan, be prepared to see the rice fields (tanbo) everywhere! Like I mentioned earlier, even if you do just decide to spend all your time in Tokyo, you will still see rice fields on the way there.

tanbo right next to our house

Of course if you get away from the city, you'll see this more and more. As you probably are well aware, rice is a staple in Japan. You either eat rice or noodles with every meal, and sometimes the noodles are even made out of rice! You even have some dishes that are over 90% rice: sushi, onigiri, etc.

I've been living in Japan for a few months now and I am still in awe of these rice fields. To me, they are beautiful and add such a wonderful color to the land. My meager cell phone camera don't do these fields justice; they should be at least 3 times brighter and greener!

Well, just for your viewing pleasure, I've inserted pictures of some very special rice fields in Japan. If you know where these fields can be found, let me know, and I'll add another post about it later. Until then, enjoy!
またね～

床暖房：Floor Heater

Everyone in the world, except for people in the Philippines, Pohnpei, Guam, and Hawaii will know what I am talking about when I say "it is getting so flipping cold these days!" (Sorry PI, Micronesia, and Hawaii, I know how you roll)

That is to say, it's my fingers are about to fall off and my toes are turning black from frost bite. Not a pleasant feeling. Well, the Japanese have invented a few things to really help us cold people out. One of them that I had a vague idea of before I came here (saw it in movies, but never experienced it) is the kotatsu.

Now, I'll probably dedicate a post on the kotatsu later, but basically its a table with a cloth on top that keeps whatever's underneath of it warm and toasty. Pretty neat huh?

Well, another contraption that I just learned of today is...the floor heater:

床暖房

( ゆかだんぼう / yukadanbou )

As you can see above, basically there is a thin layer of water that lies right below the top layer. You simply press your magic button (hmmm...I don't even know where that button is in my house...looks like I've got to investigate) and viola, your floor gets warm!

I must say that it is amazing. Because of this, my feet can survive the harsh winter ahead. The best part is, it's not just for your feet, but the warming effect will also rise through the floor boards and heat up the rest of the room (because hot air raisess, of course).

our floor. looks pretty normal right? but try walking on it!

So there you have it. Another example of Japan Smarts~ Until next time:

またね～

PS. Just thought I'd add this is: If you have this in your own snow-infested country, don't attack me for saying that this is a Japanese invention! I simply have never lived in snow, so I don't know these kind of things :P

声が低い：A low-deep voice

This is an example of a difference in word choice. In America, when we listen to someone talk with a good bass-like voice, we say that he/has a "deep voice". 

However, Japan is different. In order to say that someone has a deep, rumbling, booming voice you have to say something like, "彼の声が低い” (kare no koe ga hikui).

Directly translated comes out to "his voice is low". 

In English, if someone's voice is low, it means that the volume of his voice is low (or soft). Then you reply, "speak up! I can't hear ya!"

Well, this isn't Japanese at all, but I thought it was someone related because a Japanese person would probably say that he has a low voice.

Hope you learned something! Now use it!

日本語がんばって～