こんにちは！Thanks for stopping by my channel! My name is Sachi, and I am a Japanese teacher and translator.
I started Kokoro Communications in 2019 with a goal of helping professionals and academics break down langauge and cultural barriers. Today, I make Japanese accessible through teaching mainly pronunciation, business/service Japanese, and though translating Japanese family registries (koseki) people with Japanese ancestry.
This was super interesting, and a great linguistic explanation on voiceless vs. voiced consonants! The word I've probably most heard this used in was 音楽 (おんがく）and I had no idea there was such an extensive pattern with the other g- sounds! Thank you for this lesson.
For me was the infamous barrier between the difference は vs が particle After a month of going through Japanese class, i realized the difference between the Topic and the Subject, what a relieve that was and i can confidentally create a proper entences with proper particle If you still struggling the difference between は and が you'd be missing out the potential to open your knowledge about Japanese grammar
Started learning Japaneese this past week. Trying to go for a scholarship thag will bring my aerospace engineering studies to Japan for a summer where I will learn the language in Japan. Trying to learn as much as i can before i go! Thank you!
That's awesome! I met many really interesting visiting researchers while I lived in Japan and loved hearing about their areas of study. I wish you all the best in your Japanese language studies and aerospace engineering!
Thanks for useful vid! My grandmother was Japanese and met my grandfather (A Filipino attorney working for US army) in Okinawa. I have a couple of questions I’m hoping you or someone else can help me with. I can find out her DOB from my cousins I know when she died in the Philippines. However I believe she was disowned by her parents for marrying a Filipino so would there still be a record of her in the Koseki with an X on top as you mentioned or just an X? I have no idea which part of Okinawa she’s from, whether she was born there or just met me Grabdpa there, or any of her family details other than her maiden name being Gibo. The other question I have is do I count as a “direct” descendent if I am the step granddaughter of Tomoko Reiko Givo? I am not a biological descendent but she was married to my biological grandfather in the 50s til her death in 97. I never knew my biological grandma she died in 52. Tomoko was a brilliant, beautiful and kind grandmother to us. I’d love to find which town she is from when I visit Okinawa from Australia in a few months. I just want to see where she grew up and pay homage to her. Any guidance or assistance in this matter would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. 🙏
Thanks so much for the question! It may be a bit tough to access her information, but I don't think it's impossible! I just did a quick search, and your grandmother's maiden name may be 宜保 (Gibo), a geographic name and last name found in Okinawa. It sounds like it's a pretty rare name, which will likely work in your favour. If you have documents which state her Japanese address, that address may be her honseki/domicile (the address that a koseki is connected to, which may or may not be where someone actually lives/lived). If you have the domicle, full name of the person in question, the person's date of birth, and proof to show direct lineage, you should be able to request copies of the koseki that she was listed in, if that's something you're intersted in doing. Even though you don't share DNA with her, if you can show that she married your grandfather, and you can also show how you're related to your grandfather, then I think you have a strong case! Regarding her being disowned by her family, this may or may not have translated to her being removed from the family koseki. If she was removed, she likely would have created her own koseki or joined the koseki of a relative. She would still be listed on her childhood koseki though, with her parents, siblings, and likely other family members as well. Above her name (and perhaps other details about her life events), a big X would be drawn, marking that she left the koseki (due to marriage, death, divorce, loss of citizenship, etc.). Her information would still be legible beneath the X. I hope that helps and I wish you all the best!
This is such a clear and easy to understand overview of the topic, I'll be linking this everywhere going forward. Your way of talking is very easy to listen to :)
Thank you so much! I'm so glad to hear that you've found it helpful. I haven't done much research into when or why the categorization changed, but I'll look into it and probably make a separate video!
Great video!!! Question~ Does the Koseki Shohon have a record of the cause of death of an individual? Are there any other documents in Japan that would record the cause of death?
Great question! Before I answer, just wanted to clarify one thing: A koseki shōhon only lists one person (and not the full family unit, which is what the koseki tōhon lists). I have never seen a newer or older koseki (tōhon or shōhon) which lists the cause of death of an individual, so I assume it's never listed. The older, handwritten koseki, however, often list the time, date, and place of death. I did a little bit of research on accessing someone's cause of death information in Japan. If it's for your own curiosity, your best bet may be to request the koseki tōhon which lists the person in question, and ask at the same office if you're able able to get a copy of the "shibō todoke (死亡届)" or "shibō shomeisho (死亡証明書)". They may tell you to go to the regional legal affairs office (which may or may not be in the same building) or they may inform you that because it's personal information, they cannot share that information without a valid reason (legal or medical, for example). Just remember that you can only request the koseki of someone you have direct lineage with - mother and father, parents of mother and father, etc. (no aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.) so it would probably be very challenging to learn the cause of death of someone who you do not have direct lineage. Hope that helps!
1. ア 2. イ 3. ウ 4. ウ 5. ア 6. 私はラーメンが好きです。 7. 先生から煎茶を頂きました。 8. 市長が明日にいらっしゃいます。 9. ア 10. イ I took this before watching the two videos so I don't think I got full marks, but this was an interesting test!
I don’t know how many i will get right, but the questions themselves were good reviews! P.S. Haha, I appreciated the bloopers at the end of the video!! 😄
Good question! The forms that I saw in Japan were only in Japanese. However, there are a few people/organizations outside of Japan that can help you out. I am in the process of learning how to help my clients who cannot read Japanese right now, but you can also reach out to My Koseki and Densho.org or you may be able to find a translator/interpreter in Japan who can help you! (You may find more options with a Google search too.) Good luck!
@@kokorocommunications It's a really nice video, thank you. I'd never realised that ん gets a mora of its own. I really appreciate that better pronunciation can be formula-driven (rather than rote learning of each word).
Is there any mark accent for those pronunciation into roman letter? because they sound like braking or holding their breath a little bit. Their sounding is not the typical ah eh ih oh uh they sound like a' e' i' o' u' holding their breath.
You have a good ear! We don't use any markings when we write Japanese using the Roman alphabet, but - we do often put what's called a glottal stop between vowel sounds to help clarify when one sound ends and the next one begins. We sometimes use glottal stops in English as well, like if you say "the ear" you might notice that you hold your breath for a split second between the two "e" sounds.
*MANDARIN CORRECTION* When giving the Mandarin Chinese example, you may have noticed an error! Here is the correct information (correction was made for the characters for "horse" and "scold": mā (mother) - 媽/妈 má (hemp) - 麻/麻 mǎ (horse) - 馬/马 mà (scold) - 罵/骂 ma (interrogative) - 嗎/吗 I didn't mention it in the video, but the fifth tone is also known as a neutral tone, which is said to be "light" or "de-emphasized". Hope that makes sense!
Here's the vocabulary from the video! エレベーター (erebētā) - elevator エスカレーター (esukarētā) - escalator ラウンジ (raunji) - lounge レストラン (resutoran) - restaurant ゲートエリア (gēto eria) - gate area 駐車場 (chūshajō) - parking lot 喫煙室 (kitsuenshitu) - smoking room おトイレ (otoire) - washroom/bathroom/toilet お手洗い (otearai) - washroom/bathroom/toilet お化粧室 (okeshshitu) - washroom/bathroom/toilet 出発ゲート (shippatsu gēto) - departure gate 更衣室 (kōishitu) - change room 身障者用設備 (shinshōsha yō setsubi) - accessibility equipment 案内カウンター (annai kauntā) - information desk ^ This one here is written as ご案内カウンター in the Narita Airport maps which I forgot to point out in the video! The addition of ご (go) at the beginning servces the same purpose as お (o). It makes the word more formal. 免税店 (menzeiten) - duty free shop 両替 (ryōgae) - currency or money exchange 国内線 (kokunaisen) - domestic line or route 国際線 (kokusaisen) - international line or route 礼拝室 (reihaishitu) - prayer room or chapel 展望デッキ (tenbō dekki) - observation deck Bonus vocabulary: 車椅子で利用できるトイレ (kurumaisu de riyō dekiru toire) - washrooms that are accessible with a wheelchair ベビールーム (bebī rūmu) - baby room (a room that would include things like changing tables) キッズパーク (kizzu pāku) - kids' park (a space where children can play. supervised by their guardians) カームダウン・クールダウン (kāmudaun kūrudaun) - calm down, cool down [room/space], described as being "a room where people with developmental, intellectual, and mental disabilities can relax.”
I've been studying/practicing my entire life. My father is Japanese, and we've only ever communicated in Japanese with each other, so that's where it started for me. Learning a language isn't always easy, but having motivation and enjoying the process/celebrating small wins can really help! がんばってください✨
Thank you for watching the second instalment of this series! Here's the list of vocabulary from the video: 先住民（せんじゅうみん） - Indigenous person/people 跡地（あとち）- former site(s) of a place 寄宿学校（きしゅくがっこう） - residential "school (s)" 文化的ジェノサイド（ぶんかてきジェノサイド） - cultural genocide 同化政策（どうかせいさく） - assimilation policy/policies 遺骨（いこつ） - remains 遺体（いたい） - body/bodies of a person or people who have passed 追悼行事（ついとうぎょうじ） - memorial event(s) 真実と和解の日（しんじつとわかいのひ） - Truth and Reconciliation Day オレンジシャツデー - Orange Shirt Day 祝日（しゅくじつ） - holiday 強制的（きょうせいてき） - forcefully 各地（かくち） - each place/various places
Not sure I've much to say in particular but wanted to comment to help with your RU-vid algorithm. You are intelligent, concise, and relatable with a character very kind and approachable. Your content is very digestible to a serious language learner. I hope you build the subscribers and viewership to bring you to the upper echelon of Japanese language resources where you belong.
Thank you so much!! I really appreciate that you took the time to write this lovely comment. It means a lot, espeically knowing that my target audience is out there, starting to find my videos. ありがとうございます！がんばります。
I think an important part of learning is finding the right resources, and even though it seems you made this channel recently, I feel right at home. I've gotten to the point in my Japanese language learning journey where I need to learn more words and improve pronunciation and listening, so I decided to learn pitch accent as well: kill two birds with one stone. I randomly stumbled upon this beautiful channel and will use it as a valuable resource in my journey. Thank you for the presentation and informativeness that you bring. I can't wait for more!
Thank you so much for this lovely comment! I really appreciate the feedback, and I'm glad you feel right at home. It is a relatively new channel and I have lots to learn still about video editing and more, but I hope to keep delivering informative and socially conscious content.
Thanks for the comment! I'm glad you found it helpful! I'll be posting some longer form videos in the next couple of weeks that go in more detail on this topic!
