Pop Culture and Japan

Japanese Writing for Beginners: Learn Hiragana & Katakana

For newcomers to the Japanese language, the writing system often appears as an intimidating barrier. Unlike languages that use the Latin alphabet, Japanese employs three distinct writing systems simultaneously: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. But don’t let this complexity discourage you! With the right approach and resources, mastering Japanese writing can be an enjoyable journey. In this guide, we’ll focus on the first crucial step: learning hiragana and katakana.

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Pop Culture and Japan

Copywriting Lessons From The Father Of Japanese Short Stories

He was upstairs in a bookstore.

Twenty years old at the time, he had climbed a ladder set against a bookcase and was searching for the newly-arrived Western books: Maupassant, Baudelaire, Strindberg, Ibsen, Shaw, Tolstoy…

This is the opening paragraph of a short story called The Life Of A Stupid Man by Ryunosuke Akutagawa.

This paragraph hooked me into the work of the father of the Japanese short story because of the author’s vulnerability.

His short stories offer several mental health and creative insights:

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Mental health essays

Zuihitsu – How To Follow The Brush Of Your Writing Inspiration

Zuihitsu essay by Jamie Ryder.

Japan has a rich, creative history, dating all the way back to the Heian period (794 – 1185). This was a time when creative practices were the highest expression of what a person was capable of – poetry, calligraphy and art were all prized. 

Japanese nobility were expected to excel in every creative arena they stepped into and there are plenty of takeaways that we can apply for our own use today. A specific creative practice that I enjoy is zuihitsu, meaning to follow the brush. 

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