Amazingly it’s time for a new season of anime, which is bad news for me as I’m behind on virtually all the series I was following from last season. One of the new shows I decided to follow is called Rail Wars, about an alternate version of Japan where the old Japan National Railway system was never privatized to create the current Japan Rail (JR) group of companies. Takayama Naoto is a train-loving new JNR employee who wants nothing more than to drive trains, but he ends up in K-4, a railroad defense unit where he does things like catch bad guys and stop terrorist attacks. Naoto is aided by his colleagues, the fiery Sakurai Aoi and the moeblob-but-in-a-good-way Koumi Haruka. The show has plenty of fanservice, including oppai, pantsu and guns as well as information on rare and exotic trains, the better to attract Japan’s train otakus, an important demographic for the animation studio to target. The character designs by Vania 600 are also great. I think Rail Wars is a fun show, and I’ll keep watching!
When you speak a foreign language, it’s natural to make errors, and smart language learners will learn to embrace these errors rather stress out about them. The other day I was Skyping with my wife back in Japan, and I told her about the roller coaster that derailed at a Six Flags Magic Mountain. Instead of using the word 脱線 dassen (“to go off the rails”) I accidentally said 脱走 dassou, which means to run around the streets wildly, or alternately, to escape from prison, not something you see roller coasters do very often. Another day I warned my daughter to be careful with drinks on our coffee table, as it was a 形見 katami (“treasured keepsake”) that my mother had left me…though I accidentally said 敵 kataki, which means an enemy I am sworn to fight to the death with, which caused my daughter to giggle endlessly. I’m not alone in making errors, of course: my wife once asked for “gross lipstick” for Christmas, getting the spelling of “gloss” wrong. To my mind, the worst thing a person can do is fear making mistakes when speaking a foreign language. My wife and son are the sort of people who dislike making errors, so they take an extra 3-4 seconds before saying anything in English, which can cause problems if the conversation is flowing too quickly. My daughter and I are the opposite: we pretty much open our mouths to speak without thinking, which has served us both pretty well, despite the occasional embarrassing mistake.
J-List is involved with licensing and publishing fun eroge and visual novels in English, and we’ve got some great news: the “fan disc” (a short sequel with two new game routes) for the popular game My Girlfriend is the President is in stock and shipping now. J-List has great news: the “fan disc” (sequel) to My Girlfriend is the President is coming, and you can preorder now now. The game adds two complete story routes, one involving the cute spaceship girl Ell, and another about a battle between Irina Putina of Russia and President Ohama of Japan. Preorder your copy today!
