Author Archives: Michael Gakuran

Usavich

By Michael Gakuran | Published September 14, 2009
Faux Russian rabbits and their wacky adventures, a frog that doesn’t stop eating and a masochistic transvestite chicken. Sounds like my sorta animation, fresh from the bowels of Japanese television!
Posted in Japan | 10 Comments

Gakuranman Giveaway!

By Michael Gakuran | Published September 8, 2009
Alrighty loyal readers and Gakuranman followers! (You ARE all loyal, right??) I figured it was about time for a little contest of sorts, in celebration of my arriving in Japan and all. There are free prizes (plural!) and it’s incredibly easy to enter, so there’s no reason not to give it a try ^^.
Posted in Other | 44 Comments

August in Japan 2009

By Michael Gakuran | Published September 2, 2009
Wow, a whole month just flew by! How did I manage to survive without the internet? We may never know, but let me recap on what’s been going on with me this past month in Japan. Highlights include Dannychoo’s figure event, canyoning in Hakuba, numerous nomikai and playing with my new Olympus E-P1!
Posted in Journal | 16 Comments

Weird Things About Japan

By Michael Gakuran | Published July 27, 2009
What do you find most unusual, crazy or strange about Japan? That was the question I posed to passionate J-bloggers from around the Internet for the Japansoc July Matsuri. So sit back, savour the summer heat and come and join me as we delve into Weird things about Japan!
Posted in Japan | 81 Comments

Japansoc Blog Matsuri

By Michael Gakuran | Published July 4, 2009
Alrighty then. Here are the instructions for the July 2009 issue of the Japansoc Matsuri!
Posted in Other | 64 Comments

Unusual Katakana Words

By Michael Gakuran | Published June 25, 2009
A recent teaming-up with Wonky Tofugu saw Koichi and I giving a special Edufire Superpass class on bizarre Katakana words in Japanese! It was such a success that we felt it wrong to deprive everyone who missed out, so here it is, in a special 2-part blog post split across Tofugu.com and Gakuranman.com!
Posted in Japan | 51 Comments

Japanese One Point Lesson: なう

By Michael Gakuran | Published June 19, 2009
Welcome to the first in what I hope will become a long-running series on this site – Japanese One Point Lessons! Today’s lesson is an obscure and fairly recent bit of Japanese I discovered on Twitter – the word なう (Nau).
Posted in Japan | 41 Comments

Olympus E-P1 PEN Preview

By Michael Gakuran | Published June 16, 2009
Oh yes! Finally we get information about the highly anticipated Olympus micro 4/3 camera offering. All the benefits of a DSLR camera encased within the pocket-sized goodness of a compact body. It looks like this summer may turn out to be extremely expensive…
Posted in Photography | 32 Comments