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However, the place I want to apply to has no “career” selection on their website.
Should I email them?
Or no?

Advice please C:

Your best bet would be to go in person to the restaurant and ask for an application. Ask a staff member when the best time to turn in the application is and if they are hiring. Try to hand in the application to a manager on duty when you turn it in. That increases your chances of being interviewed on the spot. You may want to mention right away that you are fluent in Japanese! That is certainly an advantage you have over others.

According to some estimates, 125 to 130 million people or more speak Japanese fluently worldwide. Japanese plays an important role in international business and many job seekers learn the language in an effort to gain a leg up on the competition. There are also a number of actors and other famous people who speak Japanese, some of whom are from Japan natively and others who simply have a love for the language and culture of the country.

Famous individuals from Japan who speak the language natively include actor Ken Watanabe and director Akira Kurosawa. Watanabe is well known both for his role in Japanese films and Hollywood blockbusters such as Inception and Batman Begins. Kurosawa is known for his many influential films such as Rashomon, Seven Samurai and Yojimbo which have served as inspiration not only for Japanese filmmakers but also for American filmmakers such as Stephen Spielberg.

A number of famous Japanese Americans speak Japanese as well as English. Among these are architect Minoru Yamasaki, actor and martial artist Don “The Dragon” Wilson and television personality Ann Curry. Yamasaki is best known as the architect who designed the original Twin Towers at the World Trade Center, considered at the time to be the biggest buildings in Manhattan. Wilson is a champion kickboxer and actor in movies such as Bloodfist, Ring of Fire and Out for Blood. Curry is one of the anchors for NBC’s Today show, hosts Dateline NBC and was primary substitute for NBC Nightly News.

Not all famous people who speak Japanese are of Japanese descent, of course. Actor Edward Norton of Fight Club, American History X and The Incredible Hulk speaks the language, as does actor and martial artist Stephen Segal. Norton worked in Japan during the early 1990’s before launching his film career, and Segal studied martial arts in the country to achieve his 7th dan black belt in Aikido and formerly worked as an Aikido instructor in the country.

This is but a small sampling of the famous people who speak Japanese. Many have found that Japanese has helped them professionally, opening doors for them and presenting them with opportunities they might not have found otherwise. The language isn’t as difficult to learn as some think, so if you’ve been considering learning Japanese then this would be a great time to join the ranks of Japanese speakers.

Learning how to speak Japanese can seem like a daunting task – whether you want to learn Japanese to expand your language vocabulary or you’re doing it for employment and employability reasons, Japanese seems like a difficult language to learn to speak, however, like any other language, once you understand the basics, it’s really easy to pick up.

There are many ways to learn how to speak Japanese – one of the most popular ways today to do so is to use the Internet. There are many online courses on the Japanese language and learning how to speak it properly. The Internet is a great resource for learning how to speak any language, especially with streaming videos available in every language, most with English subtitles. Using audio is a great way to learn Japanese because you can hear the intonation of words and learn how to string words together properly by listening to native speakers.

One great resource is to stream news casts from Japan – most have English subtitles and you can then learn phrases and sentences in Japanese properly.

Another way to learn Japanese is to learn from a native Japanese speaker. A native speaker will be able to teach you better than paper can – of course, they will have their slang and colloquial terminology mixed in, however conversational Japanese contains many colloquialisms and slang terms. It is important to remember though that men and women speak Japanese differently, as part of their culture. So if you are a male, you should learn how to speak Japanese from another male, and a female from a female. This will ensure you are learning the proper way for your gender to use the language.

If you want to learn how to speak Japanese, it’s as simple as searching for ways to do so on the Internet and listening to native speakers to learn how to conversationally and properly speak Japanese.

1. この建物は青くありません。 ( Kono tatemono wa aoku arimasen ) how and why does aoi (color blue) become aoku here ? Also why cant it be “ja arimasen” instead of “arimasen”.?

2. このトラックは黄色じゃありません。 ( Kono torakku wa kiiro ja arimasen. ) why doesn’t kiiro (color yellow ) become kiiroku like aoi ? and why is “Ja arimasen” used here … why cant it be just “arimasen” ?

3. oh and i was just wondering if its correct to say ” この　むらさき　の　はな　です”　instead of “この　はな　は　むらさき　です”

*I cant read kanji so when giving examples using a different sentence etc please use hiragana/romajii * Thanks

Daniel, I sympathize with your struggles with Japanese grammar. I lived in Japan for ten years, and did gradually learn to understand and use its language.

Boligraf. . . was right in only about half of what she said.

1. & 2.

Even though /aoi/ and /kiiro/ are both color terms, /aoi/ is technically a stative verb (usually called in Japanese linguistics an /-i/ adjective) while /kiiro/ is called a /no/ adjective (and is technically a noun). /no/ adjectives are usually derived from nouns and so “act” more like nouns grammatically than do the stative verbs.

Think of the /-ku/ of /aoku arimasen/ and the /ja/ of /kiiro ja arimasen/ as suffixes that you just have to have before the negative. /-i/ adjectives change the /-i/ to /-ku/ before a negative, while /na/ adjectives have to use /ja/ as do other nouns. /ja/, by the way is a shortened form of /dewa/, which would be a bit more polite.

/Otoko dewa arimasen./ That is not a man.
/Kiiro dewa arimasen./ It is not yellow.
/Murasaki dewa naku, ao desu./ It’s not purple, but rather blue.

Notice that in this last example, /aoi/ ‘it is blue’ is stripped down to its stem /ao/ ‘(the color) blue’. This is common before /desu/.

Adding /ja/ to make /Ao ja arimasen/ would not change the meaning significantly: /Aoku arimasen/ “It is not blue (adjective).”; /Ao ja arimasen/ “It is not blue (noun).” or “That’s not the blue.” Adding /ja/ would certainly NOT make the sentence affirmative; Boligraf. . . may be refering to the fact that people (usually older men) will occasionally use /ja/ in a sentence like /Ao ja./ “It’s blue.” in place of standard /Ao desu./ or /Ao da./.

/ja/ can not be removed from the sentence /Kiiro ja arimasen./ without changing the meaning. /Kiiro, arimasen./ would be a short way to say /Kiiro wa arimasen./, which would mean “There is no yellow” or “We’re out of yellow”.

If this explanation still does not help you understand ‘why’ Japanese should use some sort of connection between a word and its negation, all I can say is that languages don’t always have to satisfy our demands for logic. Believe me, what doesn’t make since now, comes to make more and more sense as your understanding of the language improves.

3.

/murasaki/ absolutely does require /no/ between it and the noun it modifies, and is therefore another /no/ adjective. It is originally the name of a type of purplish flower. Thus, /murasaki/ is technically a noun, but is used as a adjective by suffixing the /no/. Just DON’T remove the /no/ and you’ll be fine.

If you are wanting to say, “This flower is purple.” you would say /Kono hana wa murasaki (iro) desu/. (Most native speakers would add /iro/–meaning ‘color,’ of course–in this sentence in a slightly more formal situation, but it is certainly not necessary, especially when speaking with friends and family.) If you were to say /Kono murasaki no hana desu./, the meaning would change to ‘(I’m talking about) this purple flower.’.

ex.

A: /A, kore o Haha-no-Hi ni kaoo ka na./ Oh, I think I might buy this for Mother’s Day.

B: /Nani o desu ka?/ What? (= What is it you’re wanting to buy?)

A: /Kono murasaki no hana desu./ This purple flower.

As you learn the language, don’t stress too much about why rules are as they are–try to find Japanese friends and practice as much as possible.

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In late 1980s Japan and into the 1990s, some English teachers were earning $50.00 to $100.00 an hour while the basic minimum salary for English teachers was 250,000 yen per month. The government required schools to pay teachers this before giving visas, thus establishing the basic minimum salary. On this wage, teachers could pay their rent, eat out, enjoy themselves a bit, and still save the equivalent of $1000 each month. Most native English speakers could fly into Japan, pick up an English newspaper, find job listings, and have several job offers within a week. Some jobs paid the minimum, but most offered more as the minimum was insufficient for schools to find teachers. Many schools, unable to find applicants in Japan, recruited teachers abroad.

As the 1990s progressed, the economy deteriorated, and fewer teaching jobs were available. Native English speakers arriving in Japan found that a college degree was no longer enough to guarantee finding employement in a few days. With reduced positions available, schools were able to discriminate based on qualifications, ability, appearance, gender, age, and race while offering the basic minimum salary. More closely examining teacher qualifications and ability was a welcome change, but discrimination based on age and cosmetic features was not.

Now, the competition is tougher for jobs; salaries are closer to the 250,000 yen minimum established by the government. Still, a college degree, some dedication, shoe leather, and perseverance coupled with some relevant experience and skills may be enough to find a job. Go to your web browser and search for “teach English in Japan” to find all the information you need to get started.

If you are interested in teaching English in Japan for the money, we recommend you look elsewhere. If you are thinking about Korea, China, or other countries that hire English teachers, go ahead. We are writing of Japan because we know Japan. We have ridden the bullet trains, eaten the sushi, and gotten lost in rural and urban regions. We found our grand adventure here and you may find yours. Here are a few of my memories from Japan:

Omikoshi carrying: Omikoshi are portable shrines resting on two logs or beams. The total weight of one shrine and the two beams or logs that support it can weigh several tons. The omikoshi are carried in parades by groups. The people carrying the omikoshi have an up and down rhythm as they carry the omikoshi for hours. The people in each group will spell each other, so no one drops from exhaustion. I still remember the warm summer night, the beat of the drums, and the weight on my shoulders. Unable to match the rhythm and taller than the other carriers, my shoulder was bruised and my back sore, but I still remember that special night.

Outdoor mountain hotsprings: Emerge yourself in the hot water of a mountain hotspring, surrounded by friends and hills. Sit there and soak as the snow falls down around you.

Speaking Japanese: While many Japanese speak English, many Japanese also speak little or no English. Outside of work, I struggled to learn Japanese, trying to put words together to make sentences and trying to use sentences to communicate. Eventually, I could speak Japanese. I met a woman who was a child in Manchuria in the 1930s and 1940s. Asking what it was like, I waited for an epic tale. She had only one sentence: It was dirty.

Sweet grasshoppers: Sitting at a kotatsu, a table with a heating element under it that warmed my legs, I was offered grasshoppers. Once a major source of calcium, grasshoppers are no longer part of the standard Japanese diet. Looking at the insects head, wings, and legs was not encouraging. Crunchy and a little too sweet.

Carved Buddhas in the rocks: The temples and shrines of Kyoto, Nara, and Nikko are world famous and not to be missed. Still, out for a walk in the country one day, I came upon a series of Buddhas carved in the rock. Standing in the shadows, I thought of who had carved the Buddhas in the stone and why they were there.

These are a few of my memories. Teaching English in Japan was my grand adventure. It could be yours too.

Tom Aaron
http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-articles/teach-english-in-japan-the-grand-adventure-729474.html