Do Japanese Maneki Neko good luck cats really work?

Question:

I bought two one is White which means purity? if I'm not mistaken and I have a gold one which resembles wealth and I would like to know do these really bring good luck?

Answer:

There are two different kinds of Maneki Neko. One with its right hand raised (migi-maneki) and one with its left hand (hidari-maneki). Which one is yours?
Migi is for money. Hidari is for good relationships.

Help me identify this Japanese Song/Artist?

Question:

very sorry for the extremely bad quality video. might need to turn up volume because the sound is not too good.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wbq2pI0bOjI

Answer:

The song is Oshibe to Meshibe to Yoru no Chouchou by AKB48. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcmzP8IJc…

Is there a popular kid's show in japan that promotes language growth?

Question:

i mean for as young as toddler's and below; i have to start somewhere and i can't offord a tutor;
i mean a show aimed at those too young to understand even a basic grasp of the langage;
*points at manju* "manju" - something like that; so i can learn the building blocks without needing to understand too much and go at my own pace-that seems like a cool way to start learning + i have a japanese friend online that can help me sometimes too

Answer:

Check NHK ETV on channel 2 and there are educational programs.

Its E is E from education.

How am I supposed to serve all this Japanese food?

Question:

Answer:

well first you're gonna have to scrape all the lacquer off of your bowls.

Whats a good, reasonably priced hotel in Shibuya, Tokyo that can comfortably accommodate 3 people?

Question:

Answer:

If you insist on a 3-person room in Shibuya then most likely you will be forking over a huge amount of money. But if you are more flexible and can take something like 2 rooms like 1 single and 1 twin room, then you will be able to save a lot more. And there are a lot of better bargains elsewhere in Tokyo, especially in Taito-ku. Try looking at
http://www.libertyhouse.gr.jp/
http://www.tokyoryokan.com/
http://www2.dango.ne.jp/kimi/ryokan.html
http://www.superhoteljapan.com/en/
http://www.toyoko-inn.com/eng/
http://www.juyoh.co.jp/
http://www.palace-japan.com/english/
You also might look at staying in a Japanese inn (ryokan). They are more flexible with adding another person in a room, and it is a truly Japanese experience which you should enjoy if you are coming to Japan.

What is the spiciest pepper in the world?

Question:

I know its not the habanero but i heard its some japanese one or something

Answer:

that's a loaded question the scotch bonnet and the ghost CHILI have them Hybrid of the pepper they been flip flopping for the last few year the ghost CHILI most likely be hotter next year and so on

Does anyone know what the Japanese for Starlight is?

Question:

Google translate tells me it's "星明かり" or "Hoshi akari" when romantised. Can anyone verify?

Answer:

There are many possible words. Hoshi Akari is one of them

星影-Hoshikage
スターライト -sutaaraito - Starlight pronounced as a Japanese borrowed word
星夜 seiya- starry night, starlight night

Japanese women and arab men?

Question:

could you name any examples, my man is THE BEST, THE KINDEST, and after 4 years together we get married next July. Now my mother (she is 68) says I must marry a Japanese.
HELP my mother is important to me and my father is dead

I love my sweet dear man but how do I make my mom to understand too?

Answer:

If you really like him and want to get married to him, then do it. Your mom will likely change her opinion over time.

I had a cousin who eloped because she was so afraid that our grandmother and maybe some others in our family (and her boyfriend's) would not agree, because it was a bi-racial marriage. Everyone accepted them though as a married couple. My grandmother really liked the guy. That was a long time ago now. Their kids are young adults now. It's hard to imagine that at one point they were so worried about getting married, because they're such an integral part of the family.

You can't guarantee by leaving this guy, then marrying a Japanese, that she or you will be more happy. What happens if she gets happy that you're going to marry a Japanese man, then over time decides that she doesn't like him?

Would anyone in Japan care if you flew this flag?

Question:

Answer:

No. Because it's your life. No one cares.

Teaching in Japan, Driver's License required?

Question:

Are you expected to have a driver's license when applying for an English teaching job in Japan? I'm mainly concerned about the popular jobs like the ones from Aeon and JET.

Do English teaching jobs usually require the teacher to drive to work?

Answer:

The main requirement is a BA / BS degree. You don't need to know how to drive. They don't care how you get to work, as long as you get there on time.
I'd guess very few drive to work as cars are expensive to own, and parking is often unavailable.

Which Japanese Drama Should I Watch Next?

Question:

HELP pls. i want to watch a good jdrama but i'm stuck and dunno which drama i should wach now since i have already seen alot, so if you can help, which of these japanese dramas should i watch next? (i prefer drama/romance genre)

the dramas are :
Pride, code blue, buzzer beat, Love shuffle, LIFE, Sunao ni Narenakute, Maou, Innocent Love, Koishite Akuma- Hotaru no Hikari, Ryusei no Kizuna, Tsuki No Koibito, Akai ito, Quiz Show Season 2, Kingyo Club, Ninkyo Helper, Kurosagi, Sapuri , YamatoNadeshikoShichihenge, Juui Dolittle, Clone Baby, Hidarime tantei EYE, OHSHC.

Answer:

Watch "ikemen desu ne"

Its a remake of the Korean version "youre beautiful" are u interested in korean drama? those are really good too. try watching playful kiss and boys over flowers.

Any good Christian JRock bands(like GaGaalinG)?

Question:

I already know of GaGaalinG and Glad.Of.Death.Revive, but what other Christian JRock bands are there?

Answer:

I don't know of any Christian JRock, but here is an awesome Christian Japanese song! It gets stuck in my head all the time, and there's a rough english translation of the lyrics in the video's description.

http://youtu.be/_tlUULqTnIY

In japan, what would be a common greeting?

Question:

i mean besides ohio or if it's in the morning konbanwa, if i see a person say 3 times in a day how should i greet him/her? what's something standard i could say? in canada we just say hello or yo; i mean if hypothetically i'm working with someone and i pass them in the hallway, but i've already said ohio what is a commonly used greeting?

Answer:

You don't need to say anything. You can just nod your head. It would be strange to say ohayo, konnichiwa, or konbanwa, if you've already said one of those earlier.

There are other things you can say depending on the situation. If someone's just got out of a meeting or something, you could say "otsukare sama" (there isn't really an exact English equivalent, but it's acknowledging that they've been working hard).

Some people tend to say "yoshi", which can mean just about anything, like someone's just been working hard, or is about to start something different.

I'd say let them lead the way. Just give a small nod, like you might do in Canada anyway. You can start picking up on different things that people say, if anything.

Is it possible to find a family in japan to stay with instead of a hotel?

Question:

i mean maybe i could give a decent amount of money to stay the month, that way even if i go broke i could still stay? i really really really want to go to japan (i've wanted to go since i was 7 or maybe even earlier idk)
but im so poor :( is that an alternative? i don't have alot of money but i really want to go to japan, oh and i'm gay; not that i'm going for a relationship, i'm going because i admire the culture; how would i tell any caucasian gaijin lover girls that i'm gay without offending them in some way

Answer:

It's difficult because Japanese houses are small and many do not want to accommodate a stranger.

Where should i go in japan and where could i vacation without spending too much and how can i make friends?

Question:

i'd like to go to tokyo, but cmon now i'm 19; i'm poor :(
where should i go that's cost effective, and i'd be able to find friends without being the victim of much racism'
well actually it doesn't bother me that much so long as i'd have cool friends to hang out with
i'd be going with 1-2 grand in my bank account so i'd have to be really budgety (scuse my bad english sorry, had several beers) so where in japan should i go that is modern, and i could have fun on my extremely tight budget (still want to go clothes shopping, and when in japan, i'd like my hair styled in a typical japanese long hair style, and i can totally rock it !!! )
if you're reading this and there's already many answers please answer too, i want as many opinions as possible so i can research each of them intensly (i'm not only a cool gaijin but i'm smart too and not really all that annoying, i just want to make some japanese friends when i go :) )

Answer:

Since you speak English, lots of Japanese will find you interesting. Many of them seek out people to speak English with. And speaking of racism, the girls like Caucasian males!

Money could be a problem, though. Japan is an expensive place.

My favorite hang-out area in Tokyo is Shinjuku. (There are other similar areas.) This is a night time entertainment district chock full of restaurants, bars, pachinko parlors, theaters, and shops of all kinds. You cannot fail!

Japan is an interesting mix of modern and ancient, but you will find that the modern is very leading-edge modern. The people are very stylish, very hip, and very much aware of the latest thing.

All you need is MORE MONEY.

Are there any foreign born Japanese that fought and died for Japan?

Question:

Are there any foreign born Japanese that fought and died for Japan? I'm just interested to know if there were anyway? I mean I know Japan... obviously consists of Japanese peoples... but what about others? Thank you very much!

Answer:

That is highly conceivable, but I don't think their records are available unless they were formally drafted by the Japanese government.

How do you write love in Japanese?

Question:

The verb.

Answer:

The kanji for love is - 愛　- pronounced as 'Ai'.

How do you write love in Japanese?

Question:

The verb.

Answer:

The kanji for love is - 愛　- pronounced as 'Ai'.

How many different ways are there to write love in Japanese?

Question:

I want to get my second tattoo in the Japanese kanji symbol for love. My parents who are both half Japanese showed me the way write "love" in Japanese, but then I looked online to make sure they were right, and saw a bunch of dif. ways to write it! HELP ME! I don't want to be that idiot who has a symbol that means something totally dif. then what it was intended to mean.

Answer:

The most general one is 愛.

Monkey gave you so many. But not all of them really mean love. Some of them mean "compassion" or "lust" or something else.

Are there cars that drive through Shibuya Crossing?

Question:

It just looks crowded all the time. I wonder if cars wait to get across

I want to go to Japan!!!! :)

Answer:

Shibuya Crossing has signal. When signal for walkers is red, cars can go through.

Are there many rich people in Japan?

Question:

I am friends with an international student who is from Japan. His dad is an Economics professor in Japan with a PHD degree and his mom owns a company (not a big company though). He isn't from Toyko though, which is known as a very expensive city to live in. He lives very frugally here in the USA as a college student though. He has roommates and whatnot, and he tries his best to save money as opposed to spending it. He even goes out of his way to save money. I know this isn't really my business, but I'm just wondering about Japanese culture anyway LOL. Does he sound rich for Japanese people, or upper middle-class based on my description? What are the wealthy's and middle-class people in Japan's life like? Thank you for answering. :) Btw, I asked a second time because I only got a few answers for the first time lol

Answer:

There are rich people and like most rich people elsewhere, many don't flaunt their wealth but prefer to remain quiet that is why there are no accurate figures on the exact numbers in Japan

"@thecheapest", can you please explain what you mean by " do not move to japan " ?

Question:

I mean, Japan is so awesome and modern. And kawaii. And is a huge economy on top of that. Why would you say that ?

Answer:

Please send me emails if you want to ask a question to me. This is public place. So you can delete this and send me an email. And I'll answer.

Please tell me about this....?

Question:

Why are there so many girls from Phillipines in Japan. I know that they mainly work to sexually entertain Japanese middle and old aged men.
But why Phillipines??...Why not some other country?

Answer:

It's basically because of the President Marcos's policy to send their people to overseas to gain foreign currency.

Many male went to Middle East countries mostly for construction work. Many women went to Hong kong or Singapore to work as housemaid, but these countries accepted only "married" women for household job.

Japan has rather strict policy to accept foreign "unskilled" labor. So Japan did not accept these "construction labor" nor "housemaid".
On the other hand, Japan had accepted certified skilled worker including "entertainers" and "dancers".
President Marcos's government certified hundreds of thousands of ladies as skilled dancer or entertainer, so that Japan could accept them. On the other hand, Japanese economy, these days, were extremely powerful and big labor shortage in every Industries. Japanese government knew these "certified skillful entertainers" are not so much skillful, but government issued many VISA for them.
Actually, Filipino are very compatible and friendly for Japanese. Many Japanese liked Filipino.

Many ladies came to Japan as "skillful dancer" or "skillful entertainer". Some of them even came illegally because it became well known< among Filipino, that they could make big money in Japan.
However, many of them end up on some illegal sexual entertainment....... it's pity story.

Please tell me about this....?

Question:

Why are there so many girls from Phillipines in Japan. I know that they mainly work to sexually entertain Japanese middle and old aged men.
But why Phillipines??...Why not some other country?

Answer:

It's basically because of the President Marcos's policy to send their people to overseas to gain foreign currency.

Many male went to Middle East countries mostly for construction work. Many women went to Hong kong or Singapore to work as housemaid, but these countries accepted only "married" women for household job.

Japan has rather strict policy to accept foreign "unskilled" labor. So Japan did not accept these "construction labor" nor "housemaid".
On the other hand, Japan had accepted certified skilled worker including "entertainers" and "dancers".
President Marcos's government certified hundreds of thousands of ladies as skilled dancer or entertainer, so that Japan could accept them. On the other hand, Japanese economy, these days, were extremely powerful and big labor shortage in every Industries. Japanese government knew these "certified skillful entertainers" are not so much skillful, but government issued many VISA for them.
Actually, Filipino are very compatible and friendly for Japanese. Many Japanese liked Filipino.

Many ladies came to Japan as "skillful dancer" or "skillful entertainer". Some of them even came illegally because it became well known< among Filipino, that they could make big money in Japan.
However, many of them end up on some illegal sexual entertainment....... it's pity story.