Happy Halloween! - Creepy Japanese folktales and legends

Since it's almost Halloween I couldn't post this next month. In this post I will share three creepy Japanese urban legends with you so you can entertain your guests on your Halloween party. Please decide for yourself if they are suitable for your audience. If you guys are interested I'll make another post with my top 3 (or top 5, or 10) Asian movies to watch this Halloween. If you would like me to post this just send me a message. Now let's turn the lights off!

Teke Teke
Japan is famous for many good things but unfortunately also for it's high suicide rates. Although you have many possibilities to commit suicide, it is said that Teke Teke san jumped in front of a oncoming subway leaving her body cut in half. I'm not entirely sure if she was upset because her suicide attempt didn't really work out or because she looked kind of unappealing the way she ended up. Anyways she became very angry. Now she is roaming the nights of Japan by dragging her upper body around with her claws which simulates a teke-teke sound. She will hunt you down if you are wandering the streets at nighttime and if she catches you, you will be cut in half as well.
This legend is told mostly by mothers to their children to prevent them from going out in the evening or staying up to late.

Kuchisake onna 口裂け女
Also this one is a popular among mothers to tell their children and has the same idea; don't go anywhere by yourself when it's dark outside! Kuchisake onna means 'split mouth woman' and though there are different opinions on how she looks most of the stories have all these things in common; she has long black hair, wears some kind of long dark cloak or coat and wears a surgical mask (yes, the one that all the Japanese wear when they have the flu). She will approach you when you are walking alone and will ask you a question; am I pretty? You might think; oh, this is easy, my girlfriend / wife asks me all the time, just say yes and she will stop blabbering. Think again! Because if you say yes, she will pull down her mask and show you her monster like smile which covers her face from ear to ear. She will ask you again if you think she's pretty, if you say yes, you get the same creepy smile and if you say no she will cut you in half. After reading this you might think; well I just say no the first time she asks me. Unfortunately she will cut you in half immediately. Oh, and before I forget to tell you, this all happens with a monster size pair of scissors.
So how can I get away from her? Well it's said that if you answer her question with something else than 'yes' or 'no' like 'average', you will confuse her giving you the opportunity to run away. Or, if you listened to your mother in the first place and didn't go out late it wouldn't happen at all.
For those of you who are interested, there is a movie about kuchisake onna called 'Carved'. I didn't see it for myself yet but you can check the IMDB review here.

Hitobashira 人柱
Hitobashira are 'human pillars'. It is said that in feudal Japan they would seal bodies into pillars while building dams, castles, bridges and temples to make them stronger and last longer. Back in the day, Samurai or other important people would sacrifice them self as hitobashira and commit suicide. Their bodies would be encased in the building to 'fend off evil spirits' and as an offering to the gods to prevent them from natural disasters. Some other stories say that they actually encased the humans alive and that they preferred to use kids. When an important building was about to be build, parents would pay extra attention on keeping an eye on their kids to prevent them from being kidnapped and never seeing them again. Other theories suggests that workers who had fallen working under harsh conditions were the ones who were buried inside the pillars. Whatever the truth is we will never now today. But how creepy it is thinking the souls of many humans can lie under such beautiful buildings..

I told my dad about the Hitobashira and he said these kind of stories were also quite commonly told in China. If you wonder how to celebrate Halloween a.k.a 'Hungry Ghost Festival' the Chinese way don't forget to read my post Chinese Halloween 鬼节 I'm sure you will enjoy it!
There were so many Japanese urban legends to choose from so I hope you didn't mind if your favorite is not included. I chose the one which I am the most familiar with.
I hope you enjoyed reading this and that you are not to creeped out. Let me know if you watched the movie 'Carved' or if you have any other spooky movie suggestions for Halloween.

 ~ mei mei

Making sense of Japanese verbs - the three verb groups

Hello all! So today I want to talk about verbs in the Japanese language. Not only in Japanese, but in any language verbs have a very important role in a sentence. So understanding them, learning how they work and conjugating them is key to making your own sentences. When you know how to make your own sentences you can focus on learning vocabulary instead. Even though they might seem difficult, they are actually quite easy when you learn how they work. So let's get into it!

First of all, Japanese verbs are divided into three groups. I will start with the last group first and you'll understand why as you continue reading. Group three are all the exceptions and it has only two verbs you need to know which are; する(suru to do) and くる (kuru to come). Group two is includes every verb that ends with いる(iru) or える (eru) this group is also called 'dictionary form'. Simply because this is the form you will find for all the verbs in the dictionaries. Now the final group which is group one and includes; everything else! It's as simple as that! Knowing which verb belongs to which group is the beginning of starting to conjugate them. If you don't know which group the verb belongs to it's impossible to make sense of conjugation so make sure to study these thoroughly.

You can figure out which group a verb belongs to in three easy steps;

  First check if the verbs ends with る(ru) - if not, it automatically belongs to group 1.

  If it ends with る, make sure it's not する(suru) or くる(kuru) and check the syllable before the る.

If there's a い(i) or え(e) before the る(ru) it's group 2, if not it's group 1.


How about these verbs? Can you tell which group they belong to?
1.  たべる (taberu to eat)
2. いく (iku to go)
3. りょうりする (ryori suru to cook)

Let's start with number 1. It does end with る but it's not する or くる, so we must check the syllable before る. The syllable before the る is an えso that means it's group 2.
 Are you getting the hang of it already? Next one is; いく. Does it end with る? No! So that means it's group 1. That was easy right?
Final practice verb is; りょうりする. It does end with る but wait a minute, this is one ends with する which means it's group 3!

As all languages, even here there are exceptions. There are verbs that end with -iru or -eru but still belong to group 1. The only thing you can do about these, except for getting upset, is simply memorizing them. There are quite a few out there but let me just tell you three for today. They are;  はしる, かえる and きる. Even though they end with -eru or -iru they are some examples of verbs who actually belong to group 1.
Now don't be intimidated these. Make sure you practice categorizing these verbs because in my next post we'll put them to action! What is your favorite thing to do? One of my favorites is; よむ.


Have a good day!
~ mei mei

The best free apps for learning Korean on Android

Happy Monday to you! let's spend our time wisely by learning some Korean! And is there possibly an easier way to study a language by using your smartphone? I don't think so, it's that thing that's always in your hand nowadays so why not use it efficiently in your language studies!
If you are interested in learning Korean but have an Iphone. Don't worry, I made this post especially for you. And for those of you who are interested in learning Japanese as well you can read my Learning Japanese on Iphone and Android post.
Now let's get started!

PopPopping Korean;
The first app I tested is called; PopPopping Korean, sounds promising right? When installing the app it does requires you to have Adobe Air. If you don't have Adobe Air you can download it for free in the Playstore as well. If you don't have Adobe installed on your phone the app can't run. The app runs in landscape mode and focuses on learning Hangeul. The app is divided into two sections; Hangeul pronunciation and Rhythm Hangeul. In the Hangeul pronunciation section you find all the Hangeul characters pronounced for you. The cool thing is; there is even a picture in the background on how you should place your tongue and teeth while pronouncing the character. Especially with Korean I found it extremely helpful when my teacher told me how to place my tongue etc. for the perfect pronunciation, so it's really a good feature of the app!
Then comes 'Rhythm Hangeul' which is a game where you can spell out words and sentences with the Hangeul you just learned to pronounce. From standard words such as 사랑 해요 ( I love you)  to 빅뱅 (Big bang, especially for the Kpop fans among us). The app has cute illustrations of funny monsters which guide you trough the app.
Overall I think it's not an app you can enjoy for more than a couple weeks or months. It's convenient and easy for learning Hangeul but since the app doesn't have more features that's about as far as it goes.

Overall rating PopPopping Korean;
visual / layout; 5/5
Information; 3/5

Pro's
- Perfect for Hangeul pronunciation
- Fun layout
- Also good for kids

Con's
- Not suitable for long term use
- Need to install Adobe Air additonally

Learn Korean with Eggbun;
You might think; ugh another app with a cute name, but the Eggbun app is way more than that! It's quite different than any other language app I've seen! It does use mostly Hangeul so make sure you've got that down before starting with Eggbun. Eggbun focuses on learning Korean trough interactive conversations. Your screen looks like a chat screen and you can read the conversation while a native speaker pronounces everything for you. This sound easy, but it's not a sit back, relax and listen kind of app. You need to respond and actively participate in the conversation by choosing responses and typing things yourself. The conversations are quick and convenient and don't last longer than 5 minutes or so. Which gives you no excuse to slack on your Korean learning :) After conversation mode you can choose either review or quiz to check if you really understood everything. Just like PopPopping Korean Eggbun uses really cute illustrations of (you can't guess) a little egg bun-like character and other cute drawings. Overall the app is really easy to use and even though you do need to know Hangeul the app does start off with really basic conversations so it's perfect for beginners as well.

Overall rating Eggbun Convo;
visual / layout; 5/5
Information; 4/5

Pro's
- Unique layout and setup
- Detailed interactive conversations
- Fun quiz mode

Con's
- I know it's a first but I don't have any cons!

I hope this post was helpful! As usual I was not sponsored or asked by these companies to review their apps. If you want me to test and review any particular app please send me a message!

~mei mei