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♡ perhaps I’m writing this because I myself am currently struggling with this exact same thing but, even so, these are all my own ways of gaining motivation and I hope they will work for you as well! ♡

1- Inspiration is key.

Think about what you're trying to get motivated for and think about what it means to you or your life. Do anything and everything you can to be inspired to change your life with the things you're gonna do! Read, Write, Draw, make an inspiration board, do anything that will give you the motivation to keep going and inspire you to do.

2- Self-care comes first

Let me put it simply; if you feel like shit then you won't want to do anything. I know that self-care is hard but if you haven't eaten or showered today then doing you're homework is going to be even more of a chore than it already feels like. If your mind and body are all crusty you are just less likely to get stuff done. Prepare yourself before you try and be productive.

3- Reward yourself

Something that people often forget to do or even don't know how to do is to reward themselves. If you require a lot of positive reinforcement, you can reward yourself for every small accomplishment, if you just need some reminding that you're doing good, only reward the big accomplishments. Just remember to look back on all that you've done and know that you'll feel good if you keep going and keep doing.

4- Take! Breaks!

Of course, when the Americans pulled out there was a lot of media that explored the new Japanese identity and criticized America as well as the Japanese government. They explored violence and sex and everything in between, and some really good shit was made. But there was a lot of romanticism, and again things got… kinda dumbed down for the movies. People wanted tales of chivalry and heroics, so they got historical dramas, samurai movies, and yakuza movies. The cultural conception of these historically kinda awful groups were changed, softening things that were actually pretty terrible.

But what about the stuff that was actually making a statement? The stuff that was criticizing America and its handling of the war, or the government or society? It was there. It was doing its thing, making people talk and think. But what about when it came over to the west? We’d spent a solid decade trying to portray the Japanese as this exotic culture, beautiful but dumb and not scary, so that they wouldn’t be completely shunned when trying to integrate back into the world. And suddenly you get all this art with complex ideas and concepts and whoops, we can’t have that its so contrary to everything we’ve been working towards. Besides, what would Americans understand about Japanese politics? Nothing! They don’t care about it! So they cut it. For example: Godzilla. It was originally a pretty scathing criticism of America’s handling of the atomic bomb and everything after, but boy howdy can’t show that in America! So they reduce it to big green monster stomps all over Tokyo, wow what will those wacky Japanese think up next! And what happens? Its hugely successful.

So Japan sees all the woobificaion going on and, can you believe it, its selling! And boy howdy isn’t that a great way to stimulate an economy. So they put a lot of effort into branding themselves as the cutting edge in tech and pop culture, nevermind all the nasty stuff because hey, that’s not good for business. The anime and the pocky and the kimono, THAT’S whats selling so its what’s seen around the world and what Japan becomes known for. And from there its a lot of tell yourself the same lie over and over again and it becomes true, along with the cultural norm of not standing out or pushing the status quo. All of the problems are essentially swept under the rug, and people both in and outside of Japan start to take it to heart. There are absolutely still groups speaking out and artists making AMAZING things like superflat mentioned above (seriously, look into Takashi Murakami, he’s such a cool artist) but very rarely do things like that get noticed on a large enough scale to cause change in something as removed as western nerd culture.

I wanna end this way too long post by mentioning that every. single. one. of my professors, both Japanese and American, has addressed the Japanese dream factory idea. We talk about groups like the Ainu, Zainichi Koreans, Ryuukyuu Islanders, hafu, Burakumin, and so many more, and I know other professors around the country do the same thing because they’re TIRED of all the weebs coming into their classes thinking they’re experts on Japan when they don’t know anything beyond a manufactured image and some vague ideas of bushido or whatever. If you want to learn about Japanese minority groups, look up any of those I mentioned above. Do your research on Japanese conviction rates, which are honestly. Fucking awful. Read some classic Japanese lit, learn about Japan’s nationalism, do SOMETHING other than just consume anime. If you want to know more about the things I talked about, I recommend E. Taylor Atkins A History of Popular Culture in Japan or trying to find articles by Susan Napier, she’s one of the few westerners who studies anime and manga in an academic light.

TL;DR: a good part* of the reason why so many weebs are Like That is because Japan had that image forced upon them, then figured out it sells and decided to brand their country that way, try and educate yourself so you’re not Like That. 

You can read about Tanabata here

Star Festival, Tanabata　七夕「たなばた」

Milky way　天の川「あまのがわ」

Orihime　織姫「おりひめ」

Weaving　機織り「はたおり」

Hikoboshi　彦星「ひこぼし」

Cattle herding　牛飼い「うしかい」

To marry 　結婚する「けっこんする」

To slack off 　怠ける「なまける」

Divine punishment 　罰「ばち」

Punishment (regular)  　罰「ばつ」

To pull apart 　 引き離す「ひきはなす」

Once a year 　年に一度「ねんにいちど」

To allow  　許す「ゆるす」

Magpie  　カササギ

Yukata  　浴衣「ゆかた」

Tanzaku, Paper strips　 短冊「たんざく」

Wishes　 願い事 「ねがいごと」

Bamboo 　竹「たけ」

Bamboo grass　 笹「ささ」

Bamboo decoration　 笹飾り「ささかざり」

To decorate 　飾る「かざる」

Origami 　折り紙「おりがみ」

Folded stars 　星飾り「ほしかざり」

Paper kimono 　紙衣「かみごろも」

Crane　鶴「つる」

Purses　巾着「きんちゃく」

Streamers　吹き流し「ふきながし」

Nets　投網「とあみ」

みじゅく

unripe, inexperienced

未熟者 「みじゅくもの」 novice

Hi ! I’m back with a vocabulary list. It’s from the app “JA SENSEI” and since I’m done learning this pretty small list I thought I’d share it in Japanese, English and French ! For Japanese learners, this will be a good opportunity to review katakana. /!\ Some of the words are supposed to be written with kanji but it is not my goal right now so feel free to type them in a dictionary to see which kanji are used :-) 

Clothes | Les vêtements (masculin) | いるい / ふく

Kimono | Un kimono | きもの

Coat | Un manteau | コート

Dress | Une robe (de soirée) | (note: used for party dresses) | ドレス 👗

One piece dress | Une robe | (note: used for casual dresses) | ワンピース 👗

Pants | Un patalon (français de France) / Des patalons, une paire de patalons (français québecois) |  ズボン 👖

Jeans | Un jean (France) / des jeans, une paire de jeans (Québec) | ジーンズ 👖

Shirt | Un teeshirt | シャツ

Skirt | Une jupe | スカート

Suit | Un costard | スーツ

Swimsuit | Un maillot (de bain) | みずぎ 👙

Shoes | Des chaussures, une paire de chaussures (féminin) | くつ 👞

Boots | Des bottes, une paire de bottes (féminin) | ながぐつ👢

Underwear | Les sous-vêtements (masculin) | したぎ

Socks | Les chaussettes, une paire de chaussettes (féminin) | くつした 🧦

Panties | Une culotte | パンティー

Bra | Un soutien-gorge | ブラジャー

Bag | Un sac | かばん / バッグ 👜🎒

Belt | Une ceinture | ベルト

Button | Un bouton | ボタン

Hat | Un couvre-chef | ぼうし 👒

Cap | Une casquette | キャップ 🧢

Gloves | Des gants (masculin) | てぶくろ 🧤

Handkerchief | Un mouchoir (en tissu) | ハンカチ

Necklace | Un collier | ネックレス

Necktie | Une cravate | ネクタイ 👔

Pocket | Une poche | ポケット

Suitcase | Une valise | スーツケース

Umbrella | Un parapluie | かさ🌂

Wallet | Un portefeuille | さいふ 👛

Walking stick | Une canne | つえ

Verbs | Verbes | どうし

To wear (a shirt) | Porter (un teeshirt) | きる (着る)

To wear (jeans) | Porter (un pantalon) |  はく

More :

Collar | Le col |  えり

いびきをかく

to snore

i saw a bunch of studyblr making music recommendation lists so i decided to make my own. here’s a few of my favorite japanese songs from the 80s. 

disclamer: this is a really subjective list, anyone is free to add their own rec to it though! 

Anri:

CAT’S EYE

悲しみが止まらない

思い切りアメリカン

Yamashita Tatsuro:

DAYDREAM

あまく危険な香り

いつか

Sparkles

Takeuchi Mariya: 

Miracle Love

マージービートで唄わせて

もう一度

X Japan:

Celebration

紅

Endless Rain

Sawada Kenji:

サムライ

TOKIO

ス・ト・リ・ッ・パ・ー 

Nakahara Meiko :

Dance In The Memories 

Fantasy

Yagami Jungo:

水色の雨

黄昏BAYCITY 

うまくいかなくても 

Princess Princess - 世界で一番暑い夏

Matsutouya Yumi -  恋人がサンタクロース

Yoshimoto Fujimal - Who Are You

Murashita Kouzou - 初恋

Momoko Kikuchi - ガラス草原

Iwasaki Yoshimi - タッチ

Mamiya Takako - 真夜中のジョーク

Terao Akira -  ルビーの指環

Watanabe Misato - My Revolution

Matsubara Miki - 真夜中のドア/Stay with me

Crystal King - 大都会

Ohashi Junko - I Love You So

Cindy -  私達を信じていて

Taeko Ohnuki - 4:00AM

Satou Muneyuki - 青葉城恋唄

雷 (かみなり) lightning, thunder, thunderbolt

雷鳴 (らいめい) thunder, thunderclap, crash of thunder

稲光 (いなびかり) (flash of) lightning