Japanese Characters Research Articles

Three-Dimensional Movement Analysis of Handwriting in Subjects With Mild Hemiparesis

Harada T, Okajima Y, Takahashi H. Three-dimensional movement analysis of handwriting in subjects with mild hemiparesis. Objective To investigate the effects of hemiparesis on handwriting using a 3-dimensional movement analyzer. Design Comparative case study. Setting Ambulatory care clinic. Participants Right-handed patients (n=25; mean age ± SD, 62.3±10y) with mild right hemiparesis secondary to subcortical stroke, and age-matched (n=10; 65.6±13y) and age-unmatched (n=15; 32.4±10y) control subjects. Interventions Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures Time required to write a Japanese character of 2 different sizes and average speed of handwriting at the pen tip. Average radii of tracks of the moving pen tip, metacarpal head of the index finger, and distal end of the forearm during writing. Correlation coefficients of the instantaneous speed-time graph of the pen tip with that of the index finger and with that of the distal forearm during writing. Results Time for writing with the hemiparetic right hand was longer than that with the unaffected left hand ( P=.05∼.03), while it was shorter in healthy control subjects ( P=.07∼.05). In contrast with the left-hand writing, the track radius of the pen tip of the right-hand writing in patients with hemiparesis with normal joint position sense was significantly larger than that of the finger or distal forearm ( P=.01). The finding was the same as in the young and elderly control subjects. This right-left difference disappeared in the patients with hemiparesis with position sense impairment. The correlation coefficient of speed between the pen tip and the finger was larger in right-hand than left-hand writing in the control and sensory-normative patients with hemiparesis even though the difference was significant only in the healthy elderly subjects ( P=.03). Irrespective of the right or left hand use, the correlation coefficient between the pen tip and the finger or distal forearm significantly increased as the character size increased ( P=.03∼6×10 −6) in all subjects and patients. However, this size-related difference was less significant in the patients with sensory impairment. Conclusions The characteristics of handwriting movement by the dominant hand were preserved in patients with mild dominant-hand hemiparesis when joint position sense was normative but were lost in those with position sense impairment.

A Study on the Chinese character of Korean and Japanese

A Study on the Chinese character of Korean and Japanese

Some Design Issues for an Online Japanese Textbook

This paper discusses several design issues in the development of a new online Japanese textbook, called Robo-Sensei: Japanese Curriculum with Automated Feedback. When it is completed, the new online textbook will present a full Japanese curriculum. It extends a previously published online software program, Robo-Sensei: Personal Japanese Tutor (Nagata, 2004), which was designed as a supplement to standard, printed Japanese textbooks. The issues discussed include incorporation of natural language processing (NLP) technology, visual images, sounds, grading, modular organization, and classroom activities. Special attention is devoted in this paper to the design of a stand-alone module for teaching Japanese characters, called Kana Power. Student evaluations of the Kana Power module are discussed. Throughout the paper, the potential advantages of online versus printed textbooks are emphasized.

How Japanese Language Has Been Used and Transformed—Focused on Social-cultural Context and the Use in Communication

In this paper I address that flexibility and vagueness of mimic word, especially Gitai-go, can provide the communication with tension leading us to the continuous process of meaning construction, focused on the history of Japanese characters as the core of mimic words. I present that Hiragana, as the character for Gitai-go, was started to use by people viewed as of no public authority such as women at that time while Kanji had a position as an official characters. As unofficial character, Hiragana was received and transformed by common people as the character which is more flexible and vague suited to express persons' experience than Kanji. Most of Gitai-go is written in Hiragana, and people can also create original and personalized one based on their experience. We can be driven by necessity to search the meanings of Gitai-go when we meet unknown one, through its vagueness. This undifferentiated nature and indefinite feature of Gitai-go provide us with tension of communication.

Respect and Empathy in Teaching and Learning Cultural Medicine

Respect and Empathy in Teaching and Learning Cultural Medicine

The meanig distribution of Japanese 2-character Chinese Character Word(VN) by correspondence of Korean "hada"

The meanig distribution of Japanese 2-character Chinese Character Word(VN) by correspondence of Korean "hada"

Neural substrates of phonological selection for Japanese character Kanji based on fMRI investigations

Japanese and Chinese both share the same ideographic/logographic character system. How these characters are processed, however, is inherently different for each language. We harnessed the unique property of homophone judgment in Japanese kanji to provide an analogous Chinese condition using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 33 native Japanese speakers. We compared two types of kanji: (1) kanji that usually evokes only one pronunciation to Japanese speakers, which is representative of most Chinese characters (monophonic character); (2) kanji that evoked multiple pronunciation candidates, which is typical in Japanese kanji (heterophonic character). Results showed that character pairs with multiple sound possibilities increased activation in posterior regions of the left, middle and inferior frontal gyri (MFG and IFG), the bilateral anterior insulae, and the left anterior cingulate cortex as compared with those of kanji with only one sound. The activity seen in the MFG, dorsal IFG, and ventral IFG in the left posterior lateral prefrontal cortex, which was thought to correspond with language components of orthography, phonology, and semantics, respectively, was discussed in regards to their potentially important roles in information selection among competing sources of the components. A comparison with previous studies suggested that detailed analyses of activation in these language areas could explain differences between Japanese and Chinese, such as a greater involvement of the prefrontal language production regions for Japanese, whereas, for Chinese there is more phonological processing of inputs in the superior temporal gyrus.

Outposts: Literary Landmarks & Events

outposts LiteraryLandmarks& Events Kabuki-za Theater Tokyo,Japan Although theGinza district of Tokyo is known mostly for itsupscale shopping centers,depart ment stores, and dining, ifyou're seeking to experience Japanese culture,do not skip this train stop on yourway toUeno Station orHarajuki. Ginza ishome toone of the most famous kabuki theaters in theworld, Kabuki-za Theater. Kabuki, a traditional formof theater, tells Japan's legends and stories through song and dance. The Japanese characters that form theword kabuki literally translateas "sing," "dance," and "skill." These plays have been a notable form of entertainment in Japan for centuries. At theKabuki-za Theater, an excitingblend of traditionalplays and modern staging awaits. Even the theater itselfisdramatic inappearance, adorned with hanging lanternsand painted scenes from theplays. After thebuilding burned down in 1937, it was rebuiltwith modern materials and stage equipment, but itstill resembles the architectural stylingof old Japanese theaters.The all-male cast per forms fourplays at every showing, relaying .tales of emperors, princesses, love, ghosts, shoguns,magic, and battle.At theKabuki-za Theater, the actors performmany variations of thegenre?everything from the classic Osaka-style acting of theold plays toplays first preformed in themid-i90os. A new rotation ofplays is featured eachmonth, sweeping viewers away to the mystical worlds of thekabuki tradition. Kate Long Kate Long recently graduated fromOklahoma Christian University with a bachelor's degree inEnglish and minors in international studies and Spanish. She currentlyworks as a copyeditor forT?te Publishing. ...

Intercultural problems in data analysis of national characters

This paper investigates the intercultural conflict in the data analysis of national characters and values. Statistics is contradictory between the mathematically universal deduction method and the data-based induction, the latter of which often depends on the national way of thinking. This is particularly critical in analysing national values. A group of mathematical statisticians in Japan developed a set of statistical theories (called the quantification theories) in the process of analysing the data of Japanese behaviours, characters and values. But international statistical communities ignored the quantification theories as deviated from the worldwide stream of mathematical statistics, while the majority of behavioural scientists in Japan supported the quantification theories as suitable to the analysis of Japanese data, frequently used them, and evolved them from mathematical statistics techniques to data science and further to a rather general philosophy of informatics. This paper uses the bibliometric method to analyse this Japanese-specific informatics.

Schooling ex machina: E-learning and the Koan of subjectivity

The reification of social and technological “Destiny” has been rigorously investigated by critical theorists. This paper dovetails this largely Western tradition with notions of Japanese subjectivity to investigate the annihilation of dialogic relations in asynchronous online learning. As suggested by the two Japanese characters for “human being” (“person” and “space” [Ma]), subjectivity is always contextual and unstable. Ma unhinges assumptions about selfhood and modular online learning to reveal how the disconnect between fixed “selves” and Learning Objects masks the flux of subjectivity and creates a flattened Eurocentric (k)nowhere.

Road Show (review)

Reviewed by: Road Show Alisa C. Roost Road Show. Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by John Weidman. Directed by John Doyle. Public Theater, New York City. 6 December 2008. Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman have collaborated on three of the most unusual musicals—Pacific Overtures, Assassins, and Road Show—all of which deal with the negative impact of elements of the American Dream, a theme Sondheim has interwoven into many of his shows. Sondheim and Weidman and their directors also have experimented with techniques unusual for the commercial musical stage, including Brechtian alienation and traditional Japanese theatre conventions. Pacific Overtures explores the effect on Japan when the United States demanded access to trade. Featuring two Japanese characters influenced by American culture, it allows the audience some of the traditional pleasures of emotional identification. Assassins, a meditation on the dark side of the American Dream, examines the motivations of presidential assassins. The main characters reveal their passionate and intellectual underpinnings, thus giving the show surprising moments of emotional resonance. A few group numbers delve into the societal conditions the motley characters share, but the beauty of the individual solos is more chilling. When John Wilkes Booth sings his magnificently evil thoughts, the moments create a weird dissonance between his passionate commitment (and the beautiful music) and his horrific acts. Unusual in its subject material, Assassins is one of the more successful uses of Verfremdungseffekt in the American musical theatre: enticing audiences into identifying with the passions of the characters, and then being utterly repelled by that identification. [End Page 624] Click for larger view View full resolution Michael Cerveris (Wilson) and company in Road Show. (Photo: Joan Marcus.) Road Show tells the story of two antagonistic brothers at the turn of the last century as each pursues his own version of the American Dream. Road Show has had three major incarnations with three different directors. In 2000, the show (then known as Wise Guys and directed by Sam Mendes) applied a light touch; Nathan Lane and Victor Garber sparkled with vaudevillian humor and witty repartee. The various issues relating to the dark side of the American Dream percolated without a particularly didactic edge, while humor, wit, and charisma drove the show. The second act had not been finished by the beginning of the run, leaving only delicious possibilities. With a phenomenal cast in an unusually small theatre, Wise Guys allowed Garber and Lane to pull the audience into their camaraderie. Their charisma may have overshadowed the work itself, but, to my mind, it remains the most successful version of the show. In 2003, Harold Prince collaborated with Sondheim on Bounce, for which a cast album is available. In the post-9/11 environment, the show became larger, with more focus on the broad scope of the brothers’ lives without focusing on a specific theme. Strongly plot-based with little character introspection, the Mizner brothers had more romance (heterosexual for Wilson, homosexual for Addison) and more of a happy ending. The show touched on a variety of themes: sibling rivalry, dueling visions of the American Dream, artistic passions, and the interplay of various forms of capitalism with art and con games, but it never explored any single theme to satisfaction. In 2008, John Doyle directed a sparse production of the piece, now titled Road Show, tightly focused on the economic themes. Serendipitously timed, the show premiered in the midst of the economic meltdown. Early in the show, the boys’ father tells his sons that their choices will be “determining what kind of nation we’ll be,” forging a life from the riches of nature and their own determination. Wilson (Michael Cerveris) embodies the “cocaine-fueled con game” of unregulated capitalism under the Bush administration, dabbling in anything that could gain him wealth or notoriety, feeding his drug habit and ego. The Boca Raton housing crisis, a major plot point in the show, comments on our recent disastrous economic bubbles. In sharp contrast, Addison Mizner (Alexander Gemignani) serves as an archetype for what many see as the upside of capitalism; his round-the-world tour is a subtle history of Western colonialism, for he visits only former colonies. Unlike his country...

Development of Visuospatial Ability and Kanji Copying in Williams Syndrome

Williams syndrome is known for uneven cognitive abilities. Visuospatial difficulties such as a failure in constructing objects are considered to be characteristic and may influence the copying of Japanese semantic characters, kanji. In contrast to previous investigations, which were done mainly cross-sectionally, this study focused on the developmental aspects of the symptoms, to get a better view of the mechanism. Developmental changes in visuospatial abilities (including copying two-dimensional figures, three-dimensional figures, and kanji) in four boys with Williams syndrome, ages 4 to 11 years, were longitudinally observed for 6-9 years. The Benton's three-dimensional block construction tests and the Yerkes test were also performed. Some of the results were compared with those of mental age-matched children. The observation revealed improvements in performance for copying two-dimensional figures, as well as for copying kanji, in the Williams syndrome participants; however, copying three-dimensional figures tended to remain difficult, especially if in a transparent view. Obtaining three-dimensional information using pictorial cues seemed to remain difficult for the Williams syndrome participants even at the later stage of study monitoring. This difficulty might be correlated with the core dysfunction of Williams syndrome.

Reconstruction of Trust on a Cultural Manifold: Sense of Trust in Longitudinal and Cross-National Surveys of National Character

The objective of this paper is to study the variability of peoples’ basic social values as reflected in data from our past surveys on national character. Among other issues, I focus on trust systems in order to explore which aspects of sense of trust are stable and which aspects are variable under longitudinal changes in economic or political conditions. First, I explain peoples’ general response tendencies based on our survey on national character, which is a key to the understanding of our survey data in the context of cross-national comparisons. Secondly, I summarize some aspects of people’s sense of interpersonal trust from our longitudinal survey of Japanese national character. Thirdly, I present cross-national comparisons of interpersonal and institutional trust as well as some basic social values based on our past surveys, including surveys of seven-countries (Japan, USA and five European countries), the East Asia Values Survey (EAVS) (2002–2005) and the Asia-Pacific Values Survey (APVS) (2004–2008). The results show that East Asian countries have already departed from traditional Confucianism and that people share more common social values beyond the distinction of East and West. Fourthly, I present an overview of data on Japanese immigrants in Brazil, Hawaii and the U.S. West Coast in order to study the interaction between the environment and ethnicity. Fifthly, I provide some comments for our future research.

Announcement: Chinese, Japanese, and Korean characters available for author names

Announcement: Chinese, Japanese, and Korean characters available for author names

Universal Design of Characters -Development of Japanese Character Fonts from the Viewpoint of Universal Design-

Universal Design of Characters -Development of Japanese Character Fonts from the Viewpoint of Universal Design-

Representations of the Japanese in Contemporary Australian Literature and Film

The objective of this article is to investigate general contemporary Australian perceptions of the Japanese. I will do this by exploring how Australian contemporary literature (20062007) and Australian contemporary film (1997-2007) depicts Japanese characters. By analysing the representation of the Japanese characters in these areas I will attempt to gather a broad understanding of how Australians represent, perceive and identify the Japanese today.

Analisis Metode Belajar Kosa Kata

Many jobs fields needed foreign language skills, such as Japanese. To comprehend the Japanese text, people must understand Japanese characters like Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji because three of them were always used in Japanese text. Learning Hiragana and Katakana usually were taught in elementary level then secondary and high levels have more Kanji usages. Learning Japanese kanji meant learning vocabulary too. But, learning kanji had to be continuos and routine, because kanji had more than one meanings. Kanji did not only one meaning. So, we should know the meaning of the interrelated other kanji writing. To make easy in reading to read Japanese texts, certainly we should know kanji characters and the meanings.

Remembering the Kanji 1: A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters. 5th ed. by HEISIG, JAMES W. Remembering the Kana: A Guide to Reading and Writing the Japanese Syllabaries in 3 Hours Each. 3rd ed. by HEISIG, JAMES W., HELMUT MORSBACH, & KAZUE KUREBAYASHI

<i>Remembering the Kanji 1: A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters</i>. 5th ed. by HEISIG, JAMES W. <i>Remembering the Kana: A Guide to Reading and Writing the Japanese Syllabaries in 3 Hours Each</i>. 3rd ed. by HEISIG, JAMES W., HELMUT MORSBACH, &amp; KAZUE KUREBAYASHI

Modeling inverse covariance matrices by expansion of tied basis matrices for online handwritten Chinese character recognition

The state-of-the-art modified quadratic discriminant function (MQDF) based approach for online handwritten Chinese character recognition (HCCR) assumes that the feature vectors of each character class can be modeled by a Gaussian distribution with a mean vector and a full covariance matrix. In order to achieve a high recognition accuracy, enough number of leading eigenvectors of the covariance matrix have to be retained in MQDF. This paper presents a new approach to modeling each inverse covariance matrix by basis expansion, where expansion coefficients are character-dependent while a common set of basis matrices are shared by all the character classes. Consequently, our approach can achieve a much better accuracy–memory tradeoff. The usefulness of the proposed approach to designing compact HCCR systems has been confirmed and demonstrated by comparative experiments on popular Nakayosi and Kuchibue Japanese character databases.

A Comparative Study of the Lexicon of Chinese Character in East Asia : For the lexicon of Chinese Character of Japanese(JC), Vietnamese(VC) and Korean(KC)

A Comparative Study of the Lexicon of Chinese Character in East Asia : For the lexicon of Chinese Character of Japanese(JC), Vietnamese(VC) and Korean(KC)