I think it would help to be able to move up and down (ex. space and shift keys) without changing the camera angle. This seems a better solution, to me, than existing pan with 3rd mouse button.
I'll never understand this "aesthetic" argument. Are those cities really so pretty to avoid using something that naturally comes to mind? Sun, warm, makes things dry, just use it.
I couldn't agree more. After reading article I'm kind of confused about the praise. First of all, vast majority of population just dry their clothes outside. I'd say, while this is installed in many bathrooms - it's used rarely. Maybe during rainy season. The thing is, it's highly ineffective and there is not a lot of drying poles installed. It doesn't work well even for bathroom towels, not to mention for the full laundry.
The more useful trick, that I didn't know from home (EU) is underwear drying rack. Small rack on a hook with plenty of clips attached. Back at home, we used to put our socks and panties next to everything else on a big rack. This small drying rack makes it much more effective.
Sorry, I should probably have stated that since the beginning. I am native I just was surprised about 5 cases. I've never heard about the 2 latter one you've mentioned. I've been told in school that male is just male, doesn't matter it it's person or object. But I am engineer, not a linguist so it may be as you say. Either way, interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Or National which is almost all gone today. Or rather rebranded to Panasonic. Before the early 2000s the company was selling most of their products under National brand in Japan. They've introduced Panasonic to sell speakers abroad because, as it turned out, the National name was not available. The reception was so good over the years that the National brand has been discontinued and all the products are called Panasonic now.
I've learned only today, while double checking the facts, that there is `panasonic` TLD.
Not sure I agree with that. It's not difficult to notice one has "nai", other don't. Also when you read it in actual sentence you can immediately notice that something is wrong when you choose the wrong reading. Subsequent words don't add up. I am not saying confusion doesn't occur. I'm just saying it's not as big as people are painting it.
Isn't it common in English, too? Just to mention "vague", "awe", "sigh". There are many others. I see those words and pronunciation is far from obvious to me.
I think taking sides in this debate is pointless. Languages are always as difficult as far they are from your mother tongue or other languages you know.
Your question about the reading, though, has quite a simple answer. It's pretty obvious how to read all the examples given when you look at them as words, not a single character. Kanji does not exist in a vacuum. 人気 is "ninki" and 大人 is "otona" - no other way around it. Combination of those characters, usually, have one and only reading. To tell the truth, in English, people are unconsciously reading words as a whole, too.
> [everyday Japanese] has nothing to do with the one used in manga
Depends on the manga you read. There are plenty of manga revolving around everyday life, so called "slices of life" by the Western fans. I'd say they tend to use your regular everyday Japanese.
All the examples you gave are pretty obvious to read because of suffixes, called okurigana, or the other kanji next to it. Problem arises only when the kanji stands alone and that doesn't happen so often as people think. Even when it does, most often than not, you can infer the reading from the context.
It's implicit, depending on context. Quite often it's "myself" when omitted and without any context. If you'd like to stick to programming examples, it would be default value. Even if not specified, it's always there. Typically you use が when expressing some new information but follow up conversation uses は. There are few other rules, too. The は vs が is a subject of never ending confusion among Japanese students.
Spending painful years in classes where we've been taught the grammar extensively I couldn't agree more with those people. Two languages, the same way of teaching and time wasted all the same. So I say, just skimming the grammar book should be enough to get you going. You can always come back to it when you read something and don't get the rules.
Seeing the wheel of feelings / emotions reminded me, again, that there are people who don't experience most of those. Even if they do, they have a difficulties in describing what do they feel or if they feel anything at all. It's impossible for them to name the feelings but few most general cases - happy, sad, crying, angry. There is a disorder called alexithymia that may be the reason for that. I suppose, for those people (which is around 10% of population, quoting Wikipedia[1]) the concept of mindfulness is alien and above page is beyond comprehension.
Don't worry. You're not the only one. Natives are often lost. Couple of times already I've been asked where the given address is by Japanese person and I am definitely not of Asian descent :) On the contrary, in 2008, before the mobile Internet I was looking for an address and couple of natives couldn't find it despite the fact I got address and a picture printed at hand. Turned out we've standing next to the building and all I had to do is to turn back to find it. Today I just follow uncle Google advice.
Maybe it's a thing in foreign company and foreign employees. Plus, note that reddit thread is 6y old and already plenty of answers say are getting nothing from the company. I've never heard of Japanese company paying Japanese employee for rent, even partially. Nor I would expect it to be a common thing. As said, though, I just worked in two companies and just have a bunch of friends, which makes it purely anecdotal.
They aren't from my experience working in two major Japanese companies. Sometimes they'll pay your network bill if WFH is allowed, but that's basically it. Not sure about smaller companies, but honestly, I'd be surprised.
Those are huge wards by themselves. There are plenty of busy as well as residential places. For example, Setagaya-ku - stations like Sangenjaya, Jiyugaoka or Futakotamagawa are far cry from the quiet residential areas. There's a lot of any kind of housing there - bigger, smaller, houses and mansions alike.
I'm sure you've researched this and sure some apartments in Tokyo are small. I'd like to touch upon the big-house comment, though. It may be that your Japanese friends say that simply because it is polite, and very common, thing to say when you visit someone's house for the first time.
I think quite a lot still do. If not exposing in albums, at least taking a shots. At least I do. It was what parents did when I've been toddler and I'm not going to bend under someone's pointing finger today. Just look at the Totoro movie - a great piece of animation for whole family - and you'll see father taking bath with their children and no one's complaining about it. It's perfectly fine. I'm taking bath with my child as well. Our child saw us naked on multiple occasions and, for us, it's normal. I wish it would be a common sense.
Adding to this: Don't jump aboard wearing your dirty working jumpsuit smeared with paint, cement, oil. Also stop loudly arguing with your partner over phone. Get your shoes off the chairs.