One of the unfortunate realities of being a fan of Japanese media and culture is that, while there are a lot of options now available for those that speak English, the vast majority of content and information out there is only available in Japanese. I may be wearing my nerdy heart on my sleeve, but I’ll readily admit that the #1 reason I was driven to start studying Japanese in middle school was so I could watch anime that wasn’t getting released in English fast enough to satisfy my rabid fangirl ways. Of course, there are many, many reasons to take up learning a new language, including Japanese, but it’s always great to have the added motivation of a hobby you’re passionate about to spur on your studies!

A lot of people ask me to recommend resources to help them get started learning the language, but honestly, there are so many options available that it’s hard to even know where to begin! Since I personally learned Japanese through school, I’m most comfortable with suggesting textbooks to help you learn the basics, as I think it’s a great way to get a foundation that you can build on from as you get more comfortable with vocabulary, Japanese sentence structure, and reading/writing.

But I more than anyone know that textbooks can be boring and dry, so imagine my excitement when I heard about A Fujoshi’s Guide to Japanese! Published by Otome’s Way with the help of a Kickstarter for the second volume, the two-volume Japanese language textbook series presents Japanese language learning in a way that is fun and interesting for fans of anime and manga, with gorgeous color illustrations and informative manga and tons of audio supplements by professional voice actors!

If you’re unfamiliar with the term “fujoshi,” it’s generally used to describe women who like boys’ love, or yaoi, manga and related media (of course men can be into BL as well, but they’re usually called “fudanshi”). While the series is clearly made with fujoshi in mind, as it features an all-male cast and drawings by BL artist Ai Yusura, from my experience with the second volume there is nothing overtly “BL” about the content, making it great for anyone, not just fujoshi.

Since I was provided volume 2 for the purpose of this review, I unfortunately can’t comment at length on the content of volume 1 if you’re just starting out and want to begin your Japanese studies from square one with this series. From the preview provided on Otome Way’s website and the brief overview of volume 1 that appears in volume 2, it looks to provide a great foundation for further learning by teaching readers pronunciation, how to read and write hiragana and katakana, and some very basic beginner vocabulary and sentences.

Volume 2 builds on the introduction provided by volume 1 by going deeper into sentence structure and grammar while also starting readers down the long road of learning how to read and write kanji. I imagine the double-whammy of diving into more complex grammar such as adjectives, forming questions, and working with verbs along with the addition of kanji is daunting to start, but unfortunately that’s how Japanese study usually is – it’s best to dive in as early as possible, especially with kanji! Luckily, you’re free to take the contents of the book on as quickly or slowly as you feel comfortable, but without the structure of an actual class it may be easy for individual learners to feel too intimidated to press on, so I might suggest making goals such as focusing on mastering one chapter every two weeks and treating it like your own personal course.

Perhaps my favorite part of the Fujoshi’s Guide series are the manga portions that follow protagonist Alexis and his butler Shou that are used to introduce new concepts at the beginning of each chapter. These can be read while listening to accompanying audio of the voice actor’s performing the scenes, and then an English translation is provided so you don’t have to worry if you didn’t understand everything in the first go. The voice actors are really nice to listen to and actually bring life to their respective characters, unlike some of the horrific audio recordings I remember having to put up with back when I was a student! There are over 90 audio files included with volume 2, meaning nearly everything in the textbook is voiced, which is both extremely helpful for learning and fun to listen to at the same time (a rare combination for Japanese textbooks, I’ve found!).

There is also clearly a lot of care put into the structure of the book and making sure that readers learn more than the usual stuffy standard Japanese taught in most textbooks. Japanese teacher Yumiko Akeba is clearly familiar with the areas where English speakers usually experience trouble when learning Japanese, and I appreciated her direct yet informative explanations. One section that particularly stood out for me was an explanation of the particles “ne” and “yo” and their gender differences in Japanese with a variety of illustrated example dialogues. I also really liked the short explanation about natural speech, with examples of how spoken Japanese can often very from what’s taught in textbooks.

For those worried about implementing what they’ve learned in the book, never fear – each chapter has a review section and ample opportunities to practice. Unfortunately, though new vocabulary is introduced in each chapter, there aren’t quizzes, per say, so you have to keep yourself accountable by making sure you spend time learning the vocabulary. I also noticed that the book continues to teach readers new hiragana up through chapter three and then immediately jumps to introducing kanji in chapter 4, but doesn’t stop using romanji in examples until partway through chapter 10. Of course, I don’t profess to have any great understanding of how to teach people Japanese, but I worry by leaving in the romanji for so long, readers won’t push themselves to master hiragana even after they begin to learn kanji, which could make it difficult to retain much of anything. If I could give any advice to someone using the book, it would be to make sure you are diligent about memorising hiragana and katakana, and that you feel confident in reading it without romanji before starting chapter 4 so you can focus on kanji going forward.

Overall, I am extremely happy with A Fujoshi’s Guide to Japanese volume 2 and would highly recommend the series to anyone interested in learning Japanese! The colored illustrations and audio make this already professional and informative book really shine, and it would be the perfect way to make Japanese learning interesting to those who want to be able to watch anime or read manga in its original Japanese. If you already know some basic Japanese, I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t jump into volume 2, but if you want to see all of Alexis and Shou’s adventures, be sure to purchase volume 1, as well!

A copy of the book was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review. All opinions, however, my honest impressions!

There is an amazing abundance of shops online that sell Japanese merchandise, and they’re a great option for those of us who don’t live in Japan but are desperate to get our hands on the latest cute Rilakkuma goods or weird Japanese candy. Unfortunately, there are so many that it’s often difficult to decide where to spend one’s hard-earned cash, and there’s always the question of whether the site in question is reputable or charges outrages prices for shipping, which are often sprung on shoppers after they’ve been lured in by seemingly cheap prices.

Recently, I stumbled upon the self-proclaimed “Japan & Kawaii Shop” Blippo, and they were kind enough to offer me a few products from their shop to review. They have a great selection of Japanese items from character goods such as Hello Kitty and Rilakkuma to Japanese snacks and candy, as well as stationery and all kinds of smartphone straps and accessories, so they really have the potential to be a one-stop shop for all your Japanese merchandise needs!

Blippo doodled a little giraffe on my box!

The other major draw of Blippo is the offer free worldwide shipping, so you won’t be hit with a massive shipping fee when checking out! This means that everything will take about 1-3 weeks to arrive according to their site, but they shipped my package from their base in Hong Kong to my home in Australia surprisingly fast, and it arrive in almost exactly two weeks. You can also spend a few extra bucks on shipping upgrades, but I was very happy with how fast mine arrived.

Here’s a quick overview of what I received! I picked out all of the items myself, but the order came with the free plastic Blippo keychain in the middle. I don’t think I’d put it on anything, but it’s cute that they included it, none the less.

Is this not the cutest packaging? I’ll readily admit that the adorable little ghost wearing a witch’s hat is the whole reason why I opted for this Moko Awa DIY shake drink. I haven’t tried it yet, as I think it will make for a great Apricotsushi Samples video, but I can’t wait to give this foaming grape drink a go. Apparently all you need to do is mix the powder with water and stir!

I don’t even care if the shake doesn’t taste good, I’m happy to just be in the presence of these little ghost illustrations. For only about $3 AUD (with free shipping), it’s a steal!

Next are these great Rilakkuma honey stickers, which I had to get since I absolutely love anything Rilakkuma-themed! I really like the honey/bee/pancake motif, though I think I’d much prefer maple syrup to honey on my pancakes…

The stickers are raised hard plastic, which gives them a bit of a 3D effect, and some also feature little jewel embellishments. I’m pretty happy with them, but unfortunately some of them have minor discolorations/color smearing, which is particularly noticeable in the stickers with text and the ones with gold stripes in the bottom row of the above photo. I’m not sure if this is due to the type of sticker or heat exposure, but considering the usually high standard of Japanese merchandise, it’s a shame they weren’t all perfect.

Finally, I picked out these rad little donut earrings, because I’m really into miniature food these days and I love the idea of tasty little (fake) donuts hanging from my ears. They’re nothing super fancy, but they’re sturdy and look just as cute in person as they do on the website.

It’s not a particularly nice photo, but here’s what the look like on! They’re not so large that they draw attention from my beautiful face (ha), but they’re really fun and I can smile to myself knowing I’m wearing donuts on my ears, even if no one else notices.

For a package of three unique items from Japan that totals under $10 including shipping, I’m really happy with it. A lot of the products on Blippo are competitively priced, even factoring the free shipping, and as long as you don’t mind waiting a little longer for your purchase to get to you, most of their products are a great deal. I can definitely see myself buying from Blippo in the future and definitely recommend them to anyone looking for some cute Japanese goods or snacks!

Every once in a while, I write about the occasional mobile game. The time I actually spend playing games on my iPhone or Android tablet, however, is actually even less. The main reason for this is that I have a wealth of quality titles for my dedicated handheld gaming devices, and I hardly ever find a game worthy enough of putting similar hours into on a mobile device.

While I tend toward playing otome games on mobile devices since that’s where they seem to be most easily available these days, I’ve never really felt that they fit the hardware. I find the kinds of experiences that excel best on mobile devices are bite-sized yet polished titles that can be picked up while waiting for a friend at the bus stop or microwaving your lunch and be put away after a couple of minutes just as easily. Eric Koziol, developer of subaku and the upcoming rainblocks, really gets this, and that’s why his games remain some of my favorites to play on my phone.

rainblocks is a cute little sliding puzzle game that takes place on a three-by-three grid filled with eight colored tiles. Essentially, all you need to do is match the two tiles corresponding with whichever one is currently shown at the top of the screen by tapping tiles one at a time to slide them around the board. There’s a timer constantly ticking down, and it’s your goal to get as high a score as possible before it runs out, with various helpful and detrimental icons appearing on the board as you play.

Admittedly, rainblocks takes a little getting used to. After cruising through the tutorial and learning about the weather-inspired status effects, mud and ice, that make it more difficult to move tiles on the board and the handy rainbow icon that will completely clear the board of pesky intrusions, I jumped straight into my first game. My immediate intuition was to match tiles willy nilly (which doesn’t do anything), and swipe the blocks instead of tapping them, which, while slightly more satisfying from a hands-on perspective, was actually slowing me down. After a few rounds, I finally began to find my rhythm, and soon I was even thinking ahead to making combos, as the game cycles through the ROY G BIV rainbow color spectrum for tile matchups, making it possible to plan ahead and rack up points by clearing multiple colors in one go.

For me, the games I choose to play in my free time are nearly as much about appealing aesthetics as they are compelling gameplay, which is another reason why I’m so smitten on rainblocks. I just love the simple, yet colorful pixelated art style, and the music, composed by Manami Matsumae of Mega Man fame is both catchy and soothing at the same time. As the timer runs out, the sun slowly sets in the background landscape, which is another great touch that really sums up the quaint, straightforward nature of this puzzle game.

rainblocks is equal parts solid gameplay and quirky, loveable aesthetics, and is a great way to brighten your day on your iOS device of choice. It can be a relaxing or hectic experience depending on how serious you get about topping the leaderboards, and it’s the perfect style of game to pick up and fiddle with for a few minutes before returning your phone to your pocket/bag (though you may need to make ample use of the pause button in that scenario). Even better is the fact that the game will be available to try for free when it launches on June 12th, with a single in-app purchase of $0.99 offering the option to remove ads and change the difficulty level for those that want it. If you need a new game to play for June’s puzzle-themed Community Game-Along, perhaps you should give it a shot!

An advance code for rainblocks was provided by the developer for the purpose of this review

Hatsune Miku and her Vocaloid friends are relatively unknown outside of their homeland of Japan, but have a steadily growing western fanbase that even counts Lady Gaga in their ranks. For those who aren’t familiar, Vocaloids are a series of Japanese voice banks created from actual singers that can be used to create completely original music and vocals from scratch. Each Vocaloid voice bank is represented by a unique character, with Hatsune Miku undoubtedly being the most famous due to her iconic turquoise twin tails and vibrant, youthful voice.

The communal aspect of Vocaloids is one of the reasons why they’re so interesting – what songs become hits are entirely up to the fans, and even what Hastune Miku wears in her music videos is conceived by fans. So, while the Vocaloid rhythm game series Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA is ultimately developed and published by Sega, the songs included are all created and popularized by the fans themselves!

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA f for the Vita and its companion, Project DIVA F for the PS3 are the first entries in the series to see an English release. Eager to support the localization, I picked up Project DVIA F when it first came out, but found it difficult to get into on the PS3. I love rhythm games, but ultimately find them much more satisfying on handhelds, which is why I was thrilled when Sega announced that they would be bringing over the Vita version a few months later.

Project Diva f on the Vita is everything I love about rhythm games and more. Though I can understand the idea of listening to music sung by a computer program might be off-putting at first for some, I personally found the vast majority of songs toe-tappingly fun, and I highly suggest checking out a few of YouTube to get a taste of the range of musical styles represented by Vocaloid songs.

Of course, catchy songs are only half of what it takes to make a good rhythm game. Luckily, Sega has married a quality Vocaloid song library with precise mechanics and just the right difficulty curve to keep me wanting to reply songs to achieve higher scores and perfect tougher difficulties. The easiest mode has players tapping only the O button in time with on-screen prompts, but more buttons are used with each difficulty increase until all face buttons need to be utilized at break-neck speed in order to pass a song. The harder difficulties definitely aren’t for the faint of heart, and the colorful, frantic music videos that play for each song make it easy to get distracted and miss a beat, but even the most rhtyhm-inept players should be able to enjoy the easiest difficulty.

In addition to the face button prompts and special colored arrows that indicate to the player to press both the directional button face button of the corresponding color simultaneously, there are also star notes that require players to quickly swipe the front or back touch screen with a finger. While this may sound easy in theory, the Project DIVA series is known for its dynamic positioning of button prompts that dance across the screen as the song plays, meaning concentration is extremely vital to following the note trajectory.

While the core of Project DIVA f is undoubtedly the rhythm gameplay, there is a huge amount of peripheral content in the form of customizable outfits and rooms, a song editor, and AR photo booth that will appeal to Vocaloid fans as well as those who enjoy customizing their game experiences. I never spent much time interacting with the five Vocaloids in their Diva Rooms, which acts as a mini simulation game that requires you to give your Vocaloids presents and “pet” them Nintendogs-style to increase their affection for you, but it’s a nice touch that can act as a nice break from the rhythm game aspect of Project DIVA f for those that want it.

Despite the lavish praise, I do have a few niggling annoyances with the game. The loading screens are too long and annoyingly frequent, and it always feels like it takes a few clicks too many to get to the selection I want in the menus. Since the PS3 version came out first with more songs, it’s a shame that the whole track list isn’t included in the initial price of the Vita version, but since the game only sets you back $30 and the DLC costs $10, it still ends up being $10 less than the retail price of the PS3 version (though, keep in mind, the Vita version is PSN-only). Finally, I couldn’t help but notice that the game isn’t running on the Vita’s native resolution, at least in the menus, as the character models look undoubtedly fuzzy when compared with the PS3 version. Thankfully, however, this isn’t noticeable during actual gameplay.

At least there are a ton of adorable loading screens – and you can use them as wallpapers!

In all honesty, Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA f is one of my favorite Vita games to date. It’s not without some imperfections, but it looks and plays wonderfully on the handheld, and is a must-have for any Vita-owning rhythm  game fan. I’m thrilled that the PS3 version did well enough for Sega to bring over its handheld counterpart, as it really is where this series thrives. Even better is the fact that they’ve already announced localizations of the PS3 and Vita versions of Project DIVA f 2nd for later this year, making the mid-year slump a great time to dive into the series in preparation for the sequel. I guarantee that if you give it a try, you’ll get at least one of the songs stuck in your head for days!  

Disclaimer: A code of Project Diva f was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.