Japanese Lesson Notes #1

Rōmaji is Japanese for Roman letter and it’s a way of writing Japanese using the Roman alphabet. Hiragana, katakana and kanji are another three ways of writing more traditional Japanese. Rōmaji is particularly useful for beginners because you don’t have to know Hiragana, Katakana or Kanji when first trying to speak Japanese.

Examples of Rōmaji:

oishii (I say oishii when I want to say delicious in Japanese).

sugoi (I use sugoi when I want to say awesome in Japanese).

Andoria (Andria)

makudonarudo (McDonalds)

tamashii (soul)

chikara (power)

Kanji characters are ideographs, so each kanji represents a word or idea.

魂 tamashii

力 chikara

Hiragana and Katakana symbols are called kana (Japanese syllabary) because they are used to spell words. They do not represent a word on their own like kanji.

Hiragana is used for Japanese words.

おいしい oishii (o-i-shi-i)

すごい sugoi (su-go-i)

Katakana is used for foreign words and non-Japanese names. These symbols are more angular and straight when compared to hiragana.

アンドリア Andria (A-n-do-ri-a )

マクドナルド makudonarudo (ma-ku-do-na-ru-do)

Here’s a video of me, Soniei, trying to explain the evolution of my art and the inspiration behind my contemporary paintings.

This video includes a brief explanation of how I left the 9-5 work world to live my dream as a full-time artist.

I’ve been mentioned in 37signals‘ Weblog, Signal vs. Noise!  The post, called The Word Entrepreneur and Its Baggage, questions whether or not people like me should be called an ‘entrepreneur’ or if this term is a bit outdated. (more…)

I hardly have enough time to breathe as is. I work 80-120 hours a week as a painter just to make ends meet.* I spend so much time in my art studio that I frequently get emails from my family and friends to see if I’m still alive. Every second of my life is pretty much booked solid and I just decided to start learning Japanese again. Wait… what!?!

I must be crazy!! What I really need is to catch up on sleep!

I used to know some Japanese while living in Japan. However, a decade has passed without me hearing or speaking the language, so I pretty much lost the language. The only thing I kept up was my practice of Japanese calligraphy (Zen Brushworks) **.

Since my memories of Japan are still vivid in my mind and this country is one of the greatest influences in my art, it only makes sense that I study its culture and language once again. Although I’m currently way too broke to visit Japan, I hope my studies will help me bring more depth into my art. After all, I’m always looking for ways to make my artwork undergo an evolution. (more…)

I’ve had a bag of frozen peas on my right hand (my “artist hand”) for the past couple of days because a lamp attacked me. Don’t ask me how because it happened too fast. A long story short, the lamp broke in two while I was holding it, and somehow I got injured. Leave it to me to get hurt… by a lamp. (more…)

Thank you so much to Linda Bell for writing a blog post called, There is something special about Soniei.

Your appreciation for my art gives me great joy. : )

Here’s a video of me, Soniei, trying to explain the evolution of my art and the inspiration behind my contemporary paintings.

This video includes a brief explanation of how I left the 9-5 work world to live my dream as a full-time artist.

Right now, I’m doing my happy-dance because I’m honored and delighted to be in Chris Guillebeau’s manifesto, 279 Days to Overnight Success! Guillebeau is also the author of The Unconventional Guide to Working for Yourself: Creating Personal Freedom through a Very Small Business.

If you’re a writer, a blogger, an artist or you’re thinking of creating your own dream job, you must read “279 Days to Overnight Success”. It’s full of advice on how to be successful with your own project and how to expand your online presence. If you want extra motivation to live your best life, then make sure to check out the rest of Guillebeau’s website, The Art of Non-Conformity. You’ll be glad you did! (more…)