Tag: Japan

Breaking Digital Premodern Japanese Texts Down into Words using WebChamame

Post author By Hanna
Post date June 28, 2022

If you want to analyze Japanese texts digitally, the first problem you might run up against is that Japanese does not use spaces between words. A computer needs those spaces to know when one word ends and the next begins. So, you first need to be able to “tokenize” those words, that is determine the words. Deciding what is a word and what is not is difficult to decide. Is a verb ending a word or a part of a word? Linguists discuss these kinds of questions for us literary scholars and have created the necessary tools so that we don’t have to insert spaces manually into a text. Imagine how much work that would be!

This is an image from Den, et al., 2007, illustrating the different levels of differentiation between words in modern Japanese, taking into account complex composite nouns and verbs, in this case verbs combining a noun with the irregular verb “to do” (*suru*).

One way to see how computers can tokenize words (without installing anything on your own computer) is to use WebChamame. This site was built by researchers at the National Institute of Japanese Language and Linguistics. To get started, type a Japanese sentence into the left window on the WebChamame site.

This is a screengrab of the WebChamame website on June 28, 2022. Type your text into the box under 「テキストを入力」 to see what this site can do.

Tags digital texts, Japan, literature

Travel

The Maternity Shrine

Post author By Hanna
Post date October 2, 2011

This post caught my attention now that I am a mother. I certainly would no longer simply consider this shrine creepy like I did in 2011. Something else must have fascinated and saddened me about it then, too. There is so much hope and longing for a child and for a safe delivery out there. I wish I had visited again when I was pregnant.

Edited on January 26, 2022.

kamigamochildren — *Photo by H. McGaughey*

Kyoto, Japan I took this picture on a neighborhood tour near Kamigamo Shrine in Kyoto. This shrine is located in what looks like the garden of a private home. I did not catch the whole explanation, and I can’t find any information online, because I don’t know the name of this shrine. So, here is the story as I remember it told by the guide.

Tags Japan, Kyoto, shrine

Uncategorized

Farewell to a Friend

Post author By Hanna
Post date July 8, 2011

shadow — Taken near the Komaba campus of the University of Tokyo. *Photo by H. McGaughey*

Tokyo, Japan Reading a academic article today, I came across this poem by Retired Emperor Go-toba written when his loyal courtier Fujiwara no Ietaka was about to leave the island where Go-toba was exiled.

Tags Japan, poetry

Food

Sweets Wrapped in Oak Leaves

Post author By Hanna
Post date May 5, 2011
2 Comments on Sweets Wrapped in Oak Leaves

Edited on January 31, 2022.

kashiwa — *Kashiwa* *mochi*, sweets wrapped in oak leaves for children’s day. *Photo by H. McGaughey*

Yokohama, Japan Today, May 5 or 5/5, is Children’s Day, one of the string of national holidays this week. These holidays are collectively known as Golden Week, which doesn’t mean much to me, because my academic work doesn’t end, but it’s really nice to see people enjoying themselves at the neighborhood park or among the crowds in Shibuya, where I ran errands yesterday.

I didn’t realize until I looked it up just now that today is called Children’s Day and is supposed to be for both genders as of 1948. I thought that strange, because I somehow thought it was Boys’ Day, considering the images of Kintaro (the golden boy) and kabuto (samurai helmets) that contrast with the dolls of Girl’s Day, celebrated on March 3 or 3/3. Politicians can change the name, but they can’t change traditional festivals, I guess. It’s just unfortunate that in effect, “children” means boys today. I’m all for the boys having a festival, but call it what it is!

Tags Japan, sweets

Travel

A Pilgrimage to Kumano

Lightly edited on January 31, 2022.

Kumano Pilgrimage — A stretch of the Kumano pilgrimage trails near Nachi Taisha. *Photo by H. McGaughey*

Yokohama, Japan At the end of last summer, which ended in late September for me on the Japanese academic calendar, I realized I had not taken advantage of my free time and decided to leave the Tokyo metropolis on a little trip. Photographs by a friend of mine who had been to Kumano earlier in the year had caught my fancy, and combined with the significance of Kumano as a pilgrimage destination in the Japanese middle ages, I thought it a suitable place to go.

I went for a total of two nights, staying at an onsen resort on an off-season, no-meals attached rate. The complex was in a small valley surrounded by greenery, which was a beautiful respite after a hot summer in the city. The day I arrived, the weather was rainy, and the forests and mountains were interwoven with low clouds that snaked through valleys and between trees like dragons.

Tags Japan, Kumano, mythology, shrine