:D Have fun in Japan! Take lots of photos and share them when you get back!

Have a safe trip. I second the request for photos. :)

o0oo, have fun! i really appreiciate what you do, so you deserve MANY vacations.

Have a safe journey and a memorable vacation. You deserve it. Oh, and don?t forget to say hello to Rumiko Takahashi for me (just kidding!!)

Have fun. It's okay no one has a right to complain n e wayz, so it doesn't matter. That's cool living out most ppl's dream of wanting to go to Japan someday. I'm not gonna be a cornball, so again have fun.

Whoa.. what a surprise Garten. Like the others have said, enjoy your trip dude! I can't wait to see the "spoils of war" when you get back. ;)

Have fun and you have nothing to worry about, the wait will make it more exciting for us who are only still on the 5th episode coz we can't understand japanese!

i wish you all the best while you're in Japan! have a great time and learn loads Garten! ^_^

Have a great time in Japan Garten! :) I envy you! I also wanna go there for post-graduate studies once I finsh with my school. We will all miss you and your blogs but at least you 'll get right back to them when you 're back, won't you? :P I will be looking forward to your photos, which I'm sure you 'll take lots of them and your experience! Ki o tsukete ne! ^_-*

Don't worry guys, the blog is not going away. Mentar is still going to write his usual writeup for Starship Operators and he told me that he's interested in some of the new Spring anime.

As for photograph, don't worry about it. In fact, I intend on blogging what I do while I'm there.

Hey Garten! ^^

Thanks again for reply to my email, I appreciate it so much. I can't access it right now but just wanted to say thanks for replying ^^

Most people already said it, but one more won't hurt lol

Have fun in Japan neh? ^^ You're work is awesome and respected. Plz do post pictures =D I want to go there one day too ^^

I'll look forward to seeing your work, always =D

Enjoy your vacation/study trip! ^^

Don't apologize, all of us understand, every Anime fan dreams of going to Japan. :) I got to go for 2 weeks back in 2001 and it was great. Try to spend more time sight-seeing than shopping, that was the biggest mistake I made. :(

Whoa, that's totally awesome! We'll all be rooting for safe journeys and clear skies ^_^

have a great, safe and FUN trip *sniff* T^T
~. .~
(^.^)/ *WaVeZ*
/
Come back safe!!

Side note, you might want to drop by and see Jeremy Hedley, he's really nice about welcoming fellow bloggers to Japan (I think he's Australian as well)

Wow thats awesome. You are so lucky...I am so jealous...lol. Anyways HAVE FUN!

Have a safe and fun trip! ^^ u deserve it thx to all your hard work :). Ive only been to tokyo's airport to transport to another airplane XD. Wish i could just step outside the airport for once XD. Anyways just have fun and be safe ^-^

he~~~~~. garten-kun mo nihon he iku non? hona, itsu ka aou! iya, joudan, joudan. tte yuu ka, doko ni sumun? uchi wa mazu, nagoya de staff-training wo surun ya kedo, sono go wa dou narun ka, mada kimattehen nen de. gakuari wo yorosshu~ tanonmasu!!

Tsukinoko ^.~*

P.S. ...erm, can you read that? Or should I be providing a translation... ^ ^;
Am eagerly awating episode 21 of GakuAri, as per usual, lol...

P.P.S. You're from Aussie-land too? I never knew... Where abouts?

Hai. Tokyo ni iku. Soshite, Okazaki de nihongo o benkyou suru. Can I read yours? A little bit. Your Japanese is Kansai-ben, isn't it? I don't know much about it. But usually I can guess a bit: you're going to Nagoya for staff training but after that you have not decided yet? Watashi mo Australia-jin da. Sydney ni sunde iru.

Enjoy your trip. Garten. Be sure to go crazy with sight-seeing and shopping. Eh, forget studying. =p

'okazaki' tte doko yattan? se ya na, uchi no nihon-go wa oosaka-ben (mata wa kansai-ben) bakkari nan ya yo! akan? nihon de nani ka-ben wo naratte ki na!

honde na, uchi mo shidonii ni sundoru nan ya kedo na...

Tsukinoko ^.~*

tte yuu ka, gakuari wa doko jai?!

Tsukinoko T^T *pun pun*

Aww, Garten go bye bye :(
Have a nice trip! Have fun watching the raws on a TV set for once!!

Welcome to Japan! Garten-san.

Please do not become good than my Japanese.^^

Garten-san mo Tsukinoko-san mo nihongo(ro-maji) ga jyouzu desune.

watashi mo eigo no benkyou ganbarimasu.

From osaka.

"jyouzu" wa eigo de nan desu ka?

jouzu - good (at doing).

tte yuu ka, oosaka-jin yanke, tenbra-san wa! oosaka no dokorahen? uchi wa hirakata, sakai, amagasaki, higashi oosaka sae sunda koto aru de. ryuu gaku shi ni ittan. kyuu ka getsu kan yattan ka te, ima hodo nihon-go wa umakunakatta wa. gakuari tte suki? uchi ni wa ichi-ban suki na yatsu de, manga wa ima made ze~nbu mottoru ka te, anime wa zenzen mottehen. honma ni samishii wa~... se ya kate, mou sugu nihon he modotte iku n de! go-gatsu nanoka ni nyuukoku suru yotei nan. futatabi umeda de bura-bura shitai naa~... hep5 no kanransha demo notte... anna uma~i uma~i mixed juice wo nonde... popeye media cafe de bura-bura shichatte... gakkou he modotte, minna ni aisatsu shite... aa, maji de samishii...

Tsukinoko ^ ^;;

P.S. Whoops, went over board on the ol' Japanese... sorry guys - -;

And WHERE, might I ask, is GakuAri 21, Garten-sama?

Tsukinoko ^.~*

I live near Hirakata-park.

Is Tsukinoko-san really a Australian?
It seems that I am talking with kansai-jin.
your kansai-ben mecha umai desu.
mairimashita.

I like Gakuen Alice, too.
But my most favorite syojyo-manga is Fruits Basket.

henna eigo ni nattetara gomen ne.

Is jouzu written as ji+chisai yo+zu? Argh, what little japanese I learned somehow seeped out of my brain. Even my romaji is bad :( I need a cute local japanese friend to teach me a thing or two... about japanese ^-^ And yes, cute and local gets equal emphasis.

You mean in Kanji? If that's what you're talking about, 'Jouzu' is written using a combination of ue (up) + te (hand) - 上手.

In hiragana, it is written as ji+small yo+u+zu.
It is the same also in katakana.
I am sorry that explanation is insufficient.

kanji,hiragana,katakana.....honto yayakoshii

^O^ KAWAII!!!!!
cool!! going to japan .. T_T.....
I wish to do it too... jijiji

good luck!!! ^___^ take a lot of photos!!!!!
...greetings from Nicaragua, central America!!
I hope that you enjoy your trip!!
it gives me envies!! ;3

Ditto with the safe trip. My Japanese is getting better...well kinda, I think I'll learn how to speak it before I get n e where near learning how to write + read it ^_^U damn it, I wish my school had Japanese class. I'm very good at pronounciation, probably cause Japanese pronounciation is a bit similiar to spanish. How long do you think it would take me to learn Kanji, or does hiragana have to be learned first? I'm so confooosed, lol.

Meh! I feel so inadequate, my Japanese learning went as far as 6th grade. Unfortunately my high school didn't offer Jap till the year I graduated, which is why your recaps are such jems. Bring back lots of stories about your (mis)adventures in the land of Anime. ^^ よい運!!!

p.s can't believe there are so many fellow Sydney-siders.

Melissa, in my case, my teacher instructed me to learn Hiragana and Katakana first before I got to learn Kanji. Hiragana and Katakana are easy. Most people master it from 2 weeks to 1 month. Some people even claimed to be able to do it in 1 week.

Well I'm a quick learner, so I'd probably be one of those "claimed to have learned in a week", I have a very good memory. So, by learning those first, what types of things do I gain to be able to learn Kanji?

In MOST manga, they use furigana/rubi, or mini hiragana (and katakana) for you to be able to read the kanji. Hiragana and katakana both have, initially, forty-six characters each, and kanji has thousands - this is why it's better/easier to learn the first two first, just as any Japanese child would.

minna ganba!

Tsukinoko ^.~*

tte yuu ka, hirapaa no chikaku ni sunden nan, tenbra-san. sugoi na. uryama,,

Uh oh ... the classic Japan study/fun trip. As usual being a ha gai jin has its advantages, especially in the smaller towns ;-)