I watched a very touching children’s cartoon recently called
Stormy Night (
Arashi no Yoru ni or 嵐の夜に). It is about the unlikely friendship between a goat and a wolf who struggle against the natural order that keeps them apart. One of my Japanese Steam friends (who goes by the same name) recommended it to me.
A goat named Mei and a wolf named Gav (“Gabu”) seek shelter in an abandoned cabin on the night of a storm. Because it is too dark to see and the rain masks their scents, they are unaware of being predator and prey. Ironically, as they discuss their contradictory lifestyles, they only focus on the similarities in their stories; reinforcing the belief that they are of the same species. They agree to meet at the cabin for lunch the next day, choosing “stormy night” as their password — unaware of the revelation that awaits them.
The prejudice of nature is what threatens them most in the beginning. Gav’s favorite meat is goat, so having lunch with Mei is like having lunch with his lunch. Gav’s pack also relentlessly hunts Mei’s herd, which seeks any advantage in staying ahead of them; so the two must keep their friendship and meetings a secret. Their greatest challenge however is in acknowledging their differences, which aren’t as easy to discuss as their similarities. One of the saddest scenes is when Gav returns from hunting field mice in secret and Mei confronts him. As Gav laments that it is his irreversible nature to eat meat, Mei recriminates that it is just as much his nature to detest that about him. The coldness of Mei’s words hurts Gav and it is the first time they disagree.
I now understand why my friend recommended this film to me, apart from it being one of their favorite animations. Just like the two main characters, we are opposites from different cultures who met under coincidental circumstances. While playing on an American server, I noticed that a very quiet player had a Japanese username and a high ping, so I began typing to them in (what little I know of) Japanese. After we Friended each other, I inquired about the kanji in their username, and they realized that I must be an American. *L* Despite our language barrier though, we still enjoy playing games together and sharing our hobbies. It has become a common story for me in the last year, because I’ve developed a familiarity with Japanese servers and a preference for the people there. The Internet really does make the world smaller!
While looking for the book that inspired the film, I discovered that there was a DS game. Reviews made it look cute and semi-educational, so I searched everywhere until I finally found it in-stock at
JGamers.com.
Although this game was made for children (note the furigana above the kanji in the second picture), I bought it as a learning/motivational tool for myself. The dialogue is rudimentary enough to work through understanding and because it is printed entirely in hiragana (with spaces to show where words begin and end), I can read it. Using a game intended for children to study a language as an adult might sound pathetic, but it really does help me in my spare time! I memorized hiragana by doing the flashcard games in
AIUEO Study with Anpanman, which also expanded my vocabulary. Ubisoft’s
My Japanese Coach didn’t do squat for me in comparison and that was a game intended for adults. =P Now if only I could get over my shyness and stuttering when I try to speak Japanese. I wish that I could take a class, because I care more about learning how to communicate with Japanese people, than I do about learning to read Japanese. *L*
The game itself is really cute too. The
mini-games have different themes (puzzle-solving, RPG, platformer), and achieving a higher score treats you to
more dialogue. Some of the
sprite artwork is very detailed too.
6 Responses to “Stormy Night”
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I don’t find it silly to use kids things to understand a new language. When it comes to learning a new language we’re all like children (except for the fact that we struggle with it more than children do). What I find ridiculous is the way they try to teach language in schools. They try to teach you every last little detail, every last verb, especially the abnormal conjugations, and the history of the entire country.
I suppose they feel that learning the history provides a sort of context and an insight into the culture but really the students just want to learn to speak the language, if the history interests them they either already know it or are learning it and that’s the reason they are learning the language. Sorry, bit of a rant there, memories of French in high school.
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I took Latin in high school and because it is a dead language, I ended up learning about the meaning of the words in Latin, as well as their evolution and usage in Latin-based languages.
It was like TMI at times! But it was also interesting and I was always learning new things.
When it comes to the history of other countries, it is a subject that actually interests me. I’m a history major (although out of school because of work) and I love all history, especially East Asian history and Japanese history. Actually, what little I’ve learned of Japanese in the last year has helped me to better understand some cultural/historical nuances that I was completely oblivious to before.
I wouldn’t care how tedious a class was as long as I had the opportunity to take one. The only classes offered here though are Spanish. I would need to leave the Valley and go to the Bay area to take Japanese. That is too much for a language that has no practical application towards my line of work.
My counselor and family want me to take Spanish (our area is 70% Hispanic). My Grandmother forbids me from taking Italian though (she feels it will make me “less American”), so if I can’t study my ethnic language, then I refuse to study another Romance language like Spanish, which came after it. =P
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I’m sorry that your Grandmother doesn’t want you to take Italian. Why does she think it would make you less American? Considering all the other people in this country that speak a different language I don’t see the problem.
I could understand if it were a situation similar to my mom’s. She was born in the 40’s, and her family is German. Needless to say they didn’t think it was prudent to teach their young children German at that time.
I suppose you’re right about the history part, I like history too though maybe not as much as you do, but I suppose I just get impatient with the learning process. That was a long time ago though, so maybe I wouldn’t have a problem with it now.
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My Grandmother is in her 90’s and immigrated to America during a different time. Immigrations changed her name to make it less Italian. She and my Grandfather struggled to learn English when they came here and I never heard them speak a word of Italian to each other when he was alive. My Dad says that they were discriminated against when they came here, although my Grandmother strongly denies it.
So… I dunno!
I think we have similar values about being American (from a 21st century perspective). Being American to me means celebrating cultural diversity and language. As a country of immigrants with a relatively short history, I think that we reach out for opportunities of cultural exchange with more enthusiasm.
How far did you get with your French courses? Did you ever read Le Petite Prince? That was one of my favorite books growing up. I had a friend in HS (who also took French) that insisted you couldn’t truly appreciate the prose in that book until you read it in the original French! XD
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I can understand if she felt discriminated against why she might not want you to learn the language. For you it’s different now, but she probably still carries around the ideas she had so long ago. It’s shame, because if you want to learn to learn Italian so badly you should be able to do it, it’s part of who you are.
I agree, being an American is about celebrating our diversity. Obviously there are those who don’t for whatever misguided reason but luckily those ideas don’t seem to be too mainstream.
I got the the third year of French, and half way through I just couldn’t take it anymore and stopped. It’s one of those things I can look back on and think of how much my attitude toward school and studying and hard work have changed even such a short amount of time. Now I don’t think I would have dropped the class. And I think I probably would have done much better in the classes as a whole. Unfortunately I don’t remember much of my French, and I think I may have to take a foreign language in college now. The teacher in my high school French class did mention Le Petite Prince but we never read it.
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