【Japanese Podcast #1】ネイティブのリアルな日本語 / 私の出身地について

It will definitely improve everyone's Japanese skill and Japanese listening skills. Definitely. I'm really saying this, and I won't make you regret it, so please believe me.

Hello everyone, this is Kumi. Thank you for coming to watch this video. This time, I would like to try a podcast instead of a vlog.

Yay! Thank you very much for coming. I think many of the people watching this channel are students who are interested in Japanese culture or are studying Japanese, and I want to deliver "living Japanese" for those students.

So I don't speak slowly on this channel. I would like to speak the natural Japanese that I always do. When you come to Japan and you think "Let's talk to a Japanese person" , and try to use Japanese that you've been studying hard, you'll definitely face this problem .

The natives speak too fast to understand. I think the reason why this happens is that most people are used to slowly Japanese, and not used to this speed, which is the natural speed of native speakers. That's why this gap is happen.

That's why I have my channel so that everyone doesn't feel that gap. I often post on my vlogs the natural Japanese used by native speakers and the natural conversations I have with my older sister. I want to share such natural Japanese with everyone.

So, if you want to be able to talk to native speakers, or speak like a Japanese person, or understand Japanese anime or movies, please listen to the end. And YOU, who thought this is too fast for me, I know, but listen. everyone would think it is too fast at first, but that doesn't mean that even if you listen to slow Japanese for a long time, you will be able to understand the Japanese spoken by fast native speakers.

There's no way that will happen. Too bad though. That's why it's important to get used to this speed , so even if you don't understand what I'm saying at first, or even if you can't catch a single word of what I'm saying , it's normal and it's okay.

Don't stop listening until the end . For example, right now I'm talking for 2 minutes and 40 seconds from the opening , and just trying to imitate what I said for a week and a month, trying to speak it , shadowing it, and just listening to it. It's fine just listening.

I'm sure your ears will get used to it just by listening to it . Your ears will get used to this speed. Then, when you watch anime or meet native Japanese people, notice how fast they speak but I don't think you'll be surprised.

I don't think you will not feel the gap. Yeah. After all, the Japanese that everyone learns in textbooks and the real Japanese that we native speakers use are completely different.

It happens . I think there are many people who have realized this. For example, You want to say, "The weather is really nice today.

" I could do a podcast which I speak slowly for you like, that the weather is really nice today , but when I actually want to tell my friends and family that the weather is really nice today, I would say, umm The weather is really nice today! I will speak like this, Do you see that the speed at which I speak and the words I choose are completely different? So I can speak slowly, but if I speak slowly, I end up speaking like a robot, which is not natural Japanese at all.

So if you want to learn natural Japanese or be able to understand native speakers, please check out this channel. And don't forget to subscribe to the channel. Yes, it got a little long, let me finish it This video is my first podcast, so I had a hard time deciding what to talk about, but I thought people wouldn't be interested in talking about me, so this time I'd like to talk about where I'm from.

Japan is said to have 47 prefectures. there are 47 prefectures. prefecture!

where I am from is Tottori Prefecture. Yes, I was born in a prefecture called Tottori. Have you all heard of it?

I've talked a lot about my love for Tottori Prefecture to my students , so I'm sure many of them know it , but Tottori Prefecture has the lowest number of 〇〇 in Japan. What is it? Do you know this?

Tottori is the prefecture with the smallest population in Japan. Population is the number of people living in a prefecture. Tottori prefecture has the lowest number of people living in the prefecture .

Yay! In other words, Tottori Prefecture is very countryside. There is a really beautiful sea, beautiful mountains, and beautiful rice fields.

And the sand dunes. There are huge sand dunes . I was born and raised for 22 years in a prefecture surrounded by nature.

I'm currently living in Osaka, but I think it's already been 4 years since I've lived there. This is my 4th year. But my hometown is Tottori, and I know more about Tottori.

You know many things about Tottori. Yes, today I would like to tell everyone about the charms of Tottori Prefecture. First of all, do you know where Tottori Prefecture is located among the 47 prefectures?

Actually, Tottori Prefecture is quite close to Osaka, where I currently live. Hyogo is next to Tottori. Next to Hyogo Prefecture is Osaka, about diagonally below.

So it takes about 3 hours from Osaka to Tottori Prefecture. You can go there in about 3 hours. So, I would like to introduce some of the charms of Tottori Prefecture, at first, I think everyone knows but Tottori Sand Dunes.

When I asked by people from other prefecture, "Where are you from? " And I said "Tottori Prefecture," everyone always says, "Ah, that's where the sand dunes are. " When people think of Tottori Prefecture, they think of the Tottori Sand Dunes.

I think it's true for Japanese people as well, but I think many people from overseas who know about Tottori Prefecture probably know about the Tottori Sand Dunes. There is a huge slope of sand dune, and as you climb up it, you will see a beautiful sea. You can see the incredibly beautiful ocean and the sand dune is really wide Yes, Tottori Sand Dunes is a place where you can feel the richness of nature, and it is definitely a place you should visit if you come to Tottori Prefecture .

There are a lot of tourists of cause, but I definitely want you to see it at least once. I think you will be overwhelmed by its vastness. It's an amazing place that makes you wonder if it's really Japan.

There are a lot of people who make fun of Tottori Prefecture and think that there's only sand, but of course that's not true ; it's not just sand, it's also rice fields, mountains, and the ocean (😅), but there are few department stores and places to have fun. There aren't many beautiful buildings or cafes like in Osaka. Unfortunately.

That's why a lot of young people leave Tottori Prefecture and go to Osaka like me, and from Tottori to Tokyo or Osaka or other big cities like that. Now, the current population is decreasing rapidly. The declining birthrate and aging population are progressing rapidly.

However , it is a wonderful place and I would like everyone to come and visit it. So, another attraction of Tottori Prefecture is its hot springs. There are many hot springs around the house where I lived, and there are also many hot spring inns.

So, when you come to Tottori Prefecture, be sure to go to a hot spring inn and soak in the hot springs while seeing the beautiful scenery. I think there are some countryside areas, but guest rooms often have open-air baths. That room has its private open-air bath.

I think it's common for a hotel to have a large open-air bath on the rooftop that everyone can use, but it's called a guest room open-air bath, which is an open-air bath for your own use in the hotel room where you're staying. It has a bath . So you can take a bath in the open-air bath while looking at the outside scenery from your room.

That is highly recommended. There is an open-air bath in the guest room. Tottori prefecture 's famous seafood sashimi, seafood bowl, and crab are all very famous, so eat those seafood and take a bath.

But above all, the most attractive thing about Tottori Prefecture is What I want to convey to you is the starry sky. You can see really beautiful stars. So, in the summer, when I often go back to my hometown, my friends and I spread out a leisure sheet in the middle of the road and lie down and look at the starry sky at night.

And I really like the moment when we see it Tottori Prefecture is such a countryside area, so there are no cars at night, and there are no streetlights along the road, so it's pitch black. There are no traffic lights either. No cars pass by.

That's why we are able to see the beautiful stars in the pitch darkness. Everyone should definitely see it when you go to Tottori. Go to a hot spring inn in Tottori, take an open-air bath, eat seafood, and look at the beautiful starry sky.

There are many other attractions of Tottori Prefecture that I could tell you about, but I think that's all in this time. So, here is the question, "How do you get to Tottori? " When people want to go to Tottori Prefecture, the closest place is Osaka, and I think they often go from Osaka to Tottori Prefecture.

But first of all, there are two ways to get there. The first is the express bus. I think I said earlier that it would take about 3 hours to get there by express bus , but yes, it will take 3 hours by bus.

One way is 4200 yen. So a round trip will cost about 8,400 yen. Another way to get there is by an express train called Super Hakuto, which takes about 2 and a half hours.

The fare is about 7,000 yen (one way). In other words, the time difference is only 30 minutes, but the fare is about twice as much. Therefore, for tourists who want to save money as you can, I recommend the express bus.

By the way, I also use the express bus when returning to Tottori Prefecture from Osaka. As for why, the time difference is only 30 minutes, and well, because it's not inconvenient and it's not terribly cramped So if you think "Let's go to Tottori,'' I hope someone listens to this podcast thinks about it. If you are interested in visiting Tottori Prefecture, please take the 3-hour express bus from Osaka!

By bus, you can get from the big city of Osaka and head towards the mountains, becoming more and more surrounded by scenery full of nature. It's really fun to see the scenery change . At first, the scenery was filled with buildings, but gradually, all you could see was mountains, and finally, it was just rice fields.

But it's a really nice place, so I want everyone to go to Tottori Prefecture. yes. I've talked for about 14 minutes so far on this podcast, but I wonder how many people listened to the end?

Thank you so much to everyone who listened so far. At the beginning, you probably didn't understand anything at all, and you probably didn't understand what I was saying at all, but don't give up and just listen to it, so please listen to it. Please listen to it as background music.

It will definitely improve everyone’s Japanese and Japanese listening skills. absolutely. I'm really saying this, I won't make you regret it, so please believe me.

You'll definitely get used to it just by listening to it. In the end, this will lead to everyone's listening skill, and it will definitely lead to speaking skills, and by doing that, when you are watching anime or speaking with native speakers, when you're talking, when you're having daily conversations, even just a little bit, you can use this podcast. I hope it 's helpful.

From now on, on my channel, I will be posting vlogs such as daily conversations I often have with my older sister and on my podcast, I will be posting videos of myself speaking in natural Japanese. If you are interested, please look forward to the next video. And if you have any requests, or if there's a topic you'd like me to talk about, I'd love to hear your comments.

Okay, so now that Tim just wake up, I'd like to finish for today.