Tegami (Letter).

For my latest Japanese assignment, we have been given the task of writing a letter to Sensei - but addressed to his former address in Japan, so we are writing to his past self. The actual point of the activity is to get used to writing a formal Japanese-style letter. He said all we have to talk about is something interesting that we did; it doesn't have to be real, it can be made up, as long as it's not boring. I've decided it might be fun to post my letter here. Anything in bold is the romanized Japanese, beneath it is the English translation.

On the front of the envelope:

Buraddorii Uiruson sama
(Bradley Wilson-sama)

Kagoshima-ken, Satsuma-gun, Miyanojou-chou: 941-1
(Kagoshima prefecture, Satsuma district, Miyanojou town: #941-1)

The letter itself:

Haikei
(Just something you say when you begin a formal letter. Not too sure what it means, exactly)

Uiruson sensei, o-genki desu ka.
(Wilson-sensei, how are you?)

Watashi wa genki desu.
(I'm doing fine.)

Kochira wa suzushii desu.
(Here it's cool.)

Kagoshima wa dou desu ka.
(How is Kagoshima?)

Sate,
(Well, then, ["down to business, then"])

Watashi wa tsuki e itta.
(I went to the moon.)

Samukatta, totemo sabishikatta desu.
(It was cold, and very lonely.)

Dakara taiyou e itta.
(So, I went to the sun.)

Demo, taiyou wa atsukatta desu.
(But, the sun was hot).

Ie ni kaerimashita.
(I returned home).

Sono ato, tatsu o katta.
(After that, I bought a dragon.)

Watashi no tatsu no namae wa Yujiin desu.
(My dragon's name is Eugene).

Yujiin no suki na tabemono wa chiisai inu desu.
(Eugene's favorite food is small dogs.)

Issho ni, tenisu o shita.
(Together, we played tennis.)

Yujiin wa totemo sugokatta desu.
(Eugene was amazing.)

Bangohan no ato, issho ni sentaku o shita.
(After dinner, we did the laundry together.)

Watashi wa shukudai o shite, Yujiin wa shinakatta desu.
(I did homework, but Eugene didn't.)

Tatsu wa kakemasen desu.
(Dragons can't write.)

Saa, watashi wa shiranakatta.
(Well, I didn't know.)

O-karada ni ki o tsukete kudasai.
(Please take care of yourself.)

Keiji
(Something you say at the end of a formal Japanese letter. Again, don't know exactly what it means.)

(Then comes the date [in kanji], then my name [in katakana], and then the recipient's name [which happens to also be in katakana, since it's foreign] + sama attached at the end.)



Well, I hope you all are enlightened. I sure as hell am. I learned a shit ton more kanji through this assignment. Of course, the question is, will it stick? We shall have to see.