キムチパンケーキ と クラブケーキ と ブロッコリーを 作りました。
両親は たいわんに すんでいましたが、ようしょく と わしょくを よく食べます。父はようしょくを作るのが上手です。
これは 私の オートミールレーズンクッキーです。あまい食べものが 大好きです ＞d＜。
アメリカ人だから、あさごはんは よくヨーグルトと たまごと くだものを 食べます。でも、両親はよく粥をたべます！
Our Nakama textbook, and others like it, tend to emphasize that katakana is used for the large number of loan words in the Japanese vocabulary, as well as for onomatopoeias in writing. I find it surprising that Japanese has integrated so many more foreign loanwords than a language such as Chinese. For example, the word “earring” does not seem much like a “modern” recently-imported concept. But why has Japanese adopted the western pronunciation - イヤリング - while Chinese has found a way to account for the meaning of “earring” with traditional words - “耳环” (literally ‘ear ring’)? I wonder what in Japanese history or the Japanese way of thinking has made it so globalized and open to international influence?
While browsing through Japanese media, I ran across many stylistic uses of katakana. For example, フレンチガール, or “french girl” from the cover of fashion magazine “Pinky” is used stylistically. There is a Japanese word for “girl,” so why not use that instead? I think that this is a stylistic choice, depending upon the context of the katakana, in this case a fashion magazine.
Also, many technical terms, such as species names and medical terminology are written in katakana. For example, when referring to the species of 人, one may use katakana ヒト. Many other scientific terms are also written in katakana. I think that the purpose of this is to set these names apart from other usages of the word, and also to make words more readable by the general public.
Many company/brand names are written in both katakana AND English, and I think that this is to make the brand more internationally marketable but still readable by the Japanese general public at the same time. For example, on the cover of fashion magazine “SPUR” is displayed the English titled in large pink letters. In smaller letters, one can see the katakana transliteration - ”シュプール.” Other examples are Toyota and Honda, and other well-known car manufacturers.
Perhaps this use of katakana in conjunction with English names may also explain why Japan is one of the world’s most modern, top economies.
私は おんがくが 大好きです。作曲家 Joe Hisaishi (久石譲)は とてもゆうめいです。 ひさいしは なかのからきました。おんがくは ニューエイジです。ひさいしは よく えいがのおんがくを こうせいします。ひさいしのおんがくは みやざきはやお（Hayao Miyazaki) の えいがにあります。とてもきれいですよ。たとえばとなりのトトロのおんがく と ハウルの動く城 のおんがくは ひさいしのです。
(Howl's Moving Castle theme song - from Hisaishi's CD)
(Spirited Away - One Summer's Day live performance by Hisaishi)
(Totoro theme song - live performance by Hisaishi)
