Thanks a lot for dropping by. Really appreciate it. ^-^

There’s not much I can add to the survey that hasn’t already been said.

Another delurker! Thanks a lot for your suggestions. ^-^

:P Sorry for being such a lurker. Just because my writing skill in English is not that good so i prefer keeping silent. I’ve been following you through both your two blogs for about one year and a half i think.

I am personally interested in aesthetics/language theme. Your POV and way of approaching and interpreting those concepts are interesting. I am a Vietnamese and my language is kind of complicated as well as having many adaptions from Chinese. So when i combine your ideas with which i’ve already known, i get quite excited of… everything ^ ^. Of course also about East Asian culture/aesthetic view in general. This is my favorite subject after all.

Besides, reading all interpretations of these concepts in English also gives me some ideas of how different it is between Western and East Asian languages. I am really, really concerned of East Asian languages’ insight meanings as well as their beauties.

Therefore, more in terms of this theme if it is possible, please. And the longer each post is, the better it is to me personally.

Anyway, that’s just my very own confession ^ ^. (after a long time of lurking)

Generally I should answer your survey question like this :P :

1) What do you want to see more/less of in terms of content here at Iwa ni Hana?

“The niche I pitch at is this: a non-academic working adult fan of animation/manga/books/films/East Asian culture writing for a general audience of non-academic working adults who like the same things.”

I am exactly this type of audience so everything you wrote so far is good to me. And i’m still expecting for very new ideas/concepts appearing in the future.

2) Do you think the length of the posts are: i) too long, ii) just about right or iii) too short?

I think it depends. When the idea/concept is mentioned for the very first time, keeping the post short and focused is better whilst for the second time and third and so on the concept should be digging in a little bit more each time it appears again (hence, longer posts maybe?). I personally don’t mind reading long posts involved concepts i’ve already known or interested in, but otherwise, yes, i think brevity and clarity is better. We all don’t have that much time after all ^ ^.

Anyway, so far, your posts are just about right to me.

So, that’s all. Sorry for such a long comment :P, and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year~

Noted with thanks.

Noted with thanks.

I think I read it last year. I failed to catch the movie so decided to read the book instead. I was in tears near the end but the unnecessary stuff annoyed me.

>>I remember that you told me you were taking the JLPT Level 2 exam last year too.

I took it again this year because I didn’t pass. Even though it’s take two I’m still not confident but the fee was shouldered by my company anyway so there was no real harm in taking it again. ^_^;

Now that you mention it, I think I do remember having heard about a grandson of Natsume Soseki being manga critic.

Please be sure to discuss with me what you think about Ubume no Natsu afterwards! I am all ears.

Tan:

If there is anything unclear, then I hope people would use the comment section and ask.
Another thing I noticed about the demographic of people who visit this blog is that they do not all necessarily know English at a native fluency level. I tend not to use difficult words on this blog, but sometimes a gap of understanding seems unavoidable, especially when it comes to discussion of abstract concepts.

Shina Luna:

I think you are probably in the minority with “Read the rest of this entry link”. My traffic log shows that most visitors do click on it…

ayame:

Images are scattered all over the place on the net and I don’t see much point in linking to a dozen of pages with one image each. Using Google Images (*not* Google for websites) is how I myself find images. I think the problem you described in the past tends to happen with Google for *websites*.

animekritik:
Sane advice you have.

I don’t know what to say. I think you should continue doing what you do…

2) Do you think the length of the posts are: i) too long, ii) just about right or iii) too short?

When I like something, I want more and more of it. Therefore my answer would be (iii) and it would also be the reason why i look like a cross between pillsbury doughboy and michelin man. That said, it’s probably best if you stick to the length that you’re comfortable with.

2.somewhere in the middle. Not too short, not too long. I usually have a content feeling after reading a post of yours. Very few times I crave for more comments.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, Wabisabi! :D And to all of you! I really hope that some global problems will be solved or at least decreased the upcoming decade.
(I also hope for more quality anime productions, hehe ^^’ )

I think, until now I like the posts which dealt with Chinese culture (like the “Honorific speech, nicknames and intimacy in Chinese culture” post) and the Post on Chinese Anime/Illustations or the Chinese-Japanese comparisons most. Especially the vocabulary posts are interesting. (Through they always seem sometimes a bit (too?) complicated, to comment on them in any matter that would make sense…) For them I think it would be really nice if there were more phrases which contain these vocabularies, just to show the context more clearly.
I like the Chinese especially, since for Japanese stuff (especially Animes) there are plenty of other (easily readable) resources, but for Chinese stuff it’s rather complicated, if one’s Chinese is horrible…

What I also like are these other culture posts like that on Satre and Simone de Beauvoir.

2) Do you think the length of the posts are: i) too long, ii) just about right or iii) too short?
Last year, I think I chose “about right”, but this year, as I do see how my time is running away with my university studies, I’d almost say a bit too long. I have many a time caught myself stopping reading an entry when I saw the “Read the rest of this entry »” link. It somehow implied the post would go on much longer and it makes me often to skip it, thinking “will finish reading when I have time”, which case has grown rather seldom, so that I simply forget about things, which is a pity. (But I can’t help my sieve-memory…)
And I think, a bit shorter posts, do leave more points unclear, but then, I think that is a motivation of comment and simply ask.

I especially like the posts where you highlight artists from the PRC. I’d love to hear about the Chinese manhua/comics scene, if you have any interest in that area.

Posts where you talk about translations/readings things in different languages/culture, things are that are also very interesting, too.

Have a good rest of your 2009!

Well, Frederik Schodt brought the term ‘manga’ to the Western world back in the 80s and wrote the definitive books on the subject. Natsume Fusanosuke (夏目房之介) is the grandson of Natsume Soseki and the most respected manga critic, founder of the mangalogy (マンガ学).

And I am happily informing you that I am on vacation for the rest of the month, so I will read Summer of the Ubume, which arrived to me some time ago.

Thank you for delurking. ^-^

I don’t think I have seen you comment before (unless you commented under some other name).

You are very welcome. I do my best to spread the word on things of beauty and wit on this blog. ^-^

hayase:

I have never read Ian McEwan, but I think I see your point. Is “Atonement” a book you recently read?