クールジャパン

Nobunaga: King of Zipangu is an NHK drama from the early 1990s that follows the life of Oda Nobunaga, who fought to unify Japan during the Warring States period of the sixteenth century. The first episode is about his father's struggle to establish control over their home province of Owari amidst interference from the lord of Mino, Saito Dousan, and the shogunate's nominal governor. He must also decide an heir, since Nobunaga, despite being his eldest son, is unpopular due to his perceived stupidity and femininity. In the background throughout the episode is a story about certain Portuguese monks who were the first Europeans to visit Japan. The Japanese spoken in King of Zipangu is very different from what I have heard in other Japanese media. The characters use very formal styles and vocabulary; for example, 御座る seems to be preferred to ある.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes ( 銀河英雄伝説 ( ぎんがえいゆうでんせつ ) ) is a space opera 110 episodes long about the fortunes of two soldiers, each serving one of the two warring states that have colonized the galaxy by the year AD 3600. Yang Wen-li, who had enrolled in the army college only to study history for free, is a commodore in the Free Planets Alliance fleet, and Reinhard von Lohengramm, whose sister was abducted for the Kaiser's harem, is an admiral in the Galactic Imperial fleet. These two nations, one democratic and the other autocratic, have thus far a 150-year long war, but Yang and Lohengramm may see the war's end, perhaps even by their own hands. As I watched the entire show, I was able to recognize several phrases that were repeated very often. I noticed that many ordinal numbers are formed by 第 ( だい ) # (e.g. 第 ( だい ) 13 ( じゅうさん ) 艦隊 ( かんたい ) means 13th Fleet).   Given the show's setting, I learned many military terms and governmental honorifics and titles, su...