This Would Actually Be Handy To Know, Even For Therapy Cats While In Recovery.

This would actually be handy to know, even for therapy cats while in recovery.

Cat Behavior

Hachijojima Local Cuisine

An overview of the island's cuisine, including ashitaba, kusaya, shimazushi, lemons, and more!

These would be yet more reasons to visit the Hachijō Islands. Replicating these dishes when possible along with a virtual travel to yond islands for maximum travel experience if you can’t physically make it to Japan.

My point still stands, especially with how differently this kind of braille works from most other kinds. I think this form could possibly work with Ainu, with even the consonants being shown as above in standalone form (meaning sans the vowels) as unlike the kana form, this would have an easier time handling the phonetics inside. The ‘ye’ syllable would of course be written as -y- and then the kana e from its row. This may even hold true if a few new vowels were added into the equation, albeit in new combos. The one question is how to handle the allophony between s/sh & c (ch/ts).

Japanese Braille (and why it’s easier than written Japanese)

Okay, so I thought I’d write a post about a topic that’s really close to my heart, being a Legally Blind person: Japanese Braille. 

There are 1.64 million people in Japan with an Uncorrectable Vision Impairments, 187,000 of which are listed as Blind.

Japanese Braille sounds really difficult, but in reality it’s not actually that hard! Especially once you get a few hundred Kanji in, learning Japanese Braille is honestly super simple. 

First of all, a note: Japanese Braille (99% of the time, at least) is completely phonetic; there’s no differentiation between Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji like there is in Written Japanese.

Additionally, it follows really basic patterns; with the exception of a few Punctuation-type characters, you basically only have to learn 21 basic pieces, as everything else follows basic patterns beyond that. 

First off, the vowels: 

All other Syllables use these same Vowels, in the same places

Following this, there comes all of the Consonants

Note that the vowels are in the exact same spot as in the AIUEO characters, just with an added mark for the Consonant.

Here is probably a good place to point out: Dakuten is marked by a single dot on the middle of the right side of the cell, placed BEFORE the character that gets changed by the Dakuten (Handakuten is the same, except the dot was lowered to the bottom right of the cell)

You’ll note that this brings us up to 14 characters…. where are all the rest?

If you’re observant, you’ll note that Ya, Yu, Yo, and Wa and (W)o are missing from the chart here. That’s because these 5 characters break the rules, just a little bit.

(Note that the Wi & We characters are only there for Ancient Japanese; don’t worry if you never learned them before, they’re gone from Japanese now)

Note that the -y- character there is placed BEFORE another consonant to make it a _y_ version of it (i.e. put it before Ka to make Kya), and that the -w- character is used to make all the irregular Little Characters (i.e. put it before Ha and you’ll get Fa).

There’s 2  more characters to learn, and they’re pretty easy. 

They’re made for doubling consonants, and doubling vowels respectively

For example, putting a Sokuon before Ka makes Kka, and a Chouon AFTER A makes Aa

Anyways, that covers all the fundamentals of Japanese Braille, hopefully enabling even more people to make Blind Literacy possible, in an entire other language!

For the support of natives abroad, I’d give my support if I had monetary means at the moment. Some free or low cost testing kits & medical equipment (like infrared thermometer & masks) would be great. It’s especially dire because many among them have underlying illnesses like sisakkuy-tasum (diabetes) or hutne-kemorit-tasum (hypertension) that would exacerbate the issue even more.

Would ye be able to do so? For the sake of the ones truly in need, can ye give the needful for support?

More than 1/8th of the White Mountain Apache Tribe has tested positive for Covid-19.

They have been hit EXTREMELY hard and I have seen no posts going around talking about it. It is one of the hardest hit places in ARIZONA, a state that already has horribly high case numbers.

They have a Covid relief gofundme. Please donate if you can and spread this if you can't.

gofundme.com

White Mountain Apache Tribe COVID-19 Relief Fund organized by White Mountain Apache Tribe

The White Mountain Apache Tribe COVID-19 relief fund has been… White Mountain Apache Tribe needs your support for White Mountain Apache Trib

Tan matumma teeta Yurok kur ainukor.

(This mare respects the Yurok people here.) Why shouldn’t we follow her example? A nod to my editor’s visit last week through north state California & southern Oregon including Crescent City & some parks nearby including 1 near the Klamath River.

Princess Luna appreciates that the Yurok people let us learn about them and their land. She reminds us that we need to be respectful. (Click through for more information)

This should make writing & worldbuilding significantly easier to handle for referencing. My editor would love this. Here’s a few from my home culture: https://mongols.mrdonn.org/myths.html 

https://www.culturev.com/mongol/mythology.html 

Myths, Creatures, and Folklore

Want to create a religion for your fictional world? Here are some references and resources!

General:

General Folklore

Various Folktales

Heroes

Weather Folklore

Trees in Mythology

Animals in Mythology

Birds in Mythology

Flowers in Mythology

Fruit in Mythology

Plants in Mythology

Folktales from Around the World

Africa:

Egyptian Mythology

African Mythology

More African Mythology

Egyptian Gods and Goddesses

The Gods of Africa

Even More African Mythology

West African Mythology

All About African Mythology

African Mythical Creatures

Gods and Goddesses

The Americas:

Aztec Mythology

Haitian Mythology

Inca Mythology

Maya Mythology

Native American Mythology

More Inca Mythology

More Native American Mythology

South American Mythical Creatures

North American Mythical Creatures

Aztec Gods and Goddesses

Asia:

Chinese Mythology

Hindu Mythology

Japanese Mythology

Korean Mythology

More Japanese Mythology

Chinese and Japanese Mythical Creatures

Indian Mythical Creatures

Chinese Gods and Goddesses

Hindu Gods and Goddesses

Korean Gods and Goddesses

Europe:

Basque Mythology

Celtic Mythology

Etruscan Mythology

Greek Mythology

Latvian Mythology

Norse Mythology

Roman Mythology

Arthurian Legends

Bestiary

Celtic Gods and Goddesses

Gods and Goddesses of the Celtic Lands

Finnish Mythology

Celtic Mythical Creatures

Gods and Goddesses

Middle East:

Islamic Mythology

Judaic Mythology

Mesopotamian Mythology

Persian Mythology

Middle Eastern Mythical Creatures

Oceania:

Aboriginal Mythology

Polynesian Mythology

More Polynesian Mythology

Mythology of the Polynesian Islands

Melanesian Mythology

Massive Polynesian Mythology Post

Maori Mythical Creatures

Hawaiian Gods and Goddesses

Hawaiian Goddesses

Gods and Goddesses

Creating a Fantasy Religion:

Creating Part 1

Creating Part 2

Creating Part 3

Creating Part 4

Fantasy Religion Design Guide

Using Religion in Fantasy

Religion in Fantasy

Creating Fantasy Worlds

Beliefs in Fantasy

Some superstitions:

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