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Kotaro lives in Osaka prefecture, Japan. He works in a grocery store at the train station. Besides Japanese and Lithuanian, he speaks Polish, Russian, Ukrainian and English. When we talked about the conversation and Kotaro said he could use it around 6pm In Lithuanian time, I checked if we really have seven hours, which means there will be the first hour of the night in Japan at that time.
The interlocutor confirmed that it is, and said that at that time he will return from work and we can talk. Plus, he added, it’s a time when you usually sit down to build your own videos about Lithuania and the Lithuanian language.
Personal file photo / Kotara Hisada
He learned the language because he wanted to sing in Lithuanian.
As you understand, our conversation was in Lithuanian. They began studying in Kotar on their own before their first trip to Lithuania, which took place eight years ago. When asked why he wanted to learn Lithuanian, the interlocutor said that he liked the pronunciation very much: “To me, Lithuanian sounded like music. I’ve been singing for a long time and I really wanted to sing in Lithuanian. “
There was another reason: Kotaro wanted to know as much as possible about Lithuania: “I really like Lithuania, it is difficult to find much information about it in English, especially in Japanese. To learn more about Lithuania, I needed to learn Lithuanian. “
To me, the Lithuanian language sounded like music. I have been singing for a long time and really wanted to sing in Lithuanian.
When asked how they studied, Kotaro said that he chose several ways to do it: he studied Lithuanian textbooks independently, met several Lithuanians online and started communicating with them, watching and still watching various Lithuanian videos on Youtube, listening to songs. Lithuanians and singing. – continues to do so until now, and when he came to Lithuania to visit, he tried to practice and speak Lithuanian with everyone. Good practice also means reading Lithuanian articles when going to work by train.
One of the funniest words is “star”.
Is the Lithuanian language difficult? “Very heavy. Because there are accents and the place of the accents is constantly changing,” Kotaro said. After hearing the consideration that the Japanese language also seems very difficult, Kotaro laughed and said that for the Japanese themselves, their language is: “I can’t learn it well. Sometimes I can’t read anything because there are many Chinese hieroglyphs that I don’t know, I don’t know how to read them, how to pronounce them and what they mean.”
Kotaro, speaking about the Lithuanian language, hinted that it often sounds like Polish to him, because it has a lot of letters č, š, ž. And one of the funniest words for him is “star”. “Sounds weird and funny,” said the interlocutor with a laugh.
It is true that Kotaro pointed out that some words in Lithuanian reminded him of Japanese. “For example, the word ‘such’ sounds like the Japanese capital Tokyo, another word for ‘nothing’, which I first heard when I heard the song ‘Sun Nothing’ for ‘Love Nothing’. To me, it sounded like the Japanese word for “nothing”, which means “cat”. Lithuanians usually say “none of that”, it sounds very Japanese. Another word, “weird,” also sounds like Japanese, which means “salad,” Kotaro explained with a smile.
VIDEO: Japan Kotaro Hisada is trying to learn Lithuanian fast
I not only liked the capital, but also the towns.
For the first time, Kotaro learned about Lithuania in 2008-2009. on television, and four years later he himself came: “I came to travel for a week, to see what Lithuania is like. I met a Lithuanian online, it was fun meeting him. “
Since then, Kotar has visited Lithuania more than twenty times. He came here much more frequently when he lived in Poland for four years, where he studied at a lyceum for one year under the exchange program, at a Polish language school for another year, and then studied Russian philology for another two years.
I really like zeppelins and potato pancakes. When I come to Lithuania, I always eat them.
After returning to Japan (living there again since 2016), the interlocutor said that he still visited Lithuania every year: “I had to come last year, but I couldn’t because of the coronavirus.”
While traveling here, he traveled considerably. He liked Vilnius and Kaunas, as well as the smaller cities of the country, for example, Telšiai and even the villages.
“You can usually see photos of famous cities online or in books, but few can see images of small towns or places. I am more attracted to places that are invisible, I want to visit them.
So I especially liked the towns. They have many old, natural wooden constructions. It is very interesting to see how people live there because their lives are different from those in the city. I feel like traveling on time and I really like it, ”Kotaro said.
Asked about his opinion on Lithuanian cuisine, the interlocutor said that everything is very tasty: “I really like zeppelins and potato pancakes. And another cold borscht. When I come to Lithuania, I always eat them ”.
The amount of people was surprised
Kotaro shared several things that surprised him a lot in Lithuania. One of them is that there is a blue light on in public toilets: “I have not seen it anywhere, only in Lithuania. I was very surprised, but then I discovered that they were addicts. “
The second thing that left the Japanese with a feeling of surprise is that there are very few people in Lithuania’s third and fourth largest cities.
“I knew that Klaipeda and Siauliai are the third and fourth cities in Lithuania. Usually these cities are quite noisy, they have a lot of people. I was surprised that there are not people even in the train stations, except when the train arrives ”, said the interlocutor with a smile.
The third thing that surprised Kotaro is that in the capital Vilnius we have a lot of greenery, regional parks, in the words of the interlocutor “forests”, which are quickly accessible.
Jealous of cheap vegetables, yearning for winter and cashiers
Kotaro said that there are some things that Lithuanians envy. One of them is cheap fruits and vegetables. According to the interlocutor, in Japan, an apple costs one euro.
Another thing is the long summer days compared to Japan. The third is that in our country – a small population. “There are 3 million in Lithuania, 9 million live in Osaka prefecture.” People are crowded here, sometimes they can’t walk freely, the trains are also crowded, “Kotaro said.
Personal file photo / Kotara Hisada
I don’t think Lithuanian ATMs are nice.
However, the interlocutor admitted that there are some things that he will not miss at all. The first number on his list is the Lithuanian winter. He visited here several times during the cold season: “Once it was 17 degrees cold. I come from a place where it is not so cold. “
The second thing that Kotaro does not like at all in Lithuania is the cash registers of the stores and their employees. “I don’t think Lithuanian cashiers are nice. There were a few good ones, but most of the time there aren’t any. He doesn’t say goodbye and usually seems unhappy. I understand that working at the cash register is not much fun. I also work at the cash register. , but I’m not unhappy or unhappy, because then my clients would be the same ”, shared the interlocutor.
Personal file photo / Kotara Hisada
Met L. Adomaitis
Kotaro says he loves Lithuania, loves Lithuanian language, and loves Lithuanian music, not only listening, but also singing.
“I don’t remember exactly when I first heard Lithuanian music, but I think while I was still living in Japan, before I went to Poland, it was about ten years ago. I found a singer on the internet: Luke. I listened to him. Then I started listening.” Sun Solar “, I like them a lot. I was looking for more Lithuanian music, I discovered Linas Adomaitis, Vaida Baumila, Jurgas Šeduikytė and others”, said the interlocutor.
Kotaro was at the “Saulės kliošas” concerts several times and met L. Adomaitis in person: He saw that video, wrote to me, asked for coffee when I was here again. When I arrived, we met. We met twice in total. “
Personal file photo / Kotara Hisada with Linas Adomaitis
On the YouTube channel, Kotaro poses his own videos about Lithuania and the Lithuanian language, and on Instagram you can find many videos in which the Japanese draw Lithuanian, Polish and Russian songs. On social media, Kotaro also communicates with several Lithuanian friends and says that he would gladly agree to expand that circle of contacts in order to get to know our country, the people even more and learn the language better.
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