Still not learning Japanese

One thing I love about this new AI age is being able to access non-English resources. Research written in other languages. Video lectures in Japanese. Or complex deep dives into Japanese language and culture.

I can remember the late 90’s when I first started being able to watch Japanese TV on RealPlayer – grainy, laggy videos in a tiny window. I couldn’t understand what was being said, but I thought maybe I’d pick up some words from context.

That never happened. But these days YouTube will autotranslate videos. Or I can drop a video into Gemini Notebook and get a podcast explanation of what is being said. I’m still not learning Japanese, but I’m getting great explanations of the culture.

Today I was exploring how kaitenritsu (turnover rate) is managed in Japanese restaurants. When are you allowed to linger, and when should you head for the door? That’s not something I would ever really see written up anywhere, but the AI can read through Japanese discussions and bring back interesting facts, like how tax laws have led to dine-in counters being removed from many convenience stores, or how some restaurants cap their sales based on the size of their one giant stock pot.