December 30, 2024

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LIFE

Language

People walk around an outlet mall in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture. At stores across Japan, clerks use a form of polite language called "manyuaru keigo," literally, “manual honorifics,” named for the service manuals they study it from.

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Dec 6, 2024

Japan's honorific language can be challenging for native speakers, too

By Yaeko Kabe

According to surveys, more than half of those in their teens, 20s and 30s, believe they cannot use "keigo," or honorific language, appropriately.

Customers enter Aeon's Shinagawa Seaside store in Tokyo for a Black Friday sale in 2022.

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Nov 29, 2024

Master this double negative to better express your Black Friday urges

By Yuko Tamura

What better time to learn how to say you can't resist a deal than on a weekend of discounted shopping.

With Labor Thanksgiving Day approaching in Japan, it's a good time to show some appreciation to your colleagues.

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Nov 20, 2024

You don’t need an onion bouquet to say thanks — just the right words

By Yuko Tamura

Nov. 23 is Labor Thanksgiving Day in Japan and Nov. 28 is Thanksgiving in the United States. That makes it a good time to learn how to show your appreciation.

As the weather gets colder, we are seeing an uptick in cases of influenza as well as COVID-19.

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Nov 13, 2024

The Japanese you need to get vaccinated before winter comes

By Eric Margolis

With strains of both COVID-19 and the flu circulating, learn the words that will help you navigate a visit to the clinic.

A picture of the writer with his sibling and grandparents sits alongside double “Best of” CDs by British rock group the Beatles. Music by the band continues to conjure memories for the writer of staying at his grandparents’ home.

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Nov 7, 2024

Hearing a song from the past and expressing nostalgia in Japanese

By Ansel Swindells

You're in a cafe and suddenly a song from the past starts to play. How do you tell your Japanese friends that you're in the "time slip"?

Familiarizing yourself with different types of honorifics and formal verb structures will be crucial to successfully completing a job interview in Japanese.

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Nov 2, 2024

Get to know basic honorifics before you head into that Japanese job interview

By Yaeko Kabe

Honorific language, or “keigo,” is something you’ll want to get a handle on before you head out to hunt for a job in Japan.

Japanese people love to dress up for Halloween, but in recent years there has been an effort to cut down on the alcohol and crowds that tend to come with the holiday here.

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Oct 24, 2024

Celebrating spooky season with Halloween-themed vocabulary

By Yuko Tamura

Get to know the vocabulary behind different levels of scares from spooky to absolutely terrifying.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Visitors to Kyoto walk along a street near Kiyomizu Temple in April. A popular tourist spot, Kyoto has seen what locals feel to be an overwhelming amount of tourists in 2024.

Is Japan ready for 60 million tourists?

By Kathryn Wortley

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’

SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’

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