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August 15, 2024
 

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BILINGUAL

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 17, 2012
Buzzwords show the changing face of Japanese in 2012
While hamming it up before the TV cameras on a diving board last September, entertainer "Sugi-chan" (real name: Eiji Sugiyama) suffered a fractured thoracic vertebrae.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 26, 2012
Notable negatives, funny titles and other linguistic oddities
When I was a wee lad of 4 or 5, I would sneak up on a chair and explore my grandfather's desk, atop of which was situated a curious object: a paperweight featuring the famous three wise monkeys of Nikko. At its base was inscribed the warning: Don't monkey with anything on this desk.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 19, 2012
Plan A: Live long and inconspicuously
Among other things, being Japanese means embracing a distinct and particular weirdness. The Japanese are well aware of this fact, and generations of Nipponjin (日本人, Japanese) have pondered on how hen (変, strange) we are since the country opened its doors to outsiders some 150 years ago. Encountering...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 5, 2012
Cooperation is needed to solve global economic crisis
Everybody agrees: We need kōdō (行動, action). What 行動, though? And whose? That's where the unanimity crumbles.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 29, 2012
Halloween in Japan: no trick or treat, but scary spots galore
Japanese people generally have a well developed appreciation for the supernatural, and while the American practice of ringing doorbells in the neighborhood to demand "trick or treat" has yet to take root, Halloween-related events continue to grow in popularity.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 22, 2012
Politicians may ru the day their names became verbs
"Which new words would you like to see added to the dictionary?" A couple of months ago the publishing house Taishukan put this generous question to Japanese high school and junior high school students.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 1, 2012
The unneighborly side of nationalism
It's out in the open now: Japan is not well liked in its neighborhood, and it doesn't take much to dissolve the surface civilities.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 24, 2012
Indecent proposals: the language of Japanese dating spam
It started with an email from a 20-year-old college student called Emi, who told me she was looking for a Showa umare no dansei (昭和生まれの男性, a man born in Showa, i.e., born before 1989). Next was Norika, a bored housewife in her early thirties asking me to spend some himajikan (ヒマ時間,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 3, 2012
Imagine a better Olympics for Japan
"Sekai wa itsuka hitotsu ni naru" (「世界はいつかひとつになる」) — that's what "And the world will be as one," from John Lennon's "Imagine," sounds like in Japanese, at least according to the Asahi Shimbun. The matter arises in connection with the dai sanjukkai orinpikku kyogitaikai (第三十回オリンピック競技大会,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 27, 2012
The bittersweet taste of Japanese words
A little while ago a friend of mine who's been living in Japan for few weeks texted me in a bit of a dither, saying, "This guy I barely know said I was sweet! Is he coming on to me?" It turns out the word he used was amai (甘い), which nominally means sweet as in sugar. In English if you call someone...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 20, 2012
A how-to guide to becoming a translator of how-to guides
Thinking back, I never set out with the intention of becoming a translator. I was employed by a small travel agency in Osaka and was only dimly aware that such an occupation even existed. But word got around that I could read Japanese, and one winter day in 1975 I was approached by an inventor who had...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 13, 2012
This ain't no cure for the summertime blues
How are you looking vacationwise? Do you have a chunk of time set aside for genuine relaxation and that most wonderful of Western concepts: Fun? Personally speaking, it's nearly impossible for me to enjoy summertime, as the season is fraught with traumatic memories. The reason for this boils down to...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 6, 2012
School bullies need to take responsibility for their actions
He left no isho (遺書, suicide note), so his deepest feelings can only be guessed — first from his jisatsu (自殺, suicide) at age 13, and secondly from the testimony of dōkyūsei (同級生, classmates) elicited in a tardy and grudging school and police investigation into the case.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 30, 2012
Mikitani and his 'Englishnization' of Japanese business
On July 1, Rakuten Inc. CEO Hiroshi Mikitani published a book about his company's so-called Englishnization project titled "Takaga Eigo!" (「たかが英語!」"It's only English") to coincide with the the start of the company's eigo kōyōgoka (英語公用語化, making English the official language)....
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 23, 2012
This summer, signs of setsuden will again be all around us
Now that all but one of Japan's usable nuclear reactors have been halted as a result of the Fukushima No. 1 power plant disaster — which followed the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami — the nation's households, small businesses and factories will once again plow forward through the hot summer...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 16, 2012
Japan's sticky, hot, windy summer gives women the blues
Ever wondered why there are so many female Japanese tourists in Hawaii at this time of year? Never mind the statistics and official answer to that, I'll give it to you straight in one short word: utsu (鬱, depression). The joshi (女子, women) of this country get seriously depressed in the summer and...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 2, 2012
After 15 years, Mainali is a free man
Freed June 7 from 15 years' imprisonment for a murder he apparently never committed, Govinda Prasad Mainali declared himself full of gratitude. Speaking through his lawyer, he said, "Mujitsu, shinjitsu wo shinjite kureta saibankan ni deaete yokatta. Kansha no kimochi de ippai desu," (「無実、真実を信じてくれた裁判官に出会ってよかった。感謝の気持ちでいっぱいです"」"It's...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 25, 2012
Ii ne! Facebook is a perfect place for Japanese immersion
Facebook has grown at a tremendous rate in Japan over the past four years, jumping from just over 200,000 users in 2008 to more than 6 million by the end of 2011. In the process, Japan has generated one of the social network's highest annual growth rates of 254 percent, second only to Brazil.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 18, 2012
The truth about Japanese love: We just don't get along
One of my younger cousins, aged 23, managed to pull off what he calls the kotoshino igyō (今年の偉業, the great accomplishment of this year).
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 4, 2012
A hot genpatsu-free summer threatens
Two things make a battered Japan cringe: genpatsu (原発, nuclear power) and fukeiki (不景気, economic stagnation). The nation has suffered deeply from both. As spring fades into a potentially sweltering, potentially stagnant summer, there arises an agonizing dilemma: Can the latter be avoided, or...
Japan to revise consumption tax exemption for overseas tourists
Tourists walk through Nakamise shopping street near Sensoji Temple in Tokyo in April
Japan's tourism industry hit by cancellations after megaquake alert
A beach closed due to a megaquake alert in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, from Friday to Thursday.
Focus shifts to incoming typhoon as Tropical Storm Maria dissipates
Newly formed Tropical Storm Ampil, which is forecast to approach eastern Japan this weekend, is seen on the left side of this satellite image.
Kishida to step down in September in bid to show ‘LDP has changed’
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference Wednesday at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo.
Publisher finds surprise audience after translating history textbooks
Yamakawa Shuppansha president Takeshi Nozawa holds the publisher's textbook on Japanese history — used in high schools across Japan — alongside the new English version in Tokyo on May 23.
Economic security is about strengthening and sustaining growth, former minister says
Former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi says changes in the international balance of power, along with deepening economic interdependence, have led some countries to attempt to use their economic power to impose their will on others.
Ice bandanas, convenience store breaks: Running under Japan’s summer sun
Blistering heat is becoming a fixture of summer in Japan, but a few tweaks to your routine can make your outdoor runs bearable — if not enjoyable — until cooler temperatures return.
Japan issued its first-ever megaquake alert. What does that mean?
Naoshi Hirata (center), chairman of a committee tasked with evaluating the risk of a Nankai Trough earthquake, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
France brings down the curtain on its Olympic party with Tom Cruise and Leon Marchand
Fireworks are set off during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics at Stade de France in Saint-Denis on Sunday.
Japan fuels U.S. LNG boom even as climate targets and impacts loom
Flaring at the Cameron LNG export terminal in Hackberry, Louisiana. Flaring, a common sight at LNG plants, is a controlled burning of gas for reasons ranging from depressurizing equipment to disposing of gas that can’t be used. The practice is a "waste of money" and negatively impacts climate change and human health, says the International Energy Agency.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’
By Thu-Huong Ha

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