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July 16, 2024
 

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BILINGUAL

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 23, 2012
For a challenge guess unknown kanji
A mastery of written Japanese comes not through rote memorization, but by developing your inductive reasoning so as to nurture a "kanji-oriented thought process."
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 16, 2012
Could happiness be the new frontier?
Bookstore shelves all over Tokyo are stacked with shiawase hautsū bon (幸せハウツー本, how-to-be-happy books), which, surprisingly perhaps, outnumber the dire-prediction books that spin tales about what's ailing the global economy and how Japan will chinbotsu (沈没, sink) in five years...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 2, 2012
Noda's plan to increase sales tax
There's no such thing as a popular tax increase. Woe betide the leader who sees no other way out of a fiscal impasse.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 19, 2012
Excuse me, but aren't you so-and-so's whatchamacallit?
According to a dispatch by the French news agency AFP, France on Feb. 21 officially banished use of the term Mademoiselle when referring to unmarried women. Henceforth, Madame will be used irrespective of marital status.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 5, 2012
Hashimoto: a young politician to keep an eye on
He's young, photogenic, energetic, brash, bold, intelligent — and, almost oxymoronically, a politician, one of very few in Japan within living memory who come close to fitting such a description. He has many ideas, all of which boil down to this: "Nihon no kuni wo ichi kara risetto shite, mōichido...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 27, 2012
The first rule of writing ate-ji: There are no rules
As a general rule, kanji (Sino-Japanese ideographs) are classified in dictionaries according to two readings: kun-yomi (native Japanese) and on-yomi (approximation of the original Chinese pronunciation). For example, 東, the tō in 東京 (Tokyo), meaning "east," is an on-yomi that came from the...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 20, 2012
Clean poverty, clean living and love on a shoestring
Okane wa doko ni itteshimattanoka (お金はどこに行ってしまったのか, Where has all the money gone?). Until a few years back, the tone among Japanese business pundits used to go like this — a little humorous and slightly hopeful, almost as if we were all playing kakurenbo (かくれんぼ,...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 6, 2012
Hard to give yourself up when you're a wanted man
'Hirata Makoto desu. Shuttō shite kimashita." (「平田信です。出頭してきました」"I am Makoto Hirata. I've come to give myself up").
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 30, 2012
Japanese films offer some memorable one-liners
Famous movie lines have a way of insinuating themselves into popular culture and language, until even those who know a film only by hearsay quote from it, if only because everyone else does.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 23, 2012
It's Murphy's Law if you don't get the joke in Japanese
If you miss the punch line to a Japanese joke, don't feel bad. It's simply unrealistic to use something as elusive as humor to measure your ability to understand a foreign language.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 16, 2012
Men can be sexy when talking about themselves
An often misunderstood perception about the Japanese language is that it's long-winded and excessively polite. True, there's an entire lexicon devoted to politeness, called keigo (敬語, the language of reverence) and in Kyoto, there's such a thing as kyūtei kotoba (宮廷言葉, palatial language)...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 26, 2011
A look back at the buzzwords and street slang of 2011
On Dec. 1, publisher Jiyukokumin-sha announced that the winner of its annual 流行語大賞 (ryūkōgo taishō, buzzword grand prix) for 2011 was 撫子ジャパン (Nadeshiko Japan). This of course is the name of the winners of the Women's Soccer World Cup held last June-July, and you can...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 19, 2011
Drinking the blues away and how to do it properly
It's that time of year when opportunities to reach for a glass, tumbler or ochoko (おちょこ, sake cup) increase by the evening, while days continue to be crammed with duties, professional and otherwise.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 5, 2011
Unknown consequences if Japan joins TPP
Japan couldn't make up its mind, so it was up to Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. On Nov. 13 he made it official: Japan would join multilateral negotiations aimed at forging a free-trading Kan-Taiheiyo Keizai Renkei Kyotei (環太平洋経済連携協定, Trans-Pacific Partnership, TPP).
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 21, 2011
You think you're funny, but really you're not
In this age of shūshoku hyōgaki (就職氷河期, the employment ice age) the one industry that's filling young people with hope and plans for the future is this: the world of owarai (お笑い, comedy).
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 7, 2011
Occupy Tokyo lacks focus but still demands change
"Tokyo wo senkyo seyo! (東京を占拠せよ！ Occupy Tokyo!")
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 31, 2011
This Halloween watch out for yūrei of all kinds
Urameshiyā! (うらめしやぁ！)
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 24, 2011
Foreign films' Japanese titles often read like riddles
Japanese distributors of foreign films usually follow the path of least resistance in titling their products for the local market, either rendering the title in katakana or translating it more or less directly. One recently released example is the shocker "The Last Exorcism," whose katakana-ized Japanese...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 17, 2011
Desperately seeking the lost art of nanpa
One of my cousins spent four weeks in a hinanjo (避難所, evacuation shelter) after the Tohoku disaster, and during that time she experienced the moteki (モテキ, a time when one is gloriously attractive to the opposite sex) of her life.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 10, 2011
Harnessing intuition to boost kanji comprehension
Many years ago, the manager at a hotel where I was staying in Taiwan informed me that his boss was ailing due to diabetes.
Who needs AI when you have Hatsune Miku?
Over the first six months of 2024, a handful of songs using Vocaloid singer Hatsune Miku’s voice have enjoyed widespread attention, underlining a global interest in the character and the technology she represents.
Bloodied Trump survives assassination attempt at political rally
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is surrounded and evacuated by Secret Service agents at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. Trump was rushed off stage at the rally after shots rang out.
Shooter came within inches of killing Trump, but left few clues as to why
An aerial view shows the stage where Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump had been standing during an assassination attempt the day before, and the roof of a nearby building where a gunman was shot dead by law enforcement, in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.
Yen’s woes seem too big for even a BOJ hike this month to solve
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
After Trump shooting, U.S. presidential race might take a violent turn
United States Secret Service Counter Snipers stand guard on a rooftop during a campaign rally for U.S. President Donald Trump in Avoca, Pennsylvania, in 2020.
No AC this summer? No problem (for me).
Think air conditioning is a requirement for a Tokyo summer? Think again.
She’s paying ¥1 million to help behind the scenes at the Paris Olympics
Mai Tarumi, who previously volunteered at the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has a travel budget of ¥1 million for her trip to volunteer at the Paris Games.
How to tweak your diet when temperatures spike
Most people think of hydration as a strictly liquid-based concept, but eating foods with high water content is an essential part of making it through a Japanese summer unscathed.

Podcast

You can often see generations of families enjoying performances together at Fuji Rock Festival.
Japan’s summer music festivals are feeling the heat in more ways than one

Longform

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
By Tomoko Otake

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