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July 16, 2024
 

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BILINGUAL

Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 2, 2014
Getting all mixed up with mixed kanji readings
Gyūdon (牛丼, beef-over-rice bowl) and tonjiru (豚汁, miso soup with pork and vegetables) have much in common. Not only are they a nice combo for a quick lunch (and that it's almost noon while I'm writing this), but on closer inspection both terms also turn out to be a little off with regard to...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 23, 2014
Keep calm before carrying on when speaking Japanese
In Haruki Murakami's 1985 novel "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World," one of the two protagonists is a coolheaded data agent working for the monolithic "System" that protects the world from "Semiotec" data thieves. He takes on a job that's a little too dangerous and finds himself confronted...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 16, 2014
Playing the Japanese name game
Once, when telephoning the international PR office of a major electronics manufacturer, I got lucky. Without my even asking, the young woman who picked up the phone volunteered her name, saying 私は青木と申します (Watashi wa Aoki to mōshimasu, My name is Aoki). Actually it sounded more like...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 9, 2014
Chocolates and funerals, when Japanese lack for love
They say February is the month of love but take it from one who knows — the Japanese have become increasingly suspicious of the whole Barentain (バレンタイン, Valentine's) thing as just another marketing ploy to open womens' purses. And what with the consumption tax kicking in, chances are we'll...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 2, 2014
It's never too early to start juken
It's that time of year again, when hundreds of thousands of soon-to-be high school graduates are busy taking university entrance exams for the coming academic year. This activity is commonly known as juken (受験), and usually translated into English as "taking an examination." The translation is somewhat...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 26, 2014
Healing words for a hospital stay
One morning, you wake up feeling kibun ga warui (気分が悪い, under the weather) and slightly darui (怠い, lethargic). Rising out of bed, you take two steps forward when the world goes dark and you taoreru (倒れる, pass out). In a panic, your roommate calls ichi ichi kyū (119, Japan's equivalent...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 19, 2014
Marketers succeed by generating hitto products
Japanese consumers and marketers alike certainly love their ヒット商品 (hitto shōhin, hit products). To understand how this term came about, we need to look back to the decade following World War II. When living standards gradually began to improve from the early 1950s, Japanese consumers eagerly...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 12, 2014
The way we were, or reflections for the new year
In the dusky light of ōmisoka (大晦日, Dec. 31), I spotted something that's become a rarity on Tokyo streets: a dead animal. Actually it was a yamabato (山鳩, turtle dove) — and its feathers were tragically strewn among the blood and gore like a terrible crime scene. Some tsūkōnin (通行人,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 5, 2014
Impress your hosts with osechi meanings
Shōgatsu (正月, New Year) is the time when most Japanese carry out certain religious rituals, though many of them may not realize what they do has religious significance.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 29, 2013
So much for nau: What will we say next?
The end of the year is always a good time to reflect on what is, was and will be. With regard to language, one of the most stimulating things I have recently read in this respect was from an article in the journal Nihongogaku (日本語学) about a study in which Japanese university students were asked...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 22, 2013
This year's buzzwords show how Japanese is evolving
Last month I shelled out ¥2,980 for my 2014 edition of 現代用語の基礎知識 ("Gendai Yogo no Kiso Chishiki", "Encyclopedia of Contemporary Words"). It's a 1,660-page monster that's well worth the outlay, and this year publisher Jiyu Kokumin-sha, as an extra bonus, included a 74-page booklet that...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 15, 2013
December: A last tango with soba
Some men go out to buy that flaming red sportscar. Others embark on a messy but absorbing divorce process. Then there is of course, nirvana: the gorufujō (ゴルフ場, golf course). But in Japan, when men hit a certain age they have another option to turn to. The authentic mark of a honmono (本物,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 1, 2013
Some illuminations on the red lantern
Last month, the chōchin (提灯, a Japanese traditional lantern) at Kaminarimon (雷門, the gate of Sensoji Temple in Asakusa, in Tokyo's Taito Ward) was replaced with a new one, the first time it has been renewed since 2003.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 24, 2013
TV sports broadcasts as a language-learning tool
Another exciting grand sumo tournament ended yesterday, and brought back memories of my first encounter with sumo, in Okinawa back in September 1965.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 17, 2013
We're not dating because we are too busy running
They say that the Japanese are no longer dating and everyone has become celibate (even The Observer newspaper had an article about that very subject.) The more popular term among us is "sexless." I hate to be the bearer of more bad tidings but it's actually true.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 3, 2013
This is the year of the typhoon
We have never had more taifū (台風, typhoon)-related news than we have had this year. Japan has had at least 28 typhoons so far in 2013 and the number is likely to surpass 30 — the first time this will have happened in 19 years.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 27, 2013
Taking count of the sufficiency of Japanese suffixes
One of the first things new learners of Japanese must struggle with is the amazing variety of classifiers for numbers. When counting books, for instance, the number is followed by 冊 (satsu, volumes, as in issatsu, nisatsu etc.); for thin, elongated objects such as pencils it's 本 (hon, as in ippon,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 20, 2013
You may find mei mystifying
It's almost Halloween again, so before I set out my カボチャ提灯 (kabocha chōchin, jack-o'-lantern), I thought the time is right to take up the topic of 迷信 (meishin, superstition). The first character is 迷, meaning lost or puzzled, made by combining the phonetic 米 (alternatively read...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 13, 2013
What we talk about when we talk about the Olympics
If you're lamenting the number of kōji (工事, construction works) clogging Tokyo streets and coating your lungs with toxic fumes, you can lump at least part of the blame on the Olympics, slated to happen in the summer of 2020. And take comfort in the fact that in the years leading up to the last...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 6, 2013
Female novelist says pregnant women should quit work
The plight of Japan's working women is a subject that often pops up in the media. Female politicians and company executives voice the opinion that it would be good to harness the power of women in Japan, and that the garasu no tenjō (ガラスの天井, glass ceiling) needs to be smashed. But meanwhile,...
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.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
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.

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Exploring Japanese culturevia Tohoku’s festivals
Exploring Japanese culturevia Tohoku’s festivals

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