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August 15, 2024
 

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JLPT N4

The Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale returns this weekend and features works by artists such as Yayoi Kusama.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 13, 2024
Got somewhere to be and need a friend? Better learn how to ask.
If you live in Japan long enough, you're bound to receive an invitation sooner or later. Make sure you know how to respond or how to ask in return.
With the vegan lifestyle becoming more popular in recent years, Japanese restaurants and inns have begun to offer more vegetarian options.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 4, 2024
Asking for food substitutions at a Japanese restaurant
If you're vegetarian, vegan or have some kind of allergy, then knowing how to ask about what you're eating is an essential skill to have.
Artificial chemical scents that come from things like perfume or fabric softener can cause discomfort or even sickness for some individuals.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 7, 2024
Scents and sensitivity: Understanding ‘smell pollution’ in Japan
In the country's crowded urban areas, it is important to be aware of how your deodorant, perfume or fabric softener can affect others.
Whether you get your goosebumps from horror movies, the dark or even historical battle sites, there are lots of ways to express fear in Japanese.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 31, 2024
Using intransitive verbs to make Japanese ghost stories extra spooky
Since intransitive verbs don't need to take a subject, they are best at describing things that happen of their own accord.
While carnations and hydrangeas seem to be Japan’s preferred flowers for Mother’s Day, your mom will likely be happy just spending quality time with you for the occasion.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 3, 2024
Before you forget, order those hydrangeas for Mother's Day!
"Before it's too late," "while you remember" — Mother's Day offers us a chance to learn ways to express a range of time in Japanese.
Get the rubber gloves and cleaning supplies out. This is the time of year when we should clean our homes and prepare them for the upcoming rainy season.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 11, 2024
Dust off your tidying vocabulary with a refreshing spring clean
While most Japanese households take part in a big clean at the end of the year, it doesn't hurt to tidy a little as the weather changes.
As they enter the workforce, the young employees who grew up texting one another have their own rules for communicating.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 2, 2024
Fear of a full stop? Young Japanese say drop the period in your texts.
In addition to "maruhara," or "period harassment," younger employees want to cut down on the unnecessary emails that are a part of work culture.
The Japanese word "hanami," literally means “flower viewing.” But, a hanami gathering is more than that: It can be a picnic, a drinking party or an occasion to read poetry.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 15, 2024
We invite you to get ready for this year’s cherry blossom parties
Asking people to a party is made easy in Japanese with a few basic sentence structures. Taking your leave from a party is just as simple.
Unfortunately, statistics are not favorable when it comes to mixed marriages. With the proper communication, however, no challenge is insurmountable.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 26, 2024
Know how to talk about divorce in case your relationship goes south
It's a sad fact that more than a few international relationships don't work out in Japan. Be armed with the proper vocabulary just in case.
The Japanese term "yarinuku" means to do something to completion and implies there were difficulties along the way. It may feel like climbing a mountain, but it's often used in the boardroom.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 19, 2024
Persevere with your Japanese grammar using these compound verbs
By mixing and matching certain verbs, your vocabulary will expand immensely.
Fast fashion concept. Woman chooses jeans in a store. Lots of clothes in the store. Fast Fashion Destroying Planet
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 21, 2023
Fashion, fast and slow: Discussing shopping ethics in Japanese
Whether it’s a trendy top from a chain store in Shibuya or a vintage piece from the backstreets of Kichijoji, know how to shop with a mind to sustainability in Japanese.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 14, 2023
Long story short, cont’d: Brevity rules in Japanese grammar
The Japanese don't just abbreviate their vocabulary, when you're short on time even grammatical structures can get the chop.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 7, 2023
Summer festivals like Tanabata are back in full force (yay!), and so is heatstroke (boo!)
Get to know the vocabulary surrounding symptoms of heatstroke, heat exhaustion and how to ask someone if they need help.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 23, 2023
Get your sports vocabulary into shape for the start of baseball season
Preseason baseball games have begun, catch up on your sports-related vocabulary so you don't strike out in any conversations.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Jan 18, 2023
Grammar for grumps: When you just don’t feel all that genki
We can't feel 'super genki' all the time, even if that's the prevailing mood that Japanese textbooks try to encourage. Here are some ways to express your dissatisfaction.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 9, 2023
Make sure your nouns and verbs match when talking about what to wear
Did you notice more kimono than usual being worn on Jan. 9 this year? That's because it was Coming of Age Day, an occasion for which Japanese youth sport their 'Sunday best.'
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 3, 2023
Sticking to your Japanese New Year’s resolutions
When speaking about resolutions, it's better to use a more decisive grammatical structure in Japanese than the regular 'I want' pattern.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 30, 2022
How can you fight climate change in Japan? Learn how to talk about it.
A good approach to speaking about hot-button topics in Japanese is to use so-called softeners so that your don't come off as too direct with your opinions.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 13, 2022
Finding the right words for when you discover a lost item in Japan
Take a verb and turn it into a noun simply by adding 'mono' to the end of it and you're halfway to verbalizing that you've found something that was lost.
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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’
Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

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