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April 05, 2025
 

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LANGUAGE

Japan Times
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Nov 21, 2016
Taking things to the wire with 'girigiri' and 'suresure'
Introducing the proper uses of two similar expressions — u304eu308au304eu308aand u3059u308cu3059u308c .
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Nov 14, 2016
With 'bun,' get your share in Japanese — or as much as you put in
Introducing some expressions using u5206 (u3076u3093), which means 'share,' 'part' or 'portion.'
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Nov 7, 2016
Articulating the unknown, unreliable or just plain dodgy with 'ayashii'
Introducing some uses of the adjective u3042u3084u3057u3044, which means 'dubious' or 'strange.'
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 31, 2016
Why you won't learn natural Japanese from dubbed foreign TV
It seems that in Japanese dubbing there is always something found rather than lost in translation — something that wasn't in the English original and is not part of regular Japanese either.
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Oct 31, 2016
Using 'kiri' in Japanese to leave it at that
Introduce some uses of u304du308a, which is used to set limits on things.
LIFE / Language / COMMUNICATION CUES
Oct 31, 2016
Tokyo University ranked 4th best in Asia
The University of Tokyo ranked 39th in this year's Times Higher Education list, making it the fourth best institution of higher learning in Asia.
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Oct 24, 2016
Getting quite a lot across with 'kanari' and 'daibu'
Introducing the use of two adverbs, u304bu306au308a and u3060u3044u3076, that show the degree of something.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 24, 2016
Whenever you meet katakana, expect the unexpected
A second dive into some of the many ways the katakana syllabary is put to use when writing Japanese.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 17, 2016
How do I struggle with katakana? Let me count the ways
The fuss over the use of the 'shin' katakana in the 'Shin Godzilla' film's title highlights the mystery that surrounds this often-frustrating syllabary.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 3, 2016
'Thursday Night Football' NFL draws Friday morning tweeters in Japan
Reading the tweets as they scroll below NFL games shown live on Twitter has become my new Japanese study obsession.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Oct 3, 2016
Setting up contrary clauses with 'no ni,' 'te mo' and 'de mo'
Introduce the proper usage of u306eu306b and u3066u3082/u3067u3082, which link two contrary clauses.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 26, 2016
Wikipedia 'deep dives' can help re-create the joys and pains of Japanese-language immersion
You can use Japanese Wikipedia to recreate the mental anguish of language immersion — of encountering a truly alien topic and being forced to reckon with it.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 19, 2016
Japan's beauty queens rewrite old rules on race and nationality
With the crowning of Priyanka Yoshikawa as Miss World Japan 2016, the nation will once again be represented by a multiracial woman on the world stage of beauty.
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Sep 19, 2016
Make a point about too much of a bad thing with 'bakari'
Introducing phrases using the particle of emphasis u3070u304bu308a, meaning 'only' or 'always.'
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 12, 2016
Can Japanese speakers really read Chinese? It depends on what you mean by 'read'
Will acquiring the ability to read Japanese give you some degree of literacy in Chinese? Well, it could at least give you a head start.
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Sep 12, 2016
How you use 'dake' can mean the difference between 'giving it a try' and 'trying your best'
Introducing forms of the pattern X(verb)-dake Y, which expresses limitations.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 10, 2016
The need for effective English teachers
Japanese students' ability to speak English is abysmal. Improvement will require finding native speakers as teachers.
LIFE / Language
Aug 29, 2016
The Emperor's speech: lucid but appropriately indirect
Emperor Akihito's choice of words and presentation speak volumes about how the relationship between the Imperial family and the people of Japan has evolved since his father's address to the nation in 1945.
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Aug 29, 2016
'Kakeru' and 'kakaru': two very useful Japanese verbs worth hanging on to
Introduce some meanings and usages of the verbs u639bu3051u308b and u639bu304bu308b (both 'to hang').
U.S. tourist arrested after bringing a handgun into Japan
Hyogo police believe the handgun a U.S. tourist inadvertently brought into Japan slipped through security procedures at Kansai International Airport in Osaka Prefecture.
3D printer used to construct train station building in Japan
A train station building (front) is assembled from parts printed using 3D printer technology, in Arida, Wakayama Prefecture, on Wednesday.
Japan’s leader didn’t read the job description
Prime Minister and ruling Liberal Democratic Party leader Shigeru Ishiba is facing a political funding scandal that has damaged his reputation and sparked speculation that internal efforts to remove him are underway.
Japan promises 'bold and speedy' response to Trump’s surprise 24% tariffs
U.S. President Donald Trump unveils new U.S. tariffs at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
Tokyo’s KK Line to close for decadelong overhaul as public greenway
People enjoy running and yoga on Tokyo Expressway’s KK Line, a 2-kilometer elevated expressway cutting through the capital’s commercial Ginza district, when it was opened as a pedestrian space in May last year.
Haruki Murakami TV adaptation revisits 30 years of watershed moments
Though Haruki Murakami's trademark whiff of offbeat existentialism is threaded throughout NHK's "After the Quake," the final episode — conceived as a sequel to the story "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo" — is the most stylized, featuring an anthropomorphic talking frog (voiced by Non) and his erstwhile associate Katagiri (Koichi Sato).
Nintendo to launch the Switch 2 on June 5
The controllers for the Switch 2 will attach to the console magnetically rather than sliding on rails as with the original device.
A new human trafficking trend emerges from Myanmar scam centers
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar gather at a compound inside KK Park, a fraud center on the country's border with Thailand, after a multinational crackdown in February.
Meiji says sayonara to bottled milk, a staple of Japan's bathhouses
Meiji bottled milk lined up in a fridge at Kosugiyu, a bathhouse in Tokyo. The sticker urges patrons to enjoy the milk one last time before it’s gone.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.

Podcast

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

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan
By Johan Brooks

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