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September 17, 2024
 

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VOCABULARY

Japan Times
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Jul 22, 2019
With some luck you'll master the Japanese words for good fortune
If you're going to play the u798fu5f15 (u3075u304fu3073u304d, lottery) in Japan, you're going to need some u904b (u3046u3093, luck).
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 8, 2019
Get in tune with the sound of Japanese vocabulary
Certain Japanese words sound like they should represent an action, can you guess what a word means by how it's pronounced?
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Jul 8, 2019
The Japanese verb 'kuru' comes in many forms
The irregular verb 'kuru' (to come) changes sound and structure depending on the context. And once you learn the rules of using it, prepare to break them.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 1, 2019
As Mount Fuji opens for business, brush up on your Japanese hiking terms
Make sure you know your 'chu014dju014d' from your 'fumoto,' and which trail is right for you on Japan's most famous landmark.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Jul 1, 2019
'Kireru' is a cut above other Japanese verbs
When you're out of breath, losing your temper or can't stand the tension in the room, the verb 'kireru' can help describe the situation.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / NEWS IN NIHONGO
Jul 1, 2019
Japan offers highest paid paternity leave in the world, but few take it
Read an article on parental leave and pick up some vocabulary related to raising kids in the modern world.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 24, 2019
The Japanese words 'mono' and 'koto' can make things tricky
Both 'mono' and 'koto' mean 'thing' in Japanese, but they're used in different ways. And the thing is, nuance matters.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Jun 24, 2019
The ugly truth behind using 'mittomonai' and 'kakkowarui'
The words 'mittomonai' and 'kakkowarui' are used when behavior or appearance is unbecoming, but the former carries more shame.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / NEWS IN NIHONGO
Jun 24, 2019
1 in 4 aged 80 and over still drives: government survey
Read an article on elderly drivers and answer questions on major challenges that are being tackled.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 17, 2019
In praise of the perfect Japanese compliment
The Japanese haven't traditionally complimented one another in the workplace, but a book on the power of positive reinforcement has garnered a following.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Jun 17, 2019
Speak Japanese smoothly by mastering the difference between 'sara-sara' and 'zara-zara'
The onomatopoeic terms 'sara-sara' and 'zara-zara' both refer to textures, but do you know which is soft and which is coarse?
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 10, 2019
Here’s to nattō, Japan’s original superfood
One of the country's most notable u5065u5eb7u98dfu54c1 (kenku014d shokuhin, health food products), u7d0du8c46 is made from u5927u8c46 (daizu, soybeans) fermented with u67afu8349u83cc (kosu014dkin, bacillus subtilis).
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Jun 10, 2019
Finding amazing ways to use the word 'sugoi'
If you're in Japan, then you've probably heard the term u3059u3054u3044, or it's adverbial form u3059u3054u304f, more times than you can count.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 3, 2019
Don't give up yet on giving and getting in Japanese
One of the first things taught in anthropology classes is that presents exchanged in a given society hardly ever come for free. When someone gives another person something, that always entails some sort of obligation. Acts of giving and receiving are hence highly sensitive social endeavors, and so is...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Jun 3, 2019
Don't forget to use 'sokonau' to mark your failings in Japanese
Ikō to omotte-ita-n-da kedo, misokonatchatta. (I was going to go, but I missed it.)
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / NEWS IN NIHONGO
Jun 3, 2019
Governor looks to draw up Mount Fuji railway plan in two years
Yamanashi Prefecture Gov. Kotaro Nagasaki, who was elected for the first time in January, on the 22nd revealed an idea to draw up a plan that includes an outline to work toward connecting the bottom and fifth station on Mount Fuji via a mountain railway on a route scheduled for two years later.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 27, 2019
Speaking up in Japanese for quality time off work
Decades ago, the mid-1980s to be exact, I complained to my mom that my dad worked too much. Like legions of middle-aged Japanese salarymen, my father was never home before 9 p.m. and spent his weekends on 海外出張 (kaigai shucchō, overseas business trips). He was also big on 休日出勤 (kyūjitsu...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / NEWS IN NIHONGO
May 27, 2019
'Gundam' robots to greet Olympians from space
The 2020 Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games announced on the 15th a plan to launch into space model robots from the anime 'Mobile Suit Gundam' to broadcast messages of support for the games to Earth.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 20, 2019
Matching the ins and outs of two common kanji
From April 1, the 入国管理局 (nyūkoku kanri-kyoku, Immigration Bureau), which operated under the auspices of the 法務省 (hōmushō, Justice Ministry), was upgraded from a bureau to an agency. Its Japanese name changed to 出入国在留管理庁 (shutsunyūkoku zairyū kanri-chō), which can...
Japan's elderly population grows to record 36.25 million
The proportion of people aged 65 and over has risen since the 1950s and is expected to hit 34.8% by 2040, when the second baby boomers (born 1971-1974) will join that group.
'Shogun' becomes first non-English-language winner of best drama Emmy
Japanese actress Anna Sawai, winner of the outstanding lead actress in a drama series award for "Shogun," and Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada, winner of the outstanding lead actor in a drama series award for the show, pose in the press room during the 76th Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday.
Japan jumps to No. 2, from sixth place, in Best Countries index
Pedestrians cross an intersection in the Shibuya district of Tokyo. Japan has experienced a postpandemic travel boom, with tourists pouring back in after restrictions closed the country’s borders to travelers.
South Korea is facing deepfake porn crisis
Activists hold up symbolic eye masks during a protest against deepfake porn in Seoul on Aug. 30.
Second assassination attempt on Trump is latest jolt in chaotic campaign
U.S. Secret Service and Homeland Security agents check a former home of a Ryan Routh, a suspect in an alleged assassination attempt on former U.S. President Donald Trump, in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Sunday.
‘Shogun’ and the painstaking art of ‘getting it right’
Hiroyuki Sanada and the cast and crew of "Shogun" accept the award for best drama series at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, California.
Japan’s schools battle to keep kids cool, with or without AC
Students sit under a misting system during recess at Hikarigaoka Haru no Kaze Elementary School in Nerima Ward, Tokyo, on Sept. 6.
Chris Broad's new bar puts cocktails first, YouTube second
A self-proclaimed lover of great cocktails, YouTuber Chris Broad says his new Shibuya watering hole is more a place to get yourself a solid drink than it is anything related to his social media career.
In LDP presidential poll, three kingmakers hold all the cards
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo in January as former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga (left) looks on.
How China’s dominance of solar and batteries is impacting Japan’s energy transition
Solar panels and wind turbines at a power plant in Hami in China's Xinjiang region. The U.S. and other countries have described China’s actions against Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region, a key cog in the cleantech supply chain, as a genocidal campaign aimed at erasing an entire culture.

Podcast

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

Longform

A store clerk tries to cool things down in front of their shop by spraying a hose.
Is extreme weather changing the way Japan shops?
By Alex K.T. Martin

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