Monthly Archives: January 2015

The Art of Conversation (in a foreign language)

Of all of the activities we do on a daily basis, I feel that the act of communicating with another person using spoken language and a series of back and forth exchanges, what we call “conversation”, holds a very unique place. If you think about all the things involved in this process, and how closely it is… Read More »

Special uses of the Japanese verb 来る (kuru), “to come”

The Japanese verb 来る (‘kuru’) is often one of the first verbs learned by Japanese students, not just because it is easy to understand but also because it is used somewhat frequently, in both it’s simple form and in a few special usages. First let’s look at the simplest way to use this verb, where it’s… Read More »

The rice cooker (炊飯器, suihanki) , an essential part of Japanese life

In Japan, as well as some other Eastern cultures, rice is eaten daily and products made from rice are very abundant: rice wine, sweets made from rice (mochi), even rice paper. Rice is not only relatively inexpensive and nutrient-rich, but it can be made quite easy at home in a device called a “suihanki” (炊飯器), or rice-cooker.… Read More »

Japanese 調子 (choushi) – a useful term to add to your lexicon

The Japanese term “調子” is quite a multifaceted word with seven definitions in the dictionary, as well as a handful of expressions and compound words that use it. In this post I’ll talk about the usages of it that I have heard most, and I feel are most likely to be useful. The primary definitions for… Read More »

Japanese Online Retailer offering reduced shipping fees for a limited time

As I mentioned in a past post, for those studying a foreign language it’s great to supplement online resources with real paper magazines and books. I prefer to buy my Japanese reading material in somewhere like Kinokuniya (in New York and California), though at best I’ll be able to travel there once or twice a year, so… Read More »

Why write nouns in part Hiragana, part Kanji? (Japanese)

As you may already know, Japanese has three different alphabets: Katakana, Hiragana, and Kanji. Many words are written in only one of these scripts (ex: カタカナ、ひらがな、漢字), and using a split of Hiragana and Kanji is required when writing verbs (ex: 食べる). However, occasionally one sees a noun also written this way, such as “子ども”. Why not just… Read More »

Japanese movie review: Hula Girls (フラガール)

Me and my wife decided to buy this movie’s DVD from Amazon since it had quite good reviews and we were glad we did. This film is partially based on real events, where several girls from a small mining town, Iwaki (Fukushima prefecture) began learning hula dancing after discovering a spa resort (Joban Hawaiian Center) is… Read More »

Japanese slang word: yabai (やばい)- when things get dangerous

In a previous post, I’ve discussed how Japanese has less curse words than languages like English. There are a few, however, which can pack quite a strong meaning, and in this post I’ll be talking about one such word – “yabai”. “yabai” originally means “dangerous” (equivalent to Japanese “abunai”) or a bad situation. 警察はやばい仕事です。 Police officer is a… Read More »

Japanese expression “kke” (っけ) – for the forgetful

For today’s post I’d like to focus on the Japanese expression “kke” (っけ) which is typically used at the end of a sentence, and signifies that the speaker/writer is trying to remember something. For example: 今日は何曜日だっけ? What day of the week was it again? This expression can be used when you are talking to yourself in an… Read More »

Japanese culture highlight: “seiza” (正座) – Traditional Japanese sitting posture

“Seiza” is a Japanese traditional way of sitting which has been around since the Edo Period (17th century), and involves kneeling so that ones knees touch the floor, with feet are folded underneath, resting roughly below the spine. See this page for a picture of people sitting in a group in seiza. There are different variations… Read More »