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Practical guides on speaking, grammar, pronunciation, listening, and study planning, written for learners who want to use Japanese in real life.
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Japanese Yokai Names and Meanings: Kappa, Tengu, Oni and More
Yōkai (妖怪) are the supernatural creatures of Japanese folklore, and most of their names describe them plainly: kappa (河童) is "river child", tengu (天狗) is "heavenly dog", and yuki-onna (雪女) is "snow woman".
8 min readSamurai Vocabulary in Japanese: 侍, 武士, 浪人 and Sword Idioms
Samurai is written 侍 and comes from an old verb meaning "to serve"; the more formal word for the warrior class is bushi (武士), and many samurai words, such as rōnin and shinken, are still used in modern Japanese with new meanings.
8 min readNinja Vocabulary in Japanese: Shinobi, Ninjutsu, Kunoichi and More
Ninja is written 忍者, and the same first kanji also gives the older word shinobi (忍び). That kanji, 忍, means both to endure and to move in secret, and it is still alive in everyday words such as nintai (忍耐), patience, and shinobiashi (忍び足), silent footsteps.
8 min readJapanese Brand Names and Their Meanings: Toyota, Subaru, Nintendo
Japanese brand names come from three places: kanji words you can read (Mitsubishi is three diamonds, Subaru is the Pleiades), family names in disguise (Toyota, Mazda, Honda), and invented words built to travel abroad (Sony, Canon, Uniqlo).
8 min readJapanese Manga Sound Effects: How to Read ドキドキ, シーン, ガーン
Manga sound effects are short words, usually in katakana, drawn into the art: dokidoki (ドキドキ) is a pounding heart, shīn (シーン) is silence, gān (ガーン) is shock. Many of them describe a feeling or a look, not a sound, and most are also used in everyday speech.
8 min readAnime Genres in Japanese: Shonen, Shojo, Seinen, Josei and Isekai
Shōnen (少年) means boy, shōjo (少女) girl, seinen (青年) young man and josei (女性) woman. In Japan these four words label the readers a manga magazine is aimed at, not the kind of story, while words such as isekai (異世界), another world, name the actual genre.
8 min readGacha Meaning: Japanese Mobile Game Terms from Kakin to Tenjō
Gacha (ガチャ) is a random prize draw in a game, named after gachagacha (ガチャガチャ), the capsule toy machines of Japan and the clattering sound their handles make. Around it has grown a full slang vocabulary: kakin (課金) for paying, tenjō (天井) for the pity ceiling, kamihiki (神引き) for a miracle pull.
8 min readRude Japanese Pronouns in Anime: Omae, Kisama, Temee Explained
Omae (お前), kisama (貴様), temē (てめえ), anta (あんた) and onore (おのれ) all mean you, and all are rough. Omae is common among close male friends, anta is blunt, and kisama, temē and onore are fighting words that survive mainly in fiction. Learners should use the person's name plus san, or no pronoun at all.
8 min readDemon Slayer Japanese Vocabulary: Kimetsu no Yaiba Words Explained
Kimetsu no Yaiba (鬼滅の刃) reads as blade of demon destruction: ki (鬼) is demon, metsu (滅) is destroy and yaiba (刃) is blade. Most of the series' key terms are built the same way, from ordinary kanji such as hashira (柱), pillar, and kokyū (呼吸), breathing, that you can reuse in daily life.
8 min readOne Piece Japanese Vocabulary: Kaizoku, Nakama and Pirate Speech
Kaizoku (海賊) means pirate, and kaizoku-ō (海賊王) is king of the pirates. The hero's famous line, kaizoku-ō ni ore wa naru, puts the goal first for emphasis; the textbook order would be ore wa kaizoku-ō ni naru.
8 min readJujutsu Kaisen Japanese Vocabulary: Domain Expansion and Beyond
Jujutsu Kaisen (呪術廻戦) is built from 呪, curse, 術, technique, 廻, to go around, and 戦, battle. Its most famous phrase, ryōiki tenkai (領域展開), domain expansion, joins two words you are more likely to meet in a business report: ryōiki, a field or domain, and tenkai, rollout or development.
8 min readHalloween in Japan: How It Is Celebrated and Words to Know
Halloween in Japan, Harowin (ハロウィン), is mostly a costume and shopping season for young adults and families, not a night of door-to-door trick-or-treating. People dress up, called kasō (仮装), visit theme parks and parties, and buy limited-edition pumpkin sweets.
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