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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.
All articles · Page 78
Higashi Chaya District Guide: Teahouses, Gold Leaf and Japanese to Use
Higashi Chaya is the largest of Kanazawa's three old geisha districts, a street of two-storey wooden teahouses with fine lattice fronts, founded in 1820. Two teahouses are open as museums, the rest hold cafés and gold leaf shops, and it is one of the best streets in Japan to practise ordering tea and booking a hands-on workshop in Japanese.
13 min readNagoya Castle Guide: Hommaru Palace, Golden Shachi and Japanese to Use
Nagoya Castle was built by Tokugawa Ieyasu and crowned with golden shachihoko, and its rebuilt Hommaru Palace is one of the most beautiful interiors in Japan. The main keep has been closed since 2018 while the city plans to rebuild it in wood, so the visit today is the palace, the walls and turrets and the grounds, with plenty of chances to use polite Japanese.
13 min readGhibli Park Guide: Advance Tickets, Five Areas and Japanese to Use
Ghibli Park, in the Expo 2005 Aichi Commemorative Park near Nagoya, brings the worlds of Studio Ghibli into five areas spread through a large wooded park. Every ticket must be booked in advance for a specific date, with no sales at the gate, so the planning matters as much as the visit; the Japanese on the signs and at the counters is gentle, playful and very learnable.
13 min readInuyama Castle Guide: Japan's Oldest Keep, Castle Town and Japanese to Use
Inuyama Castle, on a hill above the Kiso River north of Nagoya, has what its managers describe as the oldest surviving castle keep in Japan, and it is one of only five keeps designated National Treasures. The visit combines a walk through an old castle town, a steep climb inside a real wooden keep and a panoramic balcony, with plenty of chances to use simple, polite Japanese.
12 min readGujō Hachiman Guide: Water Town, Gujō Odori and Japanese to Use
Gujō Hachiman is a small castle town in the mountains of Gifu, built where clear rivers meet and threaded with canals, springs and stone lanes. It is famous for its water, its hilltop castle and the Gujō Odori, a summer dance that anyone may join, and it rewards a visitor who can ask a few friendly questions in Japanese.
14 min readEihei-ji Guide: Zen Head Temple, Temple Rules and Japanese to Use
Eihei-ji, founded by Zen Master Dōgen in 1244, is one of the two head temples of Sōtō Zen and still a working monastery where over a hundred monks train. Visitors walk its covered corridors in socks, among cedars in the mountains east of Fukui, and a few quiet, polite phrases are all the Japanese you need.
12 min readIzu Peninsula Guide: Coasts, Hot Springs and Japanese to Use
The Izu Peninsula, south-west of Tokyo, packs volcanic coastlines, hot spring towns, beaches and early cherry blossom into a region you can reach in two hours by train. It is also one of the best places in Japan to practise onsen Japanese, from asking for a day bath at a ryokan to reading the signs at a riverside foot bath.
13 min readAtami Guide: Onsen Town, Fireworks, Kinomiya Shrine and Japanese to Use
Atami is a seaside hot spring town at the northern gate of the Izu Peninsula, under an hour from Tokyo by Shinkansen. It has a free foot bath at the station, a beach, a shrine with a camphor tree said to be over two thousand years old and fireworks over the bay more than ten times a year, and plenty of easy chances to speak Japanese.
12 min readFushimi Inari Taisha Guide: Torii Trail, Foxes and Japanese to Use
Fushimi Inari Taisha is the head shrine of Inari, famous for thousands of vermilion torii climbing Mount Inari. It is free, open around the clock, and a perfect place to read your first shrine signs and use a few polite questions in Japanese.
13 min readKinkaku-ji Guide: Golden Pavilion, Garden Route and Japanese to Use
Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion, is a Zen temple whose top two floors are covered in gold leaf and mirrored in a still pond. The visit is short and follows one path, which makes it an easy place to read your first temple signs and ask a few polite questions in Japanese.
12 min readKiyomizu-dera Guide: Wooden Stage, Otowa Waterfall and Japanese to Use
Kiyomizu-dera is the hillside temple whose great wooden stage hangs over a valley of maples, with all of Kyoto spread out beyond it. It is an easy half-day on foot and full of small rituals, from the three streams of Otowa waterfall to a walk through total darkness, each with a line of Japanese to go with it.
12 min readArashiyama Bamboo Grove Guide: Sagano Path, Bikes and Japanese to Use
The Arashiyama Bamboo Grove is a narrow path through towering stalks of bamboo on the western edge of Kyoto. It is free and always open, and the district around it is ideal for getting about by bicycle or rickshaw, which means plenty of chances to use real Japanese.
12 min readPractical guides
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