Japanese learning blog
Practical guides on speaking, grammar, pronunciation, listening, and study planning, written for learners who want to use Japanese in real life.
All articles · Page 81
Kyoto Imperial Palace Guide: Free Entry, Tours and Japanese to Use
The Kyoto Imperial Palace, Kyōto Gosho, was the home of Japan's emperors until 1869. It is free to visit, needs no reservation, and offers free guided tours, including in English, making it one of the easiest royal sites in Japan to see.
11 min readDaitoku-ji Guide: Zen Sub-temples, Rock Gardens and Japanese to Use
Daitoku-ji is a walled Zen temple complex in northern Kyoto, a quiet grid of stone paths, earthen walls and more than twenty sub-temples. The grounds are free, a few sub-temples open their rock gardens all year, and it is one of the best places in Kyoto to feel what Zen means.
11 min readDōtonbori Guide: Neon, Street Food and Japanese to Order With
Dōtonbori is Osaka's neon-lit canal street, famous for the Glico running man, giant moving shop signs and the city's love of eating until you drop. It is free to wander, busiest after dark, and the best place in Japan to order street food in Japanese and hear your first words of Kansai dialect.
13 min readOsaka Castle Guide: Main Tower, Stone Walls and Japanese to Use
Osaka Castle is the city's great landmark: a white-and-gold main tower rising from massive stone walls and moats in a huge park. The park is free, the tower is a ticketed museum with a view from the top, and a visit gives you plenty of castle words and ticket-counter Japanese to practise.
11 min readUniversal Studios Japan Guide: Tickets, Nintendo and Park Japanese
Universal Studios Japan, USJ or simply Yuniba to people in Osaka, is the city's big theme park, home to Super Nintendo World and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Tickets must be bought in advance, the busiest area may need a timed entry through the app, and the queues are a surprisingly good place to practise Japanese.
11 min readKuromon Market Guide: Osaka's Kitchen and the Japanese to Eat With
Kuromon Market is a covered market street in central Osaka known as Osaka's kitchen, with around 150 shops selling fish, meat, fruit and ready-to-eat seafood. It is free to walk, best in the morning and at lunchtime, and ideal for practising the Japanese of pointing, asking and buying.
11 min readShinsekai and Tsūtenkaku Guide: Retro Osaka, Kushikatsu and Japanese
Shinsekai is Osaka's retro entertainment district, a grid of neon, old games arcades and kushikatsu shops beneath the Tsūtenkaku tower. The streets are free to wander, the tower has two observation decks and a lucky Billiken, and the kushikatsu counters are the best place in Osaka to hear the local dialect.
11 min readUmeda Sky Building Guide: Floating Garden Views and Japanese to Use
The Umeda Sky Building is two 40-storey towers joined at the top by a ring-shaped observatory, the Kūchū Teien, or Floating Garden. It is ten minutes' walk from Osaka Station, open into the evening, and one of the best places in the city to watch the sun go down and the night view, yakei, come on.
10 min readSumiyoshi Taisha Guide: Arched Bridge, Old Halls and Shrine Japanese
Sumiyoshi Taisha is one of the oldest and most important shrines in Japan, and the most loved in Osaka. It is free to enter, a short ride south of Namba, and famous for its steep vermilion arched bridge, its four National Treasure halls in an architectural style older than Buddhism in Japan, and a hunt for three lucky stones.
11 min readKobe Guide: Kitano, Harborland, Chinatown and Japanese to Use
Kobe is a port city squeezed between the mountains and the sea, half an hour from Osaka. In one day you can walk from the Western merchants' houses of Kitano down through Chinatown to the harbour at Harborland and Meriken Park, and use your Japanese at every stop.
11 min readArima Onsen Guide: Gold and Silver Springs and Japanese for the Bath
Arima Onsen is one of Japan's oldest hot-spring towns, tucked into the mountains behind Kobe. It is famous for two kinds of water: the rust-brown kinsen, gold spring, and the clear ginsen, silver spring. Its public baths make it an easy day trip from Kobe or Osaka, and a perfect place to learn the Japanese of the onsen.
12 min readHimeji Castle Guide: White Heron Castle and the Japanese to Use
Himeji Castle is the finest original castle in Japan: a white, many-roofed keep on a hill, never destroyed by war or fire, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a short walk from Himeji Station, easy to reach from Osaka or Kobe, and a visit means climbing steep wooden stairs in your socks, with plenty of Japanese to read on the way.
11 min readPractical guides
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