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 90
Takeda Castle Ruins Guide: Sea of Clouds, Stone Walls and Japanese to Use
The Takeda Castle ruins crown a hilltop above the town of Asago in Hyōgo, a ring of bare stone walls that seems to float when autumn mist fills the valley below. It is a small entry fee, a steep short climb and an early alarm, and the whole trip is full of chances to ask about buses, weather and the view in simple Japanese.
13 min readMiyama Kayabuki no Sato Guide: Thatched Village, Buses and Japanese to Use
Miyama Kayabuki no Sato is a farming village in the hills of northern Kyoto Prefecture where nearly forty houses still wear steep roofs of thatch. People live and work in almost all of them, so a visit is a quiet walk through someone's home village, and a gentle place to ask your first polite questions in Japanese.
14 min readMount Mitake Guide: Cable Car, Wolf Shrine, Rock Garden and Japanese to Use
Mount Mitake is a sacred mountain on the western edge of Tokyo, with a cable car to a village of pilgrim lodges and an old shrine guarded by a wolf. Behind the summit, a mossy stream valley called the Rock Garden links two waterfalls, which makes it one of the easiest real mountain days from the city, and full of chances to ask the way in Japanese.
14 min readKinugawa Onsen Guide: Gorge Baths, Suspension Bridge and Japanese to Use
Kinugawa Onsen is a hot spring town strung along a rocky river gorge north of Tokyo, two hours from Asakusa by limited express. It is an easy first onsen trip: a free footbath outside the station, hotels that welcome day bathers, and a river gorge to walk between soaks, each with its own few lines of Japanese.
13 min readZenkō-ji Guide: Nagano's Great Temple, Dark Crypt and Japanese to Use
Zenkō-ji is the great temple that the city of Nagano grew up around, home to a hidden Buddha that no one has seen for centuries. Its grounds are free and open early, and a walk through the pitch-dark passage under the main hall is one of the most memorable things you can do in any Japanese temple, with a few short lines of Japanese to go with it.
13 min readSado Island Guide: Gold Mine, Tub Boats and Japanese to Use
Sado Island, off the coast of Niigata, is a large, green island of old gold mines, fishing villages and round wooden tub boats. Few overseas visitors make the crossing, which means real conversations with ferry staff, bus drivers and boat women, and a good reason to learn a few lines of Japanese first.
13 min readSendai Guide: Date Masamune, Beef Tongue and Japanese to Use
Sendai, the largest city in Tōhoku, is a green, relaxed city built by the one-eyed warlord Date Masamune. It is ninety minutes from Tokyo by Shinkansen and rarely crowded with tourists, and its famous grilled beef tongue gives you the perfect excuse to practise ordering in Japanese.
12 min readTomioka Silk Mill Guide: Meiji Brick Heritage and Japanese to Use
Tomioka Silk Mill is the brick factory where modern Japan learned to make silk by machine, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2014. It is an easy day trip from Tokyo by Shinkansen and a small local railway, and its guided tours in Japanese are a real test, and a real reward, for a learner.
11 min readObuse Guide: Hokusai, Chestnut Sweets and Japanese to Use
Obuse is a small town of old storehouses, chestnut orchards and lanes paved with chestnut wood, half an hour from Nagano. The great ukiyo-e artist Hokusai painted here in his eighties, and the town's chestnut confectioners make it one of the most delicious places in Japan to practise ordering food.
11 min readNagara River Cormorant Fishing Guide: Ukai in Gifu and Japanese to Use
On summer nights on the Nagara River in Gifu, fishing masters in straw skirts guide flocks of cormorants by the light of blazing fire baskets, a tradition more than 1,300 years old. You watch from a wooden viewing boat drifting alongside, with a picnic and a boatman to talk to, which makes it a memorable evening and a good one for your Japanese.
12 min readShōdoshima Guide: Olive Island, Angel Road and Japanese to Use
Shōdoshima is a mountainous island in the Seto Inland Sea, known for olive groves, soy sauce breweries, hand-stretched noodles and a sandbar that appears only at low tide. It is an hour by ferry from Takamatsu and still feels like rural Japan, which makes every bus ride and shop counter a chance to speak Japanese.
11 min readHagi Guide: Samurai Streets, Hagi-yaki Pottery and Japanese to Use
Hagi is a quiet castle town on the Sea of Japan where earthen walls, samurai gates and orange trees still line the streets, and where a handful of young men in the 1850s laid the groundwork for modern Japan. It is far from the Shinkansen and rarely crowded, and its pottery workshops are a lovely place to use your Japanese.
11 min readPractical guides
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