Speaking and pronunciation
Practical guides on speaking, grammar, pronunciation, listening, and study planning, written for learners who want to use Japanese in real life.
Speaking and pronunciation · Page 27
How to Wear a Yukata: Left Over Right, the Obi, Geta and Phrases
Put the right side of the yukata against your body first, then lay the left side over it, for men and women alike; tie the obi in front, turn the knot round to the back, and wear geta barefoot.
12 min readJapanese Shrine Layout: The Parts of a Shinto Shrine in Order
A Japanese shrine is laid out as a path inward: you pass under the torii, walk the sandō past the komainu guardians, rinse at the temizuya and pray at the haiden, while the honden, the kami's own hall, stays closed behind it.
12 min readJapanese Bento Box Anatomy: Parts, Proportions and Types Explained
A Japanese bento is a full meal packed by area: the staple, usually rice, takes the most room, the main dish and vegetable sides share the rest, and dividers such as baran keep flavours apart and stop the food from moving.
12 min readJapanese Meal Layout: Ichijū Sansai and Where Each Dish Goes
In a Japanese ichijū sansai meal, rice sits at the front left, soup at the front right, the main dish at the back right and the side dishes at the back left and centre, with chopsticks laid across the front, tips pointing left.
12 min readJapanese Osechi Ryōri Meanings: The Tiers and the Wordplay in Each Dish
Osechi ryōri is the New Year food packed in stacked boxes, and nearly every item is a wish expressed through its name, shape or colour: kuromame for working diligently, kazunoko for many children, kobumaki for joy, ebi for long life.
12 min readJapanese Typhoon Forecast Map: Yohō-en, Bōfū-iki and Jōriku
A Japanese typhoon forecast map answers two questions: the dashed yohō-en circles show where the centre will probably be, and the solid bōfū-iki and kyōfū-iki circles show how far storm and gale winds reach around it.
12 min readJapanese Shindo Scale: What Each Earthquake Intensity Level Feels Like
Shindo is Japan's seismic intensity scale: ten levels, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 jaku, 5 kyō, 6 jaku, 6 kyō and 7, each describing how strongly the ground shook at one place, not how big the earthquake was.
12 min readJapanese Hay Fever Vocabulary: Kafunshō, Pollen Forecasts and Symptoms
Hay fever in Japanese is kafunshō; each spring, forecasts rate the pollen in the air as sukunai, yaya ōi, ōi or hijō ni ōi, while cedar, sugi, peaks around February and March and cypress, hinoki, follows into April.
12 min readJapanese Heatstroke Alerts: The WBGT Heat Index, Its Bands and TV Phrases
Japanese heat warnings are built on the heat index, atsusa shisū (WBGT), not the thermometer: five bands from hobo anzen to kiken, a netchūshō keikai arāto at a forecast 33, and a tokubetsu keikai arāto at 35.
12 min readJapanese Kazoedoshi and Yakudoshi: Counting Age and the Unlucky Years
Kazoedoshi is Japan's traditional age count, in which you are one at birth and everyone gains a year on New Year's Day; the unlucky years, yakudoshi, are set by it: 25, 42 and 61 for men, 19, 33 and 37 for women.
13 min readJapanese Zodiac Eto: The Twelve Animals, Their Kanji and Hidden Uses
The Japanese zodiac, eto or jūnishi, is a cycle of twelve signs, ne, ushi, tora, u, tatsu, mi, uma, hitsuji, saru, tori, inu and i, each nicknamed after an animal; 2026 is uma, the horse, and the same twelve once named hours and directions.
13 min readJapanese Furoshiki Wrapping: Sizes, Basic Wraps and the Knot That Holds
A furoshiki is a square wrapping cloth: you set the object on the diagonal, bring the corners over it and tie two of them with ma-musubi, a flat square knot; the size, measured in haba, decides what it can hold.
12 min readPractical guides
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