Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary In the past, we've encountered kanji that embody opposite meanings—namely, 出 and 追. Well, I’ve found another culprit: 約 (YAKU)! A Note on the Yomi ... In one side of its split personality, this is the laid-back kanji of approximations; when you don't know a precise number, you can precede it with 約 to express the idea of "about" or "circa" or "kinda sorta like that." For instance, you might use 約 to say "about half": 約半分 (yaku hanbun: about half)     about + half (last 2 chars.) The full breakdown is about + half + part. When I wrote an article about the soon-to-be-unveiled Shibuya Station, I asked a project architect for its... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary I've never liked the term "passing away," perhaps because it's euphemistic or ... I don't know. I've just never liked the way it sounds. But this week, as my grandmother has been lying in a semi-conscious haze, close to death, I've taken comfort in the idea of a passage. That is, I like to think that she's not passing away but rather passing through. I imagine that she's going through a tunnel. Much as we come into this world through a birth canal, I choose to believe that she's working her way down a "death canal." And that somehow makes the idea more palatable. Death is about stopping: 止. It's about going no farther. But if she's in a passage, then she's still... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary We saw two weeks back that 密 has three disparate meanings: 1) Close, dense, thick, compact, tight 2) Minuteness, carefulness 3) Secret, private, illegal, stealthy Thus far, we've only explored meaning #3. As I've said, it's odd that these meanings appear to be so far apart. But are they really? Maybe not. Let's look at some takes on secrecy: The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending, then having the two as close together as possible.      —George Burns (1896–1996) He's obviously linking secrecy (meaning #3) with closeness, density, compactness (meaning #1). OK, let's try another: The whole secret... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary In English, we speak of "airtight excuses." This is a strange idiom. "Airtight" means something so impermeable that air cannot pass in or out of it. But how could air pass in or out of an excuse? Are we talking about hot air? No, I think the point isn't actually the air; the point is the sturdiness of the excuse. It's so solid that you can't poke a hole in it, deflating it like a flimsy balloon. Oh, dear, we're back to air. Well, so be it. If you've confided your most scandalous secrets to a friend, you might hope for something similarly airtight—a hermetic seal around those secrets. Here's how you can say "airtight" in Japanese: 気密 (kimitsu:... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary In Part 3 of the unagi road trip series (a recent beginner's lesson in the main part of JapanesePod101.com), the PDF contains this great sentence: 君の秘密を皆に話してしまったよ。 Kimi no himitsu o mina ni hanashite shimatta yo. I have revealed your secret to everyone. Breakdown of the Kanji ... Another Way to Betray Someone's Trust ... When would you ever say something like this? And with what tone? Perhaps you utter it in a state of complete disgrace, just before ending your life. You've got the sword in hand (since you're a Japanophile and want an old-timey, Japanese method of suicide). You hang your head and quietly say, "Kimi no himitsu o mina ni hanashite shimatta... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary For kanji lovers, the word 果実 (kajitsu: fruit, fruit + fruit) is so ripe with possibilities that it's ready to explode. As we saw last week, 果 and 実 each mean "fruit," both literally and metaphorically. We investigated the juicy, literal sense last time. Now we'll see how these terms can refer abstractly to the fruits of one's labor—the rewards for hard work. Let's take these kanji one at a time.   The Rewards of 実 The following word captures both the literal and metaphorical aspects of 実: 実入り (miiri: (1) crop, harvest; ripeness; (2) earnings, profits, gains)     fruit + to enter The breakdown brings to mind James and the Giant Peach.... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary If someone said, Konomi wa konomi desu, would you know what they meant? Maybe it would help to see the kanji and kana: 好みは木の実です。 Konomi wa konomi desu. Or perhaps things remain unclear. If so, a translation should help: My preference is nuts. If you still feel a little confused, thrown off, discombobulated, or miffed without quite knowing why, it's probably because the yomi didn't shake out as you expected. The kanji here have atypical yomi, compared with what one usually sees for these characters. Here's the breakdown: 好み (konomi: preference) This kanji often appears as 好き (suki: liking, taste, choice). 木の実 (konomi or kinomi: nuts, fruits,... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary Last week we looked at ways in which 実 and body parts combine in compounds. My investigation of one such word took me in an entirely unexpected direction, and as I went farther and farther down that path, I decided to present my findings as a separate blog. So this week we'll detour from the 実 examination (an examination of the facts!) to take a look at melons. (Seems appropriate to jump out of sequence on Leap Day!) Here's the word that took me so far off track: 瓜実顔 (urizanegao: oval or classic face (e.g., of a beautiful woman))     melon + seed + face Pronouncing Urizanegao ... This word combines the characters for facts (実) and face... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary In the movie Atonement, there's a scene between a detective and a girl who claims to have witnessed a man's crime. The detective asks her pointedly, "Did you see him with your own eyes?" She replies deliberately, "Yes, I saw him with my own eyes." Whose eyes might she have used instead? I was so distracted by the weird phrasing that I missed much of the ensuing conversation. I must have heard this expression before, but it's as if I heard it with new ears (my own, by the way). Have English speakers really made use of this redundant expression? Do we still say it regularly, or was this more a quaint turn of phrase from the British World War II period (the setting... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary My cousin Lois has a useful motto: Start with the truth. No matter how difficult a situation is, you won't get anywhere by lying to yourself about the facts. My husband has also taught me something about the truth: Whenever someone says "Frankly, ..." you should be on guard. The person might as well have said, "What I'm about to say will be tactless and cruel." In Japanese, starting with the truth means starting with 実, the kanji we investigated last week. This character works its way into all manner of expressions related to truth and reality, including this sampling: 実は (jitsu wa: in fact, as a matter of fact, by the way) Merely combining the kanji with the... Show more