Thanks for playing and for all the great feedback on our first-ever Kanji Scrabble game! 30+ people played Kanji Scrabble #01 by putting their answers on Twitter. Several more visited the blog and offered feedback and advice. When we created the game, we had no idea how it would go.  You took a chance on us by playing, so we want to say "Thank You!" for help making the game a success. So what do you win? Everyone who answered on Twitter or commented on the blog entry gets a 1-month Basic Subscription ($8). Our way of saying thank you! What do you do if you've won? If you played, you won. Simply e-mail us contactus@japanesepod101.com with your JapanesePod101 username and Twitter username. (You'll need to be a member... Show more

Thank you to all the Kanji Scrabble Twitter users and Bloggers! どうもありがとうございました! I think this is a really fun use of Twitter and am personally looking forward to each new game! We'll also post an update via blog post with detailed answers including the meaning and both Kana and Romaji readings to help you learn new vocabulary.  There were a few compounds that weren't noticed so this should be great for all levels of learners. Kanji Scrabble #1 Answers Kanji Kana English Meaning 日 ひ Sun, sunshine, day 一日 いちじつ One day, first off the month 一日一日 いちにちいちにち Gradually, day-by-day 一日中 いちにちじゅう Throughout the day 三十日 さんじゅうにち Thirty days, thirtieth day 三日 みっか Three days, the third (of the... Show more

To help you break the monotony of Kanji study, we came up with a fun game using Twitter! To start, all you need is a Twitter account and to follow our Twitter account @japanesepod101 (What's Twitter you ask? Read our guide here.) How to Play Japanese Kanji Scrabble On the day we play in the morning (Japan time), we'll select 10 Kanji: 1 Key Kanji and 9 other possible suffix and/or prefix Kanji. Example Tweet: Kanji Scrabble #01 　二、本、一、国、人、十、中、三、時 (Learn How to Play https://ow.ly/3xU3) Here is what you do: 1. Using the Key Kanji (the one in brackets): Make as many compound words using the Key Kanji and Kanji in the list *Remember each compound you create must included the Key Kanji* 2. Write those compounds in a... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary When an actor wins an award for a film, one rarely hears a profound acceptance speech. But that's what happened in January. At the Golden Globes, Colin Farrell won "Best Actor in a Motion Picture—Musical Or Comedy" for In Bruges, a movie I adored. And when he accepted the honor, he equated curiosity to love. "Aha!" I thought. "That's exactly right!" When you're passionately in love with someone or something, you want to know everything you can about that love object. Which is how I feel about kanji. Which is why "Kanji Curiosity" could just as easily be called "Kanji Love" (though the alliteration would disappear). And as it turns out, you can use the kanji for... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary If you've got a good head, you're smart. That works in both English and Japanese: 頭がいい (atama ga ii: smart)     head + good And if you have a bad head? Well, that doesn't make a lot of sense in English (possibly suggesting a headache), but in Japanese the logic continues: 頭が悪い (atama ga warui: dumb, slow)     head + bad OK, then, what if your head is strange or funny? For English speakers, that might conjure up images of Jay Leno (long-chinned), Abe Lincoln (long everything), or Barry Bonds post-"steroids" (plumped-up head). But in Japanese, here's what a funny head gets you: 頭がおかしい (atama ga okashii: insane)     head + funny When it comes to heads, "funny" and... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary Not long ago, one of my Japanese-language partners told me this: むちゃがしたくなる。 I had no idea what he was saying, so he wrote it down (thank goodness for Skype's chatting features!) as follows: 無茶がしたくなる。 That didn't help at all. Among other problems, I couldn't figure out where to divide the hiragana, so the romanized rendering seemed like this: Mucha ga shitakunaru. Huh? ¡Mucha confusión! Kensuke explained that したくなる was したい (shitai: I want to do) + なる (naru: to become). The final い of したい had turned into く to accommodate なる. So we had "I want to do" or "I want to become" or some combination of the two. I want to do what? Become what? The first word stumped me.... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary In an email I recently received from Japan, the first sentence contained an intriguing compound: お元気に活躍されている様子嬉しく存じます。 O-genki ni katsuyaku sarete iru yōsu ureshiku zonjimasu. I'm happy to know you appear to be healthy and doing well. What the Words Mean ... Actually, before 活躍する intrigued me, it stumped me, because I didn't know 躍. Then I looked it up and discovered this great breakdown: 活躍する (katsuyaku suru: to flourish, do well, be actively engaged)     lively + to leap! More Sentences with 活躍 ... The first character, 活, means "active, lively, energetic, moving" here. All that makes sense in the context of the sentence. But 躍 involves leaping?! I didn't... Show more

Back in November, Dr. Matt Wachsman contacted us about his mnemonic system for learning Kanji using captivating and enjoyable flash movies. These movies involve multiple parts of the brain simultaneously, reinforcing memory linkage with visual associations, sequence associations, humor and rhymes. We hope these will appeal to people with a variety of learning styles and that you enjoy them. We plan to introduce about 6-12 new Kanji per week to cover the Kanji taught in the first 6 years of school in Japan and the JLPT levels 4 and 3. This week's animation is titled Speak!

Back in November, Dr. Matt Wachsman contacted us about his mnemonic system for learning Kanji using captivating and enjoyable flash movies. These movies involve multiple parts of the brain simultaneously, reinforcing memory linkage with visual associations, sequence associations, humor and rhymes. We hope these will appeal to people with a variety of learning styles and that you enjoy them. We plan to introduce about 6-12 new Kanji per week to cover the Kanji taught in the first 6 years of school in Japan and the JLPT levels 4 and 3. This week's animation is titled Gate!

Back in November, Dr. Matt Wachsman contacted us about his mnemonic system for learning Kanji using captivating and enjoyable flash movies. These movies involve multiple parts of the brain simultaneously, reinforcing memory linkage with visual associations, sequence associations, humor and rhymes. We hope these will appeal to people with a variety of learning styles and that you enjoy them. We plan to introduce about 6-12 new Kanji per week to cover the Kanji taught in the first 6 years of school in Japan and the JLPT levels 4 and 3. This week's animation is titled What Box!