JapanesePod101.com Blog

A string of consecutive holidays in autumn is called Silver Week in Japan, as opposed to Golden Week, which is a period that includes several Japanese holidays from the end of April to the beginning of May. The National Holidays in that take place during Silver Week are "Respect-for-Senior-Citizens Day" which is the third Monday of September and "Autumnal Equinox Day" which is September 23. This year, the third Monday of September falls on September 21. September 22 was made a public holiday in 2009 so that people could have 5 consecutive holidays from September 19 through 23. However, this consecutive string of holidays will not occur again until 2015, because the "Respect-for-Senior-Citizens Day" is not a fixed date, but the third... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary Storks are normally white. And cranes tend to be grey, though blue is also a possibility. So what do you think a red stork or red crane would be? 紅鶴 (benizuru)     red + crane To block the answer, I'll share a picture of a hibiscus plant from my garden. I wanted to post this last week to illustrate the discussion of red flowers, but I didn't get my act together in time. Seeing these flowers makes me feel happy and fortunate, as if I'm somehow living in Hawaii!   Give up? We're talking about flamingos! 紅鶴 (benizuru: flamingo)     red + crane This word combines two kun-yomi, beni and tsuru, which... Show more

日本では「食欲の秋」と言われ、一年のうちで秋は最も食べ物をおいしく感じる季節です。秋の食べ物といえば、松茸や栗、梨、柿、秋刀魚などが思い浮かびます。季節を味覚で感じるのですね。 また、イチョウやモミジ、カエデなどの木々は赤や黄色など鮮やかに紅葉します。このように、視覚でも秋を感じることができます。 さて、今から約1000年前に聴覚で秋の到来を感じた人がいます。 秋きぬと　目にはさやかに　見えねども　風の音にぞ　おどろかれぬる これは『古今和歌集』という昔の短歌を集めた本に載っている、藤原敏行という人が詠んだ和歌です。 「秋きぬと」の「きぬ」は「来た」という意味。「さやかに」とは「はっきりと」という意味です。「見えねども」とは「見えないけれど」。「おどろかれぬる」とは、「はっと気づかされた」という意味。 つまり、「暑い日が続いているので、まだ夏だと思っていた。しかし、違った。秋が来たと目ではっきりと見えないけれど、風の音を聞いていると秋の訪れにはっと気づかされた。目に見える風景は昨日と同じ、夏の景色だが、風の音は明らかに秋の到来を告げているのだ」と彼は詠んだのです。これが聴覚でも秋が感じられる例です。 季節は徐々に移り変わるもので、「今日から秋！」と明確に認識することはできませんが、五感を存分に働かせてささやかな変化を感じ取るのも面白いものです。 ====== In Japan, there is a saying "appetites of autumn." Autumn is the time of year when food simply tastes better than during any other... Show more

Hi everyone! Welcome to Everyday Kanji! In this series, we're going to present pictures of kanji seen in various places in Japan taken by the team members at JapanesePod101.com. That's right - kanji seen and used everyday! The theme for this week is more store signs. Let's take a look! ① 寿司 (sushi): 寿司 means “sushi.” In Japanese, there is another kanji that means “sushi.” Do you know which kanji it is? 寿司 is a pair of kanji that are the phonetic equivalent of the word “sushi.” But another kanji, 鮨, is the real kanji meaning sushi. It is said 寿司 came to be used to mean “sushi” for good luck because 寿 has the meaning of longevity. 寿司 (sushi) = sushi ● 寿 (su) = longevity ● 司 (shi) = director むらまつ is the name of the... Show more

Welcome to Forum Spotlight! Here we’ll be introducing interesting and useful posts made by members at our very own JapanesePod101.com Forum. This week's forum spotlight post is by mtpiper, who asked about an appropriate wedding gift for a Japanese couple. This question was answered by both gerald_ford and hatch_jp, who had some great ideas to share! If someone you know is getting married, this would be a great post to read for some ideas! ============= Asking for advice ============= We have a friend in Japan that is getting married. We can't travel to Japan to attend the wedding, but want to send a gift. Sending cash in the mail is out of the question. What would be an appropriate gift to send? Something representative of our... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary Today we start with a zoology question—or zoology mixed with kanji! What do you get when you combine a fish with a sheep and then add makeup? OK, I realize this sounds like the asinine lipstick debate that dominated the 2008 U.S. elections for too long. In fact, it was so asinine that I can't even remember why there was a controversy. Glad that's been pushed out of my head. Now I have about two more brain cells that can accommodate kanji. Let me restate the question about the dolled-up fish-sheep hybrid. What could the following mean? 鮮紅As you may know, 鮮 combines a fish (魚) and a sheep (羊). Somehow, they join to mean "vivid." We saw 鮮 in the first question of the... Show more

The Kanji for this week are as follows: (Remember, each compound must use the Kanji in the brackets .) Kanji Scrabble #21, Key Kanji: 半、万、一、外、火、語、先、空、気、後 (Learn How to Play Here) 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.) Answers: Kanji Kana English 一口 ひとくち (n) (1) mouthful/bite/sip/draft/draught/(2) one word/(P)/ 万口 ばんこう (n) (mouths of) many people/ 先口 せんくち (n) previous preconception/previous engagement/ 半口 はんくち (n) half share/ 口先 くちさき (n) (1) lip service/mere words/professions/(2) lips/mouth/snout/proboscis/(P)/ 口口 くちぐち (n) each entrance/every mouth/ 口外 こうがい ... Show more

Hi everyone! Welcome to Everyday Kanji! In this series, we're going to present pictures of kanji seen in various places in Japan taken by the team members at JapanesePod101.com. That's right - kanji seen and used everyday! The theme for this week will be “Japanese food menus and prices written in kanji”  When you go to a Japanese restaurant, this series might be of some help! 生まぐろ丼 (nama maguro don): 生 means “raw”. まぐろ means “tuna”.　丼 means “a bowl.” Can you picture what this food looks like? This is a rice bowl with raw tuna on top. You’ll often find 丼, which means “a bowl”, on Japanese food menus. When it is used in the name of a Japanese dish, it refers to a rice bowl with something on top, such as 牛丼 which means a rice... Show more

Welcome to Forum Spotlight! Here we’ll be introducing interesting and useful posts made by members at our very own JapanesePod101.com Forum. This week's forum spotlight post is by reboundstudent, who asked about why Japanese people might be having trouble understand her when she speaks . Forum user Javizy responded with some possible reasons and gave advice on how to help remedy the problem. ====================== Asking for advice ====================== I am an American doing the JET program since about the end of July (so going on 2-3 months.) I was a Japanese minor in college, but my listening comprehension is dreadful, and my speaking is halted and usually filled with bad particles. My situation is, I speak and understand... Show more

Our $10,100 contest came to an end on August 31st, and the winners were announced! The contest was such an overwhelming success... we feel everyone should be rewarded. :) In total, almost 30,000 people participated! 160 won FREE subscriptions, but we were so happy with the turnout, we wanted to do something extra. So... here is a special coupon to say "Thank you!" Save 25% OFF any Basic or Premium subscription with coupon code: CONTEST2009 Get an INSTANT 25% OFF by clicking here. Again, it's our way of saying thank you. Were you one of the 160 Winners? Find out here. See if your username is on the winner's list! If it... Show more