JapanesePod101.com Blog

On the third Monday of July each year, the Japanese celebrate what is known as Marine Day ("Umi no hi"). This is a relatively new national holiday to celebrate the honor of the ocean and wish for the prosperity of Japan as an ocean country. In the past, the sea has played a very significant part of Japan's economy.  Marine Day was originally designated in 1941 as the anniversary of the day when Emperor Meiji returned in 1876 from his boat trip to Hokkaido after an inspection. When it was became a national holiday in 1996, Marine Day fell on July 20, but it has since been moved to the third Monday in July to create three-day-weekend, which is part of a movement called the "Happy Monday System" where a handful of designated holidays... 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 Taurus, who shared a great site that features Japanese songs lyrics in the original Japanese with nice English translations. After posting this, many other forum members jumped in with their own Japanese lyric site links. Singing in Japanese is actually a great way to improve your Japanese pronunciation, so why not give it a try! ==== Posted by Taurus: I'm sorry if this has been posted before but, inspired by my quest to find surprising karaoke songs, I've just come across a website that has a load of song lyrics in both Japanese and English. It might be... Show more

There is an old saying that when you eat eel on "Doyo no Ushi" Day in the summer, you won’t suffer from the summer heat.  As a result, many people in Japan eat eel on this day. “Doyo no Ushi” Day is the day of the ox (from the 12 symbols of the Chinese zodiac) during the 18 days before autumn starts.  According to the ancient Chinese calendar system, autumn starts on around August 7, so the 18 days before autumn starts usually fall in the period from around July 20 to August 7. This year we have two “Doyo no Ushi” days which are July 19 and July 31. There are actually “Doyo no Ushi” Days in spring, summer, autumn and winter.  But when we say “Doyo no Ushi” Day, we usually mean the "Doyo no Ushi" Day in summer. As mentioned above, people... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary You know the expression "adding insult to injury"? The following term captures that feeling perfectly: 説教泥棒 (sekkyō dorobō: burglar who preaches at the victim about methods of preventing similar crimes)     to preach + to instruct + thief (last 2 chars.) First he breaks into your house, ties you up, and robs you. Then, as if that weren't bad enough, he looks at you sternly and launches into a lecture: "You really need to be more careful about security, or else you'll continue to be the victim of such crimes." He has redeemed himself for his crime by teaching you a valuable lesson. Why, quite possibly you're indebted to him! We could... Show more

見渡す限りの緑、緑、緑。夏は木々の緑がいっそう濃くなり、たくましさを感じます。そんな風景にふさわしい俳句を紹介しましょう。 万緑（ばんりょく）の中や吾子（あこ）の歯生え初（そ）むる　中村草田男（くさたお） 「万緑」とはちょうど今の季節、草木が一斉に緑に茂っている状態を表わしています。「吾子」の「吾」とは「自分」という意味。ですから、「吾子」とは「私の子ども」を指しています。 その子どもの歯が生えてきたのですね。「初（そ）むる」の「初」は、「初めて～する」という意味です。お正月に習字で新年の決意を書くことを「書き初（ぞ）め」と言いますが、同じ用法です。さらに、「歯が初めて生えた」のですから、私の子どもは赤ちゃんであることが分かります。 さぁ、想像してみてください。 一面の緑の中、この俳句の主人公は我が子をあやしていたのでしょう。赤ちゃんのピンク色の口の中に、白く可愛らしい歯を見つけるのです。生命力あふれる季節の中で、我が子も伸びやかに成長していることを知ったときの喜び。 親が子どもに注ぐ愛情は、いつの時代も変わらないものですね。あなたに初めて歯が生えたとき、あなたのご両親にもこのように嬉しい気持ちがこみ上げてきたことでしょう。 ちなみにこれは1939年、今から70年も昔の俳句です。 ＝＝＝ All around you a sea of green, green, green. In summer the trees take on a deeper shade of green and seem more vibrant than before. I'd like to introduce to you a haiku that... Show more

The Kanji for this week are as follows: (Remember, each compound must use the Kanji in the brackets .) Kanji Scrabble #13, Key Kanji: 金、道、出、見、一、新、名、国、火、木 (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 一花 ひとはな (n,adj-no) success/one flower/ 出花 でばな (n) first brew of tea/ 名花 めいか (n) celebrated flower/beautiful woman/ 国花 こっか (n) national flower/ 火花 ひばな (n) spark/(P)/ 花木 かぼく (n) (1) flowers and trees/(2) flowering trees/ 花火 はなび (n) fireworks/(P)/ 花見 はなみ (n,vs) cherry blossom viewing/flower viewing/(P)/... 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 mikuji, who shared some useful ideas for remembering vocabulary and expressions with everyone. ====== I have a couple of tips I would like to share - it may help some of you. 1) When I find it difficult to learn an expression or a word, I use it as my screensaver password. I set the screensaver delay to a relatively short time so I am forced to use the expression several times a day. After a while my fingers remember it even if I don't! 2)I Use the slide-show feature on Window XP screensaver (or one could use free screensaver programs such as Flasher)... 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! In this blog and on Twitter we'll be presenting pictures with kanji based on a theme, such as kanji seen on road signs, shop signs, restaurant menus, product packaging, and lots more! You can also see the kanji pictures everyday on Twitter if you follow us! We’ll be changing the theme of the pictures every week. Our first Everyday Kanji theme for the first week is kanji seen at restaurants! ①  やけど注意：Seen on a hot water pot at a sushi shop. It literally means "Be careful not to burn yourself."  注意(chūi) means... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary I have little interest in anything steely or mechanical, but this word caught my eye and leapt right into my heart: 心棒 (shinbō: shaft, axle)     heart + rod An axle is a rod at the heart of a car! (Well, an axle may not be the heart in the way that Tokyo is the beating heart of Japan. I guess the car engine performs that function. But the axle is certainly at the center of things.) If 心棒 is an axle, what happens when you precede this compound with 用 (YŌ, mochiiru: use, service)? The word 用心棒 should refer to the function of an axle or perhaps to rotation itself, shouldn't it? No, that would be far too logical. Instead, we have this: 用心棒... Show more

俳句…と聞けば、松尾芭蕉が有名ですね。彼は俳句の基礎を作り、旅をしながら自分の感動を芸術的に表現しようと探究を重ねました。多くの代表句の中から『奥の細道』に収録されている夏の作品を一つ紹介しましょう。 閑（しづ）かさや岩にしみ入（い）る蝉の声　松尾芭蕉 「しずか」とは音のしない状態を表わし、一般的には「静」の漢字を使います。ただ「静」の文字は「音や動きがなく、しずまりかえった様子」を意味するのに対し、この句に使われている「閑」には「のんびり、ゆったりとしてしずかに落ち着いている様子」という意味があります。ちなみに当時は、現代とは異なる仮名遣いをしていたため「閑」のフリガナは「づ」と書きますが、発音は「ず」で構いません。 さて、蝉が鳴いています。その声は、まるで周囲の岩にしみ込んでいくようだった、と表現されています。 この句は山形県にある立石寺（りゅうしゃくじ）という山寺で作られました。ここは多くの人が仏教の修行のために訪れる寺で、山道は険しく岩はごつごつしていたとか。芭蕉もそんな険しい道を汗を拭きながら登ったのでしょう。道中、聞こえてくるのは蝉の鳴き声だけ。ふと足を止め、ゆったりした時間の中で蝉の声に耳を傾けたのかもしれません。 名句と言われるこの作品も、実は三回も書き直されたそうです。1689年、彼が四十六歳の頃の作品です。 ＝＝＝＝ In the world of haiku, Matsuo Basho is very famous figure. He created the foundations of haiku, and researched this form of expression by artistically... Show more