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Within the last few months, I decided that I am finally going to get some international travel under my belt. I’m going to save my money, and I’m going to Japan. The actual trip probably won’t happen until next year, but it’s going to happen, and I’ve already made good progress in saving up for [...]

I ran across a word in a book the other day.  植民 (しょくみん [shokumin]). The first character (植) means plant, as in trees, vines and flowers.  You find it in the Japanese word for plant, 植物 (しょくぶつ [shokubutsu], plant+things), and also in the word that means “to plant (a tree)”, 植える (うえる [ueru]). The second [...]

I’ve been reading a book in Japanese on World Religions.  It’s basically an overview of the major world religions, and some of the not-so-major ones too.  I was looking at one of the history sections in the book and I saw this cool word: 十字軍 (じゅうじぐん – juujigun). The character 十 (juu) normally means ten, [...]

Do you know the difference between Japanese snowmen and the snowmen we are used to?  Check out this picture of Japanese snowmen: The main difference is that Japanese snowmen are made from only two snowballs instead of three. They also tend to be much smaller than our snowmen, although that’s not always the case. The [...]

I came across an interesting word in the Japanese novel I’m reading.  The word is おてんばさん (otenbasan).  It means tomboy.  It has kanji too: お転婆さん.  This makes it look like the actually word is 転婆 (tenba) with an honorific o- prefix and honorific -san suffix. But this is not the case.  This word is actually [...]

I came across an interesting word in one of my JLPT prep books today.  It’s 蛇口 (じゃぐち　jaguchi).  The first character 「蛇」 can be read ja or hebi and means snake.  The second character 「口」 is read kuchi or kou and means mouth.   So 蛇口 is snake mouth, right?  Not quite.   What does this word [...]

I took my first practice test for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) level 2 the other day.  I scored a 70%.  To pass, you need 60% or above, so I passed!  My goal is to pass the real test with 90% or above.  The test is in December so I only have a couple [...]

So I haven’t written on language learning in a while. That doesn’t mean I’ve been doing nothing. In fact, I’ve been extremely focused. I put a halt on my SRS sentences. I put down the novel I was reading. I took a break from transcribing Fight Club. I stopped studying for the JLPT. I finally [...]

Warning: This post may not be suitable for adults. Today’s Word Of The Day is うんち (unchi). That’s Japanese for poop. Last weekend, my wife and I went to the Confectionary Exposition in Himeji, and on the way back to the car we saw this sign: Here is what the sign says: Everybody come and [...]

Today (May 5th) is Children’s Day in Japan, and that means today’s Word of the Day is 鯉幟 (koinobori). 鯉 (koi) means “carp” and 幟 (nobori) means something like “flag”, so 鯉幟 (koinobori) translates into English as “carp streamer“. Japanese families (who have boys) put these carp streamers up to celebrate boys. 　My wife and [...]