Peter Backhaus - The Japan Times

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Peter Backhaus

For Peter Backhaus's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

Japan Times

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Aug 22, 2016

Stuff happens: opening up to intransitive Japanese verbs

While English prefers to describe things in terms of an actor who performs some action on an object, in Japanese such things often seem to happen out of themselves.

Japan Times

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Jun 27, 2016

In Japanese, you can find the inner child in everything

It's not news that Japan is running out of children. Though the country's total fertility rate has recently shown some slight signs of recovery, this is unlikely to halt the overall trend of 少子化 (shōshika), which is the common term used to describe the dwindling number of kids. But no worries — despite the decrease in young citizens, the child continues to be an indispensable part of the country's lexicon.

Japan Times

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

May 16, 2016

In Japanese, the past tense is present where and when you least expect it

The Japanese past tense looks pretty easy to handle, but it can turn up in sentences about the here and now, as well as in adjectives and imperatives.

Japan Times

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Apr 11, 2016

Ubiquitous and conveniently vague: Let's look at -ō and -shō

Let's-style hortatives serve a range of purposes in Japanese, running the gamut from polite prohibition to whole-hearted encouragement.

Japan Times

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Feb 22, 2016

When it comes to taking the temperature and talking about it, Japanese is sensational

Where in English something is just 'cold,' in Japanese it's not so simple.

Japan Times

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Jan 25, 2016

There are many way-zu in Japanese to show there's more than one

In contrast to English, in Japanese the grammatical marking of plurals is optional, meaning the whole matter is dealt with a lot less systematically.

Japan Times

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Dec 14, 2015

Avoid offense by heeding these nengajō do's and don'ts

A recent survey revealed quite a few inconvenient truths about what people like and don't like when it comes to New Year's cards.

Japan Times

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Nov 9, 2015

Real, imagined and forgotten fears stalk Japanese phrases

A look at how fears and anxieties are expressed in daily conversation in Japanese.

Japan Times

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Oct 5, 2015

Seeking patterns in the blurred connections that turn two Japanese words into one

When two words melt into one in Japanese, they frequently seal their morphological relationship with a 'blurring' of the second part.

Japan Times

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Aug 24, 2015

'Nagara' comes into its own in the age of multitasking

Although it must be quite some task for the brain to multitask, coordinating two concurring activities in Japanese is no problem at all. The suffix 'nagara' does this job, and it does it pretty well.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Books

Jul 4, 2015

'Better Must Come' compares homelessness in Tokyo and Los Angeles

This longitudinal ethnographic study by Matthew D. Marr examines the problem of homelessness in Tokyo and Los Angeles. Special focus is given to the structural conditions that facilitate or impede getting off the streets.

Japan Times

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Jun 22, 2015

When too much is not enough, just dial up the 'sugiru'

When something is in excess, English commonly uses the adverb 'too.' Japanese expresses similar things with the verb 'sugiru.'

Japan Times

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

May 18, 2015

With yoji jukugo, four little characters can say so much

Saying it in four characters seems to be a pervasive stylistic device permeating all areas of life in Japan, from the pedestrian to the profound.

Japan Times

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Apr 6, 2015

Must-knows and no-nos about where those o's and go's go

Where people in English mind their Ps and Qs, speakers of Japanese have to know their o's and go's.

Japan Times

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Mar 2, 2015

Turning things into people using suffixes

The physical impossibility of turning things into people is something language does with great ease. If you're from Rome you are a Roman, if you do political science you are a political scientist, and if you're into Star Trek, you are a Trekie. All you need is the right suffix and everything is possible. The problem is, what is the right suffix? Here is a selection of the most common candidates.

Japan Times

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Jan 12, 2015

The No. 1 way to master ichi is by taking one step at a time

Welcome to the first month of the new year, which in Japan comes with the very straightforward name ichigatsu (一月) — literally, "month one".

Japan Times

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Dec 29, 2014

To shine or to die: the messy world of romanized Japanese

One of the also-rans in the competition for the best buzzword of 2014 was the little word "shine." It stirred some discussion this summer when it appeared as a one-word heading in the blog of Prime Minister Abe's just-established Kagayaku Josei Ō en Kaigi (輝く女性応援会議, Council for Supporting Women to Shine). As various commentators on the Internet speculated, the message might become a little weird when the word is not read according to English pronunciation rules but in Romanized Japanese instead. In this case, it would be a blunt imperative of the verb shinu (死ぬ), which means "to die."

Japan Times

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Nov 24, 2014

Japanese language group puts compound verbs in one place

If nouns are the bones of a language, verbs are the blood that keeps it moving. The thing about Japanese is that there are so many of them that it is close to impossible to know them all, particularly if we include combinations of two single verbs. The good news is that the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL) has recently published a large-scale database of these so-called compound verbs, available free of charge and with translations in English, Chinese and Korean.

Japan Times

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Nov 3, 2014

Paradox of politeness: humbling and exalting at same time

Each year in fall, the Bunkachō (文化庁, Agency of Cultural Affairs) publishes the results of its annual opinion poll on the linguistic state of the nation, officially called Kokugo ni Kansuru Yoron Chōsa (国語に関する世論調査, Survey of the National Language). This time, the survey asked about the acceptability of a couple of recently used polite expressions that are viewed with some suspicion.

Japan Times

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Sep 8, 2014

For better or worse: untangling Japanese antonym pairs

Opposites attract: plus and minus, yin and yang, Mars and Venus, Lennon and McCartney. In English it sometimes happens that such opposites are combined in one expression. Just remember that bitter-sweet romance about the love-hate relationship you once saw on your grandparent's black-and-white TV set. Compared with English, such types of bonds are far more frequent in Japanese and much easier to form. No hyphen, no "and" — all you need is two kanji characters with the opposite meaning, and that's it.

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.

[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.

The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces

By Stephen Mansfield

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Live like a lord or lady for a night at Ozu Castle

Live like a lord or lady for a night at Ozu Castle

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