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July 31, 2025
 

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JAPANESE LANGUAGE

JAPAN
Jul 31, 2013
Panel plans strategy for overseas Japanese language education
Experts discussing ways to increase the number of Japanese language learners overseas propose promoting 'Cool Japan' pop culture and online services to provide more opportunities for speaking the language.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 28, 2013
Hyper, mega, ultra: talking in superlatives
One of the ultra-fascinating facets of Japanese is its super-large arsenal of intensifying prefixes that provide an otherwise neutral expression with some emphatic edge. The best-known (and least spectacular) of them is dai (大), which usually translates as "big." When something went really well, for...
JAPAN
Jul 8, 2013
4 million studying Japanese abroad
4 million studying Japanese abroad: A record 3.98 million people were studying Japanese abroad in 2012 amid widespread interest in the country, the Japan Foundation announces.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 3, 2013
Shinto's kami and jinja seeking world acceptance
Ise Jingu (伊勢神宮, Ise Jingu Shrine) has recently published a sasshi (冊子, booklet) in English, titled "Soul of Japan — An Introduction to Shinto and Ise Jingu."
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 27, 2013
Oyaji gyagu, more than just cheesy puns
Stop me if you've heard this one. Two men aged around 50 enter a sushi restaurant. One orders a raincoat, the other a garage. What looks like the beginning of a "Monty Python" sketch is in fact the stuff of a most typical oyaji gyagu (おやじギャグ), or old man's joke/gag. Such jokes normally center...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 20, 2013
Product names show language creativity at work
Recently I was asked to write a blurb for a new liquid plant-nutrient. As soon as I saw the name of the product, u65e9u6839u65e9u8d77 uff08Hayane Hayaoki), I smiled at this example of linguistic creativity.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 22, 2013
Ways to 'spell' Japanese out loud
I dial a number and ask to speak to my literary agent, Mr. Suzuki.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 8, 2013
The life and times of the destitute girl
I was one of those suckers who thought that the seifu (u653fu5e9c, government) might get it right this time.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 1, 2013
It's all change at Shibuya Station for the Toyoko Line
On March 16, the platforms for the Tokyu Toyoko Line at Shibuya Station moved from the chiju014d nikai (u5730u4e0au4e8cu968e, second floor) to the chika gokai (u5730u4e0bu4e94u968e, fifth basement floor) to connect the Toyoko Line with the Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 11, 2013
A personal invitation to the I-hate-cherry-blossoms club
It's that time of year when the Japanese turn their thoughts to what I call the 3-S's: sakura (桜, cherry blossoms), sakamori (酒盛り, drinking parties) and shuran (酒乱, getting raucously drunk).
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 25, 2013
The Japanese traffic light blues: Stop on red, go on what?
Road traffic in Japan is a complicated affair. Apart from those narrow, crooked streets that sometimes end without warning, you have to get used to unclear right-of-way rules and the national fetish for backward parking.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jan 28, 2013
Blame it on the hara: harassment vocabulary makes us all victims
Japan has a new hara. No, the nice couple down the hall didn't just have a baby; according to recent news, yet another form of harassment is supposedly becoming a social problem.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 28, 2013
What's in a Japanese name? More than you might expect
Last year I went to Yumenoshima Park in Tokyo's Koto Ward to see a museum housing the 第五福竜丸 (Dai-go Fukuryu Maru, aka No. 5 Lucky Dragon), the ill-fated fishing boat that inadvertently sailed too close to a 水爆実験 (suibaku jikken, thermonuclear test) at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 17, 2008
How hard is it really to learn Japanese?
As a language so distinct from most others, Japanese has an air of mystery about it.
Japan on edge but prepared for tsunami after huge Kamchatka earthquake
Police officers ask a man to evacuate from an empty beach following a tsunami warning, in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Wednesday.
Japan to start new residency system for foreign workers
Students hoping to work in Japan attend a Japanese class at a job placement company in Hanoi in October 2022.
Last soldiers of Imperial Japanese Army have a warning for younger generations
Kunshiro Kiyozumi, 97, who was the youngest crew member of the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I-58 in World War II, on his way to a restaurant to have lunch in Matsuyama, Japan, on April 29.
Japan marks highest-ever temperature of 41.2 C in Hyogo
Japan's temperature soared to a record 41.2 degrees Celsius in Tanba, Hyogo Prefecture, on Wednesday, surpassing the previous high of 41.1 C.
Japan should take all possible measures to raise wages, white paper says
Prolonged high prices for food and other goods have pushed down consumer sentiment and real wages, according to the Annual Report on the Japanese Economy and Public Finance for fiscal 2025.
Why Ishiba refuses to quit even amid intense pressure for him to go
Supporters of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba take part in a rally across the street from the Prime Minister's Office on Friday.
Behind the scenes at the Baseball Hall of Fame's new Yakyu/Baseball exhibit
“Yakyu / Baseball: The Transpacific Exchange of the Game” is set to remain on display in Cooperstown for at least five to 10 years — and possibly indefinitely.
Boys’ love dramas from Thailand make waves in Japan
Wakana, a Japanese fan of Thai BL, visits a temple in Thon Buri, Bangkok featured in the Thai adaptation of the Japanese series “Cherry Magic.” Her media consumption kindled an interest in Thai culture and language, and ultimately led her to relocate to Thailand. “I fell in love with the whole country,” she says.
Amid fossil fuel shift in U.S., hope emerges for India and Japan tie-up on solar
A technician works on the assembly line at a solar panel manufacturing hub on the outskirts of New Delhi last October.
Traditional Japanese swordsmanship — with modern matches
This year marked the eighth annual championship put on by the Hogyokukai school of traditional Japanese swordsmanship.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
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Longform

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With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear
By Jason Coskrey

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