Tag - nihongo

 
Menu
Search
 
September 18, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

NIHONGO

Noonoo, a chihuahua dressed in a T-shirt that reads "BRAT," takes part in the Halloween Dog Parade in New York last year.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 28, 2025
Brats, rebels and rascals: Finding the right word for mischievous kids
Charli XCX’s idea of “brat” doesn’t translate neatly into Japanese, but there are other words for playful rebellion.
Students make speeches in Japanese at Linguist, a school in Irpin, near Kyiv, earlier this month.
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2025
Kyiv school seeks peace through language education
In 2024, the Japanese government provided about 1 million textbooks to Ukraine as grant aid through the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
The poet and essayist Kamo no Chomei wrote “Hojoki” in 1212 after bearing witness to a series of natural and man-made disasters. His experiences caused him to withdraw into a hermetic lifestyle.
LIFE / Language
Feb 20, 2025
Attempting the classics: Deciphering impermanence in ‘Hojoki’
With modern-day aids, this 13th-century piece of text isn't as challenging as you may think.
While AI has added increased uncertainty over what is and isn't true, misinformation has been around for a while.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 14, 2025
How to tell if what you're hearing is true (or just sounds like it is)
Some Japanese grammatical terms signal uncertainty, and that is when you need phrases to help you get to the truth of the matter.
The concept of diversity isn't foreign to Japanese people, but new ways of referring to the practice in society might be.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 9, 2025
DEI, woke and 'forest bathing': When a direct translation just won't cut it
Take a three-step approach that includes context and nuance when describing buzzwords and complicated terminology.
Tokyo’s notoriously crowded trains and train stations can be stressful for many. Unfortunately, the ぶつかり男 (butsukari otoko, bumping man) takes his stress out on others through shoving, elbowing and shoulder checks.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 31, 2025
Mind the gap — and the shoulder checking: Dealing with pushy people in Japan's crowded spaces
Knowing what to say in the moment is good, knowing how to report it to the authorities is even better.
Getting caught in the rain while walking home may require you to use the passive voice when relaying your bad luck to others.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 23, 2025
Annoyed? Unfairly treated? Express yourself in Japanese with the passive voice
Verbs get complicated when they're used to describe feelings of annoyance or victimization.
What does the year hold for Japan? Make your own predictions using some key phrases.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 17, 2025
Let’s make some predictions about what will happen in the year ahead
The start of the new year comes with expectations as to how the following months will unfold. Learn how to respond to what others predict.
Japan’s ski resorts are popular with tourists and knowing some basic Japanese will help you navigate the slopes a lot easier.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 9, 2025
Japanese ski vocabulary: Hit the books before you hit the slopes
Knowing some basic terms will help you graduate from that linguistic bunny slope in no time.
Incorporating modern technologies into your Japanese classes might be a way to connect with younger students.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 3, 2025
Start the new year with a fresh approach to teaching Japanese
It’s important for language instructors to update their methods to best appeal to their younger students.
A birth notification document issued by Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward. Family registers, which record and certify citizens' familial relationships from birth to death, currently do not include the phonetic readings of names.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 2, 2025
Family registers to incorporate phonetic readings of names from end-May
Citizens who wish to register readings that differ from those listed on certificates of residence must notify municipal governments within a year.
The city of Kumamoto has seen a surge in the number of students from Taiwan, following the arrival of chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and related businesses in Kumamoto Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 31, 2024
Kumamoto public schools respond to influx of Taiwanese students
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s arrival in Kumamoto has heightened the need to adapt to the needs of Taiwanese families.
Japan's 2024 Word of the Year, "futehodo," is a phrase tied to a Netflix show and highlights the broader decline in the cultural significance of such awards, with recent selections often seen as superficial or promotional.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 31, 2024
Japan’s 2024 word of the year has no rizz
Some critics wondered why the word of the year award was, essentially, functioning as advertising for a TV show that is still available on streaming.
The labor ministry conducted the survey on foreign workers, the first of its kind, in October to November last year.
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2024
Many foreign workers in Japan face high employment agency fees
The survey found that 14.4% of foreign workers in Japan are facing problems or difficulties at work.
Casual Japanese usage increasingly sees the "i" at the end of exclamations like "yabai" (dangerous) replaced by a small "tsu."
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 26, 2024
Small letter, big impact: A little 'tsu' makes all the difference
When reading the small "tsu," shorten the preceding vowel slightly and then start with the sound of the subsequent consonant.
Book Santa is a program that delivers books to children in need for Christmas, but it also operates year-round.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 17, 2024
Looking for ways to be charitable in Japan? Give the gift of reading.
Book donations are just one of many ways you can give back to the community during the holidays.
Actor Sadao Abe accepts the 2024 U-Can New Word and Popular Phrase Award for ふてほど (futehodo), the abbreviated title for his series, “Futekisetsu nimo Hodo ga Aru!” (“Extremely Inappropriate!”).
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 12, 2024
How often do Japan's buzzwords make it into the vernacular?
We crown a new one every year, but trendy terms tend to disappear from public consciousness if they're related to pop culture.
The head priest of Kiyomizu Temple writes the kanji "kin," which was chosen by the public as the character that best represents 2024, on Thursday in Kyoto.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2024
'Kin' selected as the kanji of 2024 after strong year for Japanese athletes
The choice also reflected the Liberal Democratic Party’s slush-fund scandal and the spate of robberies involving shady part-time jobs.
People walk around an outlet mall in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture. At stores across Japan, clerks use a form of polite language called "manyuaru keigo," literally, “manual honorifics,” named for the service manuals they study it from.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 6, 2024
Japan's honorific language can be challenging for native speakers, too
According to surveys, more than half of those in their teens, 20s and 30s, believe they cannot use "keigo," or honorific language, appropriately.
Sadao Abe, who played the role of a time-traveling Showa Era teacher transported to present day in a popular TV drama, receives the 2024 buzzword of the year award for the word "futehodo," the nickname of the series.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 2, 2024
Japan’s 2024 buzzword of the year urges a reevaluation of past norms
“Futehodo” — a nickname for a TV drama that depicts the generational gap between the Showa and Reiwa eras — has been crowned the most trending word of 2024.
Wealthy foreign nationals picking up ultimate souvenir — a condo in Tokyo
A high-end property in the fashionable Daikanyama district in Tokyo
Japan dispatches five language education 'partners' to India
Five members of the Japan Foundation's Nihongo Partners program (front) gather at the Japanese Embassy in New Delhi on Monday.
Struggling train firm in Chiba Prefecture turns to self-deprecating humor
"Laughter is important when you're in a difficult situation," said Katsunori Takemoto, president of Choshi Electric Railway, on Aug. 5 in Choshi, Chiba Prefecture.
Japan's elderly population down at around 36.2 million
The estimated number of people age 65 or older in Japan stands at 36.19 million as of Monday, accounting for record 29.4% of the country's total population, according to the internal affairs ministry.
Japan’s front-line researchers see bright path ahead for dementia treatment
A scientist looks at scans of grains at the Memory Centre at the Department of Readaptation and Geriatrics of the University Hospital (HUG) in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 6, 2023.
Japanese athletes inspired by raucous home fans at World Athletics Championships
Fans cheer on the home favorites during the women's marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Sunday.
Pole vault rivals in awe after Duplantis has another historic night in Tokyo
Sweden's Armand Duplantis competes in the men's pole fault final during the World Athletics Championships at National Stadium in Tokyo on Monday.
Japan's major art events converge this fall
Shinji Ohmaki’s “Tokinokage” exhibited at Fuji Textile Week 2021 shows the use of fabric as art.
Tara Davis-Woodhall leaps to gold and finds redemption at world championships
Tara Davis-Woodhall celebrates after winning the women's long jump final at the World Athletics Championships at Tokyo's National Stadium on Sunday night.
An aesthetic escape to Hakone’s art-drenched hills
Between traditional examples of fine art and sleek, modern exhibitions that blend with nature, Hakone offers a unique escape from Tokyo's urban sprawl.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo
Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER