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September 05, 2025
 

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NIHONGO

Japan Times
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Nov 19, 2018
Two words that seem completely similar to one another — how do you tell the difference?
The words 'sokkuri' and 'sukkari' are used to show resemblance, but one can be used in entirely different situations.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Nov 19, 2018
'The Year Book of the Contemporary Society' celebrates the Japanese buzzwords that will lead us into the new year
What's that word, the one for when you like a person but are too shy to say so? Or how about the one you use when you visit Tokyo Disney? Well, one book has all the answers.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 12, 2018
Don't worry about slipping up in spoken Japanese, you're only carrot after all
Come commiserate with perpetual learners of the language over a shared ability to fill an everyday conversation with gaffes.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Nov 12, 2018
To totally understand 'zenbu,' you have to learn all of its usages
u5168u90e8 and u5168u90e8u3067 have similar meanings but are not interchangeable.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / NEWS IN NIHONGO
Nov 12, 2018
Japan launches first survey on 'overtourism'
There's a tourism boom in Japan, but it isn't all good news.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Nov 5, 2018
A hiragana-kanji mix can make reading a lot easier
It's no news that Japanese writing is a complex affair. Apart from the sheer number of characters — 48 each for the hiragana and katakana syllabaries plus an almost open-ended number of kanji — there are also various rules about when to use what.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Nov 5, 2018
Johnny Depp to play American photographer in 'Minamata'
Popular American actor Johnny Depp will play the lead role of Eugene Smith in the movie 'Minamata' (original title), which depicts the life of the master photographer who reported on Minamata disease to the world, and whose death 40 years ago is being commemorated this year.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 29, 2018
'Ghost kanji' lurk in the Japanese lexicon
Floating around the murky regions of digitized Unicode values are anywhere between 60 and 100 yu016brei-moji — literally, 'ghost characters' — haunting the Japanese kanji lexicon.
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Oct 29, 2018
Do this, don't do that: The imperative and prohibitive in Japanese
Mata aō. Tokidoki renraku shiro yo. (Let's meet again. Keep in touch from time to time.)
LIFE / Language
Oct 29, 2018
Japan and Europe launch probes to survey Mercury
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and European Space Agency launched twin Mercury probes on an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana on Oct. 19.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Oct 29, 2018
Let's discuss Baku, Osaka's World Expo rival
With a month to go until the host of the 2025 World Expo is selected, Osaka officials are casting a nervous eye toward Baku.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Oct 22, 2018
Lowering expectations in Japanese with 'tada' and 'tatta'
Introducing two expressions — u305fu3060 and u305fu3063u305f — that are used for emphasis.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / NEWS IN NIHONGO
Oct 22, 2018
New Japan residence status planned for foreign blue-collar workers
The Justice Ministry has announced the gist of draft revisions to laws including the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act to create two new types of visa.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 22, 2018
Halloween in Japan: Make up, dress up — and hook up?
Halloween has become one of the coolest days on the calendar, and it's less about sweets for kids than it is an occasion for grown-ups to deck themselves out in costumes for all-night reveling.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Oct 21, 2018
Non-Japanese YouTubers tackle the art of vlogging in the vernacular
Meet the foreign creators using the local language to build a Japanese fan base.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 15, 2018
Counting the ways to talk about numbers in Japanese
From 'ban' and 'go' to 'kazu' and 'su,' there are a variety of ways to refer to numbers in Japanese depending on the situation.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Oct 15, 2018
Know your 'wake de wa nai' from your 'wake ni wa ikanai' in Japanese
Introducing two expressions that use u308fu3051 — u308fu3051u3067u306fu306au3044 and u308fu3051u306bu306fu3044u304bu306au3044.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / NEWS IN NIHONGO
Oct 15, 2018
Murakami says writing is what he can do for disaster victims
Haruki Murakami says that writing good stories is the best he can do for victims of terrorist attacks and natural disasters.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 1, 2018
Nothing is left undone with the plethora of negative prefixes in Japanese
Everything in life has a negative side to it. This nasty fact has also left its mark on Japanese, in the form of negative prefixes that will turn just everything into its opposite.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Oct 1, 2018
Impress with your powers of prediction in Japanese by using 'yappari'
Introducing the adverb u3084u306fu308a and its casual spoken version, u3084u3063u3071u308a, which is frequently used in Japanese conversation.
Surrounded by Chinese bases, a tiny Philippine island stands firm
A Philippine Navy sailor looks at a China Coast Guard vessel just off the coast of Pag-asa Island in the disputed South China Sea last month.
Anger in Japan after Instagrammer drinks burial site offering
Foreign tourists visit a park near the Imperial Palace in Tokyo in August.
Tamagotchi hatches 100 million shipments worldwide thanks to ’90s nostalgia
The latest version of Tamagotchi, called Tamagotchi Paradise, is awarded the best digital toy at Tokyo Toy Show on Aug. 28.
Tropical Storm Peipah forms off southwestern Japan
Tropical Storm Peipah, which formed off southeastern Japan, is expected to travel east off the Tokai area and the Kanto region.
What we know about the supplements scandal linked to Suntory’s ex-CEO
Takeshi Niinami, the former chairman and CEO of Suntory Holdings, at a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday
London’s calling and sumo’s top division — along with Hello Kitty — are ready to answer
Yokozuna Hoshoryu and Hello Kitty, an ambassador for sumo's upcoming tour to London, at Tokyo's Kokugikan on Tuesday
Resonac creates 27-member consortium to pursue advanced chip developments
Representatives from member companies of JOINT3, a consortium working together on semiconductor-related developments announced by Resonac, pose for a photo in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Haru Nemuri’s radical new album refuses easy listening
Musician Haruna Kimishima, better known as Haru Nemuri, confronts Japan’s politics, nationalism and censorship on her recent output.
Overseas sluggers step up to bat in small-town Hokkaido
The Betsukai Pilot Spirits welcomed new players (left to right) Yuta Yamanaka, Roman Guthrie, Scott Bellina and Leo Jiminian this year, pictured here with Yassir Lachkar of the Ishikari Red Phoenix.
Xi — joined by Kim and Putin — delivers stark warning at military parade
Chinese leader Xi Jinping walks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un before a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Japan and the end of World War II, in Beijing on Wednesday.

Podcast

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

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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

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