Let’s take a look at one of the more distinctive physical acts many people recognize from Japanese culture: dogeza. While the term itself is probably unfamiliar, you’re probably at least passingly familiar with its meaning, that of prostrating yourself on the ground, in an extreme form of bowing. In this article, we’ll cover the full …
Japanese Vocabulary
Some Japanese words are complicated to use, but easy to understand. Others are simple to use but have complicated contexts. In this post, we’ll look at one of the latter, the word 黒人 (kokujin). What does the word 黒人 (kokujin) mean in Japanese? The word 黒人 (kokujin) means a person with black skin. It …
Expressions like “Oh my god!” might seem universal, but actually they’re tied to culturally specific things we often take for granted. The use of “God,” for example, assumes that everyone ascribes to a monotheistic religion like Christianity. In Japan, that’s certainly not the case. A 2015 survey from Statista found that only 1.5% of the …
We’ve got another one for all the anime and j-drama fans out there in this article. And, even better, it’s also a reasonably common word in real life. But if you watch anime or J-dramas even occasionally then you definitely have heard the word we’re covering: masaka. Almost always said with a dramatic thousand-yard-stare off-camera, …
How do you choose between yon and shi for 4, or nana and shichi for 7 in Japanese. Why are there two different ways to say these numbers? Is there any significance? Even people who aren’t fans of Japanese culture might have heard about the fact that in Japan the number 4 is bad luck. …
What does maru-maru mean in Japanese? Basically, it can be two things, and we’re going to cover the whole, entire, complete thing in this article (that’s a bad joke you’ll understand in a moment). Let’s keep it sweet and simple to start. What is the meaning of maru-maru in Japanese? In Japanese, maru-maru means …
There’s not a lot that people agree about with regards to Japan. How to eat sushi, Tokyo vs Osaka, which anime is the GOAT? No consensus. But there is one thing virtually everyone can agree on. Japan is awesome. If you want to talk about the awesomeness that is Japan—in Japanese—then how do you go …
If you’re just starting out with Japanese, it can be easy to fall prey to common misunderstandings. Some of these are really insidious, so that it seems as though the Japanese language was designed on purpose to confuse people. Adjectives that end in “i,” like 可愛い (kawaii, “cute”) and 素晴らしい (subarashii, “splendid”), are great examples. …
No matter how hard you try, some phrases just don’t translate between languages. This isn’t necessarily because something is “untranslatable,” but rather because languages grow out of their cultures, which have different contexts and ways of thinking about things. One example of an English phrase that doesn’t have an exact Japanese equivalent is “sounds good.” …