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Winter is a time of harshness. In spring, as trees explode with fragrant blossoms, we’re full of hope. In summer, we can delude ourselves that peaches will always be in season and that sunny, warm days will keep coming for a good six months. In fall, colorful leaves and crisp air fill us with optimism. And then it’s winter, and we can’t fool ourselves any longer.

Haiku About Harsh Realities …

But facing reality isn’t all bad. Check out this cool compound:

実験 (jikken: experiment)     reality + to test

As the breakdown indicates, an experiment allows one to test reality. That is, an experiment is a reality check!

Well, here’s one reality check. Although 実 (JITSU, mi, mino(ru)) often means “reality,” Halpern defines it as “real” in the context of 実験. But I much prefer reality + to test, and I’m putting my head back in the sand on that one!

Another Type of Reality Check …

If 実 has a tenuous connection to reality (only sometimes having that meaning), the following compound gives a much stronger dose of reality:

現実 (genjitsu: reality)     actual + reality

Sample 現実 Sentences from Breen …

Reality Inside Out …

With reality + feeling, what do you think you get? Cries of agony? A sharp sense of awakening? Feelings of disgust over the reality TV craze? Facing reality can be quite painful, but that’s not the nuance of the next word:

現実感 (genjitsukan: sense of reality)
     reality (1st 2 chars.) + sense, feeling

More on Feelings and Reality …

Breen provides just one sample sentence for this one:

その瞬間、私は現実感を失った。
Sono shunkan, watashi wa genjitsukan o ushinatta.
I lost my sense of reality at that moment.

A Breakdown of the Kanji …

When it comes to being a kanji about “feelings,” 感 is a scientist’s kind of character, relating to the five senses (五感, gokan: five + senses) and other verifiable perceptions. That can also be true of 実, as you’ll see at the next link.

Feeling Practical …

With the grounded characters 実 and 感, one can also test reality through personal experience. (After all, “experience” and “experiment” both come from the Latin experīrī, to try.) The next word refers to the concept of learning through direct, personal experience:

実感する (jikkan suru: to experience personally, realize)
     reality + to feel

This compound is just one step removed from 現実感, having lost the first kanji but none of the word’s sense of real-life truth.

Another Sample Sentence from Breen …

Unfortunately, experiencing reality can lead straight to disillusionment:

現実暴露 (genjitsu bakuro: disillusionment)
     reality (1st 2 chars.) + disclosure, exposure (2nd 2 chars.)

The compound 暴露 breaks down as to expose + to expose. But 暴 can also impart a sense of violence or cruelty.

And we’re back to what I said in the beginning, about how winter inevitably exposes cruel realities. Didn’t Bananarama refer to a cruel, cruel summer? That’s nothing compared to the cruelty of winter. (I’m dropping one big hint here for someone to send me a ticket to Hawaii!)

Hawaii it’s not, but you can at least escape from winter into a Verbal Logic Quiz.

Verbal Logic Quiz …