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If you saw the following word, what would you think it meant?

胸像 (kyōzō)

As you may know, 胸 means “chest,” and 像 often means “image,” as in 心像 (shinzō: mental image, heart + image). The chest and heart are fairly interrelated concepts. So if heart + image means “mental image,” what could chest + image be? A chest x-ray? A man’s image of a woman’s chest? A poor self-image, based on a less-than-robust chest? (This brings to mind comedian John Oliver, who says he has a concave chest and isn’t fit for any sports, though he could always serve as a sail.)

No, it’s none of those things. Instead, here’s the deal:

胸像 (kyōzō: bust (statue))     chest + statue

Turns out, 像 can also mean “statue.” And a statue of a chest is a bust!

Read the rest of this entry »

「日焼け顔　見合ひ（い）てうまし　氷水」　　　水原秋桜子
「（ひやけがお、みあいてうまし　こおりみず）」　（みずはらしゅうおうし）

高温多湿の日本では、七月から九月くらいまで蒸し暑い日々が続き、太陽もギラギラと照りつけます。そんな夏にひとときの涼しさを届けてくれるのが「かき氷」。氷を細かく砕いたものに、イチゴやレモンの味のシロップをかけて食べます。また、甘い小豆や白玉団子を乗せたり、抹茶の粉をかけたりといろいろなトッピングでも楽しめます。アイスクリームよりさっぱりとした食感で、日本の夏の風物詩です。 Read the rest of this entry »

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The Kanji for this week are as follows: (Remember, each compound must use the Kanji in the brackets [ ].)

Kanji Scrabble #15, Key Kanji: [下]

車、中、上、道、高、足、金、水、火、目 (Learn How to Play Here)

To start, all you need is a Twitter account and to follow our Twitter account @japanesepod101

(What’s Twitter you ask? Read our guide here.)

Answers: Read the rest of this entry »

You might think that, as an inanimate object, a rod would be incapable of doing much. But 棒 (BŌ: rod, pole, stick) pairs off with several actions, as in the following expressions:

棒読み (bōyomi)     rod + reading
棒を引く (bō o hiku)     rod + to pull
棒立ち (bōdachi)     rod + standing

Any ideas what these might mean? If I were guessing blindly, I might interpret 棒読み as a divining rod, an instrument to detect water or metal. Meanwhile, 棒を引く could refer to pulling a sword from a stone. As for 棒立ち, it could be a telephone pole. Wrong in every case! Let’s take ‘em one by one.
Read the rest of this entry »

Hi everyone!
Welcome to Everyday Kanji! In this series, we present pictures of kanji seen in various places in Japan taken by the team members at JapanesePod101.com. That’s right - kanji seen and used everyday!

In this blog and on Twitter we’ll be presenting pictures with kanji based on a theme, such as kanji seen on road signs, shop signs, restaurant menus, product packaging, and lots more! You can also see the kanji pictures everyday on Twitter if you follow us! We’ll be changing the theme of the pictures every week.

This week’s theme was kanji seen on caution and prohibition signs.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Kanji for this week are as follows: (Remember, each compound must use the Kanji in the brackets [ ].)

Kanji Scrabble #14, Key Kanji: [水]

火、目、牛、車、道、大、中、生、出、口 (Learn How to Play Here)

To start, all you need is a Twitter account and to follow our Twitter account @japanesepod101

(What’s Twitter you ask? Read our guide here.)

Answers: Read the rest of this entry »

On the third Monday of July each year, the Japanese celebrate what is known as Marine Day (”Umi no hi”). This is a relatively new national holiday to celebrate the honor of the ocean and wish for the prosperity of Japan as an ocean country.

In the past, the sea has played a very significant part of Japan’s economy.  Marine Day was originally designated in 1941 as the anniversary of the day when Emperor Meiji returned in 1876 from his boat trip to Hokkaido after an inspection. Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to Forum Spotlight! Here we’ll be introducing interesting and useful posts made by members at our very own JapanesePod101.com Forum. This week’s forum spotlight post is by Taurus, who shared a great site that features Japanese songs lyrics in the original Japanese with nice English translations. After posting this, many other forum members jumped in with their own Japanese lyric site links. Singing in Japanese is actually a great way to improve your Japanese pronunciation, so why not give it a try!

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Posted by Taurus:
I’m sorry if this has been posted before but, inspired by my quest to find surprising karaoke songs, I’ve just come across a website that has a load of song lyrics in both Japanese and English. It might be useful if you’re trying to expand the range of your exposure to original Japanese sources.

http://www.quartet4.net/ (English translation, Japanese) Read the rest of this entry »

There is an old saying that when you eat eel on “Doyo no Ushi” Day in the summer, you won’t suffer from the summer heat.  As a result, many people in Japan eat eel on this day.

“Doyo no Ushi” Day is the day of the ox (from the 12 symbols of the Chinese zodiac) during the 18 days before autumn starts.  According to the ancient Chinese calendar system, autumn starts on around August 7, so the 18 days before autumn starts usually fall in the period from around July 20 to August 7. This year we have two “Doyo no Ushi” days which are July 19 and July 31. Read the rest of this entry »