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Welcome to the JapanesePod101.com newsletter. These periodic newsletters will deliver  to  you  all  the  exciting developments that are going on at JapanesePod101.com.  With  each  issue,  you  will  receive  the latest announcements, promotional offers, blog news, and forum news, while getting a  rare glimpse of the behind-the-scenes life at the JapanesePod101.com office!

Read and Enjoy! And as always, if you have any comments or questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at contactus@japanesepod101.com.

JapanesePod101.com Team

If your life is on the line, that’s a bad thing. But what if that line were the horizon? Then it wouldn’t be a negative idea at all:

生涯 (shōgai: one’s lifetime)     life + horizon

Your lifetime stretches out over the horizon of your life!

Sample Sentence with 生涯 …

It’s that time of the year when I move a smidge to the right on the horizon of my life. (I’m assuming one reads horizon life lines from left to right, but it’s hard to say for sure!)

Or Is All My Life a Circle? …

This means a few things:
Read the rest of this entry »

When we started our ‘Everyday Kanji‘ photo series via Twitter and Facebook, the response was HUGE!  If you liked our Japan photos, meet Shibuya246, popular Japan Blogger.

With post topics such as Shibuya, food, goods, travel and technology, we’re sure you’ll feel closer to Japan no matter where you are.

朝夕はかなり肌寒くなり、秋の深まりを感じます。今日は、「秋」という漢字が含まれる二つのことばを紹介しましょう。

一つ目は、「秋刀魚」。

「刀」という漢字は「a japanese sword」を指し、「魚」という漢字は「a fish」を意味しています。日本では秋になると、しばしば食卓に上る魚のことですよ。これは、「サンマ」と読みます。銀色で、とがった頭と長細い体が、まるで剣のように見えることから、このような漢字で書かれるようになりました。日本では、焼いて食べるのが一般的です。そのとき、大根をすりおろしたものに醤油をたらし、ほぐした身と一緒に食べるととてもおいしいです。ただ、「はらわた」と呼ばれる内臓部分は苦いため、嫌いな人も多いですね。

二つ目は、「秋桜」。

「桜」という漢字は「a cherry blossom」のこと。白やピンクの花を咲かせるこの草は、日本の秋の野原で風に揺れていますよ。これは、「コスモス」と読みます。花びらの形が桜に似ていることから、「秋に咲く桜」として漢字が当てられたそうです。しかし、植物学上では桜の仲間ではなく、菊の一種。1.5～2メートルくらいの高さで、葉はペンで書いた線のように細いのが特徴です。ギリシア語では「宇宙」や「世界」を意味しています。また、花びらが整然と並んでいるので「秩序」という意味もあるとか。日本で生まれた花だと思われがちですが、原産国はメキシコです。

以上、日本の秋を象徴する魚と花の紹介でした。

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The mornings and evenings grow fairly chilly and one can sense the season moving deeper into autumn. Today I’ll be introducing two words that make use of the kanji character for autumn.

The first word is ’sanma.’

The kanji character「刀」means a ‘Japanese sword,’ and the kanji character「魚」means ‘a fish.’ This is a fish that makes its way to dinner tables all over Japan often during the autumn months. The characters are read ’sanma’ (Pacific saury). The fish has a silvery color and a long, thin body that makes it look a lot like a sword, which is how it got its name. The most common way to eat sanma in Japan is roasted. The meat is very tasty with grated daikon radish and soy sauce. But since the organ called ‘harawata’ (bowels) are bitter, there are many people who don’t like it.

The second word is ‘cosmos.’

The kanji character「桜」means a ‘cherry blossom.’ This plant has pink and white flowers and sways in the autumn wind in many fields in Japan. These characters are read ‘cosmos.’ Since the flower’s petals are shaped somewhat like a cherry blossom, this flower was given a name that means ‘autumn blooming cherry blossoms.’
In a botanical sense however, this flower is not related to the cherry, but is actually a variety of chrysanthemum. The plant grows to between 1.5 and 2 meters and its leaves have characteristically fine lines that almost look as if they were drawn with a pen. The word comes from the Greek for ’space’ or ‘the world.’ And because the flower petals are lined up in a very orderly way some say that the word also carries the meaning of ‘order.’ Many people mistakenly think that this flower is an indigenous Japanese variety, but its country of origin is actually Mexico.

Hi everyone!
Welcome to Everyday Kanji! In this series, we’re going to 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!

The theme for this week is restaurant signs. Let’s take a look!

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Read the rest of this entry »

A string of consecutive holidays in autumn is called Silver Week in Japan, as opposed to Golden Week, which is a period that includes several Japanese holidays from the end of April to the beginning of May. Read the rest of this entry »

Storks are normally white. And cranes tend to be grey, though blue is also a possibility. So what do you think a red stork or red crane would be?

紅鶴 (benizuru)     red + crane

To block the answer, I’ll share a picture of a hibiscus plant from my garden. I wanted to post this last week to illustrate the discussion of red flowers, but I didn’t get my act together in time.

Seeing these flowers makes me feel happy and fortunate, as if I’m somehow living in Hawaii!

Give up? We’re talking about flamingos!

紅鶴 (benizuru: flamingo)     red + crane

This word combines two kun-yomi, beni and tsuru, which has changed to zuru with voicing.

People usually refer to flamingos as フラミンゴ (furamingo). Now you’re linguistically equipped to buy an ornament for your lawn in Japan. (You might need to acquire a lawn, too.)
Read the rest of this entry »

日本では「食欲の秋」と言われ、一年のうちで秋は最も食べ物をおいしく感じる季節です。秋の食べ物といえば、松茸や栗、梨、柿、秋刀魚などが思い浮かびます。季節を味覚で感じるのですね。

また、イチョウやモミジ、カエデなどの木々は赤や黄色など鮮やかに紅葉します。このように、視覚でも秋を感じることができます。

さて、今から約1000年前に聴覚で秋の到来を感じた人がいます。

秋きぬと　目にはさやかに　見えねども　風の音にぞ　おどろかれぬる

これは『古今和歌集』という昔の短歌を集めた本に載っている、藤原敏行という人が詠んだ和歌です。

「秋きぬと」の「きぬ」は「来た」という意味。「さやかに」とは「はっきりと」という意味です。「見えねども」とは「見えないけれど」。「おどろかれぬる」とは、「はっと気づかされた」という意味。

つまり、「暑い日が続いているので、まだ夏だと思っていた。しかし、違った。秋が来たと目ではっきりと見えないけれど、風の音を聞いていると秋の訪れにはっと気づかされた。目に見える風景は昨日と同じ、夏の景色だが、風の音は明らかに秋の到来を告げているのだ」と彼は詠んだのです。これが聴覚でも秋が感じられる例です。

季節は徐々に移り変わるもので、「今日から秋！」と明確に認識することはできませんが、五感を存分に働かせてささやかな変化を感じ取るのも面白いものです。

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In Japan, there is a saying “appetites of autumn.” Autumn is the time of year when food simply tastes better than during any other season. When considering the foods of autumn, matsutake mushrooms, chestnuts, persimmons and Pacific saury fish come to mind. We can really taste the changing seasons. And the color of the leaves also changes to fiery shades of red and yellow on the gingko, and maple trees. In this way we can also experience the changing season visually.

Now, about 1000 years ago there was someone who experienced the coming of autumn through sound.

“Nothing meets the eye to demonstrate beyond a doubt that autumn has come - yet suddenly I am surprised to the sound of wind.”
(Aki kinu to me ni wa sayaka ni miene domo, kaze no oto ni zo odorokarenuru.)

This Waka poem was written by Fujiwara no Toshiyuki and is included in an old compilation of Tanka poetry called “Kokin Wakashu.”

The ‘kinu’ in ‘Aki kinu to’ means ‘has come.’ ‘Sayaka’ means ‘clearly.’ ‘Miene domo’ is another way of saying ‘mienai keredo’ or ‘can’t see it but…’ ‘Odorokarenuru’ means to ‘realize something surprisingly.’

So in other words, the poem means “Hot days had continued, so I thought it was still summer. But it wasn’t so. I couldn’t see clearly that autumn had come, but the sound of wind made me aware of autumn’s approach. The scenery looks the same as yesterday -  a scene of summer - but the sound of the wind is clearly announcing the coming of autumn.” This is one example of how autumn can be experienced through sound.

The seasons change little by little and it isn’t as if we understand clearly that “from today its autumn,” but it is entertaining to use our five senses to our heart’s content to sense subtle changes in the seasons.

Hi everyone!
Welcome to Everyday Kanji! In this series, we’re going to 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!

The theme for this week is more store signs. Let’s take a look!

①

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 mtpiper, who asked about an appropriate wedding gift for a Japanese couple. This question was answered by both gerald_ford and hatch_jp, who had some great ideas to share! If someone you know is getting married, this would be a great post to read for some ideas!

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Asking for advice
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We have a friend in Japan that is getting married. We can’t travel to Japan to attend the wedding, but want to send a gift. Sending cash in the mail is out of the question.
What would be an appropriate gift to send? Something representative of our home country, or something traditionally Japanese?
Thanks for any advice! Read the rest of this entry »