Language | WELL SAID Nov 12, 2018
To totally understand 'zenbu,' you have to learn all of its usages
by Akemi Tanahashi and Hitomi Tashiro
全部 and 全部で have similar meanings but are not interchangeable. ...
Language | NEWS IN NIHONGO Nov 12, 2018
There's a tourism boom in Japan, but it isn't all good news.
World / Politics Nov 8, 2018
In case you missed it: Trump's awkward response to a Japanese reporter
by Tomohiro Osaki
A reporter, whose question Trump brusquely dismissed as incomprehensible, prompted an array of reactions from those watching the scene unfold.
National Nov 7, 2018
Rakuten's English drive a case study of success, but wider adoption by Japan Inc. much slower going
by Miya Tanaka
Rakuten Inc. CEO Hiroshi Mikitani's 2010 announcement of English becoming the official internal language of the online retailing giant shocked many of the firm's employees, including Fumie Suzuki. More than eight years have passed since Mikitani's bold move and Suzuki, 34, has come to enjoy ...
Language Nov 5, 2018
A hiragana-kanji mix can make reading a lot easier
by Peter Backhaus
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.
Language Nov 5, 2018
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 ...
National / Politics Nov 3, 2018
LDP's Seiko Noda goes against custom, addressing lawmakers with honorific suffix san, not kun
Former internal affairs minister Seiko Noda, the first female chair of the Lower House Budget Committee, is making headlines for her unconventional style in steering deliberations — calling lawmakers by their names with the honorific suffix san, rather than kun, which is usually used ...
Language | BILINGUAL Oct 29, 2018
'Ghost kanji' lurk in the Japanese lexicon
by Paul Dargan
Floating around the murky regions of digitized Unicode values are anywhere between 60 and 100 yūrei-moji — literally, "ghost characters" — haunting the Japanese kanji lexicon.
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.) ...
Language Oct 29, 2018
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and European Space Agency launched twin Mercury probes on an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana on Oct. 19.
Language | MORNING ENGLISH Oct 29, 2018
With a month to go until the host of the 2025 World Expo is selected, Osaka officials are casting a nervous eye toward Baku.
Issues | THE FOREIGN ELEMENT Oct 28, 2018
Indian women in Japan struggle to find their niche
by Megha Wadhwa
After following their husbands to Japan, educated Indian women face obstacles tracking down work that matches their qualifications.