Scary Japanese stories to read in the dark
The hook on the car door, Bloody Mary, there are plenty of urban legends in the West that will provide frights on Halloween. Japan has its share of scares, too.
Loud, but not so clear: Discussing ‘noise’ and the rules surrounding election cars in Japanese
The sound trucks that make the rounds on Japanese streets are unanimously thought to be noisy. However, are they effective?
Visual elements make Japanese an easier language for those with dyslexia
Learning Japanese may seem daunting for those diagnosed with dyslexia, but it turns out that fundamentals of the language actually make it easier to learn than its Western counterparts.
Pandemic or no pandemic, I need to get out of my house
A lot of people have had to spend more time at home during the pandemic and that has led to some getting stir-crazy.
Words that mean how they sound: The power of onomatopoeia
You may not understand exactly what’s being said when you hear onomatopoeic words in Japanese, but you’ll most likely have an idea of what they mean based on how they sound.
Have you heard?: The Japanese for getting someone’s attention is pretty simple
The mayor of Helsinki reportedly made a suggestion that his city should go "all English." Can you imagine a Japanese city doing the same thing?
Heading into fall with politically themed Japanese vocabulary
Load up on some election vocabulary for the upcoming polls, as well as some new coronavirus jargon.
Parting words from Japan's Olympians and Paralympians
Short and sweet, the soundbites Japanese athletes gave to the press are sure to help you in expressing both happiness and disappointment.
Japanese for when you’re lost in life — or just lost on the road
While we can't say 2021 has been defined by loss, it's pretty evident that a feeling of being lost has popped up in a lot of situations.
It's the question on everyone’s mask-covered lips: 'Wakuchin utta?'
Whether you have received a vaccine or not, you may be finding that conversations about Pfizer and Moderna are becoming more common than chats about the weather.
Let the verbs do the work when it comes to pronouns and polite speech in Japanese
The verb forms in polite speech more distinctly refer to people in a way that makes it nearly impossible to confuse the actors in a sentence .
Make Japanese politics more concrete by training your ears
Training your ears to catch the sounds of certain Japanese words might make listening to people talk about politics a little more comprehensible.
