One of the weirdest things about Japanese is that nobody really knows where it comes from. The languages spoken in Japan aren’t related to any other language on earth. Obviously the written language (i.e. kanji) pulls a lot from Chinese, but where the spoken language comes from is more or less a complete mystery for [...]
If you’re learning Japanese, you’ve probably learned some everyday vocabulary for household objects; words for things like chairs, tables, and pencils. But when you get to the word for “stapler,” you might be thrown a bit. It’s ホチキス (hochikisu), which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense on the surface. The word’s written in the [...]
If you ask a Japanese person where Croatia is, they’ll probably have no idea. This makes sense, though, as there are only 30ish Croatians currently living in Japan†. That means most Japanese people have never even seen a Croatian, even on accident, in real life. Despite this, one of the most popular songs sung by choirs [...]
I’ve always been fascinated by the social sciences. Some people say that they’re not as important or “real” as the “hard sciences“ (i.e. chemistry, physics, biology, etc.), but social sciences like sociology and anthropology can show us a lot about how humanity operates. The social science perspective is especially interesting when applied to Japan. Japanese [...]
Color is closely, and often imperceptibly, intertwined with Japanese language and culture – but to see how and why, we have to dig a little deeper into the history of Japan. The earliest written history of Japan, which was a mix of fact and mythology, mentions the four oldest color terms in the Japanese language: [...]
Did you know that every year the Japanese Kanji Proficiency Society chooses a “Kanji of the Year”? They choose a character that best represents the events of that past year through a national ballot where of course, the kanji with the most votes wins. Then, it’s announced on Kanji Day (December 12) at Kiyomizu Temple [...]
Ever wish you could travel back in time and see what Japan was really like back in the day? Fortunately, you don’t have to wait for future, continuity-bending technologies – there are ways you can check out Japan of the past without a flux capacitor. I recently stumbled upon a travel guide to Japan published [...]
