Japan brought home five medals at this year’s Vancouver Winter Olympics, half of the number (10) they won at the 1998 games in Nagano. (Perhaps holding the games in their own country helped build up momentum to take so many…
Today we’re going to review the Japanese words for family members so that if you have a Japanese discussion, you can talk about your family and background. If you’ve been paying attention to what we’ve had to say about the…
Japan has the largest per-capita amount of vending machines in the world, meaning that for about every 23 people, there’s one vending machine to be found down some alley, at some corner shop, at the train station, or even at…
Having novels published in stages is nothing new. Classic English authors like Charles Dickens published most of his massive novels in serialized form in magazines and journals, giving his fans just one installment at a time and leaving them hooked…
Hiroshima is the first place in the world with a civilian population where an atomic bomb was dropped and one of only two (the other being Nagasaki) places in the world where this has ever happened. The bomb, dropped by…
This week we’re taking a look at another famous part of Tokyo: Akihabara, the best place to find the latest electronics and computers. Not only will you find electronics, but you’ll also find anime DVDs, video games, manga and anime…
According to The Yomiuri Shibun, the Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry recently revealed a plan to boost the “Cool Japan” culture internationally. What’s “Cool Japan”? Well, if you’re interested in this blog, you may already know and not realize…
A few weeks ago, when studying introductions, you learned two basic phrases of introduction: hajimemashite (roughly, “nice to meet you”) and yoroshiku onegaishimasu (“please take care of me”). Today we’ll look at a few more common Japanese phrases as well…
If you intend to spend time in Japan—or if you frequent stores run by Japanese people—you’re bound to need to know how to ask questions when shopping. If you’re not sure how much something costs, you’ll need to have the…
The last time we talked about language in this blog, we covered how to say the day and date in Japanese. Conspicuously missing was how to state the year. In this short lesson, we’ll take a look at how to…