The Japanese Game/Variety Show
“Japanese game shows,” perhaps more accurately referred to as Japanese variety shows, are fairly famous around the world as a genre. Known for their over-the-top…
America’s 2nd Female Professional Baseball Player Is Japanese!
As we previously discussed, America’s pastime, baseball, has quite a following in Japan. It’s fitting, then, that the second woman to play baseball professionally in…
Japan at the 2010 Olympics
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…
Talking About Family in Japanese
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…
Eating, Drinking and Shopping at the Japanese Vending Machine
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…
Reading in Chapters: Japanese Light Novels
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…
Hiroshima
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…
Akihabara: Electronic and Geek Wonderland
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…
The Japanese Ministry Aims to Boost ‘Cool Japan’
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…
Common Japanese Phrases and When You’ll Hear Them
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…
Going Shopping
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…
Saying the Year in Japanese
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…