Many Japanese women break the law every day. Would you break the law to provide for your family? In this series, we’ll tell you how Japanese housewives break the law… and why! We’ll also see a fight break out!
We’ll look at a Japanese formal expression naninani ni koshita koto nai, which is how you say “nothing is better than something else” in Japanese. Our second grammatical construction in naninani ni mo hodo ga aru, which is used to complain about how something has gone too far. These are two fantastic Japanese grammar points that will make your Japanese sound natural.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 27th, 2008 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Upper Intermediate Lessons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
The illustrations for this series were made by my friend maniko-san. ![]()
If you like them, try to leave her a message in Japanese!
(if she gets a lot of feedback, maybe we can get her to illustrate other stories!)
If you live in japan, check her band’s mobile site and go see her play live!
http://07.mbsp.jp/jesusamp/
I like this talk-show format. You can present topical subjects in a more interesting way than a newscast, with more room for the usual wackiness. This topic didn’t seem particularly interesting, but it turned out to be a good series because of the way it was presented
It offered a bit of cultural insight as well, so hopefully there’s a return to the (TV) studio at some point
もし 法律(ほうりつ) を まもらなかたら、警察 に つかまるよ!
If you break the law, the police will arrest you.
They should … Not in the case of a parent doing her or his duty.
Doesn’t the government need to support families?
The best answer is for the Japanese government to entice daycares with tax benefits to provide free busing.
Free busing would cut down on the number of people rushing on the morning streets!
I have a big request. I noticed that 220 kanji’s may be added to the official jouyou kanji list. After spending 750 hours to learn the 1945 jouyou kanji’s over 6 months I am not very pleased. Is 1945 not enough?Anyway, my request: Is it possible to create a PDF list with the on and kun readings for the additional 220 kanji’s. I would like to learn these sooner rather than later. There are no kanji cards available after 1945, and I don’t have any material with these reading. All my kanji dictionary’s also only go up to 1945.MANY MANY thanks,Pieter.
Usui-san’s comment about living closer to the station is obviously バカを言うにもほどがある (is that right usage?), but I disagree with Kana-san that if you can afford it is best. It is the hoikuen we’re biking to, and they are generally not at the stations!!
By the way, I often bike around with two children, though as they get bigger I have to get off and push for more and more hills. I’ve even seen mothers with three: one on the front, one on the back and a baby strapped to her back. 尊敬しちゃう!
Darren-san,
This usage of バカを言うにもほどがある is right!!
A bike would be unstable when you get off and push it with children on it.
気をつけてくださいね!
Category: Upper Intermediate Lessons |
Grammar: hodo, ni hodo ga aru, ni koshita koto wa nai | Function: arguing, starting a fight | Topic: bicycles, mothers, tv | Politeness Level: formal, Polite
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