Hello fellow Japanese learners!

Emily here, and I’ve just made it through lesson five in both JapanesePod101.com’s survival phrases and SurvivalPhrases.com Japanese podcasts and PDF files. I learned about Japanese restaurant phrases, Japanese basic greetings, and about the magical “wa”.

This is an example of one of the high-tech toilets I have seen. In this case, the operating system is on the wall. This one was neat in that the toilet lid opens automatically when a sensor catches you coming in. It also makes the sound of running water to help you out. [Photo by Emily Carsch]

Perhaps the most interesting was the overlap between the lessons. In basic greetings, we learned how to say good morning, afternoon, and goodnight in Japanese. In the Magical “Wa” we learned that adding the Japanese suffix, “wa“, to a word is like putting a question mark to the end of the phrase.

Notice that good afternoon in Japanese is “konnichi wa“. Konnichi, meaning afternoon, and the magical wa at the end is almost like saying, “how is your afternoon?”, or “how is it going this afternoon?” and thus, “good afternoon”, “konnichi wa“. The same goes for goodnight, or “konban wa“.

Another interesting point made in the SurvivalPhrases.com Japanese lesson #4 was that Ohayou Gozaimasu, meaning good morning, can also be used at any time of the day when first meeting someone. Today, on day six in Tokyo, after having met several people, I have found this fact to be true, and did not understand it until having listened to this podcast.

It is clear that the SurvivalPhrase.com and JapanesePod101.com crews really know what they are talking about by adding Japanese cultural lessons into their language lessons as well. This really allows us to understand context and usage of the Japanese phrases in addition to just trying to memorize the phrases. It’s much more fun to learn Japanese this way, no?

Another thing learned in JapanesePod101.com’s survival phrases #4 lesson is how to ask where the bathroom is, or “o tearai wa?” (notice again the magic “wa” on the end indicating “where is”!) Here in Tokyo, the bathrooms are quite the experience. The toilets, or as I learned today, “toire“, have a high-tech operating system attached to the side of the bowl. There are several different buttons which, when pressed, perform different actions like squirting warm water to wash your tush, or warm air to dry it for example. The best part in my opinion however is the heated toilet seat for the chilly spring days in Tokyo.

I have heard that the traditional Japanese toilets, as opposed to the high-tech one I just described, is merely a hole in the ground. Once I come across one, I will be sure to blog about it!

I think that is probably good for today. Be sure to check out lessons and PDF files for JapanesePod101.com survival phrases lessons #3, #4, and #5, and SurvivalPhrases.com Japanese lessons #4 and #5 if you haven’t already.

As always, I look forward to your responses should you have any.

From today’s lesson, “ja-ne“, goodbye!