Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary Long time no see! Speaking of length, last time we looked at 長 (CHŌ, naga), which usually means "long" or "chief." In that discussion, we encountered the following word: 足長 (ashinaga: long-leggedness)     legs + long And we saw how this compound puts the long legs in daddy longlegs: 足長おじさん (ashinaga-ojisan: daddy longlegs) Although people usually write ojisan (uncle) in hiragana, you can also represent this word with 叔父さん, which breaks down as uncle + father. On Daddy Longlegs (the Spiders) ... Other Animals with Length to Them ... Something Really Odd ... What happens if we take those long legs and turn them on... Show more

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Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary Welcome to summer! With the longest days upon us, it seems fitting to take a look at the character for "long": 長 (CHŌ, naga(i): long) This kanji can also mean "chief, head, leader," but today, for the most part, I'm only interested in its length. I love how 長 elongates the following things in the most charming of ways:   穴  (ana: hole)          長穴  (naga-ana: slot)     円  (en or maru: circle)        長円  (chōen: ellipse, oval)     靴   (kutsu:... Show more

Did you know that the lowest-scoring section of the JLPT Exam is the listening section? Luckily, PlaySay's JLPT 1-4 Vcabulary and Kanji Audio Downloads, now available in the JapanesePod101.com online store, are here to save the day! New Version 1.2 Released! PlaySay's convenient audio download system will simply and practically enable you to achieve oral vocabulary competency - on the go, one word at a time, one minute at a time. Supplement your JapanesePod101.com studies, and turn your iPod or favorite mp3 player into a walking, talking, dynamic, and intelligent vocabulary flashcards study tool. Shuffle and study all individual JLPT Core Vocabulary and Kanji with audio on your iPod or other mp3 Player! A Combined... Show more

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Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary When you feel uneasy, where do you sense it in your body? Perhaps you feel "butterflies" deep in your belly. Maybe you become lightheaded. You could even get cold feet! Two Japanese expressions about uneasiness make use of a kanji we've seen for two weeks running: 騒 (SŌ, sawa(gu): clamor, noise, disturbance; to make a fuss) Both expressions locate uneasiness in the chest: 心騒ぎ (kokoro sawagi: uneasiness)     heart + disturbance One could see this expression as referring to a disturbance in the heart. Or given the many meanings of 騒, one could interpret 心騒ぎ as noise in the heart! Not an ear-splitting noise, of course. Rather, it might... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary How odd it is that "She's a riot!" means someone's funny. English speakers even say that something's "riotously funny." I've never been to a riot, but from the photos I've seen, nothing amusing happens at such events. Riot After an Election Photo Credit: Daniel Meyer In Japanese, too, there seems to be a fine line between riots and merrymaking. Take this word, for instance: 騒乱 (sōran: riot, disturbance)     clamor + disorder Last week we saw how 騒 (SŌ, sawa(gu): clamor, noise, disturbance; to make a fuss) plays a part in 大騒ぎ (ōsawagi), which means "shocking events." Now we see that in 騒乱, the same kanji helps to cause a riot. ... Show more

Shibuya Crossing at Night It is easy to get distracted by all of the lights, sounds, colors, and people at this large intersection. This photo gives you a good idea of the beginning of my Tokyo Adventure! Hello JapanesePod101.com listeners! My name is Emily, and I'll be interning at JapanesePod101.com's Headquarters in downtown Tokyo for two months. I will be visiting and staying in Japan for the first time. While I'm so happy to be here, I have a big problem... I don't speak Japanese! Now, while it may seem like I'm in trouble, I've already come up with a solution. I'm going to learn survival Japanese using JapanesePod101.com's Survival Phrases and SurvivalPhrases.com Japanese. As I'm only here for 2 months, I need... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary Here's a quiz for you. If you combine a horse and an insect, what do you get? A fly on a horse? Flies Photo credit: Erin Tyner A fly's view of a horse? View of an Approaching Fly Photo credit: Bill Adams, HawaiiToday.com A horsefly? Horsefly Photo credit: Mike Keeling A horse that flies? Actually, it's none of those. I was just playing with you. Horsing around, you could say. OK, let me rephrase the question and give you slightly more legitimate choices. If you combine a horse and an insect, what new animal do you get? 1. a bird 2. a wolf 3. a rabbit 4. a cow With most quizzes, I give the instant gratification of an... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary Recently, when I logged onto JapanesePod101.com to listen to some podcasts, a photo with big, bold, striking kanji stopped me in my tracks. The lesson was about 過労死 (karōshi), "death by overworking," but none of those kanji appeared in the photo. I knew 残業 (to remain + work) as zangyō, "overtime." And I knew 風 (FŪ, kaze) in several ways, often having to do with wind. But how did 風 factor into overtime? And what was 呂敷? What Does サービス Mean Here? ... Because the characters appeared in a photo, I couldn't copy and paste them into Breen, and somehow all other methods of kanji investigation failed me. What would the radical of 呂 be? It couldn't be 口, could it?... Show more