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

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary One might think of a jumble as a negative thing: a massive ball of knotted string that takes forever to untangle, a scrambled mind that keeps nothing straight, a mess of feelings and problems that you can't sort out, a messy house where you can't locate what you need. But there are also positive jumbles, and for some reason (hunger?!), I can mostly think of examples related to food: an appetizer sampler plate, variety packs of candy bars for Halloween, a stew. In fact, when you cook and mix things together, a jumble is often the goal. Hence the Term "Jambalaya"? ... Chaos of Color, the Big Hodgepodge Photo credit: © John W. Hammond Kun-kun 混 combinations... Show more

Back in November, Dr. Matt Wachsman contacted us about his mnemonic system for learning Kanji using captivating and enjoyable flash movies. These movies involve multiple parts of the brain simultaneously, reinforcing memory linkage with visual associations, sequence associations, humor and rhymes. We hope these will appeal to people with a variety of learning styles and that you enjoy them. We plan to introduce about 6-12 new Kanji per week to cover the Kanji taught in the first 6 years of school in Japan and the JLPT levels 4 and 3. This week's animation is titled Speak!

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary Do you think of Old Japan as an orderly or disorderly place? My gut reaction is to think of orderliness: the constant cleaning of already spotless houses, the exquisite presentation of shōjin ryōri (精進料理: vegetarian Buddhist food served at temples, meticulous + to offer + cuisine (last 2 chars.)), the dainty washi wrapped around purchases, and the minute attention to detail in the tea ceremony. And yet kanji calligraphy tends toward chaos! Only highly trained practitioners can read the flowing lines. And there's the matter of twisting, narrow roads in Tokyo and how easy it is to get lost there, with the unclear or nonexistent indication of streets and building numbers.... Show more

Back in November, Dr. Matt Wachsman contacted us about his mnemonic system for learning Kanji using captivating and enjoyable flash movies. These movies involve multiple parts of the brain simultaneously, reinforcing memory linkage with visual associations, sequence associations, humor and rhymes. We hope these will appeal to people with a variety of learning styles and that you enjoy them. We plan to introduce about 6-12 new Kanji per week to cover the Kanji taught in the first 6 years of school in Japan and the JLPT levels 4 and 3. This week's animation is titled Gate!

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary When I came upon the compound 混沌 (konton: confusion, chaos, disorder), I couldn't fathom why this word had taken on so much water (). I wondered whether the moisture had anything to do with the "swirling waters of confusion" to which English speakers refer. As it turns out, yes! Check out some of the meanings of these kanji (the second of which happens to be rare): 混: confused 沌: swirling water, to be blocked, primeval chaos Primeval chaos?! Burbling bodies of water must have terrified some early people! Swirl Photo credit: Ray Byrne Henshall says that 混 originally referred to water rushing and swirling with no fixed course, as in a flood. Then "confused... Show more

Metropolis, Japan's No. 1 English magazine, selected JapanesePod101.com as its first ever Website of the Week. Metropolis is a weekly English Magazine for foreigners with a focus on entertainment, events, and Japanese culture.