This lesson offers a few tools to help you learn Japanese. Some of these great tools to aid in your Japanese studies include the following: Rikaichan a popup dictionary extension for the Firefox Internet browser that translates Japanese into English, German, French, or Russian. With this extension installed, you can easily look up the meaning of Japanese words that show up on webpages by simply hovering the cursor over the word. A box will instantly pop up with the reading and definition of the word. Rikaichan Kanji Dictionary Hover the cursor over any kanji, whether it is part of a compound or by itself, and press the Shift or Enter key to toggle between the word, kanji, and name dictionaries. The kanji ... Show more

This blog focuses on the top five most important holidays in Japan. Seijin no Hi "Coming-of-Age Day." On this day, people who turn twenty during the current school year, which runs between April until the following March, celebrate their coming of age. In Japan, when people turn twenty, society legally recognizes them as an adult, and they are able to drink alcohol and vote. Golden Week The period in late April and early May that contains many Japanese national holidays grouped closely together. O-bon a Buddhist event where people pray for the repose of their ancestors' souls and remember the deceased. If you are familiar with Mexico's Day of the Dead festival, O-bon is quite similar. O-bon takes place from the... Show more

This is a continuation of the previous blog post Top 5 aspects of Family Life Work Culture and Economy Japan's economy is ranked second in the world after that of the United States some of its main industries include motor vehicles, electronics, industrial and transportation equipment, and chemicals. Employees in their first years at a company often have to work long hours for little pay. It is very common for employees to all go out drinking together after a long day at work; the Japanese see this as a way to strengthen relationships and build work camaraderie. Another important part of the Japanese work economy is the custom of lifelong employment. This system is becoming less common due to a decrease in the... Show more

As you learn more and more Japanese, you will come across the apparently confusing Japanese counting system as the numbers get more complex. This is due to Chinese influence, as the counting system in Japan comes from Chinese tradition, grouping larger numbers in "myriads" (every 10,000, unlike the Western way of grouping in thousands (1000). in Japanese, 乃rom 3 digits on, the numbers are counted as: 百 / "hyaku" /  "100" 千  / "sen" /  "1,000" 1万 /  "ichi-man"  /  "10,000" Numbers from 20 to 90 are ("digit")-jū Hundreds from 200 to 900 are "(digit)-hyaku" Thousands from 2000 to 9000 are "(digit)-sen" Tens of thousands from 10,000 to 90,000 are "(digit)-man" Keep in mind, that: If written in Arabic numerals, they... Show more

As you learn more about Japanese culture, we are sure that you will want to learn even more Japanese words and phrases! The way to experience Japan at its fullest is being able to communicate and make the best of your stay in this fascinating country. But sometimes we feel that time is short! However, did you know that you can use Japanese to learn more Japanese?  of course, you can ask for help, in Japanese! Remember to be polite at all times and use: すみません。 (  Sumimasen  ) "excuse me." We often use it to try to politely get someone's attention if we are about to say something or ask a question. 「 word 」 は日本語で何ですか。 (  wa Nihon-go de nan desu ka? ) "How do you say (word) in Japanese?" You can use this phrase... Show more

You may have noticed that Japanese sentences' word order are different from English. Yet, although it may sound odd to say "I Marge am", don't be discouraged about it, it is just a matter of learning Japanese sentence structure and soon it will become second nature. Remember that to Nihon-jin our word order for "My name is Marge" must be strange too! What is Nihon-jin? Nihon-jin is the way to say "Japanese person". in Japanese, to express nationality, you add the word for person, jin （ 人 ）to the name of a country. Let's take a look at some examples. 日本 (Nihon)  +  人 (jin )= 日本人  "Japanese person" in the same way: ア メリカ (Amerika) +  人 (jin )=  アメリカ人 (Amerika-jin)  "American person" イギリス (Igirisu)  + 人 (jin )= ... Show more

If you are in Japan for business or travel, or meeting you Japanese friend's family in your own country, we are sure you would love to impress your Japanese hosts. But you have heard that Japanese is difficult and a mistake can cause great confusion or trouble. Don't worry! Here we bring you some useful tips for that sucessful first meeting: "Kon'nichi wa. Watashi wa desu" こ んにちは。　わたしは です My name is . in this sentence, こんにちは Kon'nichi wa is the Japanese equivalent of "hello" and can be used at any time of day. わ たし Watashi is a polite way for males or females to say "I" or "me." は wa is a particle that follows the topic you are going to be talking about. です Desu is called a copula, and refers to one type... Show more

Can you imagine offering to buy your new girlfriend a box of "rain" while shopping in Tokyo instead of "candy?" Impressive if you can pull it off, but not much help if she has a sweet tooth! When you can hear and say the pitch properly in Japanese, you won't be caught making embarrassing mistakes! Pitch accent refers to a characteristic of language where every syllable can be pronounced with a high or low pitch. Pitch accent is considered different from the concepts of stress and tone that appear in English and Chinese, respectively. English: Stress Chinese: Tones Japanese: Pitch Some assert that English has over 30,000 syllabic sounds. In contrast, Japanese has only 111 (112, according to some linguists). There are many... Show more

This blog is a continuation of the previous blog 4 Major Cities. This blog will discuss 5 points of a standard Japanese family, but remember there are always exceptions!! Families in Japan are generally traditional, and the family is a focal point of life.  Immediate families are a bit smaller compared to those of other countries; it is not uncommon for Japanese parents to have only one or two children.  It is also very common for adult children to continue to live with their parents well into their twenties or thirties until they get married. Japanese gender roles are still quite traditional, with women expected to stay home and take care of their children and men expected to support the family financially. ... Show more

How much do you really know about Japan? Test your knowledge of Japan with this fun quiz! This lesson will test your basic knowledge of Japan by quizzing you on five areas of knowledge: geography, pop culture, travel, economics, and myth-busting. Questions: 1. How many prefectures does Japan have? 2. Below are the names of three popular characters that originated in Japan. Can you put them in order of their creation, from oldest to newest? 3. Which one is not located in Tokyo? 4. Where does Japan's economy fall in the rankings of world economies? 5. True/False: Japan's main staple diet is sushi. Answers: 1. 47. 2. Godzilla (1954), Hello Kitty (1974), and Pikachu (1995) 3. Mt. Fuji. 4.... Show more