Are you planning your trip to Japan? You might be worrying about accidentally offending someone by saying or doing the wrong thing. It is probably fair to say that Japanese society in general places a premium on etiquette, but don’t … Continue reading
Japanese people have a sweet tooth and, lucky for us, there are all kinds of places where treats can be found. In this post, we’ll take a quick look at some of these spots and discover what kinds of delights … Continue reading
There are two pairs of Japanese katakana characters that are probably the most confusing for Japanese language students. The first pair is シ (shi) and ツ (tsu). The second pair is ソ (so) and ン (n). In each case, the … Continue reading
Hollywood has a long and storied history of remaking Japanese movies. Big crossover Japanese hits like The Ring have come along in the flourishing horror genre. But the history of Japanese influence goes back to the ‘50s. In a strange … Continue reading
Below are 5 of the most frequent mistakes made by learners of Japanese. If you want to sound like a native, be sure to follow these tips to avoid them! Continue reading
お汁粉 (Oshiruko) is a traditional Japanese hot dessert perfect for winter. It’s a thick sweet soup made of 小豆 (azuki) red beans and 餅 (mochi) rice cake. Sometimes 団子 (dango) rice flour dumplings are used instead of rice cake. … Continue reading
敬老の日 Keiro no hi “Respect for the Aged Day” is a Japanese holiday celebrated on the 3rd Monday of September to honor elderly citizens. On this day, people express respect and gratitude for the elderly’s contributions to society and celebrate … Continue reading
In Japanese, there are five syllables containing the ‘R’ sound: ら ra り ri る ru れ re ろ ro. The Japanese ‘R’ is probably one of the trickiest consonant to pronounce because it is very different from the English … Continue reading
If you’ve read our post, How to Use Chopsticks with Elegance, you can now skillfully use chopsticks with ease. Great! But wait… did you know that there are 10 things you absolutely must not do with chopsticks? They are so … Continue reading
Think it’s hard to learn to sing in Japanese? Not so! Here’s a trick. Try to learn the Japanese version of songs that you already know; for example, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. You already know how the melody goes, so … Continue reading