Are you not annoyed by the use of が? 「が」 is difficult for many adult learners, especially which to use 「が」 or 「は」. Even a child Japanese...

酒(さけ) is wine or alcoholic drink, especially Japanese SAKE. The following drinks are popular in Japan. Which do you like best? ビール Beer....

「夢(ゆめ)」 is DREAM and was derived from 「寝目(いめ)」. 「寝(イ)」 is to sleep; 「目(メ)」 an eye or to see. So 寝目 or イメ meant what you saw while you’re...

Tea is thought to be brought to Japan via China in the 7th century. By the 13th, the tea trees had been widespread and became popular in...

Do you know where 「もしもし」(MOSHI-MOSHI) comes from? Many of you may know how to use もしもし. It is used when you begin to speak to somebody,...

In a rudimentary understanding, you may learn to use 「いくら」 only for 「これはいくらですか?」―How much is this?—asking the price of something....

「ので」 and 「のに」 are postpositional particles 格(かく)助詞(じょし) which work as a conjunction 接続(せつぞく). 「ので」 is resultative 順接(じゅんせつ); 「のに」...

者(もの) is a person; 物(もの) is a thing. Another thing is 事(こと), which is the subject of your consciousness or thought. 事(こと) is an abstract...

When 物(もの) is placed before some adjectives―as a prefix which works as an adverb—which show a condition or a feeling, it means 何(なん)となく...

しらばくれる （しらっぱくれる、しらばっくれる） とぼける 白(しら)を切る(きる) 白白しい(しらじらしい) 知らん顔(しらんかお) 知らん(しらん)振り(ぷり) They all mean to pretend not to know when you’re aware...

Both 事(こと) and 物(もの) are a thing. What’s the difference? How do you use them? In short, 事(こと) is the subject of your consciousness or...

や-る【遣る(やる)】 「娘(むすめ)を大学(だいがく)へやる」「娘(むすめ)を嫁(よめ)にやる」 The basic meaning for this 「やる」 is to make or let someone transfer from a place to...

The late John Denver wrote, “Sunshine on my shoulders make me happy.” Which do you think is the best translation into Japanese? 1....

Kanji 漢字(かんじ) were originally the letters of China 中国(ちゅうごく). The ancient Japanese began to use kanji for writing the Japanese language....

I don’t know why they use ‘fire’ in English when they fire somebody. Instead, in the Japanese language, we use ‘neck.’ When they fire...

This phase is from a poem of the great Chinese poet, 李(り)白(はく) Li Bai (701-762 A.D.). The literal translation is: an eastern breeze to a...

Buta 豚(ぶた) is: English: pig, hog Spanish: cerdo Tagalog: baboy 豚(ぶた)が豚(ぶた)をぶったら、ぶたれた豚(ぶた)がぶった豚(ぶた)をぶったので、ぶった豚(ぶた)とぶたれた豚(ぶた)がぶっ倒れた(ぶったおれた)...

This proverb/metaphor is to mean ‘wasting one's efforts; rendering one's efforts futile.’ You know that Japanese people like to take a...

Hana 花(はな) means flower. Flowers are beautiful. Owing to its beauty, there’re a lot of words and expressions having hana 花(はな). ●...

Both kirei きれい and utsukushi-i 美しい have the meaning of beautiful. Kirei きれい is used when the appearance is gorgeous, colorful, showy, and...