Namiko's Japanese Language Blog

August 15th is the day that World War II ended. There are quite a few Japanese children books that talk about the war. "Kawaisouna zou," which was published in 1970, is a long selling book. It is a true story about three elephants at the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo during World War II. I read it when I was at elementary school. I remember it was very sad and I strongly hoped that war never happens again. I haven’t read it for a quite a long time, but I recently read news that a CD of this book was released with both Japanese and English on one disk. The American singer, Cindy Lauper, reads the English version of the story. I hope it will help to spread an antiwar message. Japanese translation

Are you watching the Beijing Olympics? The Japanese word for "Olympics" is "gorin," which is written with the kanji character for "five" and "ring". Japan hosted three Olympics in the past: Tokyo Summer Olympics in 1964, Sapporo Winter Olympics in 1972 and Nagano Winter Olympics in 1998. Beijing is the fifth Asian city (the other one was Seoul in 1988) to host the Olympics. I was quite excited about the Nagano Olympics and proud to be a host country. I am sure the Chinese feel the same way. By the way, Tokyo is one of the cities (Chicago, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro) that bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. Japanese translation

If you are an anime fan, you’ve probably heard of Hayao Miyazaki. He is a great director of animated movies. All his work is amazing, but "Spirited Away" is my favorite. His highly awaited new film, "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (Gake no ue no Ponyo)" was released in Japan a few weeks ago. The film is inspired by "The Little Mermaid" and tells the story of a fish-girl, Ponyo, saved by a five-year-old boy, Sousuke. It is done completely with traditional hand-drawn animation, not using any computer graphics. I am really looking forward to seeing this film. It is supposed to be a simple story for young children, which means you will probably understand it even in Japanese! I hope you are able to enjoy the film with sub-titles when it comes to your country. Japanese translation

As I mentioned in previously, Japanese summer is very hot and humid. The humidity reaches up to 70~80 %. It is obviously not a comfortable time, but there are many things that I miss about the Japanese summer. When I was little, I used to go to the shrine grounds to do "radio exercises" every early morning (It started 6:30 a.m.). Radio exercises (rajio-taisou), is a form of exercise most Japanese are familiar with. The instructions are synchronized to light piano music. There is an attendance card for rajio-taisou and you get a stamp on it when you come. I didn’t want to miss rajio-taisou because I liked seeing my card filling up with stamps. The music of rajio-taisou makes me nostalgic. It is funny; after all these years my body still remembers the exercises whenever I hear the music.


Japanese Translation

"Doyo ushi no hi" is a day in late July dedicated to eating eel. The day falls on July 24 this year. The custom began in the 18th century. Since Japanese summer is hot and humid, many people suffer from natsubate (summer fatigue). It is believed that eating nutritious eel helps to increase stamina and beat the summer heat. On Doyo ushi no hi, you will find eels sold at every supermarkets. Long advertisement flags (nobori) are often around to promote sales. I love eel. Una-don (unagi-donburi) is one of the dishes that I always request from my mom when I go back to Japan. It is particularly good with sansho pepper. I feel hungry!


Japanese Translation

I went to the dentist the other day. In the middle of the treatment, the power suddenly went off. I got little bit nervous, as I had to keep my mouth open. What would happen if the power didn't come back on? Luckily it came back a litter later and they were able to finish fixing my teeth. Speaking of teeth, the Japanese are less concerned than the west with having straight teeth. "Yaeba (a double tooth)" is probably not desirable in the west, but many Japanese find yaeba cute and charming, especially for girls. Some celebrities and models show off their yaeba smiles. "Yaeba" is also often seen in female characters in anime and manga, too.


Japanese Translation

I read an article about a tobacco vending machine that can detect if the purchaser is a minor. In some countries, the purchase of tobacco can be very strict. In Japan, it can be easily purchased from vending machines, which are located everywhere. This newly developed machine has a built-in camera that measures facial wrinkles, pupil size and other features. The population of smokers is quite high in Japan. It is 29.2 % (as of 2007) and the fifth highest in the world following Greece, Turkey, Netherlands and Hungary. I think people are concerned about health nowadays, but when I was little, the men of my dad’s age were almost all smokers. I wonder how effective this new machine will be in preventing youth from smoking?


Japanese Translation

My mom came to visit me last week. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I am very close with my mom. It was nice to see her and we had a great time. Whenever she comes, she often finds some differences from home. She said to me that she felt a little awkward going into the bathroom without wearing slippers. What? Slippers? Yes, I totally forgot about bathroom slippers in Japan. The toilet is in a separate room from the bathtub and slippers are usually set there. It is kind of a funny custom to wear slippers even in a tiny bathroom.


Japanese Translation

I am glad that quite a few people responded saying that the "Japanese Word of the Day" email course is great material to learn from. Some people, especially advanced learners, are asking if I could add Japanese writing for each word. Actually, there is a link under "Today's Audio Files" in the email lesson you receive every day. It leads you to the "Word of the Day" lesson on my site, which includes Japanese writing. It would be great if you have the time to check out Japanese writing and listen audio files every day.

I want to let you know that I've started "Word of the Day" lessons by email. Each day you will receive a new word with a definition, pronunciation and example sentences. I hope they will help you to build vocabulary or refresh your knowledge. If you are interested, click here to subscribe. I've also started adding romaji translations for "Namiko’s Blog Lessons". I would encourage you to learn as much Japanese writing as possible, but I thought Japanese translation (in kanji, hiragana and katakana) might be a little bit overwhelming for beginners. The important thing is to enjoy reading and learn something from them. I always appreciate your comments or input about my column.


Japanese Translation