Nihongo Ninja

Recently, I participated in "Onigiri Action", a fundraiser sponsored by Table for Two that ended on Wednesday, November 20th. For every picture of Onigiri posted to their website or #onigiriaction on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, Table for Two donated 5 meals to children in need- and with almost 300,000 Onigiri photos from around the world, 8,000 warm meals are being provided to children for a year! Learn more at  https://onigiri-action.com/en/ . This made me wonder: What are Onigiri, and what makes them so important to Japanese culture? Here is some information I presented to my school's Japanese Culture Club for our Onigiri meeting and to prepare us for the lunchtime Onigiri Action event we put on. Onigiri「おにぎり」 What are Onigiri? Not 鬼義理 (oni-giri), demon obligation, Onigiri is the Japanese word for “rice ball”. They’re an easy to carry meal, having a rice + side dish (the filling), which gives you enough energy to finish the day. They’re made for ma

Hello everyone! Before going to Japan, I knew there were some interesting words in katakana (read more about katakana here:  https://thenihongoninja.blogspot.com/2019/04/writing.html ), but there are some that are very interesting- especially those that come from English but have completely different meanings. It was a bit awkward when my host family asked if I needed their "consent", but that's just an example of an interesting change- it really means "electrical outlet", from "concentric plug"- not that we use that word in English often. What are 和製英語 (wasei-eigo), and what are some examples? Japanese-made English「和製英語」 What is 和製英語？ “Japanese-made English” or “English words coined in Japan”, wasei-eigo are expressions used in the Japanese Language that are based off of English words or word combinations, but don’t necessarily make sense in English. Some terms are recognizable as English, but others may be English word combinations that don’

２０１９年７月５・６・７日 旅行の ７ 日・８日・９日 こんにちは皆さん、 (Konnichiwa minasan,) Japanese elementary schools are a lot different than American elementary schools. I learned that firsthand today when I volunteered at 都南小学校 (Tonan Elementary School). First of all, not many American elementary schools would have three stories + roof access! We didn’t go on the roof (and I don’t think people are allowed up there often), but that that is an option. As we walked in, elementary school kids hung out of every window waving and yelling “hello” at us. I haven’t had much experience with elementary school besides being in one, but I think the atmosphere was a bit different here. The kids were very talkative and energetic, moreso than America, but also good at listening to direction- pushing tables to the side quickly so we could teach them “duck duck goose” and being fully in charge of serving each other lunch. They were learning about metamorphosis and had boxes of tens of silkworms. They really liked us holdin

２０１９年７月 3 ・ 4 日 旅行の 5 日・ 6 日 こんにちは皆さん、 (Konnichiwa minasan,) These past two days, I’ve done a lot of shopping! First, we went to 秋葉原 (Akihabara), a very busy electric-and-geek culture shopping Mecca for anime-lovers and technology-fanatics alike. Wherever you are in Akihabara, you’re likely to be able to see some kind of anime girl staring down at you from a poster, sign, or shop window trying to get you to buy their products. I spent my 3 hours of free time shopping with a friend at various stores- looking for any merchandise of my favorite characters and shows or anything else that might be nice to have. Some of these stores include Mandarake (a secondhand-yet-high-quality merchandise shop), amiami (a big anime/manga merchandise shop within Radio Kaikan, a huge 10 floor mall) and Gachapon Kaikan (a shop dedicated to capsule-toy vending machines). I found a couple things I liked but ended up getting less than I expected. I also got to try some made-on-the-spot Takoyaki, which

1 日 7 月２０１９年・２日７月２０１９年 旅行の 3 日・ 4 日 こんにちは皆さん、 (Konnichiwa minasan,) It’s been a bit busy going to new places every day! I’ve been busy from when I wake up to around 9-10PM going places, speaking Japanese with friends, or just working on homework together. One of the assignments is actually to keep a diary in Japanese, so I’ll end up having a log of my travels in both Japanese and English! Because I was very tired last night, I am going to record my travels for yesterday and today in one post. Yesterday, it truly hit me that I was in Japan. Walking to 参宮橋駅 (Sangubashi-eki), I looked around and really felt like I was in Japan. This feeling intensified more as we waited on the platform for our train to arrive and started our way towards Shibuya. I never thought walking through a train station could be so exciting, but it almost felt like I was in an underground city. Once we resurfaced, a canopy of tropical-looking trees and suspended roads sheltered us from the non-existent s

30日６月２０１９年 旅行の 2 日 こんにちは皆さん、 (Konnichiwa minasan,) It’s funny waking up early, getting on a nine-hour flight  at 11:30AM , and then arriving  at 1:30PM  the next day! It’s like I went 26 hours into the future. The moment I stepped off the plane, Florida-like humidity slapped me in the face. I could already feel my hair complaining, threatening to puff into a black cloud of ugly, but who cares- I had made my first step in Japan. Lots of escalators later (one welcoming me to Japan with Mario characters!) I got my baggage and went through customs and immigration. Afterwards, it was a bit of a maze to find the post office and get my WiFi hotspot, but after I discovered their map kiosks it got a lot easier- they’ve got touchscreen maps that support a multitude of languages which show you the exact path to take to get to your destination, and can even print mini customized maps! Once I found those, it became a lot easier to get my hotspot and then exchange my USD for ¥.  I met wi

I am traveling to Japan with Intrax Ayusa these next three weeks! I'll be documenting my travels and experiences here, so everyone can see what it's like to be in Japan from my perspective. Feel free to ask any questions! 29日６月２０１９年 旅行の１日 こんにちは皆さん、 (Konnichiwa minasan,) Today, I’m flying to Narita International Airport in Japan! It’s my first time travelling internationally by myself, but having a direct flight and not needing to worry about connections makes it a lot less stressful than it could’ve been. I got through security without a hitch- I don’t like SEA-TAC’s new TSA conveyor system but having been through it a week prior going to California for college tours, I knew how it worked. There are three lines, but everyone lines up in the last one- so I got to practically skip the line by just knowing which to go to. That was pretty sweet! I had a lot of time to catch the tram to S gates, and there was an open seat at the electronics table right next to my gate-

 久しぶりですね！Long time no see, everyone! May and early June can be a hard time for a lot of US secondary school students. With AP Testing, finals, and standardized testing, it can feel like we test a lot! Japan also has a very heavy emphasis on testing- one that overshadows the United States. What are the important tests in Japan, and how do they compare to the United States? Tests in Japan「日本の試験」 Japan has the same regular finals and unit tests as the United States has. However, Japanese entrance exams are some of the most important tests in a student's life- even more than the SAT or ACT, or almost any other US Test. Going into junior high school, high school, and university may involve taking entrance exams which rank a student's proficiency and decides their academic (and, as a result, their lifelong) future. Junior High and High School Examinations Junior high and high school entrance exams are not mandatory like university entrance exams. It's always an option

What are Japanese Pictographs? Last time, we looked at Hiragana and Katakana, the two writing systems that can be used to write any word in Japanese. However, there is a third writing system- Kanji, with over 7,000 characters to learn. Kanji Basics Kanji are symbols which represent ideas or words, and can be read differently based off of their context. For example, the kanji for ‘book’ 「本」 is read simply as ほん , “hon”, ‘book’ by itself. However, when combined with other kanji, its meaning changes. When combined for the kanji for ‘thing’ 「物」、 you form a kanji compound meaning “genuine thing”- ほんもの , “honmono”. Other kanji get completely different pronunciations based off of their context as well. For example, the kanji for “now”, 「今」、 ”ima” becomes “kon” with some other kanji, used to make words like 今夏、 ”konka”, ‘this summer’. Sometimes, even if you don’t know the secondary readings of kanji, you can guess the meaning of compounds. For example, the following compound: 「火山」

How do you write in Japanese? English is pretty easy- we have 26 letters and a couple symbols, and can form any word using these Roman characters. However, it's a bit more complicated in Japanese! Here is some information about how the Japanese writing system works. Hiragana and Katakana Hiragana and Katakana are the two base writing systems for Japanese. Each has characters which represent the 46 sounds used to speak Japanese, so you can write any word after knowing these! In order for western learners to understand Japanese when they are learning, we often write words in "Romanji". Romanji is the romanized form of Japanese sounds and pronunciations. For example, "sushi" is technically Romanji. Romanji is essentially the name for when you write Japanese words using Roman characters. Hiragana「ひらがな」 First is Hiragana. Any word that is native to Japan is written in Hiragana- like "sushi", "konnichiwa", or "hiragana". C

令和「れいわ」(Reiwa) Reiwa is the name of the new era (元号「げんごう」gengou) in Japan.  They normally come from different Chinese classical literature, because the era system was first used in China! Reiwa comes from the oldest collection of Japanese poetry, "Manyoshu". This new name will go in effect starting May 1st, which is when Crown Prince Naruhito will become the new emperor. What does Reiwa mean? Reiwa has two kanji: 令 and 和. 令 generally means "order" or "celebration", and 和 means "peace". Because of this, some people are puzzled over what Reiwa is supposed to mean. Some thought it meant "give in to order", but the lesser-used meaning of 令 ("good" or "beautiful") is the true sense- making the era mean "beautiful harmony". The current period, 平成, simply means "achieving peace". This new period is a very significant event for Japan. A new emperor, new era- it's like a fresh slate. If you

四時塾語「よじじゅくご」( Yojijukugo) Notice anything interesting about this kanji compound? There are four characters, and that’s fitting- because this is the word for “four-character kanji compounds”. 四 = four 字 = character 塾 = mellow, ripen, mature, skill acquirement 語 = word, speech, language In this case, the 四字熟語 for 四字熟語 mostly make sense- something along the lines of “four-character-mature-word”. However, in most 四字熟語 , the meaning of individual kanji doesn’t necessarily give a helpful hint towards the true meaning of these compounds. Let’s look at some of my favorite interesting 四字熟語 below: 一石二鳥 「いっせきにちょう」 = killing two birds with one stone 一 = one 石 = stone 二 = two 鳥 = bird This one is about the easiest 四字熟語 I know of. These are all kanji that many Japanese learners can recognize within a short period of studying kanji. “One stone, two birds” translates pretty similarly to “killing two birds with one stone”, its English counterpart. Most 四字熟語 ar

はじめまして！ Hajimemashite! Nice to meet you! 「はじめまして」is one of the first phrases I learned when I first started learning Japanese 4 years ago. It's an interesting phrase- literally translating to "This is the first time (meeting you)", which sounds a bit odd- imagine introducing yourself in English and starting off with "This is our first time meeting"! However, this is the normal introduction in Japanese- and means something along the lines of "Nice to meet you".  はじめまして、皆さん！僕は日本語は母国語じゃないけど、日本語が大好きです。だから、ペラペラになりたいんです。間違いがあったら、コメントで直して下さい！でも、僕はかんたんな日本語を教えたいので、このブログに投稿するつもりです。  Hajimemashite, minasan! Boku wa umaretsuki janai kedo, nihongo ga daisuki desu. Dakara, perapera ni naritaindesu. Machigai ga attara, komento ni naoshite kudasai! Demo, boku wa kantan na nihongo wo oshetai no de, kono burogu ni toukousuru tsumori desu. Nice to meet you, everyone! I'm not a native Japanese speaker, but I really like Japanese. So, I want to become flue