Nihongo Ninja

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...