Welcome to our Japanese lesson blog. Every week or so, a JOI teacher posts a new entry,
covering a range of Japanese and Japan-related topics. Try reading the Japanese version first,
then scroll down to check your understanding with the English translation.
New Japanese vocabulary, phrases, and usage patterns appear in blue,
with translation and usage notes at the bottom of the text. For a Kanji reading challenge, click the
blue icon below to turn off furigana (the small hiragana above the Kanji). Please enjoy, and check back often
for the latest topic.
Have you seen a rainbow recently ?
Rainbows, which appear in the sky after the rain has stopped, are really beautiful aren't they.
Once, I saw lots of people standing on a bridge taking photographs with their cellphone cameras and I was wondering what they were doing, when I saw a double rainbow. My cellphone doesn't really take good pictures, but it was such a beautiful site.
Rainbows disappear soon, but I think that makes them all the more fantastic and wonderful.
By the way in Japan, people generally say that rainbows have seven colors. Those seven colors are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and purple or violet.
However, the number of colors people see in a rainbow can vary according to the period, the area and the race.
Isn't it interesting that even though we are all looking at the same rainbow, the number of colors seen depends on the person ?
How many colors do you think are in the rainbow?
What colors are they ?
Comments in English or Japanese below.
今週の語彙 This week’s vocabulary
■虹 a rainbow ■空に虹がかかる There is a rainbow in the sky.／A rainbow appeared. ■幻想的 fantastic;dreamy ■以前 before ■二重 double ■一般的に generally ■橙 orange, an orange color ■藍 indigo-blue; deep blue ■時代 the times; an era; an age ■地域 an area; a region ■民族 a race; a people, a nation
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