Writing Japanese kanji in mirror writing. Mirror writing is the ability to write letters the opposite direction to which they are written normally. It must be quite difficult to write Japanese using this form because of Japanese Kanji or Chinese characters. However, Imoto sensei has this rather rare skill ! Read this amusing blog and learn Japanese for free at Japonin(JOI), Japanese online schoo...

Museums in Japan Museums in Japan developed from the late 19th century towards the end of the Edo period. According to a 2005 survey by the Ministry of Education there are over 5,600 museums in Japan today. Many of the museums are funded by city governments or prefectural governments. This allows for large budgets and impressive architecture and collections. Momoki sensei, one of the Japanese te...

Japanese Onigiri rice balls One of the most popular and standard Japanese cuisine is the Onigiri or rice balls. They are usually wrapped in sea-weed which is also known as nori or roasted laver. The insides can be filled with almost anything, and the most traditional filling is usually Umeboshi or Japanese plumsthere although many innovative fillings found in convenience stores recently. In thi...

Japanese Onomatopoeia The Japanese language features a large amount of onomatopoeia. There are words that express the sound of animals and people which are called Giseigo. There are words that describe other sounds like the sound of footsteps on dry leaves which are called Giongo. There are also Mimetic words that describe feelings and way in which something is done. These are called Gitaigo. H...

U-Turn Rush during Obon The teacher's blog this week by Ueno sensei, a professional Japanese teacher at Japonin(JOI), talks about a phenomenon in Japan that happens during the holiday seasons. There is another similar phenomenon which is called “U-Turn Rush”. When the holidays are over, everyone floods back to their cities to start the working weeks. This creates huge traffic jams going into the...