Kawaii goods in Japan The word Kawaii in Japanese can be translated as cute or adorable. The word seems to have morphed into a universal expression which encompasses a lot of typically Japanese trends. There are many goods made in Japan that are designed to be cute. Their target audiences are usually young girls, but there are many objects including road construction site markers that defy...

Mechanical pencils in Japan Japanese school children tend to write their assignments in pencil. This is true all the way up to university. In the British education system pens (more specifically fountain pens) were used during our childhoods, so finding High School and university papers written in pencil is a cultural surprise. The use of pencils means that pencil sales tend to be high and many...

Japanese numbers The Japanese language has basically two sets of numbers. The original Japanese system and the Chinese character (or Kanji) based system. Counters are also used with Japanese numbers and these can influence the pronunciation of the words. While Arabic numerals are usually used in horizontal texts,Kanji numerals are often written vertically. In this Japanese learner's blog by...

Japanese onomatopoeia The Japanese language has a range of onomatopoeia, some of which are familiar but others not so much. They are often broken down into 3 categories :- Giseigo, Giongo, and Gitaigo. Giseigo is the most familiar one to English speakers – it is imitating sounds people and animals make (bow wow). Giongo is a wider range of onomatopoeia which includes sounds that things make (the...

Japanese traditional crafts There are hundreds of Japanese crafts, which are separated categories of pottery, textiles, lacquer ware, metal working, doll making, woodworking, paper making. In her final blog before she retires from teaching at Japonin(JOI), Mizuno sensei brings one of the textile crafts to the fore – one that is made in her home city of Nagoya. Please read the blog and learn...

Japanese traditional toys There are various Japanese traditional toys, folk dolls and games. Most of these have a long history which have roots in Imperial or noble court life or in Buddhist rites and beliefs. The toy introduced in this blog by Kamiyama sensei has it's roots in Zen Buddhism. Read the blog and listen to the natural Japanese in the video for some free Japanese language lessons !...

Popular Japanese baby names The Japanese language allows for quite a range of naming. With Chinese characters or Kanji and Hiragana as well, there are many variations of the same name. Most people choose to use Kanji for their children's names, but due to stroke number beliefs (some stroke numbers or combinations are said to bring good or bad fortune) or for the sake of simplicity, Hiragana...

Cherry Blossom viewing Japan The event of enjoying the blooming of the cherry blossoms is called 'Hanami' in Japanese. It is a popular event and you can find the parks and sightseeing spots full of people on the days leading up to and including the full blossom days. Weekends which have good weather combined with fully blooming trees lead to extreme number of people going out to enjoy picnics,...

Japanese historical theme parks There are a large number of amusement parks in Japan, some with overwhelming visitor numbers and some less visited. The world renown Disneyland and Universal Studios are a must-see for families with children, but for those of you interested in historical attractions, then there are some great theme parks to enjoy all over Japan. One of these is introduced here by...

Japan tourism Japan has been getting more and more popular as a tourist destination as people from all over the world visit the country to experience and enjoy the diverse selection of historical sites, winter sports and adventure trips as well as the modern buildings and attractions that the country has to offer. At Japonin(JOI), we have a great course for students who want to come to Japan and...