The Tokyo Traveler

Many of the idioms that native English speakers use regularly are not understood well by the Japanese and often make no sense to them when translated literally.  For those of you interested in the Japanese language you may find it interesting to know that the reverse is true for some Japanese expressions.  Nihon no Kotowaza has put together a great listing of these idioms with sound files and comparisons to the equivalent English expressions.
This is one of my favorites:

Pronunciation:
Juu-nin to-iro (listen)
Literal Translation:
Ten people, ten colors.
The equivalent idiom in English would be “To each their own” or “Different strokes for different …read more

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When you visit Tokyo you will find that there is a lot of bilingual signage around the city and that is very a good thing because it’s one thing to know a few Japanese phrases and another when it comes to reading the Kanji that is one of the three scripts used in written Japanese.
To be able to read or write Japanese you would need to be able to identify more that 2,000 Kanji!  Learning the language of Japan is an overwhelming proposition for the traveler and something that is not very practical for tourists.  With that in mind, I …read more

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This years summer solstice will be on June 20th in the Northern Hemisphere.  When I asked “What do YOU want to know about Tokyo?”, Chandra from The Boston Traveler asked me to share some “incredibly beautiful” Kanji, the characters used in the Japanese Language.  Your wish is my command, Chandra! 
In honor of the summer solstice here the Kanji for summer or natsu:.   
The three hallmarks of summer in Japan are the yukata (summer kimono), furin (wind chimes), and hanabi (fireworks). 
Check out some more beautiful interpretations of the natsu kanji and others at Kanju-4u.
Photo Credit:  Flickr, Natsu

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My Japanese skills are very limited but it I have always found that a smile, a few words, pointing and a lot of patience get me through most situations.  A few phrases will really come in handy should you ever visit Japan so with that that in mind I here are some basic greetings:
Japanese (English phonetic pronunciation) – Translation
Ohayou gozaimasu (OH-HI-O GO-ZI-MAS) – Good morning
Kon’nichiwa (KO-NI-CHI-WA) – Good afternoon
Kon’banwa  (KONE-BAN-WA) – Good evening
Oyasumi nasai (O-YA-SU-MI NA-SIGH) – Good night
Sayounara (SIGH-O-NA-RA) – Good-bye
Lastly, here’s one that isn’t included on the top of many lists but one that I think is very …read more

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