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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If you want to learn more about the Japanese Language then take some time to read through the submissions for this months Japan Blog Matsuri.  Tae Kim at Guide to Japanese has pulled together an interesting series of posts on “The Language of Japan“.  Here are a couple of the submissions:
Liv wrote a piece about why sometimes it’s easier to pretend that you don’t understand Japanese in Someone’s Knocking at the Door.
Nick tell’s us about the struggles of having a foreign name in Japan in What’s my name?
Jaimapanese talks about his strategy to learn Japanese with a combination of …read more

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How hard is it really to learn Japanese? is a great article with a little bit of history of the language and it’s origins.
Reuters lists Top 10 “weird activities” around the world features the Hakone Kowakien Yunessun Wine Spa in Hakone, Japan at number eight. Yep, you read it right, the spa website says that bathing in wine is a rejuvenation treatment for the body, and that the Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra loved to bath in wine.
Traditional court music or gagaku, …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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If you smoke and drink sake (rice wine) you could be increasing your chance of developing lung cancer.
You guide to deciphering acronyms, like ‘KY’, used by teenagers in Japan.  Unfortunately it won’t help you decipher Kanji but that’s a whole different subject.
Have you heard about the $10K worth of drugs that Japanese customs ‘misplaced’ in a customer baggage?  Unbelievable, but true.
Japan is trying to improve the medical system for foreigners by training more medical interpreters.
Read all about bad manners & Zen.  One mans quest to improve Japanese society.
Photo Credit:  Personal Collection (sake keg)

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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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