I’m posting more kanji for the next few weeks, so that I can cover all the HSC prescribed characters before…
員
Meaning: a member Reading: イン 員数（インスウ）: a total number, a quota 人員（ジンイン）: the number of people, the personnel 会員（カイイン）: a…
人
Your content goes here…Meaning: a person Reading: ジン、ニン、ひと（びと） 人工（ジンコウ）（の）: artificial, man-made人格（ジンカク）: character, personality, indivuduality人権（ジンケン）: human rights日本人（ニッポンジン、ニホンジン）: a Japanese person何人（なにジン）:…
ダイヤ
During the typhoon season, you hear たいふうでダイヤがみだれた a lot on television. If you hear it often enough, you would know…
「は」＆「が」(2)
Which fits better in the following sentences, は or が? A: あそこ に おとこのこ (A) います。 B: その おとこのこ（B) ８さい…
万
meaning: ten thousand (10000) reading: マン、バン、よろず 万年筆（マンネンヒツ）: a fountain pen万病（マンビョウ）: all kinds of diseases一万（イチマン）: 10000(ten thousand) 万国共通（バンコクキョウツウ）: universal, common…
精進料理（しょうじんりょうり/shoujin_ryouri）
Nowadays almost everybody eats meat in Japan. However, eating meat, especially beef, had been a taboo in Japan for a…
実証（じっしょう）、事象（じしょう）、自書（じしょ）
Today’s set of similar sounding words are: 実証（じっしょう） 実証された = verified 事象（じしょう） = event, phenomenon 自書（じしょ）する = to write in…
千
meaning: thousand reading: セン（ゼン）、ち 千（セン）: a thousand千客万来（センキャクバンライ）である:have a great number of visitors/customers千金（センキン）（の）: priceless. worth a thousand dollars千里眼（センリガン）: clairvoyance海千山千（うみセンやまセン）（の）: hard-bitten, tested…
ワンピース
ワンピース is the transliteration of the English phrase “one piece” but ワンピース only refers to a one-piece “dress” for women…
to win
“To win” is not an easy word to translate into Japanese. First you need to work out what kind of…
百
Meaning: one hundred Reading: ヒャク（ヒャッ、ピャク、ピャッ、ビャク、ビャッ） 百（ヒャク）: 100 (one hundred)三百（サンビャク）: 300 (three hundred)百姓（ヒャクショウ）: a farmer, a peasant, a farmhand百貨店（ヒャッカテン）: a…
Is Chinese food 中華料理 or 中国料理?
chuuka_ryouri or chuugoku_ryouri? Have you had an experience that you went to a Chinese restaurant in Japan and the food…
とかい, とうかい, とうかい
Japanese has so many homonyms – the same sound but different meanings. Today I talk about とかい and 2 different とうかいs.
島
Meaning: island Reading: トウ、しま（じま） 列島（レットウ）: an archipelago, a chain of islands日本列島（ニホンレットウ）: the Japanese Islands離島（リトウ）: an isolated island; leaving the…
レンジでチン
When I googled ”レンジでチン,” I got nearly 5 million hits. It is a very common expression in Japanese. What does…
十分 – じゅっぷん or じゅうぶん ?
If you are reading this article, that is probably because you were intrigued by the question in the photo. So…
空
meaning: sky, emptyreading: クウ、そら（ぞら）、あ、から 空港（クウコウ）: an airport空気（クウキ）: air架空（カクウ）: overhead, aerial; fanciful, imaginary航空（コウクウ）: aviation空（クウ）: the air, space, the void 空（そら）:…
Kaiseki
If you have read or heard about traditional Japanese multi-dish meals, you may have come across the word, かいせき/kaiseki or…
ちずとチーズ
Today’s sound key words are ちず（地図） and チーズ. Listen and repeat the sound, and you will be able to pronounce them correctly.
