Private parking waza*

*: means “technique”

C3PO, shut down all trash compactors on the detention level!!

I have to admire the driver for being able to maneuver the car into that space. I presume they exit through the rear door.

I can not see you. Ergo, you can not see me.

頭隠して尻隠さず [atama kakushite shiri kakusazu] is a Japanese proverb literally meaning “to hide your head but not your butt”, and seems to fit perfectly with this picture.

(Note: the proverb actually refers to not completely concealing your mistakes/wrongdoings)

Its the feeling that counts.

The added work of having to lift the shutter in order to steal this car is of questionable deterrence value, but this owner seems satisfied. Doesn’t look like a car worth stealing anyway, to be honest.

If you can’t move out, move UP!

For those Japanese who have two cars but only space for one, apparently you can buy a private use car elevator. Also handy for cleaning 2nd floor windows, though you’d better double check their earthquake/typhoon durability rating.

Public parking waza

Actually, the notion of stacking cars is well developed in Japan. In fact, they have whole buildings that are basically giant car stacking machines. Pretty cool, actually.

You may question whether or not a タワーパーキング [tower parking] like the one in this video is actually economically viable, even in Japan. Well, here’s my answer:

If there’s sufficient demand for parking space in Japan that a two-car-capacity commercial parking (with one space being out of order?) lot can pay the bills, then so can a parking tower. I’m still looking for a single-car pay parking lot, by the way. If anyone knows one, please send me a tip!

The other popular method for communal/commercial parking is what I call “the honeycomb.”

While mathematically speaking this a very effective way of parking, getting out can become problematic.

Random pictures

Sorry, but making your car harder to see does reduce the mount of space it takes up. Try again.

It’s important to note that not all areas of Japan have parking issues, as you can see the above picture, taken in rural Japan (Shirakawago).

Ummm, are you SURE that I can U-turn in there?

チンピラ

[chinpira] – A small time gangster or a thug.

たかり

[takari] – A shake-down, where a group of people threaten some vulnerable person into giving up their wallet/money/etc. The (infrequently used) kanji is 集り, meaning to “gather.”

かつあげ

[katsuage] – A shake-down. This word is basically the same as たかり, but with more of a slangy nuance. One of my friends reports this word is associated with ヤンキー types and isn’t used much any more. (kanji: 喝上げ)

スリ

[suri] – Pickpocketing. (kanji: 掏摸)
Note: a “pickpocket” (the person who engages in pickpocketing) is also called a スリ, but the kanji is different (掏児).

といち

[toichi] – This is a loan that compounds interest at a rate of ten percent (一割 / ichiwari) every ten days (十日間 / toukakan).

車上荒らし

[shajou arashi] – Stealing things (like navi systems or CD players) from cars.

口止め料

[kuchidomeryou] – Hush money. This word has been on TV a lot with the Sumo gambling story.

ノミ行為

[nomi koui] – Speaking of gambling (賭博/tobaku), ノミ行為 is another related word you should know. It refers to bookkeeping bookmaking (taking bets), or in the context of stock markets it can mean bucketing (taking purchase orders from people without actually making the transaction).

Note: The person who takes the bets (the bookie) is called a 胴元 (doumoto).

空巣

[akisu] – Literally: empty (空) nest (巣). This crime is when a person breaks into houses when no one is at home to steal things. (shortened from: 空巣狙い / akisu nerai)

ポイ捨て

[poi sute] – “poi” is the onomatopoeic sound of tossing something casually on the ground. Hence, this word means littering.

ひったくり

"Watch out for purse snatchers"

[hittakuri] – 引っ手繰る [hittakuru] means to snatch something away from someone. So hittakuri usually refers to the crime of purse snatching. (Ladies, avoid carrying your purses on your road-side shoulder!)

シノギ

[shinogi] – This word refers to any of the many ways illicit groups like yakuza make their money, typically things like bodyguarding, drug dealing, high rate loans, scams, etc. It probably comes from phrase 糊口を凌ぐ [kokou o shinogu] which means “to eke out a living”.

オレオレ詐欺

[ore ore sagi] – This is a kind of telephone scam that has been happening a lot in Japan in recent years. A scammer calls someone and poses as a relative (usually a son), then explains some terrible predicament they are in and how they need the target to send transfer a large sum of money to their bank account. “ore ore” means “it’s me, it’s me” and is a phrase the caller uses to gain the targets trust.

極道 vs. 堅気

This is an interesting pair of words that you would certainly want to know to be able to play 龍が如く. 極道 [gokudou] or the extreme (極) path (道) is the word that refers to people who live illegitimately as gangsters/bookies/etc. 堅気 [katagi] or sturdy (堅) spirit (気) refers to regular people who live honest lives.

But this simple pleasure reveals a problem for us Japanese learners. The reason it happens is because of how insultingly low expectations are in Japan for foreigners to gain true mastery of the language. Japanese are by and large very congenial toward foreigners, but getting people to take you seriously in this country is a high, high hurdle.

So what should we do? I say let’s take the fight to them! I’ve selected 7 polite/advanced Japanese expressions for this article that native speakers won’t see coming. Use these babies to let Japanese know you’re more than just another kawaii gaijin! You are super-gaijin!

1. 恐縮ですが

[kyoushuku desu ga...] Getting what you want through humility? Yes, it’s possible in Japanese. The idea is to be so polite and endearing that people won’t be able to refuse you.

恐縮, taken literally, means something like “to shrink in fear of causing any unpleasant feelings”. It comes in handy when making requests for assistance or information.

つまらない質問で恐縮ですが・・・
I’m terribly sorry to trouble you with such a silly question, but…

2. 光栄に存じます

[kouei ni zonjimasu] Literally “to think of something as an honor”, this is a real whopper of a way to say thanks when you’ve received gifts, praise, or gratitude from a Japanese person.

お役に立てておりましたら光栄に存じます。
I’m honored that I was able to be of assistance.

3. お言葉に甘えます

[o-kotoba ni amaemasu] Take this one to the izakaya with you! In a country where offers and suggestions are almost expected to be refused, this splendid phrase gives you a free ticket to make a Japanese person walk their talk. So if they tell you to order whatever you like, pop them a それでは、お言葉に甘えます and get the most expensive thing on the menu! (but remember it’ll probably still be 割り勘 when you’re done)

お言葉 means “your words” and 甘え means something like “expressing your affinity for someone by letting them spoil you”.

(Note: the concept of 甘え is something very non-western and deserves a better explanation, fortunately there’s already an English-language wikipedia article about it)

4. お見知りおきを

[o-mishiri oki o] Meaning: “please remember me”. We don’t really have an equivalent phrase in English, but this is a very polite line sometimes heard in personal introductions. The ください that would logically come at the end is usually omitted.

〇〇と申します。以降お見知りおきを。
My name is  〇〇. I’m looking forward to getting to know you.

5. ご無沙汰しておりました

[go-busata shite orimashita] 無沙汰 means “going a long time without visiting or corresponding with someone”. The ご makes this phrase more polite, as does the おりました instead of いました. This is a useful phrase for getting back together with someone you haven’t written to or spoken to in a long time.

長らくご無沙汰しておりました。
I’m sorry that I haven’t contacted you in such a long time.

6. 御機嫌よう

[go-kigen you] Probably the easiest phrase on this list to actually use, 御機嫌よう is a sophisticated and polite greeting and parting phrase (that means it can be either “hello” or “goodbye”, similar to aloha). It literally means “may you be in a good mood”. (Note: よう here is a form of 良い)

If you read manga or watch anime, you’ll notice that this is the greeting word of choice for rich and high-class characters.

7. 冥利に尽きる

[myouri ni tsukiru] 冥利 is a kind of divine providence or fortune, a blessing of happiness that comes from having some role or position in life. 尽きる (in this case, at least) means “to be at the highest point”. Put it together, and you get a phrase that expresses attaining the highest level of happiness that can be derived from a role/position, probably because something good just happened to you.

外国人冥利に尽きます！
It’s so awesome being a foreigner!

Kangoku (監獄) means prison, and izakaya (居酒屋) is a Japanese style drinking restaurant.  So a kangoku izakaya is a Japanese restaurant/bar that has been styled to look like a prison! And if the thought of vicious felons and dirty prison cells doesn’t whet your appetite, I don’t know what will.

Kangoku Inshoku 42 Bou is the name of this peculiarly-themed izakaya, located in Sakae, Nagoya. With dinner courses ranging from around 2000 to 3000 yen and a nomihoudai (all you can drink) for 1000 yen, you can enjoy izakaya food similar to what you would find anywhere else, but from the comfort of a dark and spooky prison cell.

But why stop with just a prison izakaya when you can have a haunted prison izakaya! Kangoku 42 is decorated throughout with skeletons, chains, red blood-like splatters on the wall and other stereotypical haunted-house decor. It’s no wonder this place is so popular with the ladies, eh? (no, seriously, it is really popular with ladies)

At 8:00pm, there is even a nightly horror show. The entire restaurant goes dark (it’s dark to begin with, mind you, but once the show starts you can forget about eating for a while), and a spooky soundtrack starts playing. Gunshots fire off somewhere, flashes of light bounce off the marred concrete walls as an eerie voice narrates a deathly tale of… actually I was on the 2nd floor so I didn’t get a good view and I didn’t really know what was going on. Then the staff put on scary outfits and go around to the tables trying their best to spook all the customers.

It’s pricey (as are most izakayas), but an interesting experience. Might be good for dates. Definitely a great place for Halloween parties.

Come on, you know you want to… your table is waiting, prisoner! mwahahahahahahahahaaaaa!!!!

Here’s a google map for everyone:

View Larger Map
PS. For some reason they only have Heineken beer. Drink of choice for prisoners? (and exiles? *looks south*)

Japan Blog Matsuri

I’ve submitted this post to be included in the April 2010 Japan blog matsuri. This month’s Matsuri, about secret Japan, is hosted by Gakuranman, thanks!

Now, whenever you view the Nihonshock homepage, below the most recent post you will see:

These are basically short posts (just a paragraph or so) about a specific Japanese word that I thought was either interesting or worth talking about. The words included will (for the most part) be quite high level, or will otherwise offer unique trivia for lower level words, but I’ll do my best to make the explanations accessible to learners of all levels. I will, however, stay away from words that aren’t known even to native Japanese.

Note that on the top page, just an excerpt is given, so be sure to click the words to go to the page with the full explanation.

I haven’t gotten around to making a dedicated page where you can easily browse through all of the vocabulary (there’s only 2 words right now, anyway), but it’s on my “to do” list.

I’ll try to add words at a frequency of every day or every other day, but no guarantees.

There’s 4 ways you can keep up with Nihonshock’s new vocabulary section.

1. Bookmark Nihonshock’s home page and come back every day.
2. Follow me on Twitter (I’ll let everyone know when a new word goes up)
3. Subscribe to the Vocabulary RSS Feed
   • Vocabulary will not appear in the regular RSS feed.
4. Join the Nihonshock vocab goal on smart.fm (I’ll try to keep it as up to date as possible)

As always, I’m interested to hear everyone’s opinions and suggestions.

UPDATE: April 24, 2010

I made a dedicated category page that makes it possible to quickly access past vocabulary. If I can keep up the whole word-a-day thing, this section is going to get pretty big pretty fast.

Check it out: Nihonshock Vocabulary Bank.

iPhone-chan (or as I call my iPhone: ai-chan) tries to detect words contextually (I think…), but any non-standard character usages you manage to get into the system are quickly forgotten.

Fortunately, there’s a workaround. And don’t worry, you don’t need to jailbreak your phone to get it to work.

The answer? use the iPhone address book.

When typing in Japanese, your iPhone uses names and readings from your address book as a kind of second dictionary for its text auto-complete. This was a very smart way to program the iPhone since the most common reason to use non-standard kanji/words to begin with is because they’re used that way in a proper name (which, if it’s someone/someplace/somewhere you know, would probably be in your address book anyway).

1. The first word you want to enter (kanji)
2. The reading for the first word that you want to use to access it
3. The second word (in this case, a custom kaomoji)
4. The reading to bring up the second word

Of course, this is great news for us. It means we can create dummy entries in our address book for words we want to register in the iPhone dictionary. You can use both the first and last name fields to enter your custom words, meaning you can register 2 words per entry.

The downside is that this creates an entry in your address book that weighs your address book down with irrelevant information. So it’s your call; if there’s a word you use often that you want to be in your dictionary, consider using this method. But be warned that overdoing it will leave you with a really untidy address book.

Works like a charm.

There are a couple 辞書登録 (dictionary registration) apps at the (Japanese) iTunes app store but all they all use this same principle of adding to the address book. They just try to make the process of adding and removing words easier.

There is, however, one Japanese jailbreak app which add words and phrases directly to the iPhone. But unless you really need the functionality and you’re pretty good with both computers and Japanese, sticking with the address book workaround is probably your better option.

You may have already set up your IME and have some experience using it (if not, please check out Greggman.com’s excellent guide to installing/setting up your IME). However, it’s common for foreigners to overlook some of the finer points of its usage. This article aims to provide novice IME users with an introduction to some of the intermediate and advanced features literally waiting at their fingertips, providing a basis for improved typing efficiency, problem solving and expanded usage.

For this article I’ll presume that:

1. You have your IME installed, set up and ready to use
2. You have a basic understanding of how to use it (how to make hiragana appear when you type, how to convert a word to kanji)
3. You have a basic understanding of hiragana/katakana and Japanese phonetics
4. You are a Windows user (sorry Mac and Linux folks)

Tip 1: Easy IME on/off toggle

English Keyboards: ALT + Tilde. (This is a tilde: ~. It’s usually on the top left corner of your keyboard, right below the escape key.)
Japanese Keyboards: 半角／全角／漢字 (Top left key of the keyboard, below the escape key. ALT not needed.)

This is a very basic tip but one of the most important. Everyone needs to start here. Clicking around on your language bar to change the IME mode is just a waste of time; use this quick shortcut whenever you need to toggle your IME.

Tip 2: Reconverting

Reconverting (再変換 – saihenkan). So you’re proof-reading an email or something you wrote in Japanese and notice you accidentally entered the kanji 慎重 when you wanted 身長 (meanings are different but both are read: shinchou). There’s two ways to fix this; you could delete the incorrect characters and type it in again (a minimum of 12 keystrokes), or you could reconvert it.

“Reconverting” is essentially calling back the kanji selection list for a word that has already been entered. Sounds useful, eh? To do this, simply select the word you want to change, right click and choose “Reconversion.” Voila! You’ve got your list back.

On Japanese computers this option does not appear on the right click menu so you must use the 変換 key (usually to the right of the space bar on Japanese keyboards) to initiate a reconvert.

NOTE 1: Reconverting via right-click isn’t possible in all settings.  If your IME is on but you don’t get the reconvert option, try copying the text into a different application (eg. Wordpad).

NOTE 2: On a Japanese computer, you could alternatively use the space bar instead of the 変換 key to initiate a reconvert, but keep in mind that if you’re in English input mode this method will simply replace your text with an empty space. (you should really be using the 変換 key anyway)

Reconverting is also useful for finding the reading to a word you don’t know: copy and paste the unknown word into Notepad or another text editor and reconvert it (the hiragana/katakana will appear on the conversion list box as shown in the image above).

Poweruser tip: if you notice your mistake immediately after you’ve entered it (after you hit enter and the underline goes away), you can use CTRL + Backspace to do a quick reconvert.

Tip 3: Use special characters

This is a fun tip. Having an IME makes it much easier to use the special characters that are available on most computers nowadays. I’m talking about things like arrows, stars, hearts, shapes and more. While these characters don’t always display properly on every computer and in every software environment, they are becoming more usable all the time and are particularly well supported in Japan (because Japanese has so many characters, fonts are fewer and special character sets and more standardized).

To type a special character, you simply need to know the keyword that will call it up in your IME. Here’s a table showing some of the major keywords and a sample of the characters they give you access to (this table is by no means exhaustive, there are many other keywords out there):

Note: Characters in blue require the symbols dictionary to be activated, see Tip #4.

Tip 4: Use more special characters

Out of the box your IME has some symbols, but if you want to use any of the ones from the table above that I’ve colored in blue, you’ll need the symbols dictionary activated. Here’s how:

Tip 5: Mini hiragana characters

The hiragana characters あいうえおやゆよつ and corresponding katakana アイウエオヤユヨツ can all be sized down at will to meet your needs. Simply prefix the sound as you would type it normally with an L (for “little”). For example, L + U = ぅ. This only works with the vowel characters, ya/yu/yo and tsu ( in Japanese these are the only characters you should ever find opportunity to make small.)

Alternatively, you can downsize these characters by converting them (eg. “u” + spacebar), but prefixing the character is a much better option because it allows you to size as you type, which allows your IME’s parsing activity continue interrupted.

Tip 6: Zu and Zu, Ji and Ji

In Hepburn romanization, hiragana ず and づ (and katakana ズ and ヅ) are both “zu.” However, if you want to type 続く (tsuzuku) with your IME, typing t s u z u k u will not work. Why? Because according to your IME, zu is always ず, but the correct character in this case is づ. The keystrokes to bring up this character is du (since T-line sounds become D-sounds with the ゛ added). The same is true of the difference between じ and ぢ.

Tip 7: Save keystrokes with non-Hepburn typing

Your IME supports Hepburn (except as noted in tip #6). But since you need to get used to du and di instead of zu and ji, you might as well take advantage of the opportunity to ditch a couple more Hepburn habits. It seems like very petty keystroke savings but trust me, once you get used to it you will not want to go back.

• TSU　⇒ TU (Hepburn ⇒ Shortcut)
• CHI　⇒ TI
• SHI ⇒ SI

I use the above shortcuts, but still prefer the Hepburn ji/ja/ju/jo for じ/じゃ/じゅ/じょ ( which would be zya/zyu/zyo otherwise), since in these cases the non-Hepburn method doesn’t offer me any keystroke savings and the Z key is less convenient than the J key.

Tip 8: Force the N character

Say you want to type the word 勧誘, which in romaji is kan’yuu. Hey, what’s that apostrophe doing in the middle of the word? It’s there to show that the word is read かん + ゆう and not か + にゅう. It may seem like a small difference to you but in Japanese this is actually a pretty big deal. In cases when you need to make this distinction as you type in Japanese, you can tell your IME that you want to use the ん character by hitting N twice consecutively. So to type 勧誘 your keystrokes would be k a n n y u u.

Tip 9: Register custom words

The IME has some built in functionality for detecting which conversions you use most and prioritizing them, and detecting non-standard conversions you use and automating them. However, there may be cases where it would be easier to just add a certain word to your IME’s dictionary. For example, if your boss or coworker has a name with a rare kanji reading, or if you and your friends use a certain niche word that’s not in the dictionary. Do this:

1. The reading for the word. Put the hiragana in here
2. The kanji you want to come up.
3. Part of speech (noun, adjective, verb, etc.)
4. User comment (optional)

Tip 10: Shift the parsing range

A common source of IME headaches is when a word you want to type is for one reason or another not parsed (split into parts) correctly, preventing you from easily bringing up the particular kanji that you need. This can drive you crazy trying to fix it if you don’t know what to do. Fortunately, the solution is pretty easy:

In cases such as this, you can adjust your IME’s parsing range manually by using Shift + Left/Right. This will move the right-hand delimiter of the currently selected parse range.

By the way typing ハート (type: h a – t o) gives you the following symbols (if you have the symbols dictionary on [Tip #4]): ❤❦❥♡♥❧

Tip 11: Force katakana input

As brought up in the previous tip, by default your IME tries to parse your input for starts and stops of words based on its dictionary. And it’s surprisingly good at it too. But if you’re trying to type a romanized version of someone’s personal name or a company name (anything your dictionary doesn’t know), this can lead to some pretty ugly results. For example, if you’re trying to enlighten a Japanese person about the greatest comedy of all time:

Sure, you could go back part by part and change those kanji into katakana manually, but why not eradicate the problem at its root? To avoid awkward conversions like this, there is a katakana only input mode. Here’s how to toggle it:

On English keyboards: CTRL + Caps Lock to begin Katakana mode. ALT + Caps Lock to return to hiragana.
On Japanese keyboards: use the 無変換 key (next to the space bar)

Just don’t forget that you need to toggle it off again when you’re done.

Tip 12: Temporary English mode

If you’d like to mix an English word or sentence into your Japanese typing for whatever reason, you don’t need to toggle your IME. Begin an inline, temporary English input mode by starting any word with a capital letter. You’ll be able to type in English as usual except with your trusty IME underline. Use the Enter key to close out the inline English segment and return to normal Japanese input.

Important: On non-Japanese keyboards, you should convert your Japanese input before entering temporary English mode. This is because once in temporary English mode, you lose the ability to use your space bar to convert Japanese. On Japanese keyboards this isn’t a problem because you can still use the designated Convert (変換) key.

1. 雲泥の差

Reading: うんでいのさ (undei no sa)
Translation: “the separation between clouds and mud”
Meaning: A vast difference between two things.

2. 犬猿の仲

Reading: けんえんのなか (ken’en no naka)
Translation: “the relationship of dogs and monkeys”
Meaning: A relationship of mutual hatred. Natural enemies.

3. 為せば成る

Reading: なせばなる (naseba naru)
(Literal) Translation: “if you take action, it will become”
Meaning: You can do it if you try.

This proverb comes from a poem by Uesugi Youzan (上杉鷹山), from back in the Edo period. It’s pretty cool and being a Japanese poem isn’t so long, so here’s the full text.

為せば成る
為さねば成らぬ何事も
成らぬは人の為さぬなりけり

naseba naru
nasaneba naranu nanigoto mo
naranu wa hito no nasanu nari keri

If you try, you may succeed.
If you don’t try, you will not succeed. This is true for of all things.
Not succeeding is the result of not trying.

4. 青天の霹靂

Reading: せいてんのへきれき (seiten no hekireki)
Translation: A bolt (lit. thunder) out of the blue (sky).

5. 鴨が葱をしょって来る

Reading: かもがねぎをしょってくる (kamo ga negi o shotte kuru)
Translation: “a duck comes along carrying a leek on its back”
Meaning: A very convenient happening, a stroke of luck.
Explanation: The reason for this proverb is that duck soup is made with leek, so it’s as though the duck came along just asking you to eat it.
Note: This proverb has a short form for everyday usage, 鴨ネギ (kamonegi)

6. 忙中閑あり

Reading: ぼうちゅうかんあり (bouchuu kan ari)
Meaning: Even when you’re very busy, there’s occasionally time to take a rest.

7. 初心忘るべからず

Reading: しょしんわするべからず (shoshin wasuru bekarazu)
Translation: We should not forget our beginner’s spirit. (the excitement/humility of starting something new)

8. 頭隠して尻隠さず

Reading: あたまかくしてしりかくさず (atama kakushite siri kakusazu)
Translation: “hiding your head but not your butt”
Meaning: Failing to completely cover up your bad deeds.

9. 沈む瀬あれば浮かぶ瀬あり

Reading: しずむせあればうかぶせあり (shizumu se areba ukabu se ari)
Translation: “if the current sinks, it will rise (again)”
Meaning: Life has its ups and downs.

10. 猫の首に鈴を付ける

Reading: ねこのくびにすずをつける (neko no kubi ni suzu o tsukeru)
Translation: “to put a bell around a cat’s neck”
Meaning: To discuss doing something that is nearly impossible to do.
Note: This proverb has its origin in one of Aesop’s fables.

11. 長所は短所

Reading: ちょうしょはたんしょ (chousho wa tansho)
Translation: “our strong points are our weak points”
Meaning: Over-reliance on our strengths leads to make careless mistakes.

12. 起きて半畳，寝て一畳

Reading: おきてはんじょう、ねていちじょう (okite hanjou, nete ichijou)
Translation: “(man needs just) half a tatami mat when awake, one tatami mat when asleep.”
Meaning: You need not be rich to live a satisfied life.

13. 李下に冠を整さず

Reading: りかにかんむりをたださず (rika ni kanmuri o tadasazu)
Translation: “don’t straighten your crown under the plum tree”
Meaning: Don’t invite undue suspicion on yourself.
Note: Because if you’re fiddling with your crown under the plum tree, people might think you’re trying to steal plums.

14. 猫を追うより皿を引け

Reading: ねこをおうよりさらをひけ (neko o ou yori sara o hike)
Translation: “rather than chase the cat, take away the plate”
Meaning: Attack problems at their root.

15. 井の中の蛙大海を知らず

Reading: いのなかのかわずたいかいをしらず (i no naka no kawazu, taikai o shirazu)
Translation: “the frog in the well knows not of the great ocean”
Explanation: This proverb is a metaphor for being mentally trapped by a narrow understanding of things.
Note: kawazu is the old way to say “frog”, in modern Japanese they are called kaeru

16. 多芸は無芸

Reading: たげいはむげい (tagei wa mugei)
Translation: “many skills is no skill”
Meaning: a Jack of all trades is a master of none.

17. 盛年重ねて来らず

Reading: せいねんかさねてきたらず (seinen kasanete kitarazu)
Translation: “the prime of your life does not come twice”
Meaning: You’re only young once.

18. 相槌を打つ

相槌

Reading: あいづちをうつ (aizuchi o utsu)
Translation: “striking the forge hammer”
Meaning: Giving verbal feedback while listening (eg. saying things like “yeah”, “uh-huh”, “I see”, etc)
Explanation: This proverb describes the rhythmic exchange of two smiths working on a katana.

19. 天は自ら助くるものを助く

Reading: てんはみずからたすくるものをたすく (ten wa mizukara tasukuru mono o tasuku)
Translation: Heaven helps those who help themselves.

20. 元も子もない

Reading: もともこもない (moto mo ko mo nai)
Meaning: Failure not only to make a profit (子 = 利益), but losing your investment (元 = 元金) too.

21. これを知るをこれを知ると為し、知らざるを知らずと為せ。これ知るなり。

Reading: これをしるをこれをしるとなし、しらざるをしらずとなせ。これしるなり。
Romaji: kore o shiru o kore o shiru to nashi, shirazaru o shirazu to nase. kore shiru nari.
Translation: To know that one knows what one knows, and to know that one doesn’t know what one doesn’t know, there lies true wisdom.
Note: Okay, so it’s not a proverb, it’s a Confucius (孔子／こうし） quote. But it was my 1000th tweet and I wanted to do something a little fancy.
Original Chinese: 知之为知之，不知为不知，是知也 (thanks, @Binglun!)

22. 窮鼠 猫を噛む

Reading: きゅうそねこをかむ (kyuuso neko o kamu)
Translation: “a cornered rat will bite the cat”
Meaning: Left with no choice, even a relatively weak person/animal will fight back.

23. 庇を貸して母家を取られる

A 庇 (hisashi) covering a front door.

Reading: ひさしをかしておもやをとられる (hisashi o kashite omoya o torareru)
Translation: “to lend the eaves and have the main house taken”
Meaning: Give an inch and they take a mile.

24. 悪銭 身につかず

Reading: あくせんみにつかず (akusen, mi ni tsukazu)
Translation: Dirty money doesn’t stay with a person for long.

25. ただより高い物はない

Reading: ただよりたかいものはない (tada yori takai mono wa nai)
Translation: “nothing is more expensive than free”
Meaning: Debts of money are more easily repaid than those of gratitude

26. 毒を以て毒を制する

Reading: どくをもってどくをせいする (doku o motte doku o sei suru)
Translation: “to use a poison to overcome a poison”
Meaning: Sometimes we need shady means to tackle shady problems

27. けんもほろろ

Romaji: ken mo hororo
Translation: cackle and gobble [ken and hororo are pheasant sounds]
Meaning: Being blunt & unsympathetic (attitude, response, etc.)

28. 生兵法は大怪我の基

Reading: なまびょうほうはおおけがのもと (namabyouhou wa ookega no moto)
Translation: Newly learned (unmastered) tactics are the origin of great blunders.

But recently I came across a very interesting deal the JR Tokai Tours offers: ぷらっとこだま (Puratto Kodama). I’m not the first to blog about this discounted ticket program, but it really is a great offer and deserves repeating, and I’ll also elaborate on things a little, since I actually tried out the program myself.

How much do you save?

Here’s a table showing the prices of tickets between stations. Typically you save between 2000 and 4000 yen off the usual fare (2000 to 7000 on the Green car seats), but exactly how much depends on when, where and how you choose to travel.

Note that there are different prices for regular seats versus seats on the “Green” cars (which are roomier and more comfortable, kind of like a shinkansen “First-class”), and also for busier times of year. The busy periods (2010) are from April 27 to May 6 (Golden week), and August 11 to 20 (Obon).

Table for Regular reserved seats
(busy period prices in parentheses)

Table for Green car seats
(busy period prices in parenthesis)

Note that because this offer is given by JR Tokai tours, you can’t use it outside of their section of the Shinkansen (bullet trains). Basically, you have to get on and off somewhere on or between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka.

Where do you get Puratto Kodama?

You can buy them online or at your nearest JR Tokai Tours office.

Buying online, you need to reserve your seat at least 5 days in advance. Why? Because they need to send you the tickets via postal mail (to a Japanese address). You also need to be able to navigate through a Japanese website.

a Puratto Kodama ticket

If you buy the tickets from a tour office, you can purchase them up until the day before. Important: You can’t buy same-day tickets. Also, these tickets are quite limited, so consider availability and plan ahead as much as you can. If you dilly-dally getting your ticket, you might end up with a smoking or non-smoking seat that you didn’t want, or you not be able to get a seat at all. Personally, I got my tickets 4 days in advance and from a tour office, and they were already running out of regular non-smoking seats, and that was for a train well outside their busier hours.

How do you use them?

Actually, the Puratto Kodama isn’t a “ticket” per say, you can’t just put it in the ticket wicket and walk on through; you have to show your Puratto Kodama “boarding slip” (乗車票) to the staff at the gate, who will stamp your pass and let you through, and you have to show it to the staff at the gate again when you get off at your destination.

When you get your tickets they will come in a little envelope with a map of each station showing which entries have staff available who can check your slip. In reality, you don’t need to worry about the station layouts unless you’re really pressed for time either to catch your ride or connect to the next one.

After you get on the train the staff will sooner or later come down the isle and ask to see your ticket, so show them the Puratto Kodama slip just as you would a regular ticket. They’ll check your seat and move on.

What’s the catch?

There are a few major drawbacks to using Puratto Kodama tickets as opposed to regular shinkansen tickets.

• You have to use the slower, older Kodama-class trains. They’re still much faster and more comfortable than buses, but they do take a bit longer than the other shinkansen (mostly because they stop at more stations).
  • Tokyo to Shin-Osaka via Nozomi : 2 hours, 36 minutes
  • Tokyo to Shin-Osaka via Hikari : 2 hours, 57 minutes
  • Tokyo to Shin-Osaka via Kodama : 3 hours, 57 minutes
• You have to be on the right train at the right time. JR has a rule that allows people who miss their train to get on a free-seat (自由席) on a later train. But if you’re using a Puratto Kodama ticket and you miss your train, you’re screwed.
• You have to get on and off at one of the major stations along the JR Tokaido Shinkansen line. So for example, you couldn’t buy a ticket from Osaka to Atami or Fuji-Shi (even though the train stops there), you’d have to buy it to Shizuoka, and then ride a different train from Shizuoka.

So basically, to save on money you’re sacrificing some flexibility and speed.

Perks

a Puratto free drink coupon

One neat perk of using the Puratto Kodama tickets is that you get a free drink out of the deal! Be sure not to confuse the drink coupon with your boarding slip, since they look almost identical. You can use the free drink coupon at most of the kiosks at the station or on the platforms, or at the on-train service cart that goes up and down the aisle every so often.

You get either a free 500ml soft drink (a 20-ounce bottle), or a 350ml can of beer. For a 100 yen extra you can have a glass of wine.

Bonus Shinkansen Tip

If the train looks empty, don’t be shy to move around. The worst that could happen is the staff asks you to go back to your assigned seat, or someone gets on the train with a reservation for the seat you’re using and you have to give it up to them. When I rode with the Puratto ticket, I sat a few rows off where I should have been since the train was really empty (my assigned seat was next to a chubby Japanese guy who was munching loudly on potato chips and playing Nintendo DS). When the staff came to check my ticket he didn’t say anything.

If you want to be extra sneaky about changing seats, wait until after they come and check your ticket.

The only one you absolutely must use

20 years old : 二十歳 （はたち）

In Japanese, you don’t say にじゅっさい, you say はたち.

Okay, if you’re just learning Japanese to communicate or for travel, you can stop here and you won’t be missing any vital information. The rest of these words are obscure at best and archaic at worst even for native Japanese (seriously, we’re talking post-JLPT-1級 level, here).

But if you’re like me and the thought of “archaic Japanese” gives you a jolt of excitement, or if you’re just curious, read on…

Words based on the calendar or life events

We’ll start with a collection of age words that are based on perceived or actual life events.

• 10 : 辻髪　（つじかみ） – This is the name of a Japanese children’s hair style.
• 15 : 笄年 　（けいねん） – Girls only. 15 is the age when they could start using hairpins in their hair.
• 20 : 丁年　（ていねん） – Men only. Under the Ritsuryo law system, this was the age when a man became subject to official assignments  (丁) (e.g. to X days of labor or taxes).
• 40 : 初老　（しょろう） – This is when you start (初) becoming old (老). In English, we would say “over the hill.”
• 50 : 中老　（ちゅうろう） – You’re in the middle (中) of becoming old.
• 50 : 艾年　（がいねん） – The age when your hair begins to turn white like a mugwort plant (艾：よもぎ）
• ６0 : 丁年　（ていねん） -The word for the year a person entered the official assignments system was also used for the year when one left it.
• 60: 還暦 （かんれき) - Literally meaning “revolving the calendar”, because the 10 calendar signs　（十干/じっかん） and the 12 astrological signs （十二支/じゅうにし） realign every 60 years.
  • Note: 還暦 is 61 years old under the “counting age” system. (See Below)
• 120 : 大還暦　（だいかんれき） – The “big calendar revolution”, this means you made it twice around the 60 year cycle. Congratulations!

One from a Chinese poem

• 70 : 古希 (こき）

This age word is from a famous poem by Tang Dynasty Chinese poet Du Fu (Japanese： 杜甫／とほ）. In Japanese translation, the relevant lines are:

酒債は尋常行く処に有り 人生七十古来稀なり

There is an English translation of this poem (曲江: Winding River) available, if you’re interested.

One for Shogi players

• 

  将棋　（しょうぎ） : a chess-like Japanese board game

  81 : 盤寿　（ばんじゅ） - Because the 9×9 Shogi board has 81 places.

Kanji play

When your language has thousands of highly complex characters, and you’re bored in the winter with nothing but a bottle of sake, word games are just a natural occurrence. Hundreds of years of Japanese ingenuity brings us these linguistic gems:

• 48 : 桑年　（そうねん） – The old form for 桑 is 桒, which can be broken down as four 十 characters and one 八 character, adding up to 48.
• 61 : 華寿　（かじゅ） – Because 華 can be seen as 6 十 characters and a 一.
• 66 : 緑寿　（ろくじゅ） – Because 緑 can be read as ろく, the same as 六 (6).
• 77 : 喜寿　（きじゅ） – The grass script form for 喜 is 㐂, which is actually 3 sevens, but if you pretend one of them is a 10 it becomes 七十七 = 77.
• 80 : 傘寿　（さんじゅ） – The abbreviated form of 傘 is 仐, which is 八十= 80.
• 81 : 半寿　（はんじゅ） – Because 半 can be broken down as 八 + 十 + 一 = 八十一 = 81.
• 88 : 米寿　（べいじゅ） – Because the kanji can be broken down as 八＋十＋八 = 八十八 = 88.
• 90 : 卒寿　（そつじゅ） – Because the abbreviated form of 卒 is 卆, which is 九＋十 = 九十 = 90.
• 95 : 珍寿　（ちんじゅ） – Because the left side of the kanji can be 十二 and the right 八三 (83 + 12 = 95)
• 99 : 白寿　（はくじゅ） – Because if you take one (一) away from the kanji for 100 (百), it becomes 白
• 100 : 百寿　（ももじゅ） – This one’s obvious… (百 = 100)
• 108 : 茶寿　（ちゃじゅ） – Because the kanji can be broken down as 十十 (20) plus 八十八 (88)
• 111 : 皇寿　（こうじゅ） – Because 白 is understood to be 99 (detailed above), and 王 is 一+十+一 = 12. 99 + 12 = 111
• 111 : 川寿　（せんじゅ） – Because 川 looks like 111.
• 119 : 頑寿　（がんじゅ） - Because 二 + 八 (元） = 10 and 百 + 一 + 八 = 109. 109 + 10 = 119.
• 120 : 昔寿　（せきじゅ） – Because 廿 (= 十十 = 20) + 百 (100) = 120.

And just to make sure that we never, ever run out of words…

• 1001 : 王寿　（おうじゅ） – Because 王 can be broken down as 千 + 一.
• 1007 : 毛寿　（もうじゅ） – Because 毛 can be broken down as 千 + 七.
• 1082 : 科寿　（かじゅ） – Because 科 can be broken down as 千 +八 + 十 + 二

These words (that include 寿), are collectively known as 賀寿　（がじゅ）.

Chouju

In Japanese, longevity (長寿/ちょうじゅ) is broken down into 3 stages, but there’s differences of opinion over which specific ages they indicate, so you might want to think of these words just as general estimates.

• 下寿　（かじゅ） :　60… or 80
• 中寿　（ちゅうじゅ） :　80… or 100
• 上寿　（じょうじゅ） : 100 or higher

Haka: a word with two ages?

破瓜　（はか） is another kanji/wordplay term for age, but is unusual because it means a different age when referring to different genders. The kanji 破 means to split or tear something, and apparently 瓜 (the kanji) can be split into two 八　八 characters (personally, I don’t see it). Hence:

• 瓜 = 八 + 八 = 16 (women)
• 瓜 = 八 ｘ 八 = 64 (men)

Soji

Japan also has a whole class of words ending in 十路　（そじ） to count age in tens.  In really old Japanese, (until about the Heian period) these words were also also used in counting regular objects.

• 20 : 二十路　（ふたそじ）
• 30 : 三十路　（みそじ）
• 40 : 四十路　（よそじ）
• 50 : 五十路　（いそじ）
• 60 : 六十路　（むそじ）
• 70 : 七十路　（ななそじ）
• 80 : 八十路　（やそじ）
• 90 : 九十路　（ここのそじ）

Confucius says

The Confucian text The Classic of Rites also specifies a collection of words for specific ages. Sorry ladies, you’re only allowed to use the ones from 50 on.

• 10 : 幼学　（ようがく）
• 20 : 弱冠　（じゃっかん）
• 30 : 年壮　（ねんそう）
• 30 : 壮室　（そうしつ） (if you have a wife)
• 40 : 強仕　（きょうし）
• 50 : 杖家　（じょうか）
• 60 : 杖卿　（じょうきょう）
• 70 : 杖国　（じょうこく）
• 80 : 杖朝　（じょうちょう）
• 81 : 漆寿　（しつじゅ）

The stages of life

You may have heard the words 少年 (しょうねん) or 青年 (せいねん) before, but did you know that these words point to different, generally understood stages of life? Exactly what ages these words refer to is not set in stone, but some documents from the Japanese Ministry of Health use the following groups:

• 0 to 4 : 幼年期
• 5 to 14 : 少年期
• 15 to 24 : 青年期
• 25 to 44 : 壮年期
• 45 to 64 : 中年期
• 65 onward : 高年期

Note about 壮年 (そうねん): 壮 here means to prosper or be active. 壮年 can refer either to age 30 specifically, or to all of a person’s active and productive years (generally starting at age 30).

Confucian age words

More? Yes, Japan also offers another selection of age words based one passage from the Confucian analects, in which he writes:

At fifteen my heart was set on learning; at thirty I stood firm; at forty I had no more doubts; at fifty I knew the mandate of heaven; at sixty my ear was obedient; at seventy I could follow my heart’s desire without transgressing the norm.

Source: Electronic Library: The Analects of Confucius (look for passage 2:4)

• 15 : 志学 (しがく）
• 30 : 而立 (じりつ）
• 40 : 不惑 (ふわく)
• 50 : 知命　（ちめい）
• 60 : 耳順　（じじゅん）
• 70 : 従心 (じゅうしん）

Note: these words are only for men.

Counting age the Asian way

The traditional way to count your age in East Asian countries is to start at one, not zero like we do in the west, and to increment by one at the end of every calendar year instead of on the individual’s birthday. The system is known in Japanese as 数え年　（かぞえどし） but Japan and most other Asian countries nowadays have very thoroughly adopted the western counting method (満年齢・：まんねんれい）, with the exception of Korea where the old counting method is still the de facto system.

One relic of the old counting system in Japan is the Coming of Age celebration, where boys and girls who turned 20 during the previous year all get to celebrate their passage into adulthood. Read the wikipedia article on Asian age counting if you’re interested.

Two kanji for “sai”

While we’re talking about age, I figured it would be good to include a short word about 歳 and 才. Both of these characters are read さい, both mean age. What’s the difference? 才 was originally an abbreviated form of 歳, so you can think of it as less “official” than 歳. People often use 才 because it’s easier to read and write, but on government documents and official application forms, you will always see 歳 used.

Interestingly, if you’re talking about the age of an animal, you should write 才. Using 歳 with an animal apparently makes the animal seem more human, so depending on your point of view, you could use it with monkeys and such.

Credit where credit is due

Here I’ve compiled a list of the links I referred to when I was locating and organizing all this information. Although I’m sure you’ll never need to know any more than I’ve covered here, there are a couple alternate forms and other super-obscure words out there (particularly on the Wikipedia page) if you’re for some reason totally crazy about this topic.

• 年齢 on Wikipedia (JP)
• チョット雑学：数を表す文字
• 「寿」模擬授業指導案
• 年齢の名称・異称
• 年齢を表す言葉 (the difference between 歳 and 才)