Katakana Mysteries: 7 lucky loan words
In the first chapter of Katakana mysteries, I covered a few words whose Japanese meaning has by one path or another become quite different from their English ancestors. This time, I’ve rounded up 7 more words/phrases that are interesting for the opposite reason: their accuracy. You probably wouldn’t have expected these underdogs of English to even become loanwords at all, much less to have survived the Japanese translation gauntlet intact…
Sharemo: social sharing service
Sharemo is Japanese ingenuity at its best. It’s a new kind of website, dubbed “social sharing”, where people can list things they have but don’t need around the house, and borrow or take similarly listed items from other people across the country.
Outlandish Japanese flavors: Azuki (sweet bean) Pepsi
Not long ago you could find matcha (powdered green tea) flavored coca cola at convenience stores around Japan. Thankfully that scourge seems to have passed, but the age old rivalry between Pepsi and Coke wages on, and Pepsi has fired back with… sweet bean flavor? all…. right….
Crazy kanji: what’s the highest stroke count?
Sooner or later every Japanese learner asks the question, which kanji has the highest stroke count?
Well, today I’m going to hopefully answer that question for everyone once and for all…
Japanglish journeys: the 100 yen store
Not only are 100 yen shops a kind of messiah for tight-budgeted students, travelers and residents, they are an honest to goodness goldmine for top-quality Japanglish. I imagine some of the products they carry ended up there specifically because the maker realized their translation was rubbish.
Recently I made a trip to the Skyle building Daiso in Sakae, Nagoya… here’s what I came away with…
A few random shots
Sorry for the lack of updating but as I mentioned on Twitter, my parents are visiting for 10 days and I don’t have much time for the blog. Of course it’s also a chance for me to get out and about, so I’ve taken quite a few pictures that I’ll be putting here eventually.
For now, here are a couple random shots from my travels so far…
Japanese Proverbs: September 2009
Every day I tweet a new Japanese proverb with it’s reading, translation, and definition explained. Here is a roundup of all 29 proverbs that I posted in September 2009 (the first full month that I’ve been doing this…). If I had done one every day there would have been 30 but it looks like I forgot one on the 30th…
Japanese cheat sheet (old)
Alright, I so started this blog about a month ago. Posts are starting to build up and I’m starting to feel at home here lately. I decided it was time to start dishing out some real content, otherwise I’m just another ranting Japanophile. So for the last week or so I’ve been hard at work on a top secret project, and now it’s done!
I present to the world the Nihonshock Japanese cheat sheet!
Pizza Flavored Instant Yaki-soba
Japanese people are very good at coming up with flavors and combinations that no one else would dare to attempt. On this point, Japanese pizza is another post in and of itself… but today I just want to show everyone this interesting new product that caught my eye at my local convenience store yesterday.
Silver Week in Japan
Many of you may have heard of Golden Week, a string of Japanese holidays in early May that is a major time for Japanese people to go on vacation. But I doubt as many have heard of Silver Week! But there’s a good reason you may not have heard of it though: this year is the first Silver Week ever…
More from Nihonshock…
