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!

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.

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)

For this article, I’m going to introduce to you my personal collection of “I” words that I’ve encountered here in Japan (even if I’ve only seen them once or twice in obscure contexts). Hopefully, this list will help to prepare you for your own Japanese adventures.

Common forms

Of the many ways to say “I” in Japanese, these are the ones that are actually used by real, living people who are being serious.

Watashi

Watashi (私) is the standard, gender-free way to say “I” and is the first one learners are introduced to. If you don’t know which I-word to use, this is your best bet.

The only trap I know of is that in Japanese saying “watashi mo” (meaning: “me too”) can come off as very effeminate if you use it in an informal situation. Men should take care to say “boku mo” or use some other I-word instead.

Watakushi

Yes, the kanji is the same as for watashi (私) (watashi is actually just a shortened form of watakushi).

This word is a highly formal “I.” You might hear politicians, CEOs, or other public-relations figures use it when making official announcements, but generally you should avoid this word as it can come across as arrogant or condescending.

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

Boku

Boku (僕) is what you could think of as the “soft-masculine” I-word. It literally means “manservant” so when you use it there is a sense that you are humbling yourself before the speaker.

It has a more informal feeling than watashi, however, so you may want to be careful when using it with strangers, authority figures and colleagues.

Boku is used primarily by men, but very young and/or boyish girls sometimes use it too. I’ve also heard women use boku in song lyrics.

Light says boku (friendly/humble). L says watashi (polite/formal).

Ore

If boku is the “soft-masculine” I-word then ore (俺) is the “hard-masculine.” This is the word tough guys use, and as such you would almost never hear it used with a polite verb form.

It’s not polite by any stretch of the imagination, but to say it’s a “rude” word would be a mistake as well. Ore can actually convey a sense of intimacy (we’re close friends, so I don’t need to worry about being polite with you). This is probably the most common I-word among groups of men (except in business or other formal settings).

Eikichi Onizuka, a character perfectly suited to saying ore.

Atashi

This is an informal effeminate form of watashi. It has a kind of “cute” nuance to it. Because kanji are generally seen as masculine, this word has no kanji form. It is written in either hiragana or katakana. (Well, the word does come from watashi so you might see it listed with 私 in a dictionary)

Uchi

Uchi (内) is one word for “I” that I didn’t learn until well after I came to Japan, but once I did I was surprised at how commonly used it was. It literally means “inside.”

Saying uchi for “I” is informal and has no gender connotation. This is a good word for women to use if they want to be informal, but avoid the cuteness of atashi.

Kochira/Kocchi

This is another popular and versatile way to say “I.” It literally means “this way.”

While kochira and kocchi are the same word (kocchi is an abbreviated version), they differ pretty dramatically in how formal they are. Kochira is highly polite and is often used in business situations, especially one the phone. Because of it’s root meaning of “this way” it is ambiguous in number, it can be used to mean “we” without any changes to the word.

Kocchi is much more informal and frequently used among friends. It’s also handy for its neutrality, meaning that when you use it you’re not making a statement about your social position relative to the listener (you are–however–still making a statement about social distance).

Note: similarly, you can use sochira/socchi to mean “you.”

Ware

Used more commonly in it’s “we” form (我々/wareware), ware (我) by itself and meaning just “I” is pretty uncommon, but not unheard of.

It’s also probably the the most difficult I-word in this post because depending on how you use it it can come out not only as “I” but either as “one’s self” (not necessarily the speaker),  or even “you” (although usage as “you” is very dated).

My impression of this word is it has a kind of wise, sage-like feeling to it. It’s almost always used in a short, declarative statement of some kind.

Washi

This is yet a further shortening of the word watashi. It is reserved for use by old men or men who for some reason have acquired a very slurred speech style. Perhaps they dropped the ta to keep themselves from spitting on people when they talked.

In the Kansai region, this I-word can be further shortened to just wai.

Personal name

While we don’t do this in English, in Japanese it’s possible to use your own personal name when saying “I.” Basically, you can speak in third person perspective. This manner of speaking is somewhat frowned upon as being childish, however, so be careful should you decide to use it. (it’s probably best if you simply don’t use this method altogether, just know that you might hear somebody else talking like this someday)

Special forms

Be careful, because this second group of I-words are no longer used in modern Japanese (though Japanese know them through media and literature), and as such they will definitely alert your listener that you are consciously selecting your I word, usually either as a joke or to imitate some character. While they’re fun to know, don’t use these under regular circumstances.

Wagahai

Bowser (or as he is known in Japanese, クッパ/kuppa) says wagahai.

Wagahai (吾輩) is a classical way to say “I” that was used by older men of high social stature. You will find this in the title of Natsume Soseki’s famous work, 吾輩は猫である (wagahai wa neko de aru / I am a cat).

Oira

Oira (おいら) is an alternate form of ore which was more widely used back in the Edo period. It was apparently used even by some women in the late-Edo period.

Today, this word has a youthful and male feeling to it (because of it’s youthful nature, it is rarely written in it’s kanji form: 己等), and is the I-word of choice for… housepets! (as spoken through their owners, of course…) Try a quick google image search for this word, it will bring up many pictures of Japanese peoples’ pets.

Sessha

Sessha (拙者) is another classical way to a say “I” which literally means “clumsy person.” Samurai used this word, because being humble about their abilities was the samurai thing to do.

Atai

The word atai is a girls-only “I” word that is a shortened version of atashi. It originated with the courtesans, prostitutes and young girls from Tokyo’s pleasure quarters, but it seems that most people are unfamiliar with this history.

I believe there are some dialects and regions in Japan where this word can still be heard but I’m not sure exactly where… One of my Japanese friends that I asked said it sounded like a Kyuushuu dialect.

Yo

Yo (余) is yet another rarely used classical way to say “I.” It was used by men of extremely high stature. I’ve really only come across it being employed by “heartless-overlord”-type characters in some anime and manga.

Warawa

Warawa (妾) is how a samurai’s wife would say “I.” It’s a classical female form, used by women to humble themselves before others. The kanji itself refers to a man’s non-primary wife or his mistress.

Conclusion

It’s both an intriguing and challenging aspect of Japanese to have so many options where in English we have only one. By learning to pay close attention to these words, we can pick up on valuable clues about a person’s social status and personality. And by learning to use the right I-words for each situation and partner, we can communicate with people and manage relationships more effectively.

(Unlike video game and anime characters) most people switch between a few different words as their situation demands. Personally, most of the time I stick to boku and watashi (I’ve been trying to use ore more with my guy friends lately, but old habits die hard). Sometimes I mix things up with a little uchi and kocchi, too.

This list is complete to the best of my knowledge (assuming I haven’t forgotten anything…), but I’m sure there’s probably a few more I-words floating around out there that I haven’t come across yet. I’ll be sure to update this list if I find any new ones.

While heavy reliance on a select few power-words may be sufficient for travelers, for anyone who wants to understand everyday Japanese as it is spoken by native speakers, or perhaps someday even sound intelligent speaking Japanese, these words can be almost like an invisible barrier to more advanced vocabulary. Of these words, totemo is easily one of the most overused. So to help Japanese learners cure their addiction to this intoxicatingly easy word, I’ve collected 7 alternatives to help you lay off the totemo juice and expand your linguistic horizons.

1. Say かなり (kanari) instead

Kanari is a fabulous word, I can’t recommend it enough. It’s meaning and usage is exactly the same as totemo so you can start using it like a pro right away, there are no hidden nuance traps waiting to bite your leg off and your Japanese will instantly sound much more confident and natural. The only catch is you have to make the Japanese “r” sound to say it, which can be a little tricky for beginners.

And actually this word is a little more flexible than totemo. Kanari can also be used with nouns if you glue them together with the ‘no‘ particle, although you should note that using it that way comes off as kanari casual.

2. Say 特に (toku ni) when you mean 特に

toku ni has a different meaning from totemo: it means “especially” or “particularly.” Many people are in the habit of saying totemo all the time for everything because it’s just so easy: stop. Totemo is overworked and tired. Let it rest and use toku ni when you mean “especially.”

3. Use 非常に (hijou ni) for stronger emphasis

Totemo is a good worker but struggles to adequately convey the stronger meanings, so if you really want to emphasize something, hijou ni is your go-to word. For example…

Hijou ni‘s kanji literally mean not (非) and everyday (常), so you could translate it as “unusually” or “abnormally.” But in reality the meaning has been blurred quite a bit; so suffice it to say that this word is just a stronger way to say “very.”

4. Say 本当に (hontou ni) when you mean 本当に

Hontou ni means “really”, as in… “in reality.” This is yet another word whose job all too often gets pushed onto poor old totemo. Balance out your vocabulary a little by using this word to show surprise or exceeded expectations, the same way we would do with “really” in English.

5. Try casual Japanese equivalents

I almost decided against listing these words because foreigners often overuse these just as much as totemo, and I can almost guarantee that your Japanese professors/bosses would prefer you don’t use them. But hey, it’s the internet!

• すごく (sugoku) : “Extremely” (kanji: 凄く)
• チョー (cho-) : “Super-” (kanji: 超)
• めっちゃ (meccha) : “ridiculously” (this word comes from from 滅茶苦茶/mechakucha)

6. Try more advanced words

I wrote this article primarily with beginner to intermediate Japanese learners in mind, but if you’re looking for even more options or if you’re just an ambitious learner, here are some more words that you can jot down and try using instead of totemo. I’m not going to get into detailed explanations for them though as this simple blog post has gone on long enough already.

• 結構 (kekkou)
• 相当 (soutou)
• 随分 (zuibun)
• 極めて (kiwamete)
• とんでもない (tondemonai)
• 余計に (yokei ni)
• 余程 (yohodo/yoppodo)
• 前代未聞 (zendaimimon)

7. And if you’re in Nagoya…

…try out saying totemo in the local dialect, it’s “でら” (dera). Your Nagoyan friends will love love you for it.

Just for the kanji lovers out there…

Totemo and kanari are always written using just plain old hiragana so if you’ve got kanji-phobia like many learners do, you don’t have to be afraid of these words.

But if you’ve got a kanji fetish (like me), or if you’re poring over some Edo-period literature, or if you’re going to be appearing on a Japanese kanji quiz show, you might be interested to know that totemo can be written as “迚も” and kanari as “可也.”

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.

1. サウスポー　(sausupo- = southpaw)

You’re probably wondering why I put a shot of Rocky Balboa in the post pic, aren’t you? Well it’s because of this word. Yeah I know the term southpaw came from baseball…

Anyway, just like in English (and perhaps even moreso), this term can describe a person who is left-handed, even outside of a sports context.

2.グッジョブ (gujjobu = good job)

Commonly used in Japanese just the way it is in English, to complement someone on a job well done. The romanization looks strange but this loan word (loan phrase?) actually comes out sounding quite similar to how it would in English. Well, except for the “u” sound at the end, which Japanese can never seem to let go ofu.

3. チーズ (chi-zu = say cheese!)

Have you ever taken a picture together with a Japanese person? They almost invariably use the cue message “hai, chi-zu!” when taking a picture, borrowing the word “cheese” from the original English expression. And yes, this word is used when talking about the edible kind of cheese too in Japanese.

4. カミングアウト (kamingu auto = coming out)

Yes, this word is what you think it is. Coming out, as in… coming out of the closet. And yes it is associated with homosexuality. I’ve never heard it used shortend to just アウト (auto = out) like it says is possible in my dictionary, but Japanese learners should probably be careful.

5. オーライ (o-rai = all right)

Just as in English, you can use this expression to express approval or consent, or to cheer or encourage someone. Again, the pronunciation comes out much better than the romanization of the word leads you to believe. Go watch some Japanese high school students practicing soccer and I guarantee you’ll start to pick up on this phrase really quick.

6. ドンマイ (donmai = don’t mind)

Okay, so maybe this one is a little different than how we’d express ourselves in English. Like o-rai, this phrase is also used commonly in sports. When a teammate makes a mistake, you can say donmai to mean “don’t worry about it” and encourage him/her to keep going.

7. ファイナルアンサー (fainaru ansa- = final answer)

Thanks to the Japanese importation of the Who wants to be a millionaire? quiz show with zero changes to the format, nearly everyone in Japan has become familiar with the phrase “final answer” in the same way that we know it overseas. Sure it’s not the most useful phrase to know, but it’s fun to throw around at parties and other get-togethers.

Japanese "Quiz Millionaire" TV Show