Japanese Phrases
Politeness Is a System, Not a List of Words
Japanese politeness runs on apology, hedging, timing and silence long before it reaches honorific verbs. Seven habits that work with plain forms.
Japan Know How archive
Author: Kaori Miyata
Your Name in Japanese
How to Write Your Name Vertically in Japanese
Vertical Japanese is not horizontal text turned sideways. The long-vowel bar rotates, small kana change corner, and columns run right to left. Here is what actually changes.
Anime & Manga
Anime Speech Styles, and What Subtitles Cannot Carry
Ore, boku, watashi and half a dozen more all become 'I'. The pronoun a character picks is characterisation, and English has no slot for it.
Japanese Food
Vegetarian, Vegan and Allergies in Japan
The problem is not the meat, it is the fish stock underneath almost everything. What is safe, what to ask, the eight allergens Japanese labels must declare, and where the law stops.
Japanese Food
Sushi vs Sashimi: The Difference Is the Rice
Sushi is a word about rice, not about fish. Which is why a cucumber roll is sushi, a plate of raw tuna is not, and a seafood rice bowl still is not.
Japanese Food
Japanese Food for Beginners: How to Read a Menu
A Japanese menu lists techniques, not ingredients. Learn six characters and most of it explains itself - plus what to order first and how each kind of restaurant works.
Travel to Japan
The Best Time of Year to Visit Japan
The best weather and the biggest crowds fall in different months, and that gap is the whole opportunity. Month by month, plus the three weeks the entire country travels.
Japanese Culture
Bowing in Japan: The Three Angles Explained
Eshaku, keirei and saikeirei - fifteen, thirty and forty-five degrees. A visitor spends almost the whole trip inside the first one, and here is when that stops being true.
Japanese Culture
Japanese Etiquette for Visitors: What Actually Matters
Japanese etiquette splits into rules of form, which nobody minds you getting wrong, and rules of boundary, which everybody notices. Only one of those lists is worth learning.
Japanese Eras
How to Read a Date on a Japanese Document
Seven slots, always in the same order, and five character pairs to recognise. After that, any form in Japan becomes readable.