Japanese Eras
Japanese Era Years: Meiji to Reiwa, Explained
Japan runs two calendars at once. Five eras, one subtraction each, and the two details that turn a simple conversion into a wrong answer.
Japan Know How archive
Author: Megan Rothwell
Japanese Phrases
Japanese Politeness Levels, and Which One to Use
Casual, polite and formal are built into the verb, not added with tone. What each level sounds like, what keigo actually is, and why visitors should live in the middle.
Chinese Zodiac
The Five Elements and the Sixty-Year Cycle
Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water: how to find yours from the last digit of the year, why the cycle is sixty and not twelve, and where the elements turn up in daily Japanese.
Writing & Language
How Many Kanji Do You Actually Need?
The official answer is 2,136. The useful answers are thirty, a hundred, and a thousand, depending on what you want to read. What each threshold buys, and the official lists explained.
Writing & Language
Romaji Explained: Three Systems and Which One to Use
Hepburn, Kunrei-shiki and Nihon-shiki disagree about a handful of very common syllables. How to tell them apart, which to use, and what to do about long vowels.
Writing & Language
Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji: How Japanese Writing Works
Three scripts in one sentence, each doing a job the others cannot. What each one is for, why Japanese never dropped kanji, and how to read the layout before you read the words.