Let's start with a translation challenge. This sentence from essay 1278 on 婚 (marriage; wedding) features the keyword 離婚 (りこん:...
Let's start with a game. In the list below, match all the words that should go together, forming three groups:
I'm just back from an unforgettable and utterly stimulating four-night trip to Japan. Though my kanji knowledge often served me well, I now think of Japan as the land of incomprehensible writin...
I'm going to do something forbidden. That is, I'll share the Verbal Logic Quiz from the new essay 1052 on 靴 (shoes, footwea...
Which one of these things do you think is an insult?
a. bear on fire b. firefly light c. out...
My language partner Kensuke recently taught me this phrase:
見通しが立つ (みとおしがたつ: to gain perspective)
I thought it would literally translate as "to stand up (立...
I told you last week how excited I was to receive a wedding invitation from Japan. I can't begin to guess how long I sp...
In the newest essay, which is on 戻 (to return; revert; resume; restore; go backward), a sentence featuring 戻って来る (もどってくる: to come back)...
As I wrote the new essay 1535 on 束 (bundle; bunch; to tie up; to bind), confusion arose over this phrase:
...
The theme of the week has been uncertainty. Well, that's the professional theme of the week. My personal theme has been an obsession with my favorite rock group of the moment,...
I'm back from a great vacation to San Diego, feeling completely refreshed. For five days my husband and I thought about nothing more complicated than what to eat or drink or which beach, park,...
What a week! Monday, March 31, brought thunder so loud that it sounded as if a bomb had detonated. (The force of the noise blew out windows and set off car alarms.) The accompanying lightning was s...
Last week and the week before that, I blogged about numerical issues,...
Let's start with a quiz. Where on the human face can you find the number 8?
a. the eyes b. the ears c. nostrils d. mustache
I'll bl...
Let's start with a quiz—actually Quiz #1 of 2. An official list of Joyo kanji and Joyo yomi contains the following sentence, which explains how that document handles ateji. What do you th...
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