Need help deciding what’s worth it for a day trip excursion for the last week of May in Japan. I’m not sure what to pick and I’m booking it on Klook fyi. We want something worth it for photos but also a how is the weather / worth it.
I’ve been learning more about cultural attitudes in different countries, and I wanted to ask an honest question about racism in Japan.
In conversations I’ve had online with people from other Asian countries, some of them mentioned that foreigners, especially from certain regions, can sometimes be treated differently or feel unwelcome.
I’m curious to understand how people in Japan see this issue. Do you think discrimination against foreigners is a real problem, or is it misunderstood from the outside?
I’m asking out of genuine interest, not judgment, because I believe these kinds of discussions are important for mutual understanding.
Context: I am from Brazil.
Any recommendations for literary journals in Japanese that you can access online? There are tons of them in the U.S.; I imagine there are similar things in Japan, but my searching so far hasn't been productive. I'm not looking for well-known poems or stories or anything like that, just places where aspiring writers in Japan submit their work and get published. Thanks for any ideas!
The Japanese — everyone keeps talking about your demographics, aging population, and economic crisis. Is there any hope at all for improvement?
So my friends and I are deciding to go to Japan ie.Tokyo 5 days bullet train- 4 days Kyoto(possibly visit Osaka). Head to Osaka airport to then fly out to busan and then go to Seoul. This all seems crazy and the way we are planning it is questionable. We have the one way to Tokyo and a one way from Seoul to home but want to know any tips or advice on where to go / avoid. Or if this is a dumpster fire waiting to happen.. Korea is what we don’t know a lot about anything would help.
We’ll be there June 3 rd to 9th BTS week but not going
😩💔
Thank ya!
I'm studying for the n3 exam and i lack of vocabulary, so I've been thinking of buying more vocabulary books. Is the まとめ good or i should buy another one, plus is this book good? Thanks
I know around 3000 words in Japanese and I'm curious if I should be using subtitles or not. Anytime I have subtitles on I'm constantly reading them and looking up and down at what I'm watching. Whenever I have them off, sometimes its hard to catch things but I can somewhat comprehend what is going on.
My main goals are to be conversational with people when I arrive in Japan in a few months. I have no desire to read books and study grammar heavily. Reading isn't a big factor for my language learning journey. I only know around maybe 600 kanji and I use anki to memorize them. I can write all the hiragana and katakana characters but I could probably only write 200-300 kanji just off memorization.
I also don't even plan on working in a Japanese company because of the conditions. I'm a native English speaker so I plan on doing work where I'd use English. Please let me know if I should have subtitles on or off! Maybe a good plan would to have subtitles on 25% of the time and then subtitles off 75% of the time? Please let me know if I should mainly have them off or on when it comes to improving listening skills. Maybe 1 episode with subtitles and then the next without subtitles? Or watch one episode with subtitles and rewatch the same episode without subtitles? I’ve been stressing over this when it comes to my listening skills.
Hello,
Hope everyone is well.
I’m genuinely considering moving to Japan for work and then settling there. I have watched anime since I was a child and that has gotten me closer to Japanese culture. I would really appreciate if someone could guide me further on the same.
I’m currently 26, I have 3 degrees including bachelor of Law and Bachelor of Arts from India, as well as a Master of Laws in International Corporate and Commercial Law from the UK. Along with, I have worked in the UK in a bank in a compliance role for 2 years. Currently I’m based in India and I’m a qualified lawyer here practicing Criminal litigation and other corporate matters.
How do I move to Japan? What is my best route? How do I target companies? What do I do? I would really appreciate some support.
Thank you.
Im currently married and living in Japan and thinking about possible baby names. Ideally I’d like my kids to have names that don’t confuse people here nor back home in the states when we visit. Female oriented names are easy (Emma, Mia, Maria, etc.) but I’m really struggling with male oriented names. They don’t have to be American sounding but I’d like something that wouldn’t be hyper mispronounced in English. I refuse to go with Ben for fear of bullying and Kai has already been taken by my nephew. Any ideas?
I want to make a story set in Japan so I am trying to get as much info as I can,the story is about half Japanese teen in the early 2000s
So every year we got this tradition where we pull out random countries and present them, one of the things that we need to do is a play inspired by/adaptation of some kind of myth/legend from that country. This year I got Japan and I don't want the usual snacks-for-tourists myths, no, I want to know the single most cursed/weird/funny or just simply interesting Japan myth or legend that you can think of. Please keep in mind that it atleast needs to somehow be SFW (or atleast NSFW that I can change a bit into SFW).
I'm a writer, and part of a story I'm writing involves a supporting character who is japanese and I would like her to use typical honorifics for her friends, but I have very limited knowledge of japanese and certainly do not have a nuanced understanding of how honorifics are used for different ages and genders, especially in contexts such as speaking among friends or in the presence of an authority figure. Would a character use "-san" when speaking to a stranger about their close friend, or would they use a more familiar honorific? Would it depend on the personality and manners of the speaker? I also have read on a few different japanese-learning websites that a person may nickname friends by shortening their name before adding the honorific to the end (for example, shortening Masahiro-chan to Macchan), is this true?
Please let me know if the question is confusing, and thank you for your help.
Canadian living in Meguro for 5 years here. I feel like my entire Japanese vocabulary is just built on a foundation of public embarrassment at this point.
I think I might have been over a year deep into living here when I was ordering food. The staff asked me what size rice I wanted, rapidly firing off the words for 小 (small)、中 (medium)、and 大 (large). I just completely froze. I had to awkwardly turn to my friend in an absolute panic, "What did they just ask me?!" while the staff member just stood there staring at us.
When my friend explained, I felt so stupid, I instantly learned it, and am reminded about it constantly when I see it.
What was your ultimate "I can't believe I didn't know that" moment?
I currently reside up in iwaki, Fukushima attending university for their language program and been studying Japanese for 6 months. Around 90% of the students are from Nepal and a majority seem to be unmotivated to learn Japanese. It’s gone to a point where I would hear more Nepali than Japanese. I’ve tried speaking to many of them with my horrible Japanese but most made no attempt to speak Japanese. It seems that they’re not interested to learn as sleeping in class or shouting across the classroom in Nepali became the norm for them. The teachers are too nice or patient with them but it made me realize that this must be the norm for them.
I always loved japanese culture, and I already am on the road towards learning the language, step by step. Eventually, I came up with yokais in many different contexts, but never found a book/anything that tells about them (even if that exists).
Chihiro, InuYasha, Pokémons... whatever, there are a lot of them!
Can someone please shed some light on that?
I’m Japanese, and I’m curious how people from other cultures see us.
Are there any habits or cultural traits that you find interesting, surprising, or hard to understand?
Personally, I feel like there’s a tendency in Japan to avoid strong self-assertion, so I wonder if that makes us seem hard to read to others.
I was having coffee with a friend the other day, we both came to Japan around the same time.
We were talking about the long term project of studying Japanese, new iOS apps we had been trying out from the app store, and my new Japanese school I had just entered etc.
I found myself complaining that after so much effort, still don't think we have turned the corner on Japanese yet. Though admittedly I realized didn't even know what that meant.
I could guess something like passing N2, but is that the only benchmark? What has been people's turning point in their Japanese learning journey?
Despite the craze around Cherry Blossoms and Japan being a travel magnet in March-April, we visited Japan thrice, every time in Oct-Nov period. Japan managed, every single time, to feel like the first time. Tried to map each city with that one Japanese word that makes us go there again and again.
\*\*Osaka (kuidaore):\*\* Osaka is focused on eating well and enjoying itself. The city's unofficial motto is \*kuidaore\*, which roughly translates to "eat until you drop." We tried our best. We did the whole Takoyaki, Okonomiyaki, 10 yen coin cheese pull at Shinsaibashi routine followed by Canelita Sweets for vegan pastries, Pablo for the cheese tart. Ended every evening with Rikuro's cheesecake, soft as a cloud.
\*\*Kyoto (kawaii):\*\* Kyoto is \*Kawaii\*, \*Kawaii\* is Kyoto. Be it Fushimi Inari, Arashiyama, Kinkaku-ji, every place, every click of the camera was followed by this word Kawaii (cute). I think its Kawaii in the most noblest of sense. An anime figure can be Kawaii, Kyoto is the mother in whose lap you want to rest your head for a while before you venture out to wrestle with the noisy Tokyo. Bunch of hole-in-the wall Ramen spots at Gion that will light up a fire in your belly which will be hard to extinguish (the good one).
\*\*Kawaguchiko (keiro):\*\* You get the feeling of watching royalty every time you look at Mount Fuji. The whole "\*san\*"-ness on everything really sets up once you look at Fuji-san. Try the keisaki set dinner at any of the ryokans. \*Keiro\* (respect) in every step of the way.
\*\*Tokyo (haranbajo):\*\* From 4AM fresh fish at Toyosu to Michelin star fancy French-Japanese cuisine to a 6 seater bar at Golden Gai, Tokyo can satisfy all kind of food and drink urge. Tokyo represents the \*Haranbajo\* (ups and downs) of life. You can suit up for the Michelin meal and dress down for the drink at Golden Gai. Each will leave you satisfied.
\*\*Japan (omotenashi):\*\* There is a word in Japanese, \*omotenashi,\* that gets translated as "hospitality" but means something closer to "anticipating what someone needs before they ask". Japan runs on this principle.
I'm Korean, and the middle and high schools I attended allowed casual wear and freedom with my hair. So I dressed comfortably and had long hair. (I still do.) Student rights ordinances were enacted in Seoul and other regions, which is why we were able to attend school freely. Of course, most people in those areas still wear uniforms. However, I heard that in the past, if you didn't wear your uniform properly or had long hair, the student disciplinary committee or teachers would take action, such as cutting your hair, administering corporal punishment, or issuing demerit points. I hear that even now, some schools without student rights ordinances still enforce these rules. What are Japanese middle and high schools like? I only know that most of them wear uniforms.