Kawaii goods in Japan The word Kawaii in Japanese can be translated as cute or adorable. The word seems to have morphed into a universal expression which encompasses a lot of typically Japanese trends. There are many goods made in Japan that are designed to be cute. Their target audiences are usually young girls, but there are many objects including road construction site markers that defy under...
Blogs edited and submitted by Chiho Kamioka
JOI Support staff and manager.
Kawaii goods in Japan The word Kawaii in Japanese can be translated as cute or adorable. The word seems to have morphed into a universal expression which encompasses a lot of typically Japanese trends. There are many goods made in Japan that are designed to be cute. Their target audiences are usually young girls, but there are many objects including road construction site markers that defy under...
Mechanical pencils in Japan Japanese school children tend to write their assignments in pencil. This is true all the way up to university. In the British education system pens (more specifically fountain pens) were used during our childhoods, so finding High School and university papers written in pencil is a cultural surprise. The use of pencils means that pencil sales tend to be high and many ...
Japanese numbers The Japanese language has basically two sets of numbers. The original Japanese system and the Chinese character (or Kanji) based system. Counters are also used with Japanese numbers and these can influence the pronunciation of the words. While Arabic numerals are usually used in horizontal texts,Kanji numerals are often written vertically. In this Japanese learner's blog by Ki...
Japanese onomatopoeia The Japanese language has a range of onomatopoeia, some of which are familiar but others not so much. They are often broken down into 3 categories :- Giseigo, Giongo, and Gitaigo. Giseigo is the most familiar one to English speakers – it is imitating sounds people and animals make (bow wow). Giongo is a wider range of onomatopoeia which includes sounds that things make (the...
Japanese traditional crafts There are hundreds of Japanese crafts, which are separated categories of pottery, textiles, lacquer ware, metal working, doll making, woodworking, paper making. In her final blog before she retires from teaching at JOI, Mizuno sensei brings one of the textile crafts to the fore – one that is made in her home city of Nagoya. Please read the blog and learn Japanese for...