Month: March 2013

As a native English speaker, it's nice that there are so many English loan words in use in Japanese, though ...

One theme I write about often is the Japanese idea of 常識 joshiki, translatable as the knowledge that every (Japanese) ...

When I came to Japan my head was filled with silly stereotypes of delicate wooden houses with paper walls. The ...

There are certain things that are very important to the Japanese, including obsessing over cleanliness, making sure things as kawaii ...

One keyword that's big in Japan these days is チャイナリスク ("China Risk"), which describes the many potential problems that countries ...

Over the past 17 years I've helped raise two great kids who are haafu, half Japanese and half American -- ...

You probably don't think of Japan as a military power, but the country does possess a large military force with ...

When foreigners come to Japan they're immediately enthralled with the beautiful temples and shrines they encounter here. Japan has two ...

One concept that's very important in Japan is 信頼 shinrai (SHEEN-rye), meaning "trust." There are many situations when you see ...

When dealing with other languages there's plenty of potential for words that are similar in sound to become confused in ...

One cool aspect of animation is how it can express any idea without limitation, since anything that can be drawn ...