Tag: gaijin

One thing about the Japanese written language is that there's a strange "duality" present, with many words having two valid ...

Back in the early days of my interest in Japan, I used to wonder how computers and word processors might ...

The other day I caught an in-depth Japanese news show on the economic crisis in Spain, which was interesting because ...

Bowing is an important form of social communication in Japan. Whether it's a short sumimasen accompanied by a brief lowering ...

One unique aspect of the Japanese language is the great difference between male and female speech, including gender-specific pronouns, e.g. ...

Quick, what's the square root of five? I have no idea, but my wife knows: it's 2.2360679. How about the ...

Perceptions are always fun to explore. The other day I made a lunch date with Mrs. J-List at a nice ...

One interesting word of Japanese is gaishi-kei, a word that means "foreign capital company" and which describes firms from America ...

When learning Japanese, there are various yardsticks students will use to measure their progress. Are you able to converse normally ...

I've learned a few things about the Japanese during my time here. They generally think that every foreigner is tall ...

It's well known that the Japanese are an extremely polite people, and this politeness is actually infused into their language. ...

As an American living in Japan, I know how surprised Japanese can get when foreigners internalize the society around them ...

Japan is, by and large, quite a homogeneous place. I've traveled from Sapporo to Okinawa and have seen much of ...

Some changes are coming for foreigners living in Japan, which will be welcome indeed. Gaijin -- the word literally means ...

One of the more useful features of the Internet is the ability to search for information, and this works the ...

When you learn a language as different from English as Japanese is, you have to get used to concepts not ...

Wherever you're from in the world. there's a good chance that your blood contains contributions from different national groups -- ...

There are many skills a foreigner needs if he wants to live in Japan. You need to learn the basics ...

I've done my best to understand the Japanese in the 20 years I've lived in the country, and while I've ...

Recently I wrote about a class of four-character compound words that are fun for students of Japanese to learn because ...

Earlier this year I took a trip to Australia, which was a lot of fun. I noticed something while I ...

With a sentence structure and grammar unlike anything used in the West along with three different writing systems, learning the ...

There's no more famous image of Japan than Mt. Fuji, the picturesque volcano that rises gracefully from Shizuoka and Yamanashi ...

Although I do my best to be a gentleman, there are times when I've inadvertantly been less than chivalrous to ...