Since the site is entirely in Japanese (without furigana for the kanji), it may be daunting for beginners to navigate. But if you feel like you can already move past the likes ofNHK News Web Easy, TV Asahi’s site may give you the news fix you’re looking for. Oh, and you can do...
Kanshudo provides an extremely quick and easy way to look up kanji you don't know: the Component Builder. You can identify kanji based on their 'components', and you can look up each component either by drawing it, typing its name, or finding it in a list. For more information on the...
In Japanese, there are two primary ways to say Japan:Nippon, 日本, andNihon,日本. While both terms refer to the same country and use the same kanji, they differ in terms of formality and usage. What Makes Nippon and Nihon Different?
While 窺 can mean “peer into/through” something, this kanji tends to take on more of those meanings because it’s also associated with the verb のぞく (nozoku), which is the more frequently used word for “peek/peer” and gets used with compounds like 覗き穴 (nozokiana, peephole)....
I’m in the Japan Times this week with a look at the創作漢字コンテスト(Sōsaku kanji kontesuto, Created Kanji Contest): “Radical recombinations: Capture the moment with created kanji.” Tip of the hat to my editorShaunwho alerted me to this fascinating and fun contest. Also, HUGE thank...
Let’s look at the kanji for “day”: 日 (ひ). We can combine this kanji with others to create longer words. When we combine 日 with the kanji 今 (いま), which means “now,” it makes the word “today”: 今日 now + day = today Another example would be 会 (かい) — meet...
As you may have noticed, chichi consists of only the kanji for father (父), missing any polite or honorific markers unlike otousan, which makes this a humble term.This is also the word that adults use when they talk about their father to somebody else. Keep in mind that it is not ...
However, in order to do that, you have to know how kanji are set up, which is what we’ll look at next… How Are Kanji Set Up? Think of kanji like a little puzzle; they’re made out of pieces, and each piece has a specific place where it fits in. As an example, let’s tak...
Because the casualminnais often used, Japanese learners tend to just add the suffix-sanand think it’s the same. It’s not! In hiragana, the reading formina-san(皆さん) is written as みなさん and not みんなさん. Although the kanji alone (皆) can be read asminaorminna, it depends...
and you can read Japanese novels and newspapers. In this guide, we will show you step by step how to go from absolute beginner to kanji expert. It will not always be easy, and sometimes you may want to give up, but we will show you how to have fun along the way. With perseverance...