Japan chooses ‘kizuna’ as kanji of 2011

Every year the Japanese public chooses a kanji to represent the year that was. This year’s kanji was ‘kizuna’ meaning bond. Here’s what a BBC article had to say about the selection.

For Japan, 2011 was dominated by the earthquake and tsunami in March. The disasters led to unprecedented numbers of Japanese helping one another. After the tsunami smashed into Japan’s north-east coast on 11 March, killing thousands and engulfing entire communities, people’s stoicism and their determination to pull together won international praise. In April the then prime minister Naoto Kan thanked the world for its help in a letter entitled “Kizuna – the Bonds of Friendship”.

Japanese Idiom: As small as a cat’s forehead

Photo by Tomi Tapio on Flickr

As part of our new updating schedule we’re going to try to do major posts on Tuesdays and a minor post on Fridays. Fridays will be dedicated to news and interesting facts about Japan and the Japanese language. Today we’re going to look a fun Japanese idiom to describe a very small area.

Read more

The Complete Japanese Treats and Snacks Roundup – Part 2

Photo by Sifu Renka on Flickr

Our first round is over and we’re ready to dive into the second edition of our Japanese treats and snacks roundup. Last time we had a few winners and some definite losers. Let’s see how we do in Round 2!

Read more

The Complete Japanese Treats and Snacks Roundup – Part 1

While we were in Japan we were exposed to a ton of new and strange foods. Since we both enjoy the occasional treat, we found ourselves on a mission to discover all the wonderful, and sometimes bizarre treats that Japan had to offer.

Here’s is the first part of our Japanese treat exploration.

Read more

Bizarre Japan – Underwear that Helps you Lose Weight

I came across a video link on Twitter about a new underwear in Japan that claims to help you lose weight. Apparently it’s made of some sort of material that constricts so that it’s harder to move in. So does it really work?

Read more

Honda Unveils Upgrades to their Asimo Robot

Recently, Honda showed off some of the upgrades to their Asimo robot. It’s very cool…and somehow a little bit freaky, too.

Read more

What’s the Deal with the High Yen?

Photo by 7D-Kenny on Flickr

Ever since returning from Japan last May, the yen has been sky-rocketing in comparison to the dollar. With all the trouble Japan has been having with tourism and the nuclear worries over the Fukushima Power Plant, it’s been hard to wrap my head around why this is happening.

Read more

Japanese Restaurant Review – Yoshinoya

Photo by earthhopper on Flickr

There are few restaurants in Japan that I’m as excited to see as a Yoshinoya. When you’re feeling hungry and you don’t want to drop a lot of yen, Yoshinoya in the place to go!

Read more

6 Months After the Tsunami

A friend sent me a link to an article in The Sacramento Bee about the clean up six months after the devastating tsunami that struck the Tōhoku region on Japan. It’s really inspiring.

Learning Japanese with iKnow

I take a very casual approach to my learning Japanese. Previously I would study like mad and then go into a language learning depression when I began to feel like I wasn’t making any progress. Now I take a much more relaxed pace.

One service than I’ve been really enjoying is iKnow. Let’s take a look at it.

Read more