News - Japanese Language & Culture for Everyone!

Gold Ehōmaki

Chika — Sat, 01 Feb 2025 15:00:17 +0000

The price of an ehōmaki made with gold seaweed is 12,800 yen. With the current strong dollar, this converts to approximately 83 dollars, lessening its impact. However, when the exchange rate was 100 yen to the dollar, 12,800 yen would have been 128 dollars. The one with sea urchin on it was from 2019 and ... Read more

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成人式 – Seijin Shiki

Chika — Thu, 09 Jan 2025 15:13:37 +0000

“Seijin no Hi” or “Coming of Age Day” is a national holiday celebrated on the second Monday in January with a ceremony called “seijin-shiki.” Since April 1, 2022 the Japanese government has lowered the age of adulthood from 20 to 18. However, there are still certain rights and responsibilities you cannot assume until you turn 20. ... Read more

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Snow Monkey Catching Fish

Chika — Sun, 15 Jan 2023 21:02:34 +0000

Japanese Snow Monkeys bathing in hot springs are probably well-known around the world, but it was not known that these monkeys could catch fish. Footage of this behavior was broadcast on a Japanese TV show in July 2022, and in November of that year, it was published in the international scientific journal Scientific Reports, shocking ... Read more

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一二三・詩 – Abe Siblings

Chika — Mon, 02 Aug 2021 22:39:54 +0000

Siblings Hifumi (23) and Uta Abe (21) both won gold medals in Judo at the 2020 Olympics. I wasn’t going to talk about any specific athletes since everyone is spectacular to me, but the Abe siblings look so cute that I just wanted to mention them. They are the first Japanese gold medalist siblings, and ... Read more

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梅雨入り – Rainy Season

Chika — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 13:42:49 +0000

Tokyo and many other area in Japan have just entered the rainy season (tsuyu). This white doll is Teru Teru Bōzu (please click the link for more details).

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八村塁 – Rui Hachimura

Chika — Fri, 21 Jun 2019 19:57:39 +0000

Hachimura was the first Japanese player drafted in the NBA. His father is Beninese, but he was born in Japan and grew up in Japan. He was a fan of Ichiro and played baseball when he was a child. During his middle school, a friend of his pulled him into basketball. He was drafted to ... Read more

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令和 – Reiwa Era

Chika — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 03:00:47 +0000

The Chief Cabinet Secretary just announced the name of new era. It will be Reiwa (令和: pronounce “ray-wa”). It means auspicious and peaceful. The Heisei period will continue until the 30th of April when the Emperor Akihito will abdicate the throne and the Reiwa period will start on the first of May. Please click here ... Read more

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平成 – Heisei Era

Chika — Sat, 30 Mar 2019 18:16:53 +0000

In Japan besides the Western Calendar (西暦) we often use Japanese imperial year (和暦). Currently the imperial year is Heisei (平成) 31 since Heisei started in 1989. We call this current era since 1989 Heisei Era or Heisei Period. The past few eras were changed after the emperor passed away, but our current emperor decided ... Read more

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新幹線 – Bullet Train

Chika — Thu, 17 Mar 2016 17:05:34 +0000

As you may know, Japan is famous for its bullet train or shinkansen (新幹線, which literally means “new trunk line”). These trains can now run at speeds up to 320km/hour (200mph). When shinkansen service first started in 1964, the bullet trains only ran at about 210km/hour (130mph) on one line connecting Tokyo and Osaka – ... Read more

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Sakura Strawberry Drinks

Chika — Sun, 13 Mar 2016 00:20:03 +0000

An early spring special for Starbucks in Japan is sakura (cherry blossom) strawberry flavor. They have both latte and frappuccino versions that come with sakura strawberry flavor sauce, sakura strawberry whipped cream and sakura strawberry shaved chocolate. Japanese people get excited about seasonal limited time items, and these are only available for one month until ... Read more

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