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【No. 1721】Yamawake (山分け - Dividing Equally)

Sep 3, 2019 22:04
Yamawake

A few days ago, I introduced the term osusowake (おすそわけ), which means to distribute goods or benefits that you received to your friends or others.

Another Japanese term, yamawake (山分け), is a little similar to osusowake.

Since yama (山) means "mountain" and wake (分け) means "to distribute/divide," the literal meaning of yamawake is "to divide a mountain."

Actually, yamawake means to divide something you obtained into two (equally) with someone.

It is said that this term comes from a small symmetrical mountain called Komezuka (米塚) in Kumamoto.

The Komezuka has a vertical crack in the center -- it looks like the mountain is divided into two.
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【No. 1718】Osusowake (おすそわけ - Sharing)

Sep 2, 2019 13:00
Osusowake

When distributing goods or benefits that you received to your friends or others, it is called osusowake (おすそわけ).

O (お) is a polite prefifx, suso (すそ) means "hem (of kimono)," wake (わけ) means "to distribute/divide," so the literal meaning of osusowake is "to distribute one's hems."

Here, since "hem" is the edge of clothes and are close to the ground, it can also mean "trivial thing" or "unimportant thing."

Because of this, osusowake originally meant to distribute something to lower-ranking people -- some people think that it is rude to use this word to higher-ranking people.
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【No. 1719】Mawaranai Sushi (回らない寿司) Part 1

Sep 2, 2019 14:16
Mawaranai Sushi Part 1

September 1st was my birthday, so my friend and I did something special.

It is to go to eat mawaranai sushi (回らない寿司).

Since mawaru (回る) means "to rotate," nai (ない) is the negative suffix, and sushi (寿司) means "sushi" (a traditional Japanese cuisine), the literal meaning of mawaranai sushi is "sushi that does not rotate."

To tell you the truth, mawaranai sushi is a slang term that was made as an antonym of kaiten zushi (回転寿司), the literal meaning of which is "rotating sushi."

To be continued.
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【No. 1717】Nōryō (納涼 - Enjoying Cool in Summer) Part 2

Aug 31, 2019 21:56
Nōryō

Yesterday, I introduced the term nōryō (納涼), which means to feel cool and spend the hot summer comfortably by various ideas.

Specifically, people drink or eat cold things, feel cool breezes near a river, and watch fireworks that could cause goose-bumps.

These events related to nōryō are usually held after the evening from the end of July to mid-August -- in other words, the season of nōryō this year has already passed.

Incidentally, festivals that are held for the purpose of nōryō is called nōryōsai (納涼祭) by adding sai (祭 - "festival").
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【No. 1715】Karuizawa Part 2

Aug 29, 2019 09:15
Karuizawa Part 2

This entry continues from yesterday's one.

At almost the same time when Alexander Croft Shaw built a villa and church in Karuizawa, a railway was extended to there.

Furthermore, due to the influence of Shaw, Western hotels and churches were built one after another.

Because of these backgrounds, Karuizawa has developed as a summer resort for foreigners, and later, Japanese people came to build their villas here.

Now Karuizawa is very popular because people who live in Tokyo can go in about an hour by Shinkansen (新幹線 - "bullet train").

I would like to have my villa in Karuizawa someday.
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【No. 1716】Nōryō (納涼 - Enjoying Cool in Summer) Part 1

Aug 29, 2019 20:01
Nōryō Part 1

Several days ago, I introduced the Japanese term hisho (避暑), which means to move to a cool place temporarily to avoid the summer heat.

Unfortunately, since I do not have much time and money, it is not easy to visit hishochi (避暑地 - "cool places for hisho").

Even such situations like me, people often conduct various ideas to feel cool and spend the hot summer comfortably.

This act/idea is called nōryō (納涼).

Nō (納) means "to bring in" and ryō (涼) means "cool," so nōryō literally means "to bring in cool."
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【No. 1714】Karuizawa Part 1

Aug 27, 2019 15:30
Karuizawa Part 1

Yesterday, I introduced you to the term hishochi (避暑地), which means cool places where people visit to avoid the summer heat.

Among various places called hishochi, Karuizawa (軽井沢) is one of the most famous and popular ones.

Karuizawa flourished as a post station in the past, but it declined with changes in transportation conditions.

However, in 1885, things changed when a Canadian Anglican missionary incidentally visited Karuizawa -- his name was Alexander Croft Shaw.

Shaw felt that the climate of Karuizawa was similar to his hometown, Toronto, and he built a villa and a church to make Karuizawa his lifetime summer resort.

To be continued.
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【No. 1711】Ikinuki (息抜き - Breather)

Aug 26, 2019 10:33
Ikinuki

People need ikinuki (息抜き) in their lives.

Ikinuki means to rest, relax or refresh for a while when having a break in your work.

Since iki (息) means "breath" and nuki (抜き) means "to get out of," the literal meaning of ikinuki is "to get breath out of somewhere."

That is to say, ikinuki means to release the tension by getting the breath (air) out of one's body, and it can be rephrased as "rest," "relax" or "refresh."

It is very important to balance between work and rest for showing the best performance.
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【No. 1712】Hane wo Nobasu (羽を伸ばす - Letting Loose)

Aug 26, 2019 11:21
Hane wo Nobasu

Last weekend, I took an action called hane wo nobasu (羽を伸ばす).

Hane (羽) means "wing" or "feather" and nobasu (伸ばす) means "to stretch," so the literal meaning of hane wo nobasu is "to stretch one's wings."

This idiom actually means that you are released from a repressed situation and let loose.

Imagine a bird stretching the wings and flying off.

The expression hane wo nobasu was born by imaging such a bird flying freely.

You can translate this into English as "to let loose" or "to stretch out."
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【No. 1713】Hishochi (避暑地 - Summer Resort)

Aug 26, 2019 22:18
Hishochi

Moving to a cool place temporarily to avoid the summer heat is called hisho (避暑) in Japanese.

Hi (避) means "avoid," sho (暑) means "heat/hot," and the combination hisyo literally means "avoid the heat (of summer)."

In addition, places, where people visit to avoid the summer heat, is called hishochi (避暑地) by adding chi (地 - "place/land").

It is said that hishochi in Japan began when foreign merchants, missionaries, and teachers pioneered the land and built villas for avoiding the summer heat.

These days, it is not rare for wealthy Japanese people to have their villas in cool places.

Even if you do not have your villa, you can visit hishochi in a short period by using a hotel.
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【No. 1710】Torihada (鳥肌 - Goose Bumps)

Aug 23, 2019 14:31
Torihada

A phenomenon that a lot of fine bumps appear on a person's skin due to cold, fear, or discomfort is called torihada (鳥肌) in Japanese.

Since tori (鳥) means "bird" and hada (肌) means "skin," the literal meaning of torihada is "bird's skin."

As you can easily guess, this name comes from the fact that the skin with fine bumps is similar to the skin of a bird with feathers removed.

It is often idiomatically used as torihada ga tatsu (鳥肌が立つ) by adding tatsu (立つ - "to rise").
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【No. 1709】Pāpeki (パーペキ - Perfect)

Aug 22, 2019 15:42
Pāpeki

Today, I noticed that the slang term pāpeki (パーペキ) was used.

Pāpeki is a composite term that combines the English word "perfect" and the Japanese word kanpeki (完璧 - "perfect").

Its meaning is basically the same as "perfect," but it can be more emphasized by combining two words having the same meaning.

Pāpeki seems to have been widely used by young people around 30 to 40 years ago, but these days it is becoming a dead word.

However, I think that most Japanese people can imagine the meaning of pāpeki if only to hear the sound.
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【No. 1707】Tapiru (タピる)

Aug 21, 2019 17:39
Tapiru

In Japan, tapioca and tapioca drinks have become very popular since around last year.

Along with this boom, young people (especially school girls) has come to use the slang term tapiru (タピる).

Tapi (タピ) is short for tapioka (タピオカ - "tapioca") and -ru (る) is a suffix that can make a noun a verb.

That is to say, the literal meaning of tapiru is "do tapioca," but this does not make sense.

As you can image, tapiru actually means "to drink tapioca drinks" or "to eat tapioca."
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【No. 1708】Mamagoto (ままごと - House)

Aug 21, 2019 18:55
Mamagoto

Children (especially girl) sometimes play mamagoto (ままごと/飯事).

Mamagoto is as a kind of plays that players imitate a family life, such as cooking or inviting guest, and you can see this everywhere in Japan (probably everywhere all over the world).

Mama (まま) is not the English word "mama;" it comes from the children's word manma/mama (まんま/まま), which means "meal."

In addition, goto/koto (ごと/こと) means "event" or "act."

That is to say, the literal meaning of mamagoto is "meal event/cooking act."
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【No. 1705】Ibitsu (いびつ - Distorted)

Aug 20, 2019 11:41
Ibitsu

A distorted or awkward shape is described as ibitsu (いびつ/歪) in Japanese.

Ibitsu comes from iibitsu (飯櫃), which was once used in many houses in Japan.

Ii (飯) means "rice" and bitsu/hitsu (櫃) means "container," so iibitsu means "container for (cooked) rice."

Since the shape of iibitsu was usually ellipse, it came to mean also "elliptical shape."

Furthermore, iibitsu came to mean that the shape/state/property of something is distorted.

For example, ibitsu na kokoro (いびつな心 - its literal meaning is "distorted mind") means "twisted mind."
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【No. 1706】Kurushī (苦しい - Painful/Difficult)

Aug 20, 2019 15:08
Kurushī

Now I am in a state called kurushī (苦しい).

Kurushī is a term that describes a physically difficult state due to pain or heat, or a mentally difficult state due to suffering or sadness.

There are several theories about the etymology of kurushī, but the most accepted theory is that it comes from an onomatopoeia, kurukuru (くるくる).

Kurukuru represents that something is rotating, and is also used to express that your head spins or you are confused.

That is to say, kurushī implies that your state is so difficult that you are confused.

【No. 1703】Bon Holidays: Day 3 (August 16th)

Aug 19, 2019 17:31
Bon Holidays: Day 3 (August 16th)

Today, I went to Tokyo DisneySea with my friend.

The number of visitors per year to Tokyo DisneySea is around 15.5 million -- making it the fifth most popular park worldwide.

When entering DisneySea, we first took FastPass for the new ride named "Soaring: Fantastic Flight," which debuted on July 23rd this year.

I felt comfortable because we came to be able to get FastPass on a smartphone app.

Soaring was literally fantastic -- I felt as if I was really flying in the sky.

Amazingly, the waiting time for riding Soaring without using FastPass was up to 350 minutes.
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【No. 1704】Tsuke ga Mawaru (付けが回る - Deserving Thoughtless Behavior)

Aug 19, 2019 19:36
Tsuke ga Mawaru

I have enjoyed Bon holidays and hardly worked for the last few days.

As a result, the work that I had to do was piled up, and now I am forced to do a lot of work simultaneously.

Such situations where you are forced to do something difficult as a result of your thoughtless action can be described as tsuke ga mawaru (付けが回る) in Japanese.

Tsuke means "bill" and mawaru (回る) means "to come around," so the literal meaning of tsuke ga mawaru is "bills come around."

Needless to say, a situation where a lot of bills come to you is horrible.
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【No. 1700】Ichiban Saisho/Ichban Saigo (一番最初/一番最後 - First/Last)

Aug 17, 2019 21:45
Ichiban Saisho/Ichiban Saigo

I often hear and say the phrases, ichiban saisho (一番最初) and ichiban saigo (一番最後) in daily conversation.

Ichiban (一番) means "most," saisho (最初) means "first," and saigo (最後) means "latest," so the literal meanings of ichiban saisho and ichiban saigo are "the most first" and "the most last," respectively.

These are redundant expressions, and some people think they are not correct Japanese.

However, they may not be wrong if you think that saisho and saigo means a range (i.e., "first part" and "last part"), and ichiban refers to an edge point of the range.

You should not use ichiban saisho and ichiban saigo in formal documents, but I think that they have come to be widely accepted in daily conversation.

【No. 1701】Bon Holidays: Day 1 (August 14th)

Aug 17, 2019 22:09
Bon Holidays: Day 1 (August 14th)

During this period in Japan, many Japanese people are on Bon Holidays.

I was working in Bon holidays for the last several years, but I decided to rest and go play outside this year.

First, I went to Tokyo Disneyland with my friend.

The number of visitors per year to Tokyo Disneyland is around 17 million -- this is the third-largest number in all amusement parks in the world.

Since it was a day of Bon holidays, Disneyland was very crowded, but we could enjoy enough.

I walked and stand for a long time after a long time, so I was very tired.

Incidentally, although it is Tokyo Disneyland, it is not located in Tokyo -- it is actually located in Chiba (next to Tokyo).