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【No. 0548】Japanese Phrases That Express The End of Flowers

Jun 18, 2016 17:58
There are many Japanese words that express the end of flowers depending on the kind.

Today, I will talk about some typical ones among them.

Sakura (cherry blossoms) ･･･ "Chiru" (which literally means "dissipate")

(A scene that cherry blossoms are falling is called "sakura hubuki" (hubuki means blowing snow).)

Kiku (chrysanthemums) ･･･ "Koboreru" (which literally means "dance")

(Petals of withered chrysanthemums droop, it looks like they're dancing when winds are blowing.)

Ume (Plums) ･･･ "Koboreru" (which literally means "spill")

Tsubaki (Camellias) ･･･ "Ochiru" (which literally means "fall")

Botan (Peonies) ･･･ "Kuzureru" (which literally means "collapse")

Asagao (morning glories) ･･･ "Shibomu" (which literally means "deflate")

Yukiyanagi (spiraea thunbergii) ･･･ "Fubuku" (which literally means that blowing snow occurs)

We've expressed scenes of the end of flowers by using various words.

It's not necessarily required to use these expressions to each flower.

However, I think that it's beautiful to express visual scenes by using such special expressions.
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【No. 0547】Taidan

Jun 17, 2016 09:52
Today, I will talk about the Japanese word "taidan."

"Taidan" is often translated into "talk," "conversation," or "interview," but it's wrong in a narrow sense.

"Tai" in "taidan" have the meanings of "pair" and "one-to-one," and "dan" have the meaning of "conversation."

Therefore, "taidan" means a "one-on-one conversation/dialogue," and it's not used when there are more than three speakers.

Although a three-way conversation is defined as "teidan" in Japan, the phrase is not popular very much.

In my opinion, if there are more than three speakers, you should say "kaigi," "kaidan," "meeting,"or "hanashi-ai."
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【No. 0546】Unagi-bun (Eel Statements)

Jun 16, 2016 09:32
Today, I will talk about "unagi-bun" (eel statements).

The "unagi-bun" expresses something like the following conversation in a restaurant.

A「Nani o chumon suru?」("Did you decide what to order?")
B「Boku ha unagi da.」("I'm an eel.")
C「Watashi ha beer.」("I'm beer.")

These speakers are of course neither an eel nor beer, they just showed their orders.

When you say 「X ha Y da」 (X is Y) in Japan, it doesn't always mean "X equals Y," and such statements are called "unagi-bun" (eel statements).

Although the term itself is not famous, Japanese people often use this grammar.

I'm not sure whether or not similar examples exist overseas.
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【No. 0545】Okagesama

Jun 15, 2016 12:40
Today, I'll talk about the phrase "okagesama," which is often used in Japan.

"Kage" means a shade of the great, such as Shinto or Buddhist deities, and the polite version "okagesama" is used as an appreciation word for other people's help.

Example: 「Okagesama de shoshin dekimasita.」 (Thanks to you, I got promoted.)

Such "okagesama" in the good sense is also used lightheartedly in various situations (even if your conversation partner actually don't help you), something like the following:

A: 「Genki desu ka?」("How are you doing?")

B: 「Okagesama de genki desu.」("Thanks to you, I'm fine.")

In fact, "okagesama" seems to be sometimes translated into "fortunately."

On the other hand, "okagesama" is also used in the sense of irony.

Example: 「Okagesama de shippai shimashita.」 "Thanks to you, I failed."
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【No. 0544】Amato and Karato

Jun 14, 2016 10:49
Today, I will talk about the Japanese words "amato" and "karato," which are often misused.

"Ama" in "amato" means "sweet," "kara" in "karato" means "spicy," and "to" means "(political) party."

Therefore, most Japanese people think that "amato" means people who like sweets, and "karato" means people who like spicy food literary.

However, the original meanings are something like the following:

Amato: People who prefer sweets than sake (alcohol).

Karato: People who prefer sake (alcohol) to sweets.

The meaning of "amato" is almost correct, but that of "karato" is dramatically different from the original.

One of the most widely-accepted theories that explain why "karato" means people who like sake is that high alcohol sake that have a low sugar content is called "辛い" (spicy) in Japan.
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【No. 0543】Tip of the Tongue Phenomenon

Jun 13, 2016 22:41
Today, I will talk about tip of the tongue (TOT) phenomenon.

The tip of the tongue phenomenon is a phenomenon that though you're about to recall something, you can't.

There are some cases: you're retrieving a similar sound word that has a different meaning, you're retrieving a similar meaning word that has a different sound, you're retrieving only a first character of the word, and so on.

Memory retrieval of human beings is sophisticated and is performed quite quickly, but the speed will become slow when you're in the TOT states.

By the way, the phenomenon is called "nodo made dekakatteiru" (which means something like "something is about to come to my throat") in Japan.
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【No. 0542】Conkers and Chestnuts

Jun 12, 2016 14:04
The word "marron" (マロン) is often used in Japan.

And many Japanese people think that the "marron" is an English loanword, which means "栗 (クリ)."

Actually, I also thought so until today.

However, "marron" is a French loanword, which means "conker," and "栗 (クリ)" is "chestnut" in English ("châtaignes" in French).

The reason why such a misunderstanding became established seems to be that when marron glace imported into Japan, we used chestnuts instead of conkers to make it.

Nevertheless, I think chestnuts are very similar to conkers.
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【No. 0541】Sayonara (Good Bye)

Jun 11, 2016 16:59
If you've learnt Japanese, you shall know the Japanese word "sayonara," which means "bye."

Although "sayonara" was very common Japanese phrase, it's not used so often these days.

In fact, I don't remember when the last time I said sayonara.

In most cases when we go home, we will say "zyane" (see you) or "matane" (later) to our friends, and say "otsukare sama" (have a nice evening) or "shiturei shimasu" (I'm sorry to leave early) to our bosses or colleagues.

The reason that sayonara isn't used so often seems to be because it sounds a forever farewell.

I heard that native speakers don't say "bood bye" so often in recent years, but the reason might be the same.
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【No. 0540】Under Vending Machines

Jun 10, 2016 15:01
According to a survey of Japanese television program, there are coins under vending machines with a probability of about ten percent.

The investigation was actually performed to 300 vending machines, and 2,724 yen was found in total.

This means that an average of 9 yen was found under each vending machine.

Also, about 5.5 million vending machines are installed in Japan.

Therefore, there are about 50 million yen is sleeping under Japanese vending machines.

By the way, I don't know why, but there are many blog posts that says something like "about 51.5 million vending machines are installed in Japan, and there are about 460 million yen under them."

This is of course a lie, there aren't such a large number (nearly half of Japan's population) of vending machines.
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【No. 0539】Azatoi

Jun 9, 2016 17:30
Today, I will talk about the Japanese expression "azatoi."

"Azatoi" means that the act is explicit and wily, or it's inconsiderate.

The etymology of azatoi is said to be "azaru," which means "playful."

(Note that the expression "azaru" is rarely used these days, and "tawamureru," which has the same meaning is used instead.)

Nowadays, the word "azatoi" is often used when women show signs that attract men in a calculated way.

For example, we say 「彼女あざといね」 (means something like "she is very clever).

As examples of the signs, there are "puffing her cheeks," "peeping from beneath her lashes," referring to herself as her first name," etc.
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【No. 0537】The High Tech Onigokko (Tag)

Jun 7, 2016 17:45
Onigokko (which is called the game of tag in English) is very popular children's play in Japan.

One child is decided as oni (which means an ogre), and other children run away so as not to be caught by the oni.

A child who is caught and the oni swap their roles, and onigokko continues.

This is a very simple play, but recently it's changing.

I heard that children run away while exchanging information, such as the current location of oni, using their smartphones.

Also, GPS information or radio wave condition of Wi-Fi is used among some group of children.

I realized that the high-tech age is coming.
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【No. 0536】Japanese Tea at Banks

Jun 6, 2016 21:11
It's said that there are a lot of jargon in banks.

Today, I will talk about two interesting jargon in Japanese banks.

Jargon 1: Japanese tea

Annoying, unwieldy, or suspicious customers are called "Japanese tea."

In actual situations, bankers say something like "Japanese tea, please" to another employee to show such a customer is coming.

I'm not sure why Japanese tea is used.

Jargon 2: zabuton (a flat Japanese cushion)

Ten thousands 10,000 yen bills, that is 100 million yen is called "zabuton."

The reason is because aligned bundles of bills look like zabuton.

I'd like to see such zabuton someday.
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【No. 0535】Tsuyuiri (Rainy Season)

Jun 5, 2016 16:13
Today, tsuyuiri was announced in the Kanto region in Japan.

"Tsuyuiri" means that the tsuyu season begins, and "tsuyu" means the long rain, which lasts for approximately a month around June.

In East Asia, four air masses struggle with each other from spring to summer.

Then, a stationary front called "baiu front" (the meanings of baiu and tsuyu are the same) is formed for thousands kilometers from east to west.

The baiu front moves to the north gradually over several months, and it rains continuously in regions near this front.

Since I often get a headache during the tsuyu season, it's painful to me.
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【No. 0534】Mehrabian's Law

Jun 4, 2016 16:36
Today, I learned a law of Mehrabian.

Mehrabian is an American psychologist, and is well known to conduct communication experiments.

The famous experiment is how listeners are affected by speaker's attitudes and behavior when the speaker's message conflicts.

For example, speakers got angry to listeners with smiles, and encouraged to listeners with brooding looks in the experiment.

As a result, the effect rates were found: words account for 7%, tone of voice accounts for 38%, and body language accounts for 55% (the 7%-38%-55% Rule).

However, this rule was exaggerated, and is often interpreted as "appearances and expressions are more important than the what people say. "

I think that one of the reasons is because the book named "hito ha mitame ga 9 wari" (90% of the important things of people is the appearance), which misunderstand the Mehrabian's experiment, became a bestseller in Japan.
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【No. 0533】An Undersea Mailbox

Jun 3, 2016 23:06
Today, I will talk about an undersea postbox in Wakayama Prefecture in Japan.

As the name implies, this postbox is located under the sea.

The distance from shore is 100 meters, and the depth is 10 meters, so you have to prepare diving to put a letter in the postbox.

An average of ten letters per day are dropped, and a diver collects them everyday, then they are delivered throughout Japan.

In 2002, this postbox was recognized in the Guinness Book of Records for the deepest underwater postbox.

By the way, since the undersea postbox is deteriorated by shellfish and seaweeds, it is replaced once a year.
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【No. 0532】Puffer Fish (Fugu)

Jun 2, 2016 12:24
Today, I will talk about puffer fish (fugu) that the Japanese love.

Puffer fish is known to have a deadly poison called tetrodotoxin.

Tetrodotoxin is 1000 times stronger than potassium cyanide, and has an immediate effect; you will die about five hours after you intake the toxin.

Therefore, if you want to cook puffer fish, you have to be licensed puffer fish chef.

Unfortunately, one person dies annually due to puffer fish.

However, many Japanese people like the taste of puffer fish, and we will continue to eat them.

By the way, since cuisines that use puffer fish are very expensive, I can rarely eat them, haha.
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【No. 0530】The Japanese Word "Kakin"

May 31, 2016 09:55
Today, I will talk about the Japanese word "kakin."

"Ka" in kakin means to assess something, and "kin" in kakin means money, so "kakin" means something like "to charge a fee."

Because free-to-play games that collect surcharges have increased lately, the word "kakin" came to be used frequently in Japan.

However, I think that many Japanese youth say "kakin-suru" (charge a fee) when they spend their money on games.

To charge a fee is done by a game development company, and what they are doing is "nokin" or "siharai" (to pay money) .

Similarly, I think many Japanese say "bokin-suru," which means to collect contributions, when they contribute money (this act is actually "kifu").
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【No. 0529】Barrel

May 30, 2016 19:37
Today, I will talk about the unit "barrel," which is used for representing a volume.

The "barrel" is often used to represent the amount of oil, but there are various definitions depending on applications or countries.

For the amount of oil, one barrel is defined as 42 US gallons (about 160 liters).

In the US, one fluid barrel is 31.5 US fluid gallons (about 119 liters), and one beer barrel is 31 fluid gallons (about 117 liters).

Also, a dry barrel that is used for grains and vegetables 105 dry quarts (about 116 liters).

In the UK, one beer barrel is 36 UK gallons (about 164 litres).

Since these units, barrel and gallon are rarely used in Japan, it's very confusing for me.
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【No. 0528】Octopus's Tentacles Wiring

May 29, 2016 18:30
Yesterday, I was talk about octopuses.

Today, I will talk about the Japanese slang "tako ashi haisen" (octopus's tentacles wiring), which was derived from octopus.

In Japan, we refer to putting too many plugs in one outlet as "tako ashi haisen."

We liken the many cables to octopus's tentacles.

It's said that the reason why the slang uses "octopus" instead of "squid" is because cables extend in four directions like octopus's tentacles.

If you increase tako ashi too much, it may take fire or deliver an electric shock, so please be careful.
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【No. 0527】Legs of Octopuses

May 28, 2016 16:09
The number of octopus legs is normally eight.
(There is an octopus that has 96 legs.)

We sometimes call them "legs," but most academic books call them "arms" or "tentacles."

Also, I heard that a European study group have researched on octopus legs and arms.

According to the study, it was found that the number of octopus legs is two, and the number of octopus arms is six.

Octopuses use their two backward tentacles to move, and their six forward tentacles to find food or loop up something.

By the way, octopuses have three hearts and nine brains.