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【No. 0526】A Rainy Day is a Bad Weather Day

May 27, 2016 15:55
Since it rained today, I will talk about the Japanese proverb "ame ga furu hi ha tenki ga warui," which means "a rainy is a bad weather day."

You might think something like "it's normal, what you want to say?"

You're right, this proverb refers to things that doesn't need to be said.

Also, there are some proverbs that have the same meaning.

Foe example, "inu ga nisi mukya o ha higashi" (if a dog look towards the west, the tail will look toward the east), and "oyaji ha ore yori toshi ga ue" (my father is older than me).
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【No. 0525】Do Tea (Ocha-suru)

May 26, 2016 18:15
Today, I will talk about the Japanese phrase "ocha-suru."

("Ocha" is a noun that means tea, and "suru" is a verb that means do.)

Ocha-suru means to drink something or get rest at a coffee/tea shop.

In 1970s, phrases like "～suru (do something)" were prevalent in Japan.

In addition to "ocha-suru," "eiga-suru (which means to watch a movie)" and "tabaco-suru (which means to smoke)" seemed to be used.

However, the phrase "ocha-shinai? (shall we do tea?)" continues to be used as a pickup line, and only "ocha-suru" still remains.
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【No. 0524】Henachoko

May 25, 2016 20:32
Today, I will talk about a Japanese word "henachoko."

Henachoko is a taunting word that expresses an immature or unimportant person.

"Hena" in henachoko came from an imitative word "henahena" that expresses frail things.

"Choko" in henachoko means something like a small move, and is also used in "chokomaka (move quickly and restlessly)" or "chokozai (cheeky)" in Japanese.

Using this word to others is rude, but I like the sound of "henachoko."
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【No. 0521】Displacement Activity

May 22, 2016 12:50
Human beings jiggle their legs when they are nervous, and scratch their heads when they feel embarrassed.

This behavior is referred to as "displacement activity," and you can see the same property in many animals, such as cats, dogs, birds, and fish.

When animals can't choose escape or attack though they want to take the actions, they choose a quite different action (displacement activity).

By taking the displacement activity, you can keep your mind stability, or camouflage your true feelings.

It is said that having a large meal is also a kind of displacement activities.
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【No. 0520】Maneki Neko

May 21, 2016 12:11
Yesterday, I wrote about beckoning gestures.

Today, I will talk about "maneki neko," which is posing with the beckoning gesture.

Maneki neko is a traditional Japanese kind of figure in the shape of a cat, and is a lucky charm (which is called "engimono" in Japan) for business success.

It is said that maneki with the right forepaw raised brings economic fortune, and that with the left forepaw raised attracts customers.

By the way, the former is a male cat, and the latter is a female cat.

Recently, you can file maneki neko with the both forepaws, but many of us don't like it very much because the gesture implies a surrender.

There are several theories about where the maneki neko came from, and I think that it began when we likened a grooming of a cat to a beckoning gesture.
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【No. 0519】Beckoning Gestures

May 20, 2016 11:32
Today, I will talk about gestures meaning "come here."

In Japan, when we want to express "come here," we wave our fingers with our palms down.

I heard that similar gestures are used with the same meaning in Asian countries, Russia, Greece, and Italy, etc.

However, in the US and European countries except the Mediterranean area, this gesture seems to mean "go away."

In these countries, they wave their fingers with their palms up to express "come here."

There is a Japanese traditional craft called "maneki neko (beckoning cat)," which is posing the "come here" gesture with his palm down.

Today, I learned there is maneki neko with his palm up for international sales.
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【No. 0518】Regular Holidays of Beauty Salons

May 19, 2016 10:39
Japanese beauty salons (and barber shops) are closed every Tuesday in the Kanto region, and every Monday in the other regions.

Around the Second World War, Japan had faced a shortage of electricity.

For this reason, Monday or Tuesday had established as Electricity Outage Day, and most electricity supplies had stopped on the day.

On the other hand, electric perms that had been performed in beauty salons needed a lot of electricity.

Hence, beauty salons were forced to be closed on Mondays or Tuesdays.

This custom has remained until today, and there are many beauty salons that close on Mondays or Tuesdays.
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【No. 0517】Gamu (Gum)Gamu (Gum)

May 18, 2016 15:25
Today, I will talk about "gamu" and "gomu."

"Gamu" is an English loanword, and "gomu" is a Dutch loanword.

These words express different meanings respectively, because when they were imported into Japan, "gamu" expressed mainly "chewing gum," and "gomu" expressed mainly "rubber."

On the other hand, I heard that "gum" in English and "gom" in Dutch express both of their meanings.

By the way, in German, "gummi" expresses all of "gamu," "gomu" and "gumi."

In Japan (maybe also in other countries), both gamu and gumi are a kind of candy, but we refer to ones that disappear by chewing as gumi (gummy).
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【No. 0516】Takeyabu (Bamboo Fence)

May 17, 2016 20:49
Today, I will talk about a tongue twister that I can't say.

"Kono takegaki ni take tatekaketano ha take tatekaketakatta kara take tatekaketa."
(The reason why I leaned a bamboo against this bamboo fence is because I wanted to lean a bamboo, so I leaned a bamboo.)

Although it's easy to say "take" and "tatekakeru" respectively, it's very hard for me to say them consecutively, like "take tatekakeru."

This sentence is very popular as a tongue twister, but I think this is a little unnatural as Japanese.

I guess if I were in this situation, I would say something like:

"Kono takegaki ni take wo tatekaketa riyu ha, tada tan ni sositakatta kara desu."
(The reason why I leaned a bamboo against this bamboo fence is because just I wanted to do so.)
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【No. 0515】Otsukaresama Desu

May 16, 2016 11:27
Today, I will talk about an useful Japanese expression "Otsukaresama desu."

Otsukaresama desu is a phrase that rewards someone for his efforts, but we use this in various situations.

First, this phrase can be used when you meet your colleagues or bosses.

Here, it corresponds to "Hi," "Hello," "Good morning," and "Good afternoon" in English.

Second, you can use it when a project or something was settled.

Here, it corresponds to "Good job," "Great work," and "Well done" in English.

Third, you can use it when you go home after your work.

Here, it corresponds to "See you tomorrow," "Good night" and "Have a nice weekend" in English.

Also, if you're close with the conversation partner, you can remove "desu" or "sama desu," and say just "Otsukaresama" or "Otsukare."
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【No. 0514】I Was Rained

May 15, 2016 14:16
Today, I will talk about a Japanese unique expression "adversative passive."

In Japanese, when you suffer inconvenience, you sometimes use intransitive verbs as passive forms.

For example, you can say "I was rained (雨に降られた)" instead of "It rained (雨が降った)."

By using such an expression, you can imply that you suffer inconvenience from the rain.

In addition, you can say something like "犯人に逃げられた, I was fled by the criminal (the criminal fled)," and "夫に死なれた, I was died by my husband (my husband died)."
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【No. 0513】The Meaning of "々"

May 14, 2016 13:37
Today, I will talk about a Japanese sign "odoriji" (the literal meaning is a dancing character).

The "odoriji" is used when the same character is used repeatedly.

There is a typical odoriji "々," and the reading is either the same as the previous character or it with a voiced sound mark.

For example:
時時 → 時々 (the meaning is "sometimes," and the reading is "toki-doki.")
赤裸裸 → 赤裸々 (the meaning is "nudity," and the reading is "seki-rara.")

When you want to type only the odoriji "々," you convert "おどりじ(odoriji)," "おなじ(onaji)," or "くりかえし(kurikaeshi)" into Kanji on your input method editor.

Also, since "々" is able to be seen as a combination of "ノ (no)" and "マ (ma)," it sometimes called "ノマ点 (noma-sign)," and you can convert "のま (noma)" into "々" .
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【No. 0512】Calories of Alcohol

May 13, 2016 10:00
It is said that taking alcohol makes you gain weight, and today I will talk about that.

Alcohol is basically high in calories, and the calories increase as the alcohol degree increases.

According to a professor at the Auckland University of Technology, alcohol has almost the same calories as sugar.

However, calories contained in alcohol is called "empty calories," and they are released from your bodies as heat on a priority basis compared to carbohydrates and lipids.

Therefore, alcohol is less likely to become fat, and it doesn't make you gain weight directly very much.

However, taking alcohol inhibit your fat metabolism rates, and enhance your appetite, so you have to be careful when you drink.
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【No. 0511】Dieting Using Horror Movies

May 12, 2016 11:25
According to a study of University of Westminster, people consume their energies 33% more than usual during watching horror movies.

In fact, the average calorie consumption by watching a 90 minutes horror movie was 133 kilocalories.

The reason for the increment of consumption calories is because rapid-acting adrenaline is secreted by fear, and it increase metabolism.

Also, the more fear the movie is, the more calories you consume.

By the way, "The Shining" showed the highest calorie consumption in this study.

I don't like horror movies very much, but people who love them might enjoy adrenaline secretions.
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【No. 0510】An Engagement Ring

May 11, 2016 10:28
In Japan, a phrase something like "you should spend three months' salary on an engagement ring" has spread.

I heard that De Beers Group of Companies used this phrase for a promotion of diamond rings in 1970s.

Also, at the same time, the De Beers seemed to use other phrases, "a month's salary for an engagement ring" in the US, and "two months' salary for an engagement ring" in European countries.

The reason of three months' salary in Japan is due to Japanese income levels and yen exchange rates at that time.

I think most Japanese know this phrase, but people who spend actually three months' salary on an engagement ring are about thirty percent.

Considering the average income of the current Japanese, three months' salary will be about 1 million yen (9162 dollars).

Many Japanese seem to think that you should spend your money on what you need in your life, rather than an expensive engagement ring.
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【No. 0509】Smells of Rain

May 10, 2016 10:35
I have written about smells until now, but today I will talk about smells of the rain.

It rained yesterday, and there was a rain smell.

As causative substances of rain smells, there are Petrichor and geosmin.

"Petrichor," which means "stone essence" in Greek, is a coined word created by Australian researchers, and expresses a smell that occurs at the beginning of the rain.

The reason of the smell is because some plants' oil is absorbed to the ground, and the rain emit it into the atmosphere.

"Geosmin," which means "smell of the earth" in Greek, expresses a odorous substance that occurs an odor after the rain.

Geosmin is also a causative substance of musty odors from sewers, and it's not a good smell.

I like rain smells in Nagano Prefecture, but don't like rain smells in Tokyo very much.
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【No. 0508】Andes Melons

May 9, 2016 09:45
In Japan, there is a popular kind of melons, called "andes melon."

Actually, I thought of it as melons from the Andes regions, but it was wrong..

In 1977, a Japanese company developed the andes melon by breeding.

At first, it was planned to be sold as "anshin-desu melon (which means something like 'this melon is relieving')."

However, since the naming was bad, it became "andes melon" by removing "shin."

According to the company, the reason why "shin" was removed is because we eat melon after removing the core, which is called "shin" in Japan.
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【No. 0507】A Relationship between Languages and Savings

May 8, 2016 14:05
It is said that Japanese like to save money, and the average amount is more than 10 million yen (about 93 thousand dollars).

According to the study of Yale University, the amount of savings might have been dependent on the grammars of the countries' languages.

In English, when you mention about future things, you use future tenses and distinguish it clearly from the present things.

Therefore, you might feel your future is far, and tend to neglect your long-term outlook.

In fact, people who use a language that doesn't have a future tense show higher savings rates than other languages speakers.

Japanese also doesn't have a future tense, and there is no grammatically distinction between future things and present things.

For this reason, we seem to feel that our future is close to the present, and feel anxiety about the future.

Also, there is another opinion that word order saying important things at the end of the sentence affects national identities.
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【No. 0506】The Meaning of "Jibun"

May 7, 2016 15:03
Today, I will talk about the meaning of the Japanese word "jibun."

Normally, "Jibun" means "I," and is used when you refer to yourself.

For example: "Jibun ha Tokyo shusshin desu (I am from Tokyo.)"

However, in Western Japan, "jibun" means "you," and is used when you refer to your conversation partner.

For example: "Jibun doko kara kitann (where are you from)?"

The reason is because they speak while thinking the conversation partner's perspective.

"Boku" is the first-person word for men, but we sometimes use it as the meaning of "you" toward young boys, such as "boku, nan-sai (how old are you)?"

As just described, since first-person and second-person words are sometimes mingle in Japan, please be careful.
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【No. 0505】Tango no Sekku (Boys' Day)

May 6, 2016 10:35
Yesterday, May 5th was "tango no sekku," which is the Boys' Festival for expressing the hope that boys will grow up healthy and strong.

"Tan" of "tango" means "beginning," and "go" means "Horse of the Zodiac."

That is, "tango" means "the first Horse Day of the Horse Month."

(Also, "sekku" means "a seasonal festival.")

In Japan, the Oriental Zodiac is assigned to all months and days on the calendar.

Since the Horse Month is May, we had celebrated "tango no sekku" on the first Horse Day of May.

Currently, the day became established as May 5th because the reading of "go" can express "five" in Japan.

This "tango no sekku" is an important day that forms long holidays (Golden Week).