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【No. 0216】Juice's Label

Jul 22, 2015 13:52
Japanese people call various beverages "juice(ジュース)."

For example, apple drink, orange soda, isotonic drink, etc., all of them are called "ジュース" in Japan.

So you might confuse whether the juice that was appeared in your conversation is 100% fruit juice or not.

However, there is a law about labels (maybe as with other countries).

If the percentage of the fruit juice is less than 5%, it is forbidden to draw a realistic fruit illustration to the label.

If the percentage of fruit juice is equal to or more than 5% and less than 100%, it is possible to draw a realistic fruit illustration, but it is forbidden to draw a cross-section of the fruit to the label.

If the percentage of fruit juice is 100%, it is possible to draw a realistic fruit illustration and a cross-section of the fruit to the label.

Therefore, you can determine whether the drink is juice or not from the illustration on the label.
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【No. 0215】Car License Plate in Japan

Jul 21, 2015 18:22
In Japan, one character of hiragana is used on every car license plate.

However, only four characters, 「お」,「し」,「ん」 and 「へ」 don't be used.

Today, I'd like to introduce these reasons.

「お」： Because this character is very similar to 「あ」.

「し」： Because this character implies 「死 (death)」.

「ん」： Because it is difficult to pronounce this character.

「へ」： Because this character implies 「屁 (poot)」, and there is a possibility that interferes your driving by laughing.

Until today, I didn't know these facts. Hehehe.
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【No. 0212】Thieves Prefer Rainy and Windy Days

Jul 18, 2015 22:33
Recently in Japan, there are many rainy and windy days by the approach of typhoon.

We have to be careful about not only the rain and wind but also sneak thieves.

In fact, thieves prefer rainy and windy days.

Because:

・When the break-in, they break window glasses or do picking doors, but the rain and the wind drown these sounds.

・When the weather is bad, people have no room to care about other people.

・When laundries are left out despite the rain, it will inform that residents of the house are absence.

Also, today most thieves seem to use SNS, such as Facebook or Twitter.

If you posted articles something like "I've been on a trip to Hawaii!" you could be targeted by thieves.

Anyway, please be careful.
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【No. 0211】An Hair Growing Speed

Jul 17, 2015 16:20
Do you know a growing speed of your hair?

It is around an average of 10.8 um(micrometer).

This speed is similar to a relative speed of continental drift.

Also, a growing speed of your nails is around an average of 4 um.

This speed is similar to an average of a speed that the moon is moving away from the Earth.

I think these are interesting facts.
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【No. 0208】A Risk of Water Flasks

Jul 14, 2015 14:15
As summer approaches, we will need to receive hydration frequently.

At such a time, a water flask is useful because of its portability.

I think some people put isotonic drink or juice in the water flask.

Such drink containing salt and sugar is effective to heat stroke, but if the water flask is made of metal like aluminium or stainless, please be careful.

Most of these metals are easy to react with acidic liquid such as isotonic drink, juice, carbonated beverages.

In particular, coke have really high acidity, and it easy to melt metals.

If we drank these beverages containing melted metals, we will be poisoning.

Therefore, please do not put beverages except water in your water flask.
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【No. 0207】Penalties for Drunk Driving in the World

Jul 13, 2015 15:23
Today, I learned various penalties for drunk driving in the world.

In some countries, there are horrible punishment.

For example, in El Salvador or Bulgaria,, the penalty is an execution by firing squad.

In Malaysia, the penalty is to be imprisoned with their spouses.

In Russia, the penalties persons can not drive cars in their lifetime.

In turkey, the penalties persons will be taken to a suburb, and they will be imposed to walk about 32 km.

In Japan, the penalty is to be imprisoned or to pay a fine of one million yen.

I like Russian law.
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【No. 0206】Our Voices on Cell Phone

Jul 12, 2015 13:39
Have you misunderstood someone's voice on your cell phone?

Actually, it's a natural thing.

The voice which you have heard is a kind of synthesized voice.

Around three thousand voices are registered on the codebook, and the most similar voice is chosen based on the characteristic of speaker's voice and played while we are talking.

Since our voice data are too enormous, this technology called "CELP" has been used.

Therefore, if there are two persons who have a similar voice, it will be so difficult to distinguish them in dependence upon their voices.
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【No. 0205】The Moon Names

Jul 11, 2015 15:47
In Japan, there are many moon names depending on their phases.

Actually, many Japanese people don't know all of the moon names.

Today, I'd like to introduce some of them.

If you could say various moon names in Japan, we would think you're so cool.

The 1st day: 新月(shingetsu), which means the new moon.

The 3rd day: 三日月(mikazuki), which means the crescent moon.

The 7th day: 上弦の月(jogen-no-tsuki), which means the first quarter moon.

The 13th day: 十三夜(jusanya), which means the waxing gibbous.

The 14th day: 小望月(komochizuki), which means the eve of the full moon.

The 15th day: 満月(mangetsu), which means the full moon.

The 16th day: 十六夜(izayoi), which means the next night of the full moon. We need to be careful about the way of reading this kanji.

The 17th day: 立待月(tachimachizuki), which means the moon-waiting in a standing position.

The 18th day: 居待月(imachizuki), which means moon-waiting in a sitting position(waning gibbous).

The 19th day: 寝待月(nemachizuki), which means the moon-waiting in a lying position.

The 20th day: 更待月(fukemachizuki), which means the moon-waiting late at night.

The 23th day: 下弦の月(kagen-no-tsuki), which means the last quarter moon.

The 26th day: 有明の月(ariake-no-tsuki), which means the waning crescent or the dawn moon.

The 30th day: 晦日月(misokazuki, or tsugomori), which means the dark moon.

There are still too many names...haha.
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【No. 0203】Rare 10 Yen Coins in Japan

Jul 9, 2015 21:34
In Japan, there are a plenty of 10 yen coins, and some of them are known as rare coins.

They are nicknamed "ギザ十(giza-ju)," and had been issued between 1951 and 1958.

The origin of the name of the giza-ju is that they have an engrailed rim（ギザギザした縁の10円玉 : gizagiza shita fuchi no ju-yen dama）.

Therefore, it is easy to find them.

Also, their value is around 15 yen to 50 yen.

When we sometimes noticed the giza-ju, we could feel a little happy.

However, people who don't know the exist of the giza-ju have increased gradually as the years rolled on.
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【No. 0201】Red Tea and Oolong Tea and Green Tea

Jul 7, 2015 13:01
There are some kinds of tea, such as red tea, oolong tea and green tea.

However, all of them are made from the same kind leaves.

The difference is their production methods.

If we completely ferment the leaves, it will be red tea.

If we ferment in half degree the leaves, it will be oolong tea.

If we don't ferment the leaves at all, it will be green tea.

By fermenting, the leaves' green color change to bister color gradually.

In Japan, most tea that have been produced is green tea.
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【No. 0199】Trivia of Mosquitoes

Jul 5, 2015 15:16
Yesterday, I searched for how can we keep mosquitoes away, and posted it.

At that time, I also learned about some trivia of mosquitoes.

So today, I'd like to tell you about the trivia.

Usually, mosquitoes suck nectar of flowers regardless of the gender.

In particular, male mosquitoes suck only nectar of flowers or juice of grasses in their lifetime.

Only mated female mosquitoes suck our blood to ensure nutrition for spawning.

The frequency of blood-sucking is around once three to seven days, and their lifespan is around three weeks, so they will do sucking no more than seven times in their lifetime.

They can spawn without sucking blood, but in that case, the number of eggs is around 10.

If they sucked blood, they can spawn about five hundreds eggs.

This implies high nutritional value of human blood.

By the way, have you heard buzzing of mosquitoes?

When you can hear the jarring buzzing, the mosquito is in a distance of about 20 centimeters from your ear.

They flutter their wings about 500 to 1000 times per second, and generate high frequency wave.

You might feel as if they were near your ear, but unfortunately it's probably wrong.
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【No. 0198】Measures Against Mosquitos

Jul 4, 2015 14:05
In this season in Japan, the number of mosquitoes gradually increase.

I really don't like mosquitoes because they often interrupt my sleep.

So today, I searched for how can we keep mosquitoes away.

・Don't drink alcohol.

Mosquitoes prefer carbon dioxides and warm things.

If you are drinking, your body temperature will rise, and your breath will contain many carbon dioxides.

Furthermore, when the alcohol is decomposed, carbon dioxides will be generated.

Therefore, if you want not to be bitten by mosquitoes, you should not drink.

・Wear pale colored clothes.

Mosquitoes prefer dark color and high brightness color.

・Put vinegar or peppermint oil near your bed.

Mosquitoes hate vinegar and peppermint oil.

・Use an electric fan.

Flight speed of mosquitoes is around 2.4 kilometers per hour, so they can't flight well due to winds of a fan.

Also, a fan diffuses carbon dioxides and smell that are generated from you.
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【No. 0197】The Relationship Between Playing Cards and a Calendar

Jul 3, 2015 13:53
Today, I'd like to introduce the relationship between playing cards and a calendar.

The red cards implies noon, and the black cards implies night.

The club cards implies spring, the diamond cards implies summer, the heart cards implies fall, and the spade cards implies winter.

The thirteen cards implies thirteen weeks of each season.

That is to say, the number of playing cards implies that a year is fifty two weeks.

Furthermore, the sum of all of the playing cards' number is 364.

If we add a joker card here, it will become 365.

A spare joker card implies leap year.
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【No. 0196】Inuktitut Language

Jul 2, 2015 09:45
Today, I learned about Inuktitut.

Inuktitut is a language that is used by Inuit who live in the northern part of Canada.

In order to express some languages of the Canadian Aboriginal, Inuktitut has been devised by James Evans in 1840.

Recently around 30 thousand people use Inuktitut, and the characters of it have unique shapes based on ancient India characters like following:

ᓵᓕ ᑕᓚᕖᓴᕆᐊᒥᒃ ᐅᓪᓗᕆᐋᓂᑦᑐᖑᐊᓂᒃ ᐊᓕᐊᓱᑉᐸᑐᖅ

I couldn't understand this sentence, but these characters excited me.

This looks as if space language, or puzzle.

By the name, my name is written as follows:

ᑲᓄᐊᑐᐊᕈ
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【No. 0194】All The Time（四六時中）

Jun 30, 2015 14:40
Today, I'd like to introduce a Japanese phrase "四六時中（shi roku ji tyu）."

This means something like "all the time," but if we translate the kanji into English, it will be "in the four-six time."

The reason why "four-six" become "all" is that four times six equals twenty four.

However, in the Edo Period, a day had been divided into twelve term.

For that reason, "四六時中" was "二六時中" at one time.
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【No. 0193】The Coin Which Has The Highest Value.

Jun 29, 2015 13:00
Do you know the regularly used coin which has the highest value?

In the past, It was Japan's 500 yen coin that is almost 4 U.S. dollars.

In 2013, the 500 yen coin was introduced as the highest valued regularly used coins in the world on the Guinness Book of Records.

However, currently it is Switzerland's 5 franc, that is almost 5.3 dollars.

The reason is not only Japanese yen was breaking down, Swiss franc was inflated this year.
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【No. 0192】Japanese Young Girls' Enigmatic Text

Jun 28, 2015 18:49
In Japan, young girls tend to use enigmatic texts like actual ciphers by combining various symbols or kanji. Today, I'd like to introduce some of them. If you are interested in Japanese culture of youth, try to decipher.

Level 1 :
●　⊃冫二千ハ
●　､ζ,⊃ぅ
●　才ャス彡
●　才 力 工 └|
●　ぁξぼ

Level 2 :
●　こωL=ちﾚ￡
●　ょЗＵ＜ね
●　ﾅょぁｌ=？
●　八ジ〆まＵ〒
●　ﾚヽﾚヽち〃ゃω

Level 3 :
●　ぅ±〃ﾚヽ
●　レ†’’ｗ(キ
●　⊇〃めωﾅょ±ぁﾚゝ
●　|ナL丶ナニレ丶

For unexplained reason, they are always try to express using another characters. The answers are shown in the following:



Level 1 : 「こんにちは」「ふつう」「オヤスミ」「オカエリ」「あそぼ」
Level 2 : 「こんにちは」「よろしくね」「なあに？」「ハジメましテ」「いいぢゃん（いいじゃん）」
Level 3 : 「うざい」「げんき」「ごめんなさあい」「けいたい」
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【No. 0191】Konjac

Jun 27, 2015 15:33
Konjac that's also called devil's tongue is a Japanese food.

It is made from konnyaku imo that contains a deadly poison, calcium oxalate.

If we take in the poison, our mouth and throat will become swollen, then we will choke.

Finally we will be in coma or die as the case may be.

In order to remove poison and eat konjac, we have to do many processing steps.

The processed konjac have a unique texture, but there is no nutrition or calories.

Because of the small amount of calories, it is often introduced as a diet food.

I don't know, we don't know why we have become to eat it.

It is said that the reason might be due to food crisis.
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【No. 0190】Can I borrow the toilet?

Jun 26, 2015 09:29
When we want to use a bathroom, we often say "トイレを借りてもいいですか？（Can I borrow the toilet?）"

However, the verb "borrow" implies physically borrowing something from someone and that you must give back to it later, so it sounds strange.

I learned that we should to say something like the followings.

・Can I use the bathroom?
・May I use the restroom/washroom?
・I have to go the toilet.
・I’d like to wash my hands.
・I’m just going to use the loo.
・May I inspect the geography of the building?

By the way, most restaurants and shops in Japan have a bathroom, and we can go there without asking.

【No. 0189】Greenland and Iceland

Jun 25, 2015 14:58
Today, I learned about etymologies of Greenland and Iceland.

Both of them were named by Erik the Red in the 10th century.

Firstly, he gave an island the name Iceland, and tried to marshal residents.

However, he couldn't gather a lot of people because of the island's name.

Next, he gave an island the name of Greenland from his failure, though there were almost no green in the island.

In other words, he lied.

Resultingly, he couldn't gather a lot of people to the island as well.

Iceland has a lot of green, and Greenland has a lot of ice.

These are so beautiful, so I want to go there someday.