Do you know this Japanese song – Sukiyaki Song? The original title of the song in Japanese is 上を向いて歩こう（うえをむいてあるこう）”Ue o muite arukou” by Kyu Sakamoto. ⠀ The Sukiyaki Song “Ue o muite arukou” was released in 1961 in Japan. It reached the top of the Billboard charts in the US in 1963.⠀ This is such […]
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Katakana Reading Practice – Can you read these?
Have you learned all the Katakana letters? Great! Now is the time to try Katakana reading practice. Let’s see how well you can read Katakana words. What’s the bar “ー” for? You may sometimes see a Katakana word with a bar like this. The bar indicates long vowels (double vowels). So, in the example above, […]
Months in Japanese, がつ or つき or かげつ?
Months in Japanese is a little confusing. There are three ways to say month which are がつ Gatsu, つき Tsuki, and かげつ Kagetsu. The difference is as follows. がつ (月 in Kanji) Gatsu … for the name of each month (January, February, etc.) つき (月 in Kanji) Tsuki … for counting months with traditional Japanese […]
Learning Japanese is difficult – My Story
Learning Japanese is difficult! That’s how you may be feeling no matter how long you’ve been studying. It is true. Learning any language is a challenge, and Japanese may be one of the most challenging ones because we have three different writing systems. Recently, I’ve received emails from a few students who are frustrated with […]
Thank You in Japanese – 6 Common Phrases
There are many ways to say Thank You in Japanese just like many other languages. In English, they say Thanks, Thank you so much, I appreciate it, etc. Likewise, the ways to thank people in Japanese can be different depending on the situation or people you are thanking. Here are what we will discuss in […]
こんにちは or こんにちわ? Which is correct and Why?
Recently I’ve been asked about the spelling of Konnichiwa in Hiragana. Is it こんにちは or こんにちわ? Which is correct and why? The answer is こんにちは with は (Hiragana HA) at the end instead of わ (Hiragana WA) although the phrase is pronounced “KonnichiWA.” Why? Because the WA in this particular phrase is a particle (Topic […]