Japanese Language

JAPANESE LANGUAGE

Japanese Writing: The Birth of Kana in the Heian Period

How did the hiragana and katakana writing systems come to exist in Japanese? What purpose did they serve? A history of writing…

JAPANESE LANGUAGE

Japanese Writing: A History – Origins to Nara Era

How did the written Japanese language assume its current form? We look at the language's earliest written forms - Chinese kanji and…

JAPANESE LANGUAGE

Japanese Language Classes are Awesome. Here’s How to Start

Thanks to the Internet, Japanese language classes are within most everyone's reach. Learn how they can help improve your Japanese.

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How Agnes Chow Made Herself Fluent in Japanese

How did Agnes Chow Ting, Hong Kong's "Goddess of Democracy," get so good at Japanese? The answer: self-study, anime, and sheer necessity.

JAPANESE LANGUAGE

New Japanese Words Describe an Eventful 2019

The annual list of hot new Japanese words provides valuable insights into the ideas and events that dominated the country this past…

JAPANESE LANGUAGE

Japanese Restaurant Menus: Reading the Kanji

Reading Japanese menus can be tricky, as you'll often find many kanji you don't encounter elsewhere. Here's a short guide to make…

JAPANESE LANGUAGE

Easy Japanese Gains Attention After Typhoon Hagibis

The natural disaster that struck Japan this month left a looming question in its wake: How should the government warn an increasingly…

JAPANESE LANGUAGE

Tasukatta! Useful Japanese Phrases When Dining Out in Japan

Trying to order in Japanese at a Japanese restaurant? Here are some of the questions you might not expect - and how…