Why Some Japanese Restaurants Insist on “Japanese Language Only”
Here and there in Japan, one sees restaurants putting up signs refusing non-Japanese speakers. Is that necessarily a bad thing?
Here and there in Japan, one sees restaurants putting up signs refusing non-Japanese speakers. Is that necessarily a bad thing?
Stereotypes of Japan as a land of vague meaning and blunted expression are just straight up Orientalism that obscure a complex reality.
Kuzushiji, the โcrushed lettersโ found in historical Japanese documents, have long been the bane of scholars. A new app may change all that.
“Mama” and “papa” are such ubiquitous parental terms in Japan that it’s easy to forget they’re foreign words – words the government once tried to ban.
The government of Japan sanctions a language school for its horrific treatment of a student – but the school’s fighting back.
Most languages use a variation of the name Japan – except for Japan itself! Learn the etymology of Japan, and the reason for the difference.
There’s no word quite like “yabai” in Japanese – an extremely popular slang term that can mean anything from “awful” to “risky” to “excellent, dude!” Yet the prevalence of “yabai” has some worried.
Mass strikes, the creation of the 8-hour workday, and an early 20th-century vogue for foreign words – all led to the most popular Japanese word many don’t even realize is foreign in origin.
Learn how to use Japanese dramas to effectively study and improve Japanese comprehension, listening, and speaking skills.
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