LIVING IN JAPAN
JLPT Seats Are Running Out as Japan Ties More Visas to Japanese Tests
Just as the government is adding Japanese-language requirements to certain visas, the twice-yearly JLPTs are getting seriously crowded.
Language learning
LIVING IN JAPAN
JAPANESE LANGUAGE
Why Did Japan Alone Keep Two Layers of Kanji Readings?
Languages can be stubborn things. You can see this clearly in Japanese, where multiple layers of kanji pronunciation exist to this day.
JAPANESE LANGUAGE
Kanji Kentei: Inside the Japanese Test That Even Japanese People Find Difficult
Forget the JLPT. If you want to take a truly hard Japanese test, check out the Kanji Kentei, whose highest levels have…
JAPANESE LANGUAGE
Why Do Japanese People Say That Chinese Sounds “Scary”?
A recent social media discussion that could have turned dicey instead became a referendum on a single Chinese particle.
JAPANESE LANGUAGE
How Higashino Keigo Improved My Japanese
In the wake of the beloved author's death, our author shares how Higashino Keigo's accessible writing made his own Japanese better.
JAPANESE LANGUAGE
You Say Tsuyu, I Say Baiu: How Japanese Jukujikun Make Kanji Even Harder
Why do the same two kanji for Japan's rainy season change pronunciation based on context? Blame the phenomenon known as jukujikun.
LIVING IN JAPAN
Survey: Japanese People Have No Confidence In Their English – But Tourists Say It’s Great
Of those who refused to communicate with someone in English, 76.5% said it was due to lack of confidence.
JAPANESE LANGUAGE
I Tried AI for Japanese Speaking Practice – Here’s What I Learned
People keep telling me AI chatbots are the future of Japanese language learning. So I tried a few. Here's why they're wrong.