In the late 1980s, it became a trend among people in the TV industry to read words in (partially) reverse order and use them as jargon. Such words include “ザギン”, meaning “銀座 (Ginza)” and シースー, meaning “寿司 (sushi)”, and people used to say the phrase “ザギンでシースー”, meaning “(eating) sushi at Ginza”, to make a suggestion for lunch or dinner. Eventually, these TV industry jargons spread to ordinary people since some celebrities, especially the comedy duoとんねるず started to use them on TV. Although most of the words now sound quite old-fashioned, some people still use them as a joke or humorous expression. This article explains famous reverse words that you may use to make your Japanese friends laugh and surprised!Read Definition
List of Japanese Metaphors about Baseball (野球, Yakyū)
As you may know, in (American) English there are many metaphors about baseball, including “hit a home run” and “touch base”. This is also the case in Japanese, the language of the country where baseball is one of the most popular sports. This article introduces unique Japanese baseball metaphors that you can pitch in a casual conversation! (However, don’t go overboard, as you may sound like a middle-aged baseball fanatic.)Read Definition
List of Vocabulary in Kansai Dialect (関西弁, Kansaiben)
関西弁 (Kansaiben, “Kansai dialect”) is the most common dialect in Japan apart from the Standard Japanese (標準語, ひょうじゅんご). This article explains some unique words and idioms in the Kansai dialect, which you probably won’t learn from a Japanese textbook!Read Definition
List of Japanese Words Rooted in 茶 (cha) and Japanese Tea Cultures
This post explains a variety of Japanese words that are related to 茶 (cha, ‘tea’) and Japanese tea cultures! 茶 (cha) as ‘Not Serious’ and ‘Playful’ In Japanese, there are many words and idioms related to ‘茶 (cha, ‘tea’)’ which have the sense of ‘not serious’. Such words include ‘茶化す (ちゃかす)’, ‘茶茶を入れる (ちゃちゃをいれる)’, ‘お茶目 (おちゃめ)’,…Read Definition
List of Japanese Idioms Related to ‘Cats’ (猫, neko)
This post explains a variety of unique Japanese expressions related to cats! Not only the meanings of the expressions, this article also illustrates their vocabulary levels by the number of stars on a scale of 1 to 3, where 3 means that almost all Japanese people should know that word.Read Definition