JapanSugoi

Traveling to Japan and need to know the main greetings quickly? Here are some simple and useful Japanese expressions to learn when visiting Japan.

Here’s a youtube video which can teach you these useful phrases in 10 minutes -Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening, Goodbye, Good night, Thank You, Excuse Me or I’m Sorry, No (not at all), I’ll go and come back, Please go and come back, I’m home, Welcome back, Bon Appetite, Thank you for the meal, Hello, nice to meet you.

Practice with a Japanese friend first before you try it in Japan.

Can you impress your Japanese girlfriend with the all Hiragana or Katakana characters that you’ve spent years trying to learn?

Here’s a fun online game on the web that you can play by trying to remove the characters from the screen by clicking them in gojuuon order as quickly as possible. For example, the first hiragana/katakana to click is “a”, followed by “i” etc. Each incorrect answer will have a 10 second penalty and if you need help click the hint button but that will add 5 seconds to the game clock).

If you’re just good at talking but not reading and writing, then give this game a miss.

Play the Hiragana game here.

Play the Katakana game here.

For more resources on learning Japanese check out our Learn Japanese section or read all posts regarding learning Japanese.

 Earlier this year, the folks at Animeselects.com held an audition for all their gaijin otaku viewers to “be a  Tokyo reporter” with a chance to visit Tokyo during the Tokyo Anime Fair.

Some of the gaijin otaku learned some Japanese to impress on their audition tapes. Unfortunately, it seems most of them have learned Japanese not from Japanese friends or study courses but from watching too much anime!

More audition videos here.

If you live in Japan or are learning Japanese, one thing you’ll pick up very quickly is the Japanese fondness and common usage of onomatopoeia. This is especially true if you are a manga comics reader. In English, as in Japanese, onomatopoetic words are those that imitate natural sounds. In Japanese, however, there are literally hundreds of such words, and they are used much more frequently than in English. Words that represent actual sounds (e.g., animal noises) are called giseigo e.g.

Frog Croaking: English, ribbet ribbet, Japanese, kero kero (けろけろ)
Dog Barking: English, woof woof, Japanese, wan wan (わんわん)
Cat Meowing: English, meow, Japanese, nya nya (にゃあ)

In addition, Japanese recognizes two additional types of onomatopoeia: one that basically suggests states of the external world (gitaigo) and another that basically names internal mental conditions and sensations (gijoogo).

The new year is time for new year’s resolutions. Learning Japanese is certainly what many people (who read this blog) want to do but never get round to doing. To start the new year, we are encouraging those readers who want to learn with an easy lesson. According the the folks at travellinguist, there are 10 survival words/phrases you need to know especially when traveling in Japan. These include

Hello. Konnichiwa

Goodbye. Sayonara,

How are you? OGenki desu ka,

Very well, and you? Genki desu anata wa?

Thank you. Arigato

You’re Welcome. Do Itashimashite

Do you speak English? Eigo ga hanemasu ka?

What is your name? O namae wa nan desu ka?

Excuse me. Sumimasen

Where is the bathroom? Ote ara wa dochira desu ka?

Here is the video to help you pronounce the words/phrases correctly. Also check our our learning Japanese section for more tips and practice your Japanese with your new Japanese friends from our Japansugoi Friends community

Most visitors to Tokyo who have some time will probably make the visit to the famous onsen (hot springs) area of Hakone. Besides the hotels and traditional Ryokan (Japanese inns), one place to have fun is at Hakone Kowakien Yunessuni a unique blend of traditional Japanese onsen and water recreation services and activities.

Warau Inu 笑う犬の冒険 (Warau Inu no Bōken; Adventures of a Laughing Dog) is a classic Japanese TV ensemble comedy featuring comedy groups Utchan Nanchan, Neptune and with revolving cast members such as female comedy duo Othello オセロ and idol/talento Becky. If you’re beyond learning basic Japanese, watching these hilarious skits will teach you real Japanese and how the Japanese interact with each other.

Warau Inu comedy sketches

“I am a salaryman” panties and the bomb skit

“Battles without Honor” Gastro Gangsters

“sexy cow” character “Milky” takes idol Kaori Momoi.

A set of DVDs are available at Amazon Japan if you want to watch all the old series.