ō-jiru, kota-eru, ō (nō) Both ōjiru and kotaeru means to respond. When can we use these words? When somebody responds in the sense of “ōjiru” or “kotaeru,” they accommodate your request. The character itself often implies “to react to something.” Application is ōyō. It suggests the word includes the process of reacting and using. Reaction [...]

i A medical doctor is called isha or ishi. Three months ago, I wrote How to Find Clinics in Japan. It is a mixed list of medical branches and doctors. You can use the list for practical purposes but, strictly speaking, we don’t mind which we refer to: clinics or doctors. Here is the list [...]

goto, mai With this character, we can talk mainly about time and frequencies. Everyday (mainichi), you can see one Japanese character (kanji) here. Every week (maishū), Nao draws 7 characters for this blog before Alice draws arrows to combine, writes about the characters and compiles them. Each post is scheduled to be published every morning [...]

kiwa-meru, kyū The verb kiwameru means “to reach the limit.” The object of this verb can be anything you can pursue through knowing, learning, or practicing. One of the philosophical examples is “shin ri” – verity. “Shiri wo kiwameru” means “to go deeply into verities.” The verb “kyūmei suru” has a similar meaning. When you [...]

soko, tei “Soko” is the bottom of something. The bottom of a valley is tanizoko. Zoko is a voiced sound of soko. When something runs out, we express the situation as “soko wo tsuita.” “Tsuita” means “to be hit.” The other reading of this character is “tei.” “Kaitei” is the bottom of the sea. “Kaitei [...]

tai-suru, tai, tsui Tsui is twin. It means a pair or a couple. Like a pair, which is expressed as one pair, the word “ittsui” (ichi + tsui) also means a pair. But we don’t use this for married couples. They are fūfu. The verb taisuru means “to face.” The verb hantaisuru means “to oppose.” [...]

mot-te, i When you read this character “motte,” it functions as prepositions such as “by” and “with.” However, this usage is classical. “Motte” is used when the Japanese read Chinese classics although we never learn how this is pronounced in Chinese. To make sense of this character, Japanese students read this character “motte” and regard [...]

kai This character is hardly used by itself. Some characters like this only have on’yomi readings and we cannot tell the meaning from the readings. Today’s character means boundary that forms a world. Let’s see what kinds of worlds there are within some boundaries in the world. The world … sekai The business world … [...]

tetsu Iron, a kind of metal, is tetsu. An underground railway is “chi katetsu.” Railways are tetsudō. Tekka (iron and fire) is a kind of rolled sushi. It means the red flesh of tuna. Begin to draw the left-hand side of the character. Draw the sweeping stroke from the top to the lower left. Draw [...]