gun Don’t pronounce it like a weapon. It sounds more like the goon of lagoon. Gun 郡 is an administrative area incorporating towns and villages. It is equivalent to a county but it doesn’t have a local government. Towns and villages have one. In recent years, many towns and villages incorporated by gun have been [...]

u-ru, u-reru, bai When you sell something, you can use the verb uru. When something sells, use the verb ureru. Hambai means sales. Baibai means selling and buying, that is, trade. The first bai and the second bai are different characters. It is easy to remember that the latter bai means to buy because the [...]

chika-i, chika-zuku, kin, kon The adjective chikai 近い means near. The opposite of chikai is tōi, which means far. Your neighborhood is kinjo. The verb chikazuku means to approach. People or things around you stay at the place you call mijika. Write the sweeping stroke from the top. Write the sweeping stroke touching the previous [...]

to-ku, to-kasu, to-keru, kai, ge The character consists of a horn, a sword, and a cow. This may sound odd, but it depicts a cow dissected with a sword. To dissect is translated as “kaitai suru.” To solve a question or a problem is expressed as “toku” or “kaiketsu suru.” Kai and kaiketsu mean solution. [...]

kō Confucius, a Chinese great thinker, is well-known among the Japanese. Everybody knows his name, which begins with today’s character. His name is Kōshi in Japanese. If somebody uses this character to mean “a hole,” it is used as a technical jargon. So don’t bother to memorize it. Write the hook on the top. Connect [...]

jin “Swift” may be a better and more precise translation for this character. As swiftly as I saw this character, the adverb “jinsokuni (swiftly)” comes to my mind. Some verbs such as “kō dō suru (to act)” follow the adverb. Another variation is the adjective “jinsokuna (swift).” Some nouns such as “kō dō (action)” follow [...]

haka-ru, zu, to If you look up the meaning of zu 図 in the dictionary, you will find that pictures, figures, graphs, drawings, illustrations, maps, diagrams, and plans are some kinds of zu. You can express these words more specifically by using compounds such as zuga (a drawing or a picture), chizu (a map), zuhyō [...]