o-ru, shoku, shiki The verb oru means ‘to weave.’ Textiles and woven fabrics are called orimono. Haori is a piece of clothing which you wear over kimono, Japanese traditional clothing. Soshiki means an organization.

ken This kanji came from a more complicated character which included threads in the lower left part. Before simplified, the character originally depicted threads you see under the shining sun. Do you remember the character meaning the sun? It is the upper left part of this character. Threads under the shining sun obviously imply things [...]

sawa-gu, sō The verb sawagu means ‘to make noise.’ The adjective sawagashii means noisy. Sōon is noise. Bussō is insidious danger felt among many people due to what threatens social stability such as the frequent occurrence of crimes or the imminence of war.

shoku Shokugyō is one’s job or profession. Kyūshoku is used when you are hunting for a job. Shūshoku means getting a job. Jishoku means quitting one’s job. Your tenshoku is your calling or life’s mission.  

muzuka-shii, kata-i, nan Learning languages is difficult (muzukashii). Difficulties you might face are konnan. Kon means ‘to be at a loss.’ This is an 18 stroke character. The more the number of strokes is, the higher the degree of difficulty (nan’i do) is.

ken, gen This character is used as part of compounds. Here are some examples. keiken … experience taiken … experiencing, the experience you gained through doing something physically jikken … experiment shiken … examination (The “shi” of “shiken” means “to test.”) chiken … clinical testing, testing medicine before it is allowed to be sold to [...]

kan As you can see in the title, today’s character’s meaning is related to watching. See some compounds including the character to feel the meaning. kankō … sightseeing jinseikan … one’s theory on of life rakkan … optimism hikan … pessimism bikan … a sense of beauty gaikan … the appearance of something such as [...]

    ishizue, so You would rarely hear the word “ishizue” meaning the groundwork. We often use kiso to mean foundation or basis. The so of kiso is today’s character. If you are a beginner in Japanese, you don’t have to remember other words which include today’s character. They are rarely used. Kiso is the [...]

yō Today is suiyōbi. It’s Wednesday. Yōbi is a suffix put after a character indicating a day of the week. Let’s review the days of the week. Sunday – nichi yō bi Monday – getsu yō bi Tuesday – ka yō bi Wednesday – sui yō bi Thursday – moku yō bi Friday – kin [...]