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What would you think if you pedaled across Tokyo, worked your way up a hill, and saw a street sign referring to sweet potatoes or udon? Chances are you'd be pretty excited. But not so fast. The...

Here's a radical quiz for you. What do you get when you put a person and an old bird together under a cliff? What if you then add a tree?

I'm talking about this word:

It's a warm day here, and although I have the caffeine jitters, I also have the sense that it's the time of year when everyone wants to go more slowly. Indolence is the name of the game. Fo...

I really like this artistic ad, and I've now used it in two essays:

Let's start with a quiz. What do you think this term could mean:

余談 (よだん)     surplus + talk...

A few blogs back, I talked about this sentence:

そして、2人は周りの大人を巻き込んで計画を立て始める。
And then the two of them involve the adults aroun...

Let's start with a quiz. You may recognize 湾 from 台湾 (たいわん: Taiwan). And you might know 曲 as "musical composition," as in 曲調 (きょくちょう: melody, tune). The 曲 kanji also means "...

Last week I indulged myself in the sort of pleasure that only a Virgo can understand—I spent about two hours decluttering my bathroom cabinet.

Three events coalesced around this monum...

When I study Japanese, I live for "aha!" moments. Those are not only some of the best experiences in life but also a most welcome salve after the pain of feel...

I'm back from a restful vacation on the coast north of San Diego. Although I was sick with a cold the whole time, I eventually felt well enough to do my favorite thing—walk barefoot on th...