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Let's start with a quiz. What natural shape would you choose if you wanted to symbolize "earnestness"?

a. a river in which the rapids bubble up and over...

Twice recently I have felt confused about Japanese. Well, I should probably inflate that number by an order of 10 or 100, just to account for all the puzzlement I experience in an average week. But...

After many months in which I've had nothing to say whenever I saw friends (because it's hard to chat about kanji, which is pretty much all I think about), things have shifted. Everything ha...

I always say that every Joy o' Kanji essay is about one character, but that's a lie. After all, kanji are as strongly attracted to one another as people are after downing several drinks on...

They say a little knowlege is a dangerous thing, and after several near-death experiences, I've begun to agree. Not to worry; I didn't come anywhere close to dying. However, I saw some kanj...

Let's start with a quiz. What do you think the following term could mean?

頭を刈る (あたまをかる)     head + to cut

Last week I fell woefully behind. I can attribute it to various things, such as my husband's birthday (and the birthday shopping beforehand), plus extra visits to the park to go running after t...

People constantly have weather on their minds. When I scroll down my Facebook news feed, I see that topic more than perhaps any other.

As far as I can tell, that's what my dogs spend muc...

Welcome back! Hope you've been doing well. I had a lovely vacation, and I feel fully energized and ready to take on JOK all over again.

I'm revitalized partly because my husband and...

A Japanese man asked me for the best English translation of 納棺師 (のうかんし), which some dictionaries define as "encoffiner." That answer is far from satisfying, and it certainly isn't cle...