91²Ö¿â

author

 
Menu
Search
 
April 13, 2026
 

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

Meta

Peter Backhaus
The English ¡°I¡± has gendered equivalents in Japanese that give the listener hints as to how the speaker identifies.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 23, 2026
Just between you and me: Gender and Japanese pronouns
Japanese pronouns reveal gender in unexpected ways, complicating how speakers express identity compared with current English.
Ed Sheeran's marketing team has taken over a shop in Tokyo's Ichigaya Station.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 26, 2025
Oh, Ed(o)! Where have all the vowels gone?
Japan¡¯s playful ¡°Magica spellings¡± drop vowels and swap consonants, blending Japanese and English into crafty puns.
A sign at Tokyo's Haneda Airport shows users the way to the monorail in four different languages.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 22, 2025
Can we make it official? Language in the age of Trump.
The United States made English its main language, but in Japan things seem to be heading in a different way.
Casual Japanese usage increasingly sees the "i" at the end of exclamations like "yabai" (dangerous) replaced by a small "tsu."
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 26, 2024
Small letter, big impact: A little 'tsu' makes all the difference
When reading the small "tsu," shorten the preceding vowel slightly and then start with the sound of the subsequent consonant.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs recently recommended that official romanization rules be switched from the Kunrei to Hepburn system.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 6, 2024
Romanization rules are changing. Why Kunrei won¡¯t be missed.
Japan could soon change its romanization rules, opting for the more common Hepburn system. This would benefit Japanese people as much as foreigners.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 14, 2023
Long story short, cont¡¯d: Brevity rules in Japanese grammar
The Japanese don't just abbreviate their vocabulary, when you're short on time even grammatical structures can get the chop.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 9, 2023
Za grammar notes: How to properly handle the 'the' in Japanese
The Japanese have stripped 'the' down to one or two of a greater number of tasks that the word normally does in English. We know this process as semantic narrowing.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 3, 2023
Japanese mottos: Where there¡¯s a will, there¡¯s a zay¨± no mei
Japanese business culture in particular is partial to the idea of a person being able to sum themselves up with a catchy ¡ª and insightful ¡ª phrase to live by.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 2, 2022
The linguistic side-effects of yet another year with COVID-19
As we the end of our third year of life in the pandemic, it's time for a review of all the newly popular vocabulary that has sprung up as a result.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 11, 2022
Don¡¯t get confused using your ei bii s(h)ii's when writing Japanese
There are two systems in place to romanize Japanese. One way reflects how the language is pronounced today, the other might be more true to original Japanese.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 2, 2022
Body language: Know your Japanese from head to toe
Whether it's the leg of a chair or the ears of your bread, Japanese is just as prone to assigning human body parts to inanimate objects as English is.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 17, 2022
Getting ¡®³ó²¹¾±¡¯ is more difficult than you think
It's a simple word but sometimes using a well-placed ¡°hai¡± is all it takes to facilitate a good conversation in Japanese.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 27, 2022
Da trouble with da, the less formal cousin of desu
The simple 'da' in Japanese isn't so simple when you delve into the purposes it serves and the ways in you should be using it correctly.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 26, 2021
Does Google Translate make foreign language learning unnecessary? Not quite
Idioms and other turns of phrase are often taken literally when left to Google Translate to make sense of things. That means translator jobs are safe for now.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 7, 2020
Playground love: Exploring the green among the gray
Some playgrounds are closed due to the pandemic, but outdoors activity is still what most doctors order.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 12, 2019
Middle? Inside? Relax, the kanji for naka has this one in the bag
The kanji for 'naka' is used in many different ways. A rectagle with a line cutting it in half, the kanji is also one of the easiest to remember.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Sep 21, 2019
'Japanese Linguistics': Insightful description meets valuable instruction
'Japanese Linguistics' is a broad-spectrum primer on Japanese, covering everything from grammar to the social context of the language, for the undergraduate student or avid polyglot alike.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 3, 2019
Don't give up yet on giving and getting in Japanese
One of the first things taught in anthropology classes is that presents exchanged in a given society hardly ever come for free. When someone gives another person something, that always entails some sort of obligation. Acts of giving and receiving are hence highly sensitive social endeavors, and so is...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 1, 2019
Heisei it ain't so! An era of great vocabulary is ending
In the beginning there was the word. More precisely, the prefix. When the Heisei Era officially started, on Jan. 8, 1989, 91²Ö¿â economy was still merrily bubbling along. That must have been one reason for the popularity of ³¬ (ch¨­, hyper-). The prefix itself is anything but new, but the idea to make...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 4, 2019
Wake up and smell Japan through new vocabulary
The world is full of smells. Good smells and bad smells, pleasant and unpleasant smells, fragrant and pungent smells. Though the nose is not our most reliable advisor in perception ¡ª eyesight is far more important, as is well known ¡ª smells clearly have a say in our view of the world. And there is...
Japanese researchers look at 800-year-old books and trees for signs of extreme solar events
A drawing of Fujiwara no Teika, known as a courtier, <i>waka</i> poet and scholar of the late Heian and early Kamakura periods
Debt-laden Japan should review spending on gender equality, survey finds
A woman holds a handheld fan bearing the image of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi&#039;s wedding photo, during an election campaign event in Tokyo on Feb. 7.
Jehovah's Witnesses followers sue Japanese government
According to court records, the plaintiffs include the Japanese branch of Jehovah&#039;s Witnesses in Ebina, Kanagawa Prefecture.
Chinese payment apps raise questions in Japan
Alipay has been mentioned by legislators in discussions about the use of foreign payment apps in Japan.
At Ueno Station, ¡®Freedom¡¯ restored
¡°Freedom,¡± a mural in JR Ueno Station, created in 1951, has been repaired three times, most recently in 2025.
Where Tokyo goes to sweat and soak
As Tokyo&#039;s public bathhouses age, many are embracing more contemporary aesthetics to stay relevant for a younger class of customer.
At Ueno Station, ¡®Freedom¡¯ restored
¡°Freedom,¡± a mural in JR Ueno Station, created in 1951, has been repaired three times, most recently in 2025.
Inside Iizukatei, a 200-year-old home turned boutique hotel in Tochigi
Recognized as a tangible cultural property in 2003, the former residence of the Iizuka family is now a boutique hotel in Nakagawa, Tochigi Prefecture.
Tokyo¡¯s sake calendar is filled to the brim
The recently concluded Sake Park invited younger brewers to make sake more approachable for attendees in their 20s and 30s.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo¡¯s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo¡¯s ¡®stadium of desire¡¯

Longform

Projects like the BuddhaBot aim to re-create dialogue once lost to time, raising questions about whether AI can extend the teachings of Buddha or merely simulate them.
Can AI replace a priest? Japan¡¯s temples and shrines are testing the limits.
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER