If you’ve been to Japan long enough, you’ve likely run into nanpa, or the act of trying to pick up strangers in Japanese…

Have you ever wanted to ask someone you are romantically interested in out on a date in Japan? The most straightforward way to do so in Japanese is デートしませんか (Deeto shimasen ka), which means “Would you like to go on a date?” While this is technically correct, you might notice that not a lot of […]

In Japan, streets are not named but have numbers – with the exception of the main roads. Thus, finding your way around the cities can be challenging.

Have you heard of yoji jukugo? Piece of cake, break the ice, and cut corners – these are all short idioms we use all the time, and in Japan, they have something similar called 四字熟語 (yojijukugo). A yojijukugo is a Japanese phrase consisting of four kanji. Just like in English, yojijukugo are very popular since […]

Japanese honorifics are suffixes or prefixes used to show respect or familiarity when addressing other people. How do you use them?

How to count Japanese numerics on a base-ten system up to 100 million, write Japanese kanji for numbers and say Japanese counters.

Saying ‘no’ in Japan is a tricky subject. The Japanese will rarely give a direct no to an answer, preferring instead to give an indirect answer that conveys the message of no.

How do you say “I love you” in Japanese while hitting all the right nuances and intentions? In Japanese, romantic is often viewed through two distinct lenses: 恋 (koi) and 愛 (ai). 恋 (koi) refers to romantic love or the initial spark of attraction. Interestingly, Japanese uses the same figure of speech as English when […]