nr.6 : ステキな助数詞

Do you know the song “Ippon demo ninjin”?
This was (and actually “is”) one of my favorite Japanese children's song.
As you hear in the song, there are various counters in Japanese.


Once I got a question from one student regarding the number of counters in Japanese.
When I tried to find an answer for the question (2018 if I remember correctly), I couldn't find any clear number.
So we don't know how many counters exist in modern Japanese, but according to the research in 1997, many people use 141 different counters correctly.

So, actually when we started talking about counters, there are endlessly interesting topics about them.

However this time, I want to mention about one of the most beautiful counters in my opinion.

Nowadays, commonly people uses “mai” for counting flat object, such as T-shirts, handout, plate etc..

But there is an another for counting similar things, that is: “you”.

The counter “you” is written in Kanji “HA (EN: leaf)”, and as you see, “you” is used for counting thin things like leaves.

But we can use “you” for example for postcards and pictures, too.

Of course nothing wrong to say:

“Shashin ga ichi MAI arimasu. (EN: There is one picture.)”

However I think “Shashin ga ichi YOU arimasu.” sounds more grace.

As I mentioned above, counter is really interesting grammatical topic in Japanese language, so I will definitely make other blog post in the future.

Probably counters make Japanese language more complicated, but I believe that they make the Japanese more interesting language. 

nr.5 : 日本語の文字

I believe that for many Japanese language learners, one of the biggest obstacles for starting studying may be the Japanese alphabets/characters.

As you know, there are three types of alphabets/characters in Japanese : Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji.

Moreover, in modern Japanese, often sentences are written using also Roman characters mixed in.

Considering this, Japanese people write and read sentences with a mixture of four types of characters (plus symbols) in daily life.

It seems that not many other languages use more than two kinds of alphabets/characters and mixing them in writing.

Originally, Japanese language had no letters for writing.

However, first, Kanjis were imported from China, then Japanese people made Hiragana and Katakana based on Kanjis.
Simply explain, Hiragana is "simplified Kanji", and Katakana is "a part of Kanji".

According to the latest research, both Hiragana and Katakana were created at roughly the same time.

At elementary school etc. in Japan, often “50 characters of Hiragana and Katakana chart” posters are put up on the wall.

But actually in modern Japanese, only 46 characters are used.

It is not certain that how many kanjis are used in modern Japanese, but 2136 characters on the current Jōyō-kanji list (EN: daily-use kanji characters).

(Around 50 million Kanjis were checked for making Jōyō-kanji list which is published in 2010. So it means that at least 50 million kanji were used in Japan in the early 2000's.)

I'll write separate blog post in the future about "Katakana words", which is very likely another reason to have headaches for Japanese language learners.

But I totally understand that many people who is interested in learning Japanese feel hard taking the first step, when they think they need to understand 92 Hiragana and Katakana characters plus Kanjis to start learning Japanese.

Kanjis help us to guess the meaning of words, and Hiragana and Katakanas are helpful for further understanding of sentences.
So I believe that when people starts studying Japanese and reading texts, then they will really understand and be convinced the reason for the existence of these three kinds of characters, their differences and why Japanese people keep using all of them.

Perhaps first you feel hard to remember them.
But Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji, all of them are indispensable characters in the Japanese language.
And they will help you to understand Japanese language better.

nr.4 : トナカイは何語？

In Japanese, we write animals' name both in Kanji and Katakana.

As you know, we use Katakana for foreign origin words in modern Japanese.
So, if we can write in Kanji, everything Japanese origin? Or every animals we write in Katakana are from English? Portuguese?

"Inu (EN: dog)" and "Neko (EN: cat)" often written in Kanji which was imported from China, yet we use Kun-reading. So I believe that Inu and Neko are Japanese origin words.
"Zoo (EN: elephant)" which we often can see at zoo is Chinese origin word, and "Raion (EN: Lion) is from English...and so on.
So, it seems that animals' names in Japanese are came from various languages.

Iceland where I'm living since 2009 has not so many wild animals, however one of them is reindeer.

Raindeer in Japanese is "Tonakai".
We write "Tonakai" in Katakana, but as you see, the word neither come from English nor Portuguese.

It came from Ainu language.

Ainu language is used by Ainu people, who is indigenous people in Northern Japan island, Hokkaido etc..
Ainu culture and language influenced Japanese culture and language.
Sadly the Ainu language is in danger of disappearing, but now people trying to protect and revitalize it.

Also the popular animal at aquarium "Rakko (EN: sea otter), essential ingredient for Japanese cuisine"Kombu (EN: kombu kelp)", moreover the prefectural capital of Hokkaido "Sapporo" are Ainu language origin words, for example.

Especially brand-new foreign language origin words are often from English.
However, when we study about "non-brand-new" foreign origin words in modern Japanese, we can learn also Japanese history and culture, and I think it's really interesting.

nr.3 : Konjacとネオ日本食

Nowadays, we can eat so many Japanese foods, even we are not in Japan.

Moreover, some Japanese foods or cuisine name became “international” words.

Sushi, Tofu, Teriyaki, Tempura, Matcha...
I'm not 100% sure, though I think so many Japanese foods/cuisine related words are used world widely.

However when I saw “Konjac” at the first time at an Asian supermarket, I didn't think it means こんにゃく.

Konjac plant and word were imported from China, and around 918, already the word “Konjac” appeared in Japanese literature.
It seems that Konjac was originally started eat in China, though the “Konjac” wasn't eaten commonly there.

On the other hand, after Konjac was imported in Japan, Japanese people eat it a lot, used in many cuisine and now the Konjac food was exported to all over the world.
That's why, the English word “Konjac” is also used the Japanese pronunciation.

(However, the word sounds not like Japanese. As you know, こんにゃく pronounce as “ko n nya ku” in Japanese, but Konjac in English sounds “ko n ja kku”.

You can hear the English pronunciation here.)

Japan imported many food and culture from foreign countries.
For example "Ramen" and "Castella" are also imported, and they have developed in their own unique style in Japan.

I'm looking forward to see there will be more “neo-Japanese food” in all over the world. (I mean, I'm looking forward to see more Japanese foods will be popular internationally, and they will make a unique evolution in each country.)