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Kanji Practice Posted by Ginny on May 28, 2009
Once again, I thank everyone who participated in this exercise! Here are the answers to the hiragana section: 1) ねこ (cat) 2) なに (what) 3) たこ (octopus) 4) はい (hai) 5) ふうふ (married couple) 6) なか (middle, center) 7) のう (brain) 8) はこ (box) 9) はは (mother) 10) はな(flower) Here are the answers to the katakana section: 1) テスト (test) 2) ナウ (now) 3) ナイト…
Hiragana and Katakana Continued Posted by Ginny on May 24, 2009
Thank you to everyone who answered the questions to the previous post. Here are the answers to the hiragana section: 1) ai (あい) love 2) ue (うえ) on 3) akai (あかい) red 4) eki (えき) station 5) sushi (すし) sushi 6) sake (さけ) sake 7) koi (こい) carp fish 8) iie (いいえ) no 9) aoi…
Hiragana and Katakana Practice Posted by Ginny on May 20, 2009
Ok, so let’s do some hiragana (ひらがな) and katakana (かたかな) practice. First I’ll give you all the characters you need to do for this exercise. Just remember that the hiragana (ひらがな) is writen first. The katakana (かたかな) is provided after the hiragana (ひらがな) a – (あ)(ア) i – (い)(イ) u – (う)(ウ) e – (え)(エ)…
Sekihan Posted by Ginny on May 17, 2009
Sekihan (赤飯) is “red bean rice.” The rice is usually steamed with azuki (アズキ) beans. The azuki (アズキ) beans are dark red. When the beans are steamed with the rice, the color leeks into the rice, forming a pinkish color on the rice. Sometimes red food coloring is added to enhance the color. On top…
Ainu Posted by Ginny on May 14, 2009
The Ainu (アイヌ) are an indigenous group of people living in Hokkaido (北海道). The Ainu (アイヌ) are the original inhabitants of Hokkaidoo (北海道). It’s a population that’s slowly dying out from poverty and malnutrition. The Ainu (アイヌ) have also intermarried with the Japanese people out of a desire to assimilate into Japanese society. The Ainu (アイヌ) have…
Izakaya Posted by Ginny on May 11, 2009
Izakaya (居酒屋) is a place that serves food and drinks. I wouldn’t go so far as to call an izakaya (居酒屋) a restaurant. It’s more of a mini bar that serves food. It’s a place frequented by a lot of office workers called saraii man (サラリーマン) or salary man. It’s packed in the evenings. Workers…
Kodomo no Hi Posted by Ginny on May 8, 2009
May 5th is Kodomo no Hi (こどもの日). Kodomo no Hi (こどもの日) is Children’s Day. It’s part of the Golden Week (ゴールデンウィーク) holidays, which includes midori no hi (みどりの日) or Greenary Day, Kenpoo Kinenbi (憲法記念日) or Consitution Day, and Shoowa no hi (昭和の日) or Shoowa Day. Originally, Kodomo no Hi (こどもの日) was called Tango no Sekku (端午の節句)…