This month I introduce another "Impossible Pair," which I first wrote about back in September 2024. The pair I introduce: the words 状態 (jōtai) and 状況 (jōkyō). One way to differentiate these is size, but the other is a time element. I think I've hit on an interesting way to think about these. Check out the newsletter for more, and the blog for how 状態 gets used with Pokemon.

Feel free to reach out with any questions or 悩み事 to [email protected].

You can also follow How to Japanese on Substack, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

This month I look at three paragraphs from an essay by Kakuta Mitsuyo. These three paragraphs have an interesting combination of 常体 (jōtai, direct style) and 敬体 (keitai, distal style), which gives me another opportunity to talk about written and spoken Japanese. And I also address のだ (no da)/のです (no desu), the little bit of language that comes at the end of clauses and sentences. Check out the blog and newsletter for links to some of the essays I wrote about, including the review of drinkable mayonnaise.

Feel free to reach out with any questions or 悩み事 to [email protected].

You can also follow How to Japanese on Substack, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

This month I talk about the importance of giving up! (What!?) I also examine a sentence from a very difficult essay and talk about 修飾 (shūshoku, description/modification) and 主題 (shudai, topics). At the end I go over a few additional reviews of the English translation of Murakami's latest novel and discuss a usage of 伺う (ukagau, to ask/to hear/to visit) that I neglected to include in last month's episode. Check out the blog and newsletter as well.

Feel free to reach out with any questions or 悩み事 to [email protected].

You can also follow How to Japanese on Substack, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

Special Emergency Episode: The English translation of Murakami's The City and Its Uncertain Walls will be published on November 19, so I'm re-running my review episode of the Japanese version that I posted last year. I'm adding 20 minutes of additional content as an introduction to discuss a couple of the reviews that have already been published. Check out the blog for links to the reviews and to the one I wrote.

Feel free to reach out with any questions or 悩み事 to [email protected].

You can also follow How to Japanese on Substack, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

In the newsletter this month, I looked at 伺う (ukagau) a broadly useful "humble" keigo verb, and on the blog I looked at the other kanji that help ukagau expand its meanings. On the podcast, I talked about keigo more broadly. It's often overcomplicated and intimidating. Students need an easy way in, and I think there's a way to create a simple binary for many keigo verbs. Give the episode a listen and let me know what your own keigo experience has been like!

Feel free to reach out with any questions or 悩み事 to [email protected].

You can also follow How to Japanese on Substack, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

確か (tashika) and 確かに (tashika ni) seemed impenetrable to me when I first started studying; somehow they're nearly identical but meant the exact opposite? I found that I was able to crack the code by "brute forcing" this an other impossible pairs. Read more in the newsletter, and check out the blog for a link to the Kakuta Mitsuyo reading I mentioned and to find a link to my Japanese reading group.

Feel free to reach out with any questions or 悩み事 to [email protected].

You can also follow How to Japanese on Substack, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

確認 (kakunin, confirm/check) is one of the most flexible words in the language. This month I go over all the different usages. Check out the newsletter for the prefixes/suffixes it connects with and how it's an extremely effective tool in work chats. On the blog, I've got more in depth discussion of 確認 and how it can set a template for conversations.

Feel free to reach out with any questions or 悩み事 to [email protected].

You can also follow How to Japanese on Substack, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

It's been three years since I restarted my kanji study, and unfortunately it's languished over the past year. I take a look at the recommendations I made last year to see if they still hold up and provide an alternate method of creating your own manual spaced-repetition system. Check out the newsletter for the details and the blog for a look at how much a draft of Norwegian Wood might have weighed.

Feel free to reach out with any questions or 悩み事 to [email protected].

You can also follow How to Japanese on Substack, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

Do you have an 推し? Do you do 推し活? Have you been on a 聖地巡礼 as part of this? Do any of the words I just wrote make any sense at all? If not, tune in for details on how the language of fandom is mutating into more mainstream topics. In the newsletter I look at how having an 推し is good for language study, and on the blog check out a very funny use of 推し活 in marketing.

Feel free to reach out with any questions or 悩み事 to [email protected].

You can also follow How to Japanese on Substack, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

This month I looked at the 文壇 (bundan, literary world) and 文芸誌 (bungeishi, literary journals) thanks to the 120th anniversary issue of Shinchō. Murakami Haruki has a short story, but the real reason to pick up the issue is the 随筆 (zuihitsu, nonfiction essays/miscellaneous writing). Tune in to learn why, and don't forget to check out the newsletter and the blog.

Feel free to reach out with any questions or 悩み事 to [email protected].

You can also follow How to Japanese on Substack, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.