The word 角ハイ (kakuhai) kind of formed in my mind without me even consciously realizing what it was, so I explored that for the newsletter and the podcast this month. Turns out, it's related to Suntory, Japan's whiskey history, and the booming highball market since 2008. Check out the blog as well, where I look at お湯割り (oyuwari, cut with hot water).

And at the end I include a grab-bag of いろいろ content, including a Mercari recommendation for all my fellow used book sickos!

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 continue the conversation about value in Japan with a close comparison of the 1,000-yen men's haircut and the 2,000-yen men's haircut. The former has terrible value, while the latter has great value. I also get into some good haircut vocab and talk about the interesting customs of men's barbers, which I expanded on over at the blog. For the newsletter, I wrote about the verb まとめる (matomeru, bring things together). Give it a read!

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.

明けましておめでとうございます！ New Year, New Murakami. We're getting a Jay Rubin translation of Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World in September. I talk about the market for used Birnbaum translations and go over some of the details that Rubin revealed about the translation in a talk at Wellesley last April.

I also talk about the 見積もり (mitsumori, quotes) involved in moving apartments. Check out more on Murakami over at the blog, and details on quotes/estimates and shopping for appliances at the newsletter.

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.

We made it! 2023 is a wrap. Life sometimes seems busy and overwhelming, but we can have it all--including our language goals. This month I take a look at Japanese recipe creators that you can rely on for simple meals while studying the language. I also do an assessment of the state of Japanese social media platforms and their use as corpora of language usage examples. Check out the newsletter for a deeper dive on the phrase I'm looking at this month, そうこうしているうちに, and the blog for some いろいろ. See you in 2024!

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 analyze the subtitle translation for the latest John Wick movie, which came out in Japan in September. The episode includes one spoiler, but I frontloaded additional content and provide a spoiler warning if you'd like to skip. The core part of the podcast addresses collocations, what they are, how they work, and how we as students of the language can take advantage of them in our study. As always, check out the newsletter and the blog for additional content.

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 非外来語のカタカナ表記 (non-gairaigo katakana notation). When and why do Japanese users choose to write kanji and hiragana words using katakana. As always, check out the newsletter and the blog for additional content.

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 take a look at the really excellent little conjunction それが and how it can be used to efficiently express subversion of expectations. I also follow up on Anki and writing kanji based on some interesting tweets and potentially even give myself a new Japanese project. Ask me in a year if I've kept up with it. Check out the newsletter and the blog for additional content.

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.

のだ is one of the subtler, more difficult-to-use Japanese grammar patterns, but employing it in your spoken Japanese is a quick way to sound more natural. This month in the podcast and newsletter, I look at how to use it in written Japanese. I also have a follow-up on kanji from last month and a (mostly) spoiler-free review of 君たちはどう生きるか (The Boy and the Heron) at the end. Check out the newsletter here and the blog for additional content.

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.

The podcast is back as a monthly accompaniment to my newsletter. This month I'm talking about kanji study and how to use SRS (spaced repetition software) to optimize your passive recognition and active production of Japanese. Check out the newsletter here and the blog for additional content. And I'd love to hear from listeners/readers: What has worked well for you? Do you have any decks that have been helpful? Strategies for deck creation?

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 took me two months, but I read the book (in 25 days) and then spent the rest of the time playing Zelda and trying to write my review. Here are some of my thoughts. The first few minutes are spoiler free, so feel free to drop in and then check out. Head over to the blog for links to my review on Medium and some additional thoughts on Substack.

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.