Basic Job Title

Japanese Emperor -　天皇 (てんのう)


Japanese Empress -　皇后 (こうごう)


Japanese Crown Prince -　皇太子 (こうたいし）


Japanese Prince/Princess -　親王 (しんのう）


Japanese Prime Minister -　内閣総理大臣 (ないかくそうりだいじん）


King -　国王 (こくおう)・王様 (おうさま)


Queen -　女王 (じょおう)・王后 (おうこう)


Prince -　王子・皇子 (おうじ)


Princess -　王女・皇女 (おうじょ)・妃 (ひ)・妃殿下 (ひでんか)・姫 (ひめ)


President (State) -　大統領(だいとうりょう)


Prime Minister -　首相 (しゅしょう)


President (Co) -　社長 (しゃちょう)


President (Society) -　会長 (かいちょう)


Head of Department -　部長 (ぶちょう)


Office Worker -　会社員 (かいしゃいん)


Shop Manager -　店長 (てんちょう)


Shopkeeper/Shop Attendant -　店員(てんいん)


Doctor -　医者 (いしゃ)


Nurse -　看護士 (かんごし)・看護婦 (かんごふ) 
- 看護婦 is used for female nurse only.


Singer -　歌手 (かしゅ)


Actor -　役者 (やくしゃ)・芸人 (げいにん)・女優 (じょゆう)・男優 (だんゆう) 
- 女優 is used for actress only while 男優 is used for male actor only


Writer -　作家 (さっか)


Manga Writer -　漫画家 (まんがか)


Designer -　デザイナー (でざいなー)


Lifeguard -　監視員 (かんしいん)


Farmer -　農家 (のうか)


Gardener -　庭師 (にわし)・園丁(えんてい)


Maid -　メイド (めいど)


Butler -　執事 (シツジ)


Housewife -　主婦 (しゅふ)


Teacher -　教師 (きょうし)


Student -　学生 (がくせい)


PS : Sensei - 先生(せんせい) are used to address people that is considered skilled in a particular field as a form of respect. For example, doctors and politicians are also addressed as Sensei as a form of respect so don't get confused when a doctor is called Sensei instead!

When visiting a Japanese Shrine/temple...

When one visits a Japanese Shrine/Temple, there's a few things to keep in mind.
Temples are generally for Buddhism while Shinto Shrines enshrine Kami-sama (deities) from various elements.

• When walking up the stairs, try to avoid walking up on the main flight of staircase (Seichuu), as they are meant for the Buddha/Kami-sama's use.

• Before entering the main hall, cleanse your hands/mouth with the purification fountain nearby the entrance starting with your right hand then left hand. Do not touch the ladle with your mouth. Pour the water from the ladle onto your hand before cleansing your mouth. However, this is purely optional.

• When praying for basic respect, the procedure is call 二礼二拍手一礼:

1. Bow twice
2. Clap twice
3. Final bow

• For coin offering to the Buddha/Kami-sama, the procedure is:

1. Ring the gong (if available) so that Kami-sama can hear you.
2. Toss in the coin offering into the donation box
3. Bow twice
4. Clap twice
5. Praying your wish
6. Final bow.

Do you know that Japanese welcome the fumes from the incense pot as a form of blessing from Buddha? 
You may want to do the same while at a temple but do not use 2 hands!


How much value should I throw into the donation box?
Generally, the more the better. Nevertheless, Japanese believe that throwing 5yen or 5円 is the best as it means good fate in Japanese - 御縁(ごえん) 
However, avoid throwing 10yen or 10円 as Japanese believes it means end of fate in Japanese - 死縁 (しえん). If you do not have 5yen and only have 10yen, throw 2pcs of 10yen instead to avoid the loss of fate.


How to differentiate a Temple and a Shrine in Japan?

A typical Shinto Shrine:

1) One always enter a Shinto shrine through a Torii gate. 

2) A pair of guardian dogs or lions or foxes, called shisa or komainu or kitsune , often sit on each side of the entrance to a Shinto Shrine.

3) Usually a Shinto Shrine usually have suffix of the following:

・神宮 (じんぐう)
・神社 (じんじゃ)

・社 (やしろ)

Example: Fushimi Inari Shrine @ Kyoto

A typical Buddhist Temple:
1) A Buddhist temple always houses an image of the Buddha.

2) A large incense burner is usually that the front of a temple.

3) There is often a pagoda on the premises of a Buddhist temple.

Usually a Temple usually have suffix of the following:

・寺 (じ)
・寺 ( てら )
・寺院 ( じいん )

Example: Kiyomizu-dera @ Kyoto

It is interesting to note that some of the temples and shrines co-exist side by side. Kiyomizu-dera is a fine example, by itself, house a lot of smaller Shinto Shrines within its temple grounds. 

Updates!

Hi Folks,

I had posted up quite a few vocab list and along with a documentary for Samurai swords and "How to eat cold soba".

Hope everyone enjoy the stuff that me and my cousin (who helps me in editing out my stuff) are putting up.

Btw, I also add quite a few links under Otaku's favourite and a link : 絵本ナビ Ehon Navi under More Japanese Learning Link. Strongly recommend folks with good hiragana and basic kanji to try out this Ehonnavi as this is a website in 100% Japanese for picture books.

More post coming soon!

How to eat cold soba....

(Courtesty of Shinbashi Soba)

I was in Shinbashi Soba store when I saw this detailed explanation of eating cold soba.

This is pretty detailed on its own so I took a piece with permission from the store and decided to scan and share with you all.

Hope you guys enjoy eating cold soba as much as I do!

Basic Country List

Country List
 Japan - 日本 (にほん・にっぽん)


China - 中国 (ちゅうごく)


S.Korea - 韓国 (かんこく)


Singapore - 新嘉坡・シンガポール (しんがぽーる) Usually written in katakana


 Malaysia - マレーシア (まれーしあ)


 Indonesia - インドネシア (いんどねしあ)


Russia - 露西亜・ロシア (ろしあ) Usually written in katakana


 Germany - 独逸・ドイツ (どいつ) Usually written in katakana


 Italy - 伊太利・イタリア (いたりあ) Usually written in katakana


 France - 仏蘭西・フランス (ふらんす) Usually written in katakana


 Britian - 英吉利・イギリス (いぎりす) Usually written in katakana


 Spain - 西班牙・スペイン (すぺいん) Usually written in katakana


 Portugal - 葡萄牙・ポルトガル (ぽるとがる) Usually written in katakana


 Greece - 希臘・ギリシア (ぎりしあ) Usually written in katakana


 Turkey - 土耳古・トルコ (とるこ ) Usually written in katakana


 Eygpt - 埃及・エジプト (えじぷと) Usually written in katakana


 Australia - 豪太剌利・オーストラリア (おーすとらぃあ) Usually written in katakana


 New Zealand - 新西蘭・ニュージーランド (にゅうじいらんど)


 U.S.A - 米国 (べいこく)


 Canada - 加奈陀・カナダ (かなだ) Usually written in katakana


 Mexico - 墨西哥・メキシコ (めきしこ) Usually written in katakana


 Brazil - 伯剌西爾・ブラジル (ぶらじる) Usually written in katakana

Continent List
Africa - 阿弗利加・アフリカ (あふりか) Usually written in katakana


Asia - 亜細亜・アジア (あじあ) Usually written in katakana


America - 亜米利加・アメリカ (あめりか) Usually written in katakana


Australia - 濠州 (ごうしゅう）　


Europe - 欧州 (おうしゅう)

How to add Nationality to a country?
One can say their nationality by adding "人(じん)" as suffix.
For example,
I am a Singaporean.
私　　は　　シンガポール　人　です。
わたし　は　しんがぽーる　じん　です。

Documentary Video on Samurai Sword (Eng)

Part 1

The rest of the links are as of follows:

Part 2 : http://youtu.be/pT2gUgHfmtc

Part 3 : http://youtu.be/5pJfC_HNFdY

Part 4 : http://youtu.be/s4yaQDwxoaE

Part 5 : http://youtu.be/m-PgkNst5qY

See how the Samurai Swords of Japan are being made as well!

The pride of sword and how its unique production makes Samurai sword so unique!!!

Question Words

Basic Question words － 6W1H

• Who：誰（だれ）
• What：何（なに・なん)*
• When:　何時(いつ)
• Where:　何処(どこ)
• Which：どの
• Why：如何して(どうして)
• How：どうやって

Note on What：何 (When to use なに and when to use なん)

1. なに - General use other than rule 2 and 3
2. なん - When using 何 ですか with the purpose of asking 「What is this (N)?」
3. なんの - When の is added, it becomes what kind

Note on Whose：誰の (だれの)

1. By adding の to だれ, the question will which from who to whose in the question. Refer to Lesson 2a Possessive Noun.

Basic Colour List

いAdj

1. White - 白い(しろい) shiroi


2. Black - 黒い(くろい) kuroi


3. Red - 赤い(あかい)akai


4. Blue/Green* - 青い(あおい) aoi 


5. Brown - 茶色い(ちゃいろい)


6. Yellow - 黄色い(きいろい)

のAdj・Noun

1. Green - 緑(みどり) 


2. Pink - ピンク(ぴんく)


3. Pink - 桃色(ももいろ)


4. Purple - 紫(むらさき)


5. Crismon Red - 紅(くれない・べに・こう)


6. Orange - 橙色(だいだいいろ)


7. Sliver - 銀色(ぎんいろ)


8. Gold - 金色(きんいろ)


9. Grey - 灰色・グレー(はいいろ・ぐれー)

＊For Blue or Green colour, we usually use 青い(あおい). However, there are times where green is 緑(みどり) instead.

Do you know that you can make your color into light colour by adding a prefix?
Prefixed : Light+Colour
Light - 薄 (うす)
Example: 薄紅 (うすくれない) means light red colour

What about dull/dark colour?
There's an adjective as well for dull colour - 暗い(くらい).
If you want dull red colour, all you do is
暗い(くらい) + 赤い(あかい) = 暗い赤い(くらいあかい)

Common Japanese symbols punctuation

読点 : とうてん Tōten
Symbol ( 、)=> Comma mark - Instead of  symbol (,), Japanese language use this symbol instead.

句点 : くてん Kuten
Symbol (。) => Punctuation Mark - Instead of symbol (.), Japanese language use this symbol instead.

中黒 : なかぐろ Nakaguro
Symbol (・) => Interpunct - Used for separating Japanese words/titles/names or items to aid reading

鍵 ：かぎ Kagi
Symbol (「」) => Single quotation marks

二重鉤括弧 : にじゅうかぎかっこ Nijūkagikakko
Symbol (「...『...』...」) => Double quotation marks (to be only used within single quotation marks)

感嘆符 : かんたんふ Kantanfu
Symbol (! ) => Exclamation Mark - However, interesting enough, exclamation mark isn't common used in formal sentences as one thinks. They are usually used in casual writing, fiction and manga.

疑問符 : ぎもんふ Gimonfu or commonly known はてな Hatena
Symbol (？) => Question Mark - Another symbol that is not commonly used in formal sentences but commonly used in casual writing, fiction and manga.

濁点 : だくてん Dakuten or commonly known as てんてん tenten
Symbol (゛) => Used with both hiragana and katakana to indicate a voiced sound. For example, ta (た) becomes da (だ), shi (し) becomes ji (じ). For full list of dakuten wordings, please refer to hiragana and katakana list

半濁点 : はんだくてん Handakuten or commonly known as ○・丸 maru
Symbol (゜) => Used with hiragana and katakana to indicate a change from a ha hi fu he ho sound to a pa pi pu pe po sound.

同の字点 : どうのじてん Dō no jiten or commonly known ノマ Noma
Symbol (々) => Kanji repetition mark.

郵便 : ゆうびんYuubin
Symbol (〒) => Postal sign used in Japan

Extracted from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_typographic_symbols
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_punctuation