Japanese Jungle

Kana consist of phonetic syllables.  There are two parallel syllables: Hiragana and Katakana. Hiragana is used mainly for native Japanese words, and Katakana is used mainly for foreign words. Here is Hiragana and Katakana lists. Note: You may think these letters:"さ", "さ", "さ" are different but they express the same letter "sa." The difference between them is only fonts. One is used Mingcho, another is Gothic, and the other is  Boldface/fullface type.Mingcho is mainly used in documents for printings for books, magazines, newspapers and so on especially body. Gothic is mainly used in documents for printings for books, magazines, newspapers and so on, especially title, head lines where you want to emphasize. Boldface/fullface type is mainly used in textbooks for students. Above the lists (Hiragana/Katakana) are written in Boldface/fullface type. Here is points you must be careful with. When you write: Make sure that "や/ヤ, "ゆ/ユ", ...

Rōmaji is one of the Japanese wrting system. You are probably familiar with these names: TOYOTA, Nintendo, FUJITSU. Even though those names are written in the Roman alphabet, they are Japanese. The Japanese people call this Roman alphabet as Rōmaji, which is one of the writing system in Japan. There are several writing systems to write Rōmaji such as Hepburn system, Kunrei system (Cabinet Ordinance system), and so on. Each of them has their own writing rules, so you should know them. As Hepburn system is the most widely used in Japan now, we will see the Hepburn system. Here is Hepburn system Rōmaji list *In cells in the list above, if the same Roman alphabets are used more than twice, that means they are pronounced the same. However, "o" and "wo" are pronouced the same /o/. The writing rule to Hepburn system: Syllabic nasal in Japanese (/n/ [ん]) is written as ‘n’ before consonants, but as ‘m’ before labial consonants (/b/, /m/, /p/).
 e.g. an n ai (あんない=guidance ) ...

There are 3 writing systems in Japanese. The first is Roman Alphabet called Rōmaji. There are several different Rōmaji writing systems such as Kunrei and Hepbun. Hepbun system is the most widely used in Japan now. Rōmaji is used where Japanese text is targeted at non-Japanese speakers who cannot read Kanji or Kana, such as for names on street signs and passports. The second is kana consist of phonetic syllables. There are two parallel syllables: Hiragana and Katakana. Hiragana is used mainly for native Japanese words and grammatical elements, and Katakana is used mainly for foreign words, names, and scientific names. The third is Chinese characters called Kanji borrowed from China. People normally use a mixture of Kanji and Kana (e.g. 私は学生です。[I am a student]). However, All Japanese, who have attended elementary school since World War II, have been taught to read and write Rōmaji. Therefore, almost all Japanese are able to read and write Japanese using Rōmaji, although it is rare in Jap...

Setsubun means seasonal division;  risshun(about February 3), rikka (about May 6), risshū (about August 8) and rittō (about November 8). However, usually setubun refers to the risshun. On setsubun, people throw roasted soybeans. This custom is called "mamemaki" (a ritual to cleanse away all the evil of the former year and drive away disease-bring evil spirits for the year to come). The custom of mamemaki first appeared in the Muromachi period. Roasted soybeans are thrown either out the door or at a member of the family wearing an Oni (demon/ogre) mask, while the people say "Demons out! Luck in (oni wa soto! fuku wa uchi!)." The beans are thought to symbolically purify the home by driving away the evil spirits that bring misfortune and bad health with them. Then, as part of bringing luck in, it is customary to eat roasted soybeans, one for each year of one's life Other custom of setsubun is ehō-maki (恵方巻 means "lucky direction roll", a type of fat rolls...