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Category: SoraNews24

W.T.F. Japan: Top 5 kanji with ironic meanings 【Weird Top Five】

This week for my SoraNews24 W.T.F. Japan article, I wrote about the top five kanji with ironic meanings.

In English, words can be broken down into smaller parts. For example, “biology” is “bio” (meaning “life”) plus “ology” (meaning “the study of”). The same thing goes for Japanese too, and sometimes you can even break down the kanji themselves to figure out how their parts come together to give their meaning.

Except sometimes, when you look at the individual parts of a kanji under a microscope, they don’t really come together in the way you’d expect. In fact, they might even end up giving you the complete opposite meaning that the kanji actually has!

Who are the worst of these “ironic kanji” offenders? Only one way to find out!

Read the article here.

W.T.F. Japan: Top 5 Japanese foods for people who don’t like seafood 【Weird Top Five】

This week for my SoraNews24 W.T.F. Japan article, I wrote about the top five Japanese foods for people who don’t like seafood.

Pretty much every time I tell someone that I live in Japan, one of their first comments is something along the lines of: “Oh you must enjoy such great food! Fresh fish, sushi, sounds like heaven!”

And it would be… if I liked any of those foods.

Unfortunately I’ve just never liked seafood, and when I first came to Japan I was worried that I’d have to live on a diet of nothing but vegetables.

Of course that’s not the case, and since I’ve been here I’ve found that there is a whole beautiful rainbow of Japanese food that has never been anywhere near the ocean.

So to help any others out there like me, here’s a list of great, authentic Japanese food you can get while in the country, broken down by restaurant type from easiest to hardest. Good luck, fellow unfortunate picky eaters!

 

Read the article here.

W.T.F. Japan: Top 5 odd ways Japanese people beat the summer heat 【Weird Top Five】

This week for my SoraNews24 W.T.F. Japan article, I wrote about the top five odd ways Japanese people beat the summer heat.

Summer in Japan can be brutal. With high temperatures and high humidity, if you’re used to more mild summers then you may find yourself surprised when you’re covered in sweat after just walking to the local convenience store.

But thankfully the Japanese people have adapted to these sometimes-brutal temperatures with a variety of interesting methods. Some of them are similar to things done in other parts of the world, but others are in a complete league of their own.

Which ones are the craziest? Only one way to find out!

Read the article here.

W.T.F. Japan: Top 5 reasons Japanese squat toilets are awesome 【Weird Top Five】

This week for my SoraNews24 W.T.F. Japan article, I wrote about the top five reasons Japanese squat toilets are awesome.

While the entirely article is written somewhat tongue-in-cheekly, Japanese-style squat toilets do have a lot of benefits to them. Would I be willing to give up my comfortable sit-down toilet because of them? Probably not, but it’s a lot closer than it may seem.

Whether you’ve never seen a “squat toilet” before, or if you’re well-acquainted with this different take on a bathroom break, you might learn something new

Read the article here.

W.T.F. Japan: Top 5 most confusing Japanese compound words【Weird Top Five】

This week for my SoraNews24 W.T.F. Japan article, I wrote about the top five most confusing Japanese compound words.

Just like in English, many words in Japanese are made up of putting two words/prefixes/suffixes together. For example, “biology” is the “ology” (study) of “bio” (life), and in Japanese seibutsugaku is the gaku (study) of seibutsu (living things).

Most of the time, the compound words make sense like that. But sometimes, they can mix together in strange and mysterious ways that make no sense at first glance.

What are five of the most confusing ones? Well I’m glad you asked!

Read the article here.

W.T.F. Japan: Top 5 hardest Japanese habits to break 【Weird Top Five】

This week for my SoraNews24 W.T.F. Japan article, I wrote about the top five hardest Japanese habits to break.

It wasn’t until I wrote this article that I realized just how many of my habits were actually things I picked up while in Japan. I’d just thought they’d been a part of me for my entire life… nope! Japan tricked me into doing them.

I can’t really say much more without spoiling what those habits are, so go ahead and give the article a read!

Read the article here.

W.T.F. Japan: Top 5 nicest sounds in Japan【Weird Top Five】

This week for my SoraNews24 W.T.F. Japan article, I wrote about the top five nicest sounds in Japan.

A few months back I did the top five most annoying sounds in Japan, but since this country has more than its fair share of pleasant sounds too, I felt like it was only fair to devote an article to those as well.

When most people who have never been to Japan think of “Japanese sounds,” they might imagine gongs or chopsticks against bowls or karate wails and grunts. But the actual day-today soundscape of Japan is so different than that, and so different from what you’re probably used to in your home country.

It can be hard to imagine living in a place surrounded by unfamiliar sounds, but you quickly get used to them, and then when you go home, suddenly realize that you miss them just as much as the people and places you visited while there.

Read the article here.

W.T.F. Japan: Top 5 confusing Japanese Internet slang words 【Weird Top Five】

This week for my SoraNews24 W.T.F. Japan article, I wrote about the top five confusing Japanese Internet slang words.

Internet slang can be confusing even in your native language. For example, do you know what TIL or MFW mean?

It’s like you’re learning a whole new language, and when you have to learn internet slang in a foreign language, it’s like you’re learning a whole new language… inside a whole new language!

To make it a little easier, this week I took a look at the top five most confusing Japanese internet slang words and did my best to explain them.

Even if you don’t know any Japanese at all, you’ll probably have fun seeing just how crazy some of them can get.

Read the article here.

W.T.F. Japan: Top 5 Japanese spring foods 【Well-Fed Top Five】

This week for my SoraNews24 W.T.F. Japan article, I wrote about the top five Japanese spring foods.

I’ve previously done the top five autumn and winter foods, and people seemed to enjoy those articles, so why not continue with the season where stuff actually starts to grow back out of the ground again: spring!

The spring foods article is probably the most unique one yet. While a lot of foods in the autumn and winter lists probably look familiar to those outside of Japan, there are a ton of spring-only food items that would baffle people around the world.

What are these mysterious Japanese spring foods? Only one way to find out!

Read the article here.

W.T.F. Japan: Top 5 best Tamagotchi releases 【Weird Top Five】

This week for my RocketNews24 W.T.F. Japan article, I wrote about the top five best Tamagotchi releases.

This month marks the 20th anniversary of the Tamagotchi’s release in the U.S. back in 1997, so let’s take a look at the best that the past two decades have brought us.

I’ve never personally owned a Tamagotchi myself. I got into Pokémon right about the same time they came out and that kind of took over my life for the next… well, it still hasn’t stopped.

But my wife has owned many different Tamagotchi, and in doing this article I learned a lot about all the differences between the versions and what makes them unique and special.

Which Tamagotchi release stands supreme? It may not be what you think!

Read the article here.