Speak and Read Japanese

by Larry Herzberg

  Joe is very keen on his neighborhood.

  Literally: “near-place.”

  近 This kanji means “near; close.” It has the “walk” radical ⻌ on the left. The phonetic on the right, an axe, contributes to the meaning. It refers to ancient combat, in which the warrior had to get close enough to his enemy to hew him with an axe.

  所 This kanji means “place.” It is composed of two radicals: the “doorway” radical 戸 on the left and the “axe” radical 斤 on the right. When building a home for yourself in ancient times, you wielded an axe to cut a doorway.

  kinoo 昨日 / きのう yesterday

  John Lennon of the Beatles was very keen on yesterday.

  Literally: “yesterday-day.”

  昨 This kanji by itself means “yesterday.” The kanji for “day” 日 is really redundant. 昨 has the “sun” radical on the left, which is the radical in many characters related to time. The phonetic on the right depicts the hand of a person, perhaps counting on the fingers the various things that happened yesterday.

  kippu 切符 / きっぷ ticket

  Be sure to keep your ticket when you get on the train, since you’ll need it to feed it into the machine at the turnstile when you arrive at your destination.

  Literally: “cut-tally.”

  切 This kanji means “to cut.” It has the “knife” 刀 radical on the right with the kanji 七 for “seven” on the left as the phonetic. Think of cutting things into seven or more pieces. The ticket is a piece of paper cut down to a small size.

  符 This kanji means a “tally” or “marker.” It has the “bamboo” radical ⺮ on the top, since in ancient China markers for counting were made of bamboo. The phonetic on the bottom has the “person” radical 亻 on the left and a hand extended on the right, which means “to pay.” People extend their hand to show their ticket when entering the theater.

  kirai 嫌い / きらい dislike

  I dislike rye whiskey!

  嫌 The Chinese men of several millennia ago felt that women were more apt than men to be picky and to express their distaste for something, hence the “woman” radical 女 on the left. The phonetic on the right seems to show a bundle of firewood, tied together at the top. Any woman would dislike having to carry a heavy load like that!

  kirei きれい pretty; clean

  Many people have pretty key rings.

  kissaten 喫茶店 / きっさてん coffee house

  Coffee houses are very romantic places, where couples can go to enjoy coffee and kiss at ten a.m. when they open.

  Literally: “eat-tea-shop.”

  喫 This kanji means “eat.” It has the “mouth” radical 口 on the left, appropriately enough. The complex phonetic on the right shows a plant on the top left, a knife on the top right (刀), and a person with arms outstretched on the bottom. Think about a chef cutting up vegetables to cook and eat.

  茶 This kanji for “tea” has the “grass/flower” radical 艹 found at the top of characters for flowers, vegetables, and herbs. Below the “grass/flower” radical is a shelter under which a large tea plant, represented by the “tree” radical 木, is being dried, before the leaves are plucked off to make tea.

  店 This kanji means “store.” It shows the roof and side wall of a store (广). The phonetic under the roof, shows the mouth of a fortune teller on the bottom who can read the cracks in a tortoise shell to foretell the future (占). However, 占 looks a bit like a sign pointing to women’s blouses or men’s slacks in the store.

  Note: When coffee houses sprang up in Japan in the 20th century, the closest equivalent in the Japanese experience was the teahouses, which served both tea and snacks. Hence the Japanese term for coffee houses, namely, “eating tea shops.” The Cantonese in southeastern China still talk about “eating tea” when enjoying tea and snack foods in “dim sum” restaurants.

  kitanai 汚い / きたない dirty

  Keep an eye on the floor, to make sure you vacuum it before it gets too dirty.

  汚 The kanji has the “water” radical 氵 on the left, since we generally clean things with water. Think of the phonetic on the right side as either layers of dirt piled up or as a plunger cleaning the toilet.

  koko ここ here

  Your cocoa is here, said the barista at Starbucks.

  kore これ this (one)

  This is the core of the matter.

  kotae 答え / こたえ answer

  Kotex is the answer to many a woman’s need..

  答 The kanji has the “bamboo” radical ⺮ on top, since early Chinese writing was on bamboo before the invention of paper. Below the bamboo is the kanji 一 for “one” above a mouth (口), under a roof. When a response to a letter is given, figuratively speaking it’s a single mouth uttering a message in an indoor space.

  kowai 怖い / こわい scary; frightening

  When you see a pair of cow eyes staring at you up close, it can be very scary. Especially if the cow is a bull!

  怖 The kanji has the “heart” radical 忄 on the left, found in kanji having to do with thought or emotions. The phonetic on the right shows several fingers of the hand clutching a piece of cloth (巾). When something is frightening, we may wipe away our perspiration with a cloth handkerchief!

  kuchi 口 / くち mouth

  It’s not polite to go up to an adult, tickle them on the chin, and mouth the words “koochie, koochie, koo”!

  口 This kanji was originally drawn as a circle, representing the human mouth.

  kurai 暗い / くらい dark

  We all sometimes cry in the dark.

  暗 The kanji has the “sun” radical 日 on the left, symbolizing light. Darkness is the absence of light. The phonetic on the right shows the sun going down below the horizon at the end of the day. It’s actually the kanji 音 for “sound,” which is a distortion of the kanji 言, showing sound emanating from the mouth. Sounds in the dark are often scary and might make you cry! The kanji 音 is found in the kanji compound for music, 音楽 (ongaku), and thus denotes the onyomi an for 暗.

  kurasu 暮らす / くらす stay/live somewhere

  When we temporarily have no place to stay, we crash at a friend’s place.

  暮 This kanji has the “grass/flower” radical 艹 on the top, perhaps referring to the thatched roofs of peasant homes in ancient China. Beneath that is the kanji for sun 日, and the very bottom of the kanji shows the sun rising up. All life depends on the sun, after all.

  kuruma 車 / くるま car

  Car room, and the amount of it, is a priority for large families when buying a car.

  車 The kanji shows a cart or carriage, with the top and bottom horizontal strokes representing the wheels, the long vertical stroke showing the axle, and the middle section portraying the body of the cart, all from a bird’s-eye view.

  kusuri 薬 / くすり medicine

  You take medicine ’cause you’re sick.

  薬 This kanji has the “grass/flower” radical 艹 on the top, which is the radical for flowers, vegetables, and herbs. Traditional Chinese medicine has been based on herbal remedies for millennia. The phonetic on the bottom is the kanji 楽, which means both “music” and “joy.” Music is a wonderful tonic, and when medicine cures you, it is surely a reason for joy. 楽 is a simplification of the traditional kanji for “music” as well as for “joy” (樂), still used in Taiwan and Hong Kong and by Chinese in the West. It shows two bells surrounding a drum on top, placed on a platform made of wood (木), which portrays ancient Chinese music. Music is a great source of enjoyment, said Confucius, and so this kanji also came to mean “enjoyable; pleasurable” when not in combination with other kanji. The simplification in modern Japanese replaces the bells on either side of the drum with what appear to be sound waves emanating from the drum.

  kuuki 空気 / くうき air

  Those who sky dive through the air seem to most of us to be kooky!

  Literally: “empty air.”

  空 This kanji, meaning “empty,�
� has the “cave” radical 穴 on top, consisting of a roof with eaves, with the two slanted lines below the roof showing the concavity of the cave. The phonetic is 工, which shows a carpenter’s rule for drawing straight lines, with the vertical line in the middle being the handle.

  気 This kanji, meaning “air,” shows air rising (气) from a certain place (㐅).

  kyoo 今日 / きょう today

  Oh, I’m all keyed up about today!

  Literally: “present day.”

  今 This kanji means “the present”; “now.” The original pictograph was a bell, which was beaten to call the troops to assemble and be all present. It was simplified several thousand years ago and now more resembles a shelter under which is the mallet used to strike the bell.

  日 This kanji means “the sun” as well as “day.” It was originally a circle with a dot in the middle, indicating the sun, the rising and setting of which divides day from night.

  machi 町 / まち town

  In Japan in previous centuries buildings were all made of wood. If someone carelessly threw away a lit match, the whole town could be burned up.

  町 The kanji has the “field” radical 田 on the left, which shows the square boundaries of the field, with the intersecting lines in the middle depicting the irrigation ditches. The element on the right of 町, namely 丁, shows a “nail” or “tack,” with the top horizontal stroke depicting the head of the nail, and the vertical line with the small hook on the end portraying the body of the nail and its sharp point. To remember the kanji 町, think of 丁 as representing the tall buildings in a town, outside of the fields (田).

  mae 前 / まえ front

  When I travel I always keep my wallet in my front pocket.

  前 The top of the kanji seems to show the two feet of a thief, who creeps into a bank or house at night under the moon (月) while holding a knife, represented by the character on the bottom right. The original pictograph actually showed a boat (舟) in front of the shore. The two strokes to the right of it depict waves, and the two strokes on top of the character show grass growing along the shore.

  mame 豆 / まめ beans; peas

  My Mommy made me eat my beans and peas when I was young.

  豆 This kanji originally meant a ritual vessel used in ancient China in sacrifices to the spirits of one’s ancestors. The top stroke shows the lid of the vessel, with what looks like the “mouth” radical 口 showing the mouth, i.e., opening, of the vessel. The bottom three strokes depict the base of the vessel. This kanji was later borrowed for its sound in Chinese to represent the generic term for “beans” and “peas.” It was a clever choice, since the kanji somewhat resembles a bean plant, with the “mouth” depicting the bean pod and the three bottom strokes the vine growing out of the ground.

  manabu 学ぶ / まなぶ learn; study

  When you need to learn something difficult, you just have to man up!

  学 The kanji is a simplification used in Japan and China after WWII of the original kanji 學 still used in Taiwan and Hong Kong and by Chinese in the West. The original shows two hands on either side of the top part, passing down knowledge (the two Xs) to the student below, who is like a child (子) in his or her ignorance. The roof over the child’s head seems to represent the confines of the student’s mind. The purpose of study is to remove the roof, i.e., the barrier to learning, and allow true knowledge to enter. The simplified version, also used in mainland China, reduces the entire top half of the character to three simple strokes.

  masumasu ますます increasingly

  As an object traveling through space accelerates, it increasingly gains mass. Or, as we say in Spanish, más y más (more and more).

  mata また again

  The matador again killed another bull in the ring.

  mei めい niece

  “That’s me niece,” said the man with the Cockney accent.

  mijikai 短い / みじかい short (in length)

  A midget car is short.

  短 The kanji has the “arrow” radical on the left side, with a kanji showing a ritual vessel, a pot or goblet, on the right. The actual etymology is that these were two relatively short objects in the ancient world.

  mimasu 診ます / みます examine a patient

  Grammatically challenged doctors will often say “me must examine the patient!”

  診 The kanji has the “speech” radical訁on the left, showing breath coming out of a mouth on the bottom. After examining a patient, a doctor will, of course, pronounce his/her diagnosis. The phonetic on the right of 診 shows shadowing and looks a bit like the lines on an X-ray.

  mimi 耳 / みみ ear

  Opera singers warm up by singing arpeggios with the sounds “mi, mi, mi, mi, mi, mi, mi.” Given the volume of an opera singer’s voice, it can be heard by the ear of anyone in the next room.

  耳 The kanji is a depiction of the ear lobe.

  mina 皆 / みな all; everyone

  There may be days when it seems everyone we encounter is really mean.

  皆 The kanji has two people on top, sitting facing to the right, representing a large number of people. The kanji 白 on the bottom shows a mouth filled with talk (曰), rather than meaning “white” as it normally does. However, as a mnemonic device think about how all brides in the U.S. wear a white wedding dress, at least if it’s their first marriage.

  minami 南 / みなみ south

  Miami is in the south of the U.S.

  南 The kanji shows plants proliferating in the warm climate of the south, according to the Shuowen Jiezi, a 2nd-century Chinese etymological text. However, it looks rather like a cactus under the roof of a greenhouse, which has an antenna on top. A greenhouse, of course, is used in northern latitudes to recreate the warm temperatures of a southern clime.

  minikui 醜い / みにくい ugly

  In Snow White, the meanie queen is ugly when she appears in disguise at Snow White’s door with the poison apple.

  醜 The kanji has the “devil” radical 鬼 on the right. Originally 鬼 meant “ghost,” a meaning it still retains in Chinese, while in both Chinese and Japanese it’s also come to mean “demon; devil.” And a devil is what this kanji most closely resembles! It has a horn on top of an ugly face with crisscross lines (田), and two legs on the bottom with what appears to be a tail on the bottom right. The 2nd-century Chinese etymological text Shuowen Jiezi believed it indicated the whirling motion of a ghost or demon. The phonetic of the kanji 醜 for “ugly” is the kanji 酒 for “alcohol” minus the “water” radical 氵 on the left and shows a bottle with a lid on top. Perhaps this phonetic is appropriate, since many people turn ugly after they’ve drunk too much alcohol.

  miru 見る / みる see

  Every day we see ourselves in the mirror.

  The -masu form of miru is mimasu. Think about you really wanting to see something and saying “me must see it!”

  見 The kanji shows an eye on two legs.

  mise 店 / みせ store

  That young miss works as a clerk in a store.

  店 This kanji shows the roof and side wall of a store (广). The phonetic under the roof shows the mouth of a fortune teller on the bottom who would read the cracks in a tortoise shell to foretell the future (占). However, 占 looks a bit like a sign pointing to women’s blouses or men’s slacks in the store.

  mitsukeru 見つける / みつける find

  When you want to find something you lost and care about, you will do what you can to get your mitts on it again.

  見 The kanji shows an eye on two legs. By itself it means “see; meet,” but with the addition of つける it means “find.” つける means “attach” or “fasten.” 見つける therefore implies attaching or fixing your gaze to find something.

  mizu 水 / みず water

  If you go too long without drinking water, you’ll be pretty miserable!

  水 The kanji was derived from the pictograph for river, 川, which shows water streaming down a riverbed. To c
reate a separate kanji for “water,” the ancient Chinese skewed the two outside lines.

  mochiron もちろん of course

  When something is delicious, of course we munch on.

  monku 文句 / もんく complaint

  If you had to live the spartan life of an ascetic monk, you, too, would complain!

  Literally: “sentence-phrase”; this is a transliteration of a Japanese word into kanji, with only tangential relationship to the meaning of the kanji)

  文 This kanji originally meant “language.” The crossed lines depict written language. It has come to mean “sentence” in modern Japanese as well.

  句 This kanji means “phrase,” i.e., part of a sentence. What appears to be a hook around a small box is breath emanating from a mouth, which is the essence of speaking.

  muzukashii 難しい / むずかしい difficult; hard

  Putting on a muzzle she finds quite difficult.

  難 The right side of the kanji is the “short-tailed bird” radical. The left side of the kanji is a phonetic. It shows a cow’s head on top, a distortion of a rice field (田) below that, with the kanji 大 for “big” on the bottom. The idea is that it is hard for the birds to survive when the fields turn the color of a cow’s hide, i.e., brown.

  nabe 鍋 / なべ pot

  Cooking pots often have knobs on the end, to make them easier to grasp.

  鍋 This kanji is used in Chinese for the wok, the main cooking “pot” in preparing Chinese food. In Japanese it refers instead to the Japanese cooking pot, as in the term nabemono (鍋物). The kanji 鍋 has the “gold/metal” radical 釒 on the left, used in words for things made out of metal, like the Chinese wok and Japanese cooking pots. The “gold/metal” radical has the “earth” radical on the bottom, with the two short skewed lines on either side of it being nuggets of gold in the earth. The top lines show the gold buried under the ground. The phonetic on the right side of the kanji 鍋 is what appears to be a two-story building but is actually the “bone” radical 骨. Think about bones being cooked along with the meat in the pot.