会議室

In many offices and schools you will see this sign hanging around above doorways or on nameplates stuck to or beside doors. If you work or go to school in Japan, this a room you will find yourself going to a lot. Let's see why.

会議室 (かいぎしつ) - meeting room, conference room

This 漢字-->会 means to meet, join, party and can also be pronounced あ in the verb 会う which is to see, meet with friends, family or acquaintances as in:

彼女を会いました。(かのじょをあいました。) - I met my girlfriend.

When read as かい the 漢字--> 会 represents more words related to business or work. Such as:

会社 (かいしゃ) - Company, Corporation

社会 (しゃかい) - Society, Community, World

教会 (きょうかい) - Church, Congregation meeting

部会 (ぶかい) - Section meeting

So just like a lot of businesses around the world, Japan especially loves to have meetings. It's a common belief that, "if you're not having meetings, you're not working."

This isn't my belief. Some 会議 are necessary, but too many can be a hinderance to doing the work or when they are scheduled during the weekend when people need time to relax and 会う with their friends.

Well, actually 僕は会議に行きます。じゃ、またね。

ジョシュア

天神祭

今日は七月二十四日。

Starting today is the Tenjin Matsuri 天神祭. A two day festival on July 24th and 25th full of boat parades, fireworks, beer, food stalls full of chicken

I shot this video in 2013 of the parade from the river to the Tenjin Shrine with lots of drumming, cheer and more!!

音楽室

The infamous English dubbed version of 学校の怪談 (がっこうのかいだん) is on Amazon Prime. Instead of doing the literal translation, they do a comedic interpretation with sexual innuendos, overzealous religious character, satirical commentary and sometimes no speaking at all just whining and screaming.

Some purists don't like this type of creating a new story using the animation and if done with mainstream anime or video games, could result in outrage, lawsuits and possibly violence. People take their anime, manga and video game translation seriously, and a lot of people out there are working very hard to uphold the integrity of the translation.

This image from 学校の怪談 is from one of the episodes when a music demon attacks the main characters. If you hear the song of the demon, which is Fur Elise by Beethoven, 3 times you will die!!

Well that means you need to stay far away from this room.

eader

音楽室 (おんがくしつ) - Music Room

音楽 is Music, and this 漢字 -->楽 can also be read as たの used in words such as 

楽しみ - Enjoyment, pleasure; usually said to mean "Enjoy yourself."

楽しい - Adjective to describe things as fun, amusing, exciting

or if read as らくcan be:

楽園 (らくえん) - Paradise

楽に暮らす(くらす) - To live in comfort

気楽に行こう(きらくにいこう) - Take it easy, Go take it easy

楽チン - Easy-peasy, simple

The 漢字, 楽, means fun, enjoyment, relaxing; and that is what music is for many people, fun and enjoyable.

The other 漢字-->音 alone is read as おとwhich means Sound or Noise. 

So the translation for 音楽 becomes: Fun Noise or Amusing Sound.

And if you are a musician yourself, make sure you look for the 音楽屋 for all your music making needs.

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--->宿題は: Translate this phrase with 音 in it.

一体全体あ音は何か？

It will useful if you hear the demon of the 音楽室!

じゃ、以上。またね。

ジョシュア

七月二十日

Today is July 20th, but in 日本語 what do you say?

20

In 日本語 20 is 二十 (にじゅう).

Yet, the 20th is 二十日 (はつか).

今日は七月二十日です。

きょうはしちがつはつかです。

良い一日を！

ジョシュア

保健室

Hopefully if you are ever in Japan, you have an amazing fun and safe trip. But, for some reason if you do feel sick or injure yourself, which can happen because Japan is a place where you do a lot of walking, climbing stairs and crossing intersections where for some reason drivers forget to stop.

Especially if you are going to ride a bicycle. Riding a bike presents its own set of dangers because there are not very many bike lanes for cyclists. And if there are, people park cars in that lane which prevents you from riding on it and you end up in the street. So then, "what about the sidewalk?" Well, it's against the law to ride on the sidewalk, but with very little options, you end up doing it regardless, I did anyway, just watch out for people walking because they have the right away, and always be on the lookout for people coming out of buildings.

I'm serious. A friend of mine's coworker, he was from Canada, was riding his bike on the sidewalk and a man, he was Japanese, came out of a building and the coworker hit him. The man sued him and won. The coworker had to pay for the medical bills, time off work and the man was even trying to get disability payments for lasting pain. The bills became too much and the coworker had to leave the country to escape the payments. 

So please Be Careful! And if something does happen, be on the look out for this sign.

保健室 (ほけんしつ) - Nurses office, School infirmary

This sign you will most likely see in a school, yet with the growing number of Nurse Practitioners you could see a sign with this 漢字, 保険.

A 漢字 that might be better to look out for is 医院 (いいん), meaning Doctor's office.

In case of serious injury, look for this 病院 (びょういん), meaning Hospital.

The real problem, don't get sick at night. These places close early and don't have emergency rooms open all night. You're best bet in these situations is to call 119 for a 救急車 (きゅうきゅうしゃ) or ambulance, and they will take you somewhere to get help, if they can't help you right there.

いつものように、気をつけてね。

それは、以上です。

ジョシュア

J-PoP 稲葉曇 - ロストアンブレラ (Vo. 歌愛ユキ)

I heard this song on a Spotify playlist and have become obsessed with it.

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作詞者(さくししゃ): 稲葉曇 w/ (Vo. 歌愛ユキ)

Artist: Inabakumori with Vocals Kaai Yuki

曲名(きょくめい): ロストアンブレラ

Song Title: Lost Umbrella

人の乗降を除く

I saw this sign in Ikebukuro 池袋, Tokyo 東京. I was enamored with 池袋 after watching the anime series DURARARA! It was a fun place and I wish I could have spent more time there. But it was nothing like DURARARA!, and usually places are never as magical as TV and movies make them out to be.

7 - 9

人 (ひと) - People, Person

の - Possessive Particle

乗降 (じょうこう) - Getting on and off

を - Noun to Verb Linking Particle

除く (のぞく) - Remove, Eliminate, Exclude

日曜 (にちよう) - Sunday

休日 (きゅうじつ) - Holidays

を

除く

Translation: No Entry 7-9, Excluding People Getting Off and On, Excluding Sundays and Holidays

I'm projecting the meaning of the X means No Entry from 7-9 based on previous experience with signs like these in America and other places. If I had more of the picture to see where you weren't allowed to turn into between 7-9, it might make more sense. This was near the train station so, again projecting meaning, it probably has to do with 7-9 being the busiest time of day for commuters and they they don't want cars driving through there clogging up the walkway or running people over.

The 漢字--> 除 is interesting because it can also be read as よ and used as 除けるよける meaning to avoid, so during COVID there are probably a lot of signs that say 人を除けて！- Avoid People!

Although they probably actually write it as 避けて as this 漢字-->避 seems to be the preferred 漢字 read as さ over the use of 除. And can be used to make phrases such as:

問題を避ける。(もんだい) - To avoid a problem

署を避ける。(しょ) - To go away for the Summer

Or this death by 漢字 favorite:

人間は誰しも死を避けられない。

And this one is your homework 宿題 (しゅくだい) for the weekend 週末 (しゅうまつ). Translate it and leave it in the comments or email deathbykanji@gmail.com 

じゃあ、今日終わり。またね！

ジョシュア

扉に指をはさまれないようにご注意ください

I don't remember exactly where I saw this sign, but I kind of remember it being in a restroom somewhere. I do remember thinking, 'What is happening?' in this picture. And sorry that the picture is kind of blurry, I probably took this photo with my old Flip Phone Camera 10 years ago!!

 扉（とびら) - Front door
に - Particle used for movement, purpose or prepositions (at, on, in, under, 等)

指（ゆび）- Finger
を - Particle connecting Noun to Verb
はさまれない - Get between, Caught in, Pinch; Verb: 挟まる; Negative potential:挟まれない
ように - Take care, Hoping or wishing for something
ご注意ください - Be Careful
Translation: Please be careful not to get your fingers caught in the front door.

小さな（ちいさな）- Small
お子（おこ）- Child, Children
様（さま）- Polite form of title 
が - Subject Particle
誤って（あやって、Verb:あやまる) - To make an error, mistake
手（て）- Hand
や - and
指 
を
扉
の
隙間 (すきま) - Crack, Opening, Gap
に
いれることのないよう、- Don't put it in; Verb:入れる
お気をつけください (おきをつけください) - Please be safe, careful
Translation: Children, please be careful not to put your hands and fingers in the door.

My honest feeling about this sign is: yes, it's important to warn children to not smash their fingers in the door, but the sign is saying TOO MUCH. From a design standpoint, it is too busy. The sign is designed with children reading in mind, hence it puts the Hiragana over the Kanji and sometimes omits Kanji all together for harder words; although 入れる is one of the more recognizable Kanji used for Enter on doorways in schools, department stores, parking garages and even on the street to tell you where to go.

It even has some complicated grammar using ように and adds words that are unnecessary such as 綾って and 隙間 because a more literal translation would be: Small children make the mistake of putting hands and fingers in the opening of the front door, please be careful not to put them in the opening of the front door. Which might not be correct either because I'm adding an extra "in the opening of the front door" to the sentence.

And in the picture, the child already has a bandage on their hand, yet the parent grabs them by the hand anyways. This must be another warning like, "See what happens. If you pinch your fingers, you won't be able to hold hands with mommy." This already adds more to the title of the message than the long body paragraph explanation of what is happening.

Finally, at the bottom which again is a bit blurry and hard to see, I apologize, is:

大阪歴史博物館 (おおさかれきしはくぶつかん) - Osaka History Museum

防災センター (ぼうさい) - Protection against disaster center

Translation: Osaka History Museum Protection Against Disaster Center

Now I'm starting to remember, across from Osaka Castle is the Osaka History Museum and I went there a few times to see some exhibits, which one in particular we will explore in a later translation.

それまでに、泣かないで。すぐ戻ります。

ジョシュア

幸あれ

Here's a phrase and 漢字 you should keep in your back pocket to use with friends or to create a poster to put on your wall like in the photo shown here.

幸あれ (さちあれ) - Good Luck! All the best

幸 is Kanji for happiness, good fortune and is often seen as 幸せ (しあわせ) and even though せ isn’t apart of the pronunciation seeing 幸 alone might still be read as しあわせ instead of さち even though they don’t write せ. It has a lot to do with context. A lot like how English words are spelled the same yet pronounced different based on context. I read everyday. I read yesterday.

Another phrase to learn is 良い旅を (よいたびを) which means bon voyage or have a nice trip. I learned it in a phrase book and never had the opportunity to use it except once. And when I did, the person I said it to looked at me with a puzzled look. That can happen a lot. I’ve learned other phrases that people said was へんな or strange.

It could be a colloquial thing too. People in different parts of the same country use different language more often than other parts. In Osaka people say お疲れ様でした (おつかれさまでした) for everything. After work, after shopping, after eating, after sex I mean it does mean thanks for the hard work or you must be tired after all that roughly in those situations. But in Tokyo, no one says it. Or if they do, I never heard it. But I never lived or worked there or spent a lot of time there. Yet, visiting teachers from Tokyo would often say, "Why is everyone always saying otsukaresama?" So that is where I get the idea from, but still doesn't mean it's true. 

But if you know!! Please write to me at deathbykanji@gmail.com or leave a message in the comments below.

それじゃー、みんなは漢字の勉強中に幸あれよ！！頑張ってください！！

ジョシュア

花火

Happy Fourth of July!!

花火 (はなび) - Fireworks

三木直 (みきなお) - Mikinao

三木直 isn't a word, it's a place. Mikinao is a shopping street in Matsuyamachi, Osaka, and the 漢字 are used phonetically to pronounce it. Yet, literal translation would be: Three Tree Straightaway

Although Japan doesn't celebrate July 4th, well hopefully you don't need that explained to you, they love their 花火 and usually have large celebrations in mid-July through late-August during summer festivals known as お祭り (おまつり). Street vendors, like the ones on 三木直, also sell 花火. The same type of supermarket 花火 (sparklers, roman candles, jumping jacks, fountains, 等) that you can find in America. So many families will buy a packet of 花火 and have a mini-light show in the park.

Unless there are clear rules telling you not to do it like we saw in 公園のルールを守ってください。 But, that was only for 危険な花火 which I wouldn't think sparklers would fit in that category, would you?

みな、今日は気をつけてください！事故じゃないで。指を吹っ飛ばないご注意ください。

幸あれよ！

ジョシュア

他人に恐怖心を与える行為の禁止！

It's Summer! So it's the best time to cool off with a swim and chill out on the beach, park or wherever you get to go to beat the record high heat. Unless, you live in Japan and you see this sign. Which at first sight is like, WHAT! 

I saw this sign at Suma Beach 須磨海水浴場 (すまかいすいよくば) a cool little place a short train ride from Kobe 神戸市 in Hyogo Prefecture 兵庫県 where a lot of Osaka people would go to have a beach day, and in September they have a Steel Drum Festival where different groups get up on stage and play Steel Drum calypso music. It was lots of fun!

But this sign caught my attention, which it should, because unless you can read Japanese, the picture doesn't make any sense at all. The sign itself has a good design and uses nice beach colors of blue 青 and white 白 to represent the sea, with the universal DON'T circle in red 赤. 

Then the two characters inside 中 are doing what exactly?

My initial interpretation is there is an argument, and the character closes to us is breathing a sigh of anger, while the character in the background is nervous about what is going to happen.

There's only one thing we can do to find out. Translate and see. 行きましょう！

他人 (たにん) - Other people, Another person, Stranger

に - Particle used for movement, purpose or as preposition

恐怖心 (きょうふしん) - Fear, Terror

を - Noun to Verb connecting Particle

与える (あたえる) - To give, cause

行為 (こうい) - Act, deed, conduct

の - Possessive Particle

禁止 (きんし) - Stop, Don't, Forbidden

Translation: Causing other people fear is forbidden conduct!

(In parenthesis):

入れ墨 (いれずみ) - Tattoo, Japanese style tattoo

等  (など) - Etc.

の

露出 (ろしゅつ) - Exposed

Translation: That means you tattooed people.

Well, my first impression was somewhat true. The character in the background is nervous about what is going to happen, but not because of any prior argument. They are nervous because they believe every person with a tattoo is the ヤクザ!

The Yakuza or ヤクザ! are the Japanese mob or gangsters who initiate their members with shoulder and sleeve tattoos of traditional Japanese iconography of dragons, Samurai, cherry blossoms or Oni, and often includes this spiral of lines incorporating all of them together.

Which, I'm wondering now, if this fear of spiral tattoos was an inspiration for Junji Ito's manga Uzumaki??? そうかなぁ...

Regardless of if you're ヤクザ! or not, tattoos in Japan have a stigma attached to them. They represent rebellion and independence from the conservatism and conformity of Japan's ancient traditions and social structure.

Even as a foreigner with tattoos of kittens and butterflies, be prepared to be shunned and excluded from certain activities as bathing in hot springs, wearing tank tops at the gym or going to the beach. And especially if you want to get a job, make sure they are covered up at all the times, no matter how uncomfortable during the Summer months.

And I knew many foreigners who complained and whined about this cultural exclusion who think they can break down barriers and changed the mind of 5 million people. But they're not and you're not. Every country or region of the world has their cultural rules, and as a respectful traveller, you have to follow them or face the consequences.

If you have a tattoo, you made a choice. I have tattoos and like tattoos, but while living in Japan I had to keep them covered up in situations that called for it. Even Japanese people who aren't ヤクザ! who get tattoos are making a choice and also have to face the consequences of that choice. Although they are in a position to break down barriers and change cultural perceptions in their communities. Which you never know what the future holds, until then BE WARNED!

他人に恐怖心を与える行為の禁止！(入れ墨等の露出)

じゃあ、いい夏がありますよ！WWWWW

ジョシュア