Try your knowledge of Japanese food in this quiz.

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If you liked these quizzes why not try out:

1) Japanese general knowledge quiz

2) Japanese particles quiz

Try this quiz to test your knowledge of Japanese particles. This is for low intermediate students of Japanese. (Level three of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test)

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As Japan is becoming a popular destination amongst foreigners for skiing, more and more people are finding what Japan has to offer in the form of hiking. With 70% of Japan’s land mass covered by mountains there is everything from easy forest walks to advanced ice climbing. Recently there has been an increase in English language blogs on hiking and climbing in Japan. Here are a few that might help you to plan a hike in Japan

Seven ways to say “you” in Japanese

Japanese uses different levels of politeness for dealing with specific situations. The vocabulary you use when speaking to your boss is different when speaking to your friends or children. One telling example of the importance the Japanese place on respect and hierarchy is found in the seven different words they have for saying “you”. Here are some examples.

あなた　   Anata

This is the politest way to say you in Japanese. Housewives also use “anata” when talking to their husbands. The plural form is “anatagata”. In some cases it can aso be a little rude, for example: あなたはどう思いますか – anata wa dou omoimasu ka – What do you think,is sometimes best not used when talking to your boss. Instead どう思いますか or 田中さんはどう思いますか would be better where you simply omit the “anata” and use the person’s name.

君　 　     Kimi

Kimi is a familiar term used between friends. It is also used when speaking to children. The plural form is “kimitachi” usually used when speaking to a group of children.

お前　 　  Omae

Omae is usually used by men between very good friends. As it is quite an abrupt way of saying “you” it can vary from friendly and casual to rude depending on the situation and tone you use.

あんた　   Anta

Anta is a little old fashioned these days so it is usually used by older people when speaking to friends or younger people.

われ　 　  Ware

Now we are getting into the realms of fighting talk. Ware actually has a few meanings but in terms of “you” it is very abrupt and quite rude. it is usually used by angry men in Osaka.

てめえ　　Temee

Again, this is quite an aggressive way to say “you” usually used by men when tempers are flaring.

貴様　   　Kisama

Interestingly enough, kisama was originally used as a term of respect. “SAMA” on its own is used as a term of respect after someone’s name. For example ありがとうございます田中様 – arigatou gozaimasu tanaka sama – Thank you very much Mr Tanaka. However, KISAMA is close to calling someone a wretch in English and best avoided if you are not looklng for a fight.

So good luck in working out which word to use. When in doubt ANATA is usually a good bet. It may be a mistake but you certainly won’t offened anybody.

This is a picture of Shibuya crossing. As you can see I had the camera on the wrong setting and it was horribly over exposed. However I liked the effect and proudly saved it to the memory card on my camera.

And then I get stopped by the police.

“Excuse me, is that your bike?”

“Yes”

“Well there have been a lot of bike thefts in the area, can we check the registration of your bike?”

I wasn’t exactly in a position to say no.

“Sure go ahead”.

The cop had a look at the registration lable on my bike.

“This bike is registered in Osaka”

“Yes, I used to live there”

“So where do you live now?”

“I live here in Shibuya, but I just moved from Chiba and before that I lived in Osaka” I replied.

“Wow”

I’m not sure what was so “wow” about that but I guessed he was half doing his job and half looking for a conversation with a foreigner. I changed the subject.

“So are you guys busy this time of night?” (Obviously not otherwise they wouldn’t be on mess with the gaijin patrol).

“Erm…yes” he lied.

The conversation went from traffic safety to the best place to get lunch in Shibuya. He was quite polite and I actually enjoyed the somewhat bizarre natrure of the conversation.

He got a call on his radio. The bike registration did exist and I wasn’t a suspect anymore. He thanked me, gave a half bow and walked off.

A strange but interesting encounter.

In the Usbourne Book of the Future I used to read as a kid, there were two alternative pictures of futuristic life. One was of good looking people amongst shiny white towers being all happy and futurey. The other was a warning depicting a hellish world filled with jugger-naughts, smog and pollution. All the people were waring gas masks.

Skip forward a few decades to Tokyo and I find myself walking around Shinjuku wearing a surgical mask and sunglasses to protect me. It’s not so much from traffic pollution although it does play a role. It is the evil cedar pollen or 花粉 ( kafun ) in Japanese.

As one of the reported 20 million hay fever sufferers, this year has been absolute torture and the trains are packed with people like me, sneezing through their white masks and wishing they were somewhere else.

Tokyo isn’t in the top 10 most polluted cities in the world but the cedar pollen is a man made problem. After the war, there was a push to plant millions of cedar trees to deal with their timber shortage. Eventually imports became more economic and now Japan is left with huge swathes of cedar trees and the pollen that descends on the cities during February and March.

Pharmaceutical companies have been making a killing by supplying a range of products including, drugs, nose sprays, eye washes and even sprays to absorb the pollen from your clothes. I even saw a guy with a black hay fever mask looking like an urban hay fever ninja (which should be the name of my new band).

The Governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara, stepped in with a plan to fell 1.8 million cedar trees back in 2006 which so far has had no discernible effect. If anything it has got worse.  Talking about dealing with the problem he said “The metropolitan government will take the first step” which presumably means “now go cut your own damn trees”.

All I can do is pray for rain to keep the pollen down or April when it all subsides. If I wear a mask, sunglasses and take the foreign non drowsy hay fever drugs I can almost cope. I feel like I’m in the movie “The Happening” where the trees give the humans a hard time, except with better acting.

Here’s to April.