In this week’s Slang from Japan we look at “胡散臭い” (usan kusai) which refers to something that is suspicious or unbelievable. This uses two words: 胡散 usan – which means suspicious and 臭い kusai – which means smelly. It almost literally means something that “smells fishy”. For example:

彼の言うこと、胡散臭いよね。

kare no iukoto, usan kusai yo ne

What he is saying is suspicious.

This is our very first listener request podcast which was inspired by a request from @fransgaard on twitter.  This lesson deals with reserving a table at a restaurant and we were lucky to have Asami sensei to teach us the correct Keigo which you will hear when dealing with restaurant staff in Japan.

So if you would like to hear this episode, please get the Learn Japanese Pod iPhone app or the Android app.

As always, we will be producing free podcasts however we are now starting a new series of podcasts that can be accessed from the iPhone and Android apps. Both apps stream premium content to your phone and include extra show notes, downloadable wall paper and more.

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The premium podcasts will consist of a series of short, 5 minute, phrasebook style lessons for busy people on the move. We’ll be concentrating on vocabulary building and useful, natural everyday phrases.

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Enjoy!

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Today Asuka and I checked out a small festival (祭り) in the trendy neighbourhood of Sangenjaya (三軒茶屋) in western Tokyo.

三軒茶屋 means three tea houses which is a reference to it’s past as a stop over for travellers coming in and out of Tokyo. Today it has coffee shops, restaurants and a great drinking area near the station.

It’s also close to Shimokitazawa (下北沢) which is known for it’s youth culture, second hand stores and music which is definitely worth a visit if you are in the neighbourhood.

One great aspect of Tokyo are the local festivals such as the one we checked out today in Sangenjaya. As with many small festivals in Japan there is a check list of things essential for making a Japanese Matsuri. These include but are not limited to:

屋台- yatai – stalls that sell food and other items

焼きそば – Yakisoba -fried noodles, yum

タコヤキ – Takoyaki – Cooked octopus in a dumpling

金魚すくい – Kingyo sukui – A game where children try to scoop up goldfish to win them

お面 – Omen – Plastic masks for kids usually in the form of a manga or anime character

御神輿 – Omikoshi -A portable shrine that is carried by the local community around the town

The list goes on but I shall end it there.

A huge shout out and thank you to Asuka who took me around the festival and told me a little about her life and Japanese culture. She has her own podcast which you can find at Asukashow.com Check it out!

At last, my new Learn Japanese Pod mug has arrived. (Happy face) I was pretty happy with the results so I want to buy more as presents for my friends. This cute logo was done my friend Ricardo who is made of pure win and awesome when it comes to design. So the next question is, what shall I drink with this new mug while studying Japanese?

Hiragana and Katakana are the two basic phonetic scripts used in Japanese which beginners should tackle to start being able to read the language.

Rob found Kanatap through his studies of Hangul which could also inform people how to learn the basic phonetic scripts of Hiragana and Katakana.

Other methods include using Anki and also watching youtube videos with basic vocabulary lessons on Japanese.

We hope you enjoy the podcast.

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