Uchikura & Co Blog
2026-09-02
Nagori — What Remains After Something Is GoneJapanese has a beautiful word: 名残 (nagori). Nagori describes something that remains after something else has ended or disappeared. But it is not simply ...
2026-09-01
The Railroad Company That Survived by Not Selling Train Tickets Choshi Electric Railway is a small railroad company in Chiba, Japan. But what makes it remarkable is not its trains. It is how the co...
2026-09-01
Same Characters, Different Order: 礼儀 and 儀礼Japanese has two interesting words: 礼儀 (reigi) and 儀礼 (girei). What makes them especially interesting is that they use exactly the same two kanji—礼 and 儀—...
2026-09-01
Nagatsuki — When Japan Looks Up at the Moon September has a beautiful traditional Japanese name: 長月 (Nagatsuki), commonly understood as “the month of long nights.” For Japanese people, September ...
2026-09-01
Why Does Japan Put the Family Name First? In Japanese, the family name traditionally comes before the given name. For example, 山田太郎 is Yamada Taro, not Taro Yamada. Why? One reason is that Ja...
2026-08-31
The Month When the Gods Leave JapanJapan has a month when the gods are said to disappear. The traditional Japanese name for the tenth lunar month is 神無月 (Kannazuki). The characters can be read lite...
2026-08-31
The Island Mentality Japanese has an interesting expression: 島国根性 (shimaguni konjo), literally “island-country mentality.” Japan is an island nation that developed for centuries with relatively l...
2026-08-30
I Had No Idea 💦 Meant THAT in EnglishI recently learned something surprising about emojis. In Japan, 💦 is commonly used to represent sweat, nervousness, embarrassment, or a feeling like, “Oops!” We...
2026-08-30
This Scene Looks Strange to Japanese People. Do You Know Why? You have probably seen this scene in American TV shows and movies. Several people are sitting together, eating Chinese takeout. Each ...
2026-08-30
染まる (somaru) — Becoming Colored by Your Surroundings The Japanese word 染まる (somaru) literally means “to be dyed” or “to become colored.” We normally think about fabric absorbing color, but Japanese ...