はんにち (反日)

This past week there were a lot of suddenly wild protests in China. They were all "anti-Japanese" protests, hating on Japan and even smashing cars made in Japan etc... the word "anti-American" is predictably 反米 (はんべい) and I just hope that's not next!! Another word I learned recently:


いきがい (生き甲斐)

I learned this from discussing culture differences with someone. They were fascinated that American students usually say something like Family when asked about their "reason for living" but in Japan it's usually a dear hobby or something.


どくにもくすりにもならない (毒にも薬にもならない)

I can't remember where I picked this one up but its meaning is rather self evident "it will do neither harm nor good" or more literately 'it won't be poison or medicine' .. Cools!


うみ (膿)

I went to the dentist and he was trying to explain why he had to extract a broken tooth. He used this word and I thought he meant ocean because it's spelled the same (with different kanji) and so I thought it was just some sort of metaphor for the fluid build-up I could see in the x-ray photo. Later I checked the dictionary and realized he meant "pus" which I didn't even know could build up under teeth! Gross!


Anyway I've been lazy to update this blog. I'll try to update more often!