Posted by Ginny
If you were to list the different kinds of Japanese noodles available in Japan, the list would be massive. The following noodles are the type of noodles found almost everywhere in Japan:
You can write an entire topic just on ラーメン. There are so many different kinds of ラーメン in Japan. The kind pictured is called しょうゆ or soy sauce flavored ラーメン. Interestingly enough, sometimes ラーメン is spelled in katakana because ラーメン originally came from China. While ラーメン did come from China, the Japanese have totally made ラーメン their own renown versions of it in instant noodles.
そば is a type of noodle made from buckwheat flour. The noodles are dipped in a dipping sauce called そばつゆ. Usually the noodles and the sauce come separate with perhaps a small dish of radish or わさび. The radish and わさび can make the soy based dipping sauce spicier. Sometimes a bit of crushed, dry seaweed is sprinkled on top of the noodles. そば can be served both hot and cold.
そうめん is a thin, white noodle also dipped in a dipping sauce made of かつおぶし. かつおぶし is a skipjack tuna that has been dried and fermented into thin fish flakes. In the summer the dipping sauce is chilled with ice. The noodles are usually topped with green onions. The difference between そば and そめん is that そめん is made of wheat flour while そば is made of buckwheat flour.
うどん is a thick variety of a wheat flour noodle. Depending on the region, the soup can be a heavy soy based broth or a light soy based broth. The toppings also vary by region and can include かまぼこ (processed fish slices), てんぷら (deep fried seafood or vegetables), and green onions. Unlike そば and そめん, うどん noodles are not served separately with a dipping sauce. Instead, the noodles are already mixed in with the soup.
Posted by Ginny
Let’s start the new year with a new fervor to learn Japanese? Need a tool to help you learn Japanese? Try the Word of the Day! Every month I post a couple of words either in English or Japanese. Your job is to figure out the meanings. If post the word in Japanese, answer in English. If I post the word in English, answer in Japanese. The Word of the Day contains an audio mechanism which you can click to hear how the word is pronounced. On top of that, it provides a sentence containing the word, so you get a sense of the context in which it’s being used! I’ll post the answers (along with the links) in the next blog post.
1 - 足りる
2 - もったいない
3 - まずい
4 - やる
5 - しつれします
6 - ごめんなさい
7 - おげんきですか
8 - お久しぶりです
9 - おもう
10 - 疲れつ
11 - おやつ
12 - 恩
13 - 苦手
14 - 上げる
15 - ペンきり
Posted by Ginny
Today’s post is abou Japanese mythology. Japanese mythology is rich and vast. We’ll only go through a couple of myths, and the versions of these myths will be condensed. The first myth has to do with the formation of Japan. Once upon a time a male god named いざなぎ and a female goddess named いざなみ met so that they could mate. The female goddess uttered the first greeting to the male god. Then the two mated and had two children, who were badly deformed. いざなぎ and いざなみ sought the other gods as to why the children were deformed.
The other gods informed the couple that a woman must not speak before a man. Therefore because いざなみ made the first utterance to いざなぎ before they mated, いざなみ displayed bad manners. The result of these bad manners led to the deformation of the children. After this, the couple tried to mate again, but this time the male god いざなぎ spoke first. This time around the couple was successful. Eight healthy children were produced from this union. Later the eight children formed the eight great islands of Japan. From this mythology you can make some inferences about male/female relations and the importance of good manners in Japanese culture.
This next myth has to do with the geographic/natural formation of Japan. The female goddess いざなみ died during childbirth. The male god いざなぎ was distraught by her death. He ventured into the underworld to see her. The underworld was so dark that いざなぎ could not see いざなみ very well. いざなぎ lit his headdress on fire and saw that his wife was a rotting mess of maggots. Terrified, he fled. いざなみ was angered by his betrayal and sent wild demons after him. To rid the demons he threw his headdress to the floor, which became a grape vine. The demons still pursued いざなぎ, at which point he threw his comb, resulting in the formation of bamboo shoots.
Then いざなぎ urinated against a tree, which formed a river. This slowed down the demons. He was finally able to place a large boulder to block the entrance of the underworld. いざなみ was angered that he got away. She vowed to take away 1,000 lives every day. This story tells not only of how the natural geography of Japan was formed, but it also explains how human beings became mortal (through いざなみ). The royal family of Japan used to trace their ancestry to いざなぎ and いざなみ. The myths were important in the sense that it legitimized the actions of the royal family, which made it impossible for people to rebel against the emperor’s orders.
There are also some books on Japanese mythology on Amazon, so check those out for a more thorough version of these myths!
Posted by Ginny
あります can be used to indicate that something “is” or “exists” at a certain location. For example, あそこ に びょういん が あります = There’s a hospital over there. (あそこ = over there. に = ni particle. びょういん = hospital. が = ga particle. あります = there is.) There are a couple of things to note here. The が particle was used instead of は. So the general formula you use to say, “there are/there is” something is: place + が + あります. Secondly, あります can only be used for non livng things like a hospital. You can’t use あります for people. For people you use います.
Here’s a sentence using います: あそこ に いしゃ が います = There is a doctor over there. (あそこ = over there. に = ni particle. いしゃ = doctor. が = ga particle. います = there is.) Notice that even when we’re using います, the same general forumla is used: person + が + います. Generally あります is used for non living or inanimate things like places, objects and abstract concepts like freedom, while います is used for living things like people and animals. います and あります can also be used to indicate that someone owns something or that someone has something.
In this question, “にもつ が ありますか” someone may be asking, “[Do you] have [your] luggage?”. (にもつ = luggage. が = ga particle. あります = have. か = question marking particle.) You can also use this with more intangible thinks like dreams: “ゆめ が あります” = I have a dream. (ゆめ = dream. が = ga particle. あります = have.) You can also indicate that you don’t have something by using ありません in place of あります. One of the errors some people make is to use います/あります to transcribe the meaning “is” in Japanese. Remember from the beginning of this blog we talked about how です can mean “is” as well.
It’s correct to say, “せんせい は にほんじんです” or The teacher is a Japanese person. (せんせい = teacher. は = wa particle. にほんじん = Japanese person. です = is.) You can’t use います here because you technically can’t “own” or “have Japanese ethnicity” but you can certaintly “be” of Japanese descent. Like in the sentence above, です is used to describe a characteristic of a person or thing. However, あります and います is used to describe the existence or the location of a person or thing.
