Mono no Aware: The Japanese Word for Being Moved by Things That Pass
Why do maples spend energy turning red just before their leaves fall? Mono no aware, the Japanese word for being moved by…
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japanese words
Shinrin-yoku: The Japanese Word for Bathing in a Forest
Shinrin-yoku, Japan's forest bathing, started life as a forestry campaign in 1982. The science came later, smaller and stranger than the slogans,…
The Moon Is Beautiful, Isn’t It? The Japanese “I Love You” Sōseki Never Said
Natsume Sōseki never told a student to translate I love you as the moon is beautiful. The story stuck anyway, because it…
Ma: The Japanese Word for the Space Between Things
The Japanese character for ma is a gate with the sun inside it. What the space between things means in Japan, from…
Ikigai: What Japan Really Means by a Reason for Being
The famous ikigai diagram isn't Japanese. What the word really means, what Japan's own surveys say gives people ikigai, and why a…
Tsundoku: The Beauty of Unread Stories
The Meaning Behind Tsundoku Japan has a word for everything. Even for that leaning tower of unread books on your nightstand. Tsundoku (積ん読)…
Japan Doesn’t Have 4 Seasons. It Has 72.
Japan's traditional calendar has 72 micro-seasons of about five days, inside 24 solar terms. What they are, the names, and the weeks…