Japan in a Nutshell

Module 1: Introductory Lessons in Japanese

• Module 1 introduces Japanese language, culture, and basic language skills, containing six lessons.
• Upon completion, students should understand Japanese history, customs, traditions, appreciate the language and culture, memorize daily expressions and numbers (1-99), and engage in simple conversations.

Lesson 1: Japan in a Nutshell

• Japan, known as "Land of the Rising Sun", is an archipelago off the Asian coast.
• Japan covers 145,883 square miles (377,835 square kilometers).
• Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu are the four main islands, accompanied by nearly 4,000 smaller islands.
• Russia's Siberian region is the closest mainland neighbor to the north, and Korea is to the south.
• Mountains constitute approximately four-fifths of Japan's terrain.
• The Japanese Alps bisect Honshu.
• Mount Fuji, a cone-shaped volcano, is its highest peak.
• Japan is prone to earthquakes due to its location where three tectonic plates meet, triggering over 1,000 earthquakes annually.
• There are about 200 volcanoes, 60 of which are active.
• Japanese people are known for their work ethic and respect for others, especially elders and superiors.
• They prioritize family or business needs over their own.
• The culture's meanings and values are intriguing to learn.
• Prominent elements include calligraphy, painting (Ukiyo-e), Ikebana (flower arrangement), pottery, and lacquerware.
• Japan's art encompasses Noh, Kabuki, and manga.
• Japanese cuisine differs from Western diets, featuring rice, fish, vegetables, and minimal meat or dairy promoting longer life expectancy.
• Shinto and Buddhism are Japan's primary religions.
• Shinto is native, while Buddhism was introduced in the 6th century.
• The two religions coexist harmoniously.
• Many Japanese identify as both Buddhist and Shintoist.
• Shinto ("the way of the gods") is the traditional faith and lacks a founder or sacred texts.
• Shinto emphasizes Japanese traditions and beliefs, without preaching.
• Kami are "Shinto gods", embodying sacred concepts like wind, rain, mountains, etc.. -Humans can become revered ancestral kami after death.
• Shinto lacks absolutes and believes in human goodness. -Evil is attributed to evil spirits.
• The purpose of Shinto rituals is to ward off evil through purification, prayers, and offerings to the kami.
• Shinto shrines serve as worship sites and kami residences.
• Festivals (matsuri) are held to honor the kami.
• Priests conduct rituals and reside on shrine grounds.
• They can marry and have children.
• Younger women (miko) aid priests.
• Shinto art includes shrine architecture, Noh theater, calligraphy, and court music (gagaku).
• Buddhism's introduction faced initial conflicts but later harmonized with Shinto.
• During the Meiji Period, Shinto became the state religion, separating from Buddhism.
• After World War II, Shinto was separated from the state.
• People seek guidance from Shinto by praying at home or visiting shrines, where talismans are available.
• Many wedding ceremonies follow Shinto traditions.
• Death is regarded as impure, handled by Buddhism, resulting in a lack of Shinto cemeteries.
• Most funerals are Buddhist.
• Buddhism originated in India in the 6th century BC.
• It is based on the teachings of Gautama Siddhartha.
• Mahayana Buddhism spread to Japan.
• Buddhism was introduced via China and Korea in the 6th century.
• Welcomed by nobles, it didn't initially attract commoners due to complexity.
• Conflicts with Shinto were resolved through coexistence.
• Nara Period monasteries gained political influence leading to capital relocation.
• Politically ambitious monasteries remained an issue for governments.
• During the Heian Period, the Tendai and Shingon Buddhist sects were introduced from China.
• Honen founded the Jodo sect (Pure Land sect) in 1175, emphasizing salvation through belief in Buddha Amida.
• Shinran founded the Jodo-Shin sect (True Pure Land sect) in 1224.
• Zen Buddhism was introduced from China in 1191.
• Emphasis on self-enlightenment through meditation appealed to the military class.
• Nichiren founded the Nichiren sect in 1253.
• This sect was known for its intolerance towards other Buddhist sects.
• Buddhist monasteries were attacked during the Meiji Period when Shinto was favored.
• Approximately 90 million people now consider themselves Buddhists in Japan.
• The religion's impact on daily life is not strong.
• Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism are the three traditional Chinese religions.
• Introduced via Korea in 285 AD, Confucian principles include humanity, loyalty, and morality.
• Neo-Confucianism influenced government and education during the Edo Period (1603-1867), impacting Japanese society.
• The first Europeans came from Portugal in 1542, bringing firearms and Christianity to Kyushu.
• Oda Nobunaga welcomed them for weapons, tolerating missionaries.
• Missionaries converted western Japanese people, including nobles and the ruling class.
• Francis Xavier went to Kyoto in 1550 to seek an audience with the Emperor.
• In 1587, Toyotomi Hideyoshi banned missionaries for political reasons and intolerant behavior towards other religions.
• He executed 26 Christians in Nagasaki in 1597
• The Tokugawa Shogunate reinforced anti-Christian policies, accusing the religion of disobedience.
• Thousands were executed after a rebellion involving Christians in the 1630s.
• Practicing Christianity became illegal.
• "Hidden Christians" continued secretly.
• Freedom of religion was promulgated after the Meiji Restoration.
• The Christian population in Japan is ~1-2 million (~1%).
• Christian customs like white wedding ceremonies have become popular.
• Religion's role isn't central in daily life. -People observe religious rituals at birth, weddings, and funerals.
• People may visit shrines or temples and participate in matsuri.
• Japan has a reigning emperor but their role is symbolic.
• The government is a parliamentary system with a constitutional monarchy.
• Tokyo is the capital, and the population is about 126,168,156.
• It's the 5th largest importer and exporter, with a major industrial and economic power.
• Japan has the world's 3rd largest economy based on GDP.
• It's a part of the G7 and G20.
• Japan's industries are: Honda, Toyota, Hitachi, Softbank, Canon, Mitsubishi, and Toshiba.
• Post-WWII, clever innovation helped revitalize its economy.
• It's the world's 2nd largest economy.
• The high-tech industry produces electronic products.
• Illiteracy rate is 0%.
• Most children attend senior high school and higher education.
• Two universities were among the top 30 globally, three in the top 100, and nine in the top 200 (as of 2013).
• Japan leads in research funding, resulting in numerous Nobel Prize laureates (22 since 1949).
• Japan is a major contributor to all fields of science.
• Japan was first inhabited ~30,000 years ago when islands were connected to Siberia and Korea.
• The Jomon culture emerged ~12,000 years ago.
• The Ainu people arrived by boat from Siberia around the same time.
• The Jomon and Ainu survived through hunting and gathering.
• The Yayoi people came from Korea and China ~300 BC.
• The Yayoi were weavers/farmers and introduced rice cultivation.
• Jimmu Tenno, Japan's first emperor, came to power in 660 BC.
• Emperors controlled Japan until the 12th century AD when military rulers (shoguns) took over.
• Europeans arrived in 1543, bringing guns and Christianity.
• Japan closed its borders in 1635.
• Isolation lasted +200 years.
• Emperors were restored in 1868 and the shoguns were overthrown.
• Japan modernized.
• Japan sided with the U.S. during WWI (1914-1917).
• Pearl Harbor was bombed by Japan on Dec. 7, 1941.
• The U.S joined World War II.
• Japan fought against the U.S. and the allied forces.
• The U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, killing ~115,000 people.
• Japan surrendered shortly after.
• Japanese history is classified into these periods: Early Japan (until 710), Nara and Heian Periods (710-1192), Kamakura Period (1192-1333), Muromachi Period (1338-1573), Azuchi-Momoyama Period (1573-1603), Edo Period (1603-1868), Meiji Period (1868-1912), Taisho and Early Showa Period (1912-1945), and Postwar Period (since 1945).

Lesson 2: General Features of Nihongo

• Japanese, or Nihongo, is spoken by ~120 million people in Japan, Hawaii, and the Americas.
• The language is also spoken by former Japanese occupation peoples from China and Korea.
• Research shows conclusive evidence for genetic language links.
• English and languages from Europe, Russia, and India are part of the Indo-European language family.
• There is no conclusive evidence linking Japanese to a language family.
• The leading theory places Japanese in the Altaic family.
• Turkish, Korean, and Mongolian are included in this family.
• Japanese is thought to be related closely to Korean.
• Roy Andrew Miller suggests the original Altaic language was spoken in the Transcaspian steppe region.
• The Altaic speakers migrated before 2,000 BC, spreading from Turkey to Japan.
• Inconsistencies with major features cause controversy.
• The Austronesian family is proposed in the South Pacific.
• Lexical borrowing is believed from heavy influence.
• The Ainu people of Hokkaido speak a language unrelated to Japanese.
• Around 1,500 years ago, the Japanese began recording Old Japanese through prose and poetry.
• The language had different characteristics that have gone away overtime.
• Old Japanese featured eight vowels.
• Transition to Modern Japanese took place ~12th-16th centuries AD.
• There are numerous dialects across Japan's four main islands, and Okinawa.
• Kyushu and Okinawa dialects are incomprehensible, necessitating the standard dialect.
• Tokyo dialect is the "common" dialect.
• Kansai region dialects spoken in Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe.
• Most people speak both a dialect and the common dialect.
• Japanese speech has politeness and honorific markers.
• Speakers must consider social standing.
• Markers appear on verbs, adjectives, and nouns.
• Verb "to go" usages, informal: iku, and formal: iki-masu (-masu is politeness marker).
• "Irassyai-masu" shows politeness and respect.
• The speaker simultaneously addresses and shows respect.
• Prefixes like o- (go- in some contexts) show politeness with both adjectives and nouns, like o-tuskue (desk) and o-suki (like).
• Pronoun usage varies by gender and social context.
• Males use "boku" in informal situations.
• "Watashi" is used by females in informal situations, by both in formal speech.
• The term "you" can be expressed through the person's name.
• Sentence-final particles vary by gender in informal speech.
• Politeness, honorifics, and pronouns reflect in-group/out-group dynamics, with polite speech used for those outside the speaker's social circle.
• Familial words also reflect social status with different terms for one's own mother (haha) vs. another person's mother (okaasan).
• Ritual is important for showing respect.
• Bowing while saying "Ohayou gozaimasu", "Konnichiwa", or "Konbanwa" depending on the day.
• Different bows are for different situations like informal (15 degrees), formal (30 degrees), and very formal (deeper angle).
• “Ohayou Gozaimasu” is formal.
• “Hajimemashite”/ “Doozo yoroshiku” are meeting/greeting expressions.
• Japanese is typically open-syllable. Most syllables conclude in a vowel or consist of a vowel only.
• There are five vowels: /a/, /i/, /u/, /e/, /o/.
• Vowel length is distinguisher. The "to" means door, and "too" means "ten".
• Consonants are: /k/, /s/, /t/, /n/, /h/, /m/, /y/, /r/, /w/, the syllabic nasal sound /N/.
• Consonants can be palatalized.
• /s/ and /t/ pair with /i/ become the /shi/ and /chi/.
• The /t/ paired with /u/ becomes /ts/.
• Japanese syllables construct in four ways: -A vowel (a, i, u, e, o) -A consonant+a vowel (62 combos) -A consonant alone (n, t, s, k, p) -A consonant +y+a vowel (32 combos) -/s+i/= /shi/ -/z+i/= /ji/ -/t+i/= /chi/ -/d+i/= /ji/ -/d+u/= /zu/
• There are five long Vowels in Japanese: /aa/, /ii/, /uu/, /ee/, and /oo/.
• The writing system is similar sound with short versions.
• In the writing system, /o/ (with exceptions) = /ou/ and the /e/= /ei/.
• Consonants /t/, /s/, /k/, and /p/ that end without vowels are full length.
• The syllable "n" is its own entire unit.
• Pitch can change from syllable to syllable to distinguish meaning.
• Pitch rising and falling is called Pitch Accent.
• In the West, differences in sounds is call Stress Accent.
• Japanese has: -Fall: JAa 'well then' DOumo 'thanks' DOuzo 'go ahead'
• Rise; le 'no' SAYONARA 'good bye' taDAIMA 'I'm home' OHAYOU 'good morning' yoROSHIKU 'Nice to meet you'
• Rise and Fall: aRIgatou 'thanks' shiTSUrei-shimasu 'Excuse me' suMIMASEn 'Sorry'
• Change in pitch can also mean emotion.
• Raising pitch is a way of speaking to babies.
• Syllable "su" on verbs are not said such as "Soo desu” should be said”Soo des”.
• “Deshita” is pronounced as “Desh’ta”.
• Japanese accent is high or low.
• Students should not speak it tonally.

Lesson 3: Japanese Greetings and Expressions

• Greetings like “good morning” are important out of respect to more formal Japanese culture.
• Gozaimasu is a polite greeting.
• Do not use short form to superiors.
• こんにちは "Konnichiwa" can be formal and informal.

Greetings

• Offerings and acceptance phrases include, “Douzo” translates to, “Go ahead. (please take it).
• ああ　どうも ”Aa, doumo” translates to “Oh, thanks”.
• “Arigatou (gozaimasu)” expresses thanks to someone.
• Do not say to superiors (teachers, bosses).
• Addressing people by title, use title “san”.
• Do not say to one self or one's group.
• Address people by professor, teacher or doctors with the tile “sensei”.
• “Hai” has several means such as “present”, “that's right” or “here you are”.
• There are many apologizing expressions such as すみません ”Sumimasen”, iie/iya いいえ ”Ie”, ごめんなさい ”Gomen nasai” and どういたしまして ”Dou itashimashite”.

Apologizing

• Sumimasen expresses apology.
• Sumimasen deshita used when you trouble someone.
• ”Gomen nasai” or ”Sumimasen deshita” used after you break something. Starting phrases when drinking is “Douzo?” and “Jaa, itadakimasu”.
• “Gochisou sama deshita” means thank you for the food.

Starting Eating/Drinking

Asking

• Sorry, onegai shimasu” Can i have that?
• Entering a room expression is “Shitsurei shimasu” Excuse me.
• Leaving in office use いってきます ”Itte kimasu”.
• Upon returning ございます ”tadaima”. Greetings to meeting someone for the first time is “Hajimemashite”How do you do?.
• “Douzo yoroshiku” translate to, “Nice to meet you”

Lesson 4: Japanese Vocabulary

• This lesson contains a vocabulary expansion.
• Includes common Japanese names, occupations, and more.

Lesson 5: How to Count in Japanese

• The lesson concerns numbers and classifiers, such as ~en,doru, ~ban.
• Important notes include numbers 4, 7 and 9 60 each have alternate forms.
• Yon, yo, and and shi mean 4.
• Nana, shichi means 7.
• Kyuu, ku means 9. Numbers with 5 or more are counted into four.
• In western numbers, counted in groups of 3.
• A comma is important every four digits.
• Japanese numbers used numeral classifiers, which is related.

Numbers

• 1 = ichi
• 2 = ni
• 3 = san
• 4 = shi/yon
• 5 = go
• 6 = roku
• 7 = shichi/nana
• 8 = hachi
• 9 = kyuu

Numbers classifiers

• ~en
• ~doru
• ~san
• The numerals "yo", chichi, and "ku" are respectively.

Lesson 6: How to Tell the Time in Japanese

• "ji" measures o'clock and nanji is what time.
• "fun"is is the time classifier.

Telling Time

• 1 o'clock = ichiji

• 2 o'clock = niji

• 3 o'clock = sanji

• 4 o'clock = yoji

• 5 o'clock = goji

• 6 o'clock = rokuji

• 7 o'clock = shichiji

• 8 o'clock = hachiji

• 9 o'clock = kuji

• 10 o'clock = juuji

• 11 o'clock = juuichiji

• 12 o'clock = juuniji

• 1 minute = Ippun

• 2 minute = Nifun

• 3 minute = sanpun

• 4 minute = yonpun

• 5 minute = Gofun

• 6 minute = roppun

• 7 minute = nanafun

• 8 minute = happun

• 9 minute = kyuufun

• 10 minute juppun

• 15 minutes juugofun

• 20 minutes nijuppun

• 25 minutes nijuugofun

• 30 minutes sanjuppun

• 35 minutes sanjuugofun

• 40 minutes yonjuppun

• 45 minutes yonjuugofun

• 50 minutes gojuppun

• 55 minutes gojuugofun

• 60 minutes rokujuppun

Vocabulary

• Morning: asa
• Past: sugi