One of the most enigmatic Japanese words out there is "wa," which is generally translated as "harmony" and often used in English in sentences like, "Hey man, you're messin' with my wa." The character has other meanings, too, including "peace" as well as referring to Japan itself. Itcan be combined with other characters to form words like "heiwa" (peace),"washiki" (Japanese-style, as in a Japanese-style toilet), "washitsu"(Japanese room, e.g. a tatami room), and "wagyu" (Japanese beef, e.g. thefamous beer-fed Kobe beef). If you put the character for big in front ofwa, you've just written Yamato, the name of the first civilization toemerge in Japan and the term that refers to the main branch of the Japanese people, as well as the famous battleship from World War II.
If you're interested in Japan, you may want to visit jbox. If you have a sweet tooth, check out the candy under my favourite section, snacks! They also sell things like chopsticks and bento boxes, kawaii like Hello Kitty and magazines. Excepting the t-shirts, these items ship from Japan, so expect hefty shipping fees.
Note of caution: if you rss the jbox site, you will get only links to featured products for sale. If you want Mr. Payne's informative blog on Japanese culture, you must visit his blog to get the feed. He has a variety of options/links, including my fave, My Yahoo. (He uses Blogger, also.)
Wa seems like an easy enough word to incorporate into everyday Language. Let's give it a try, shall we? The above is from Peter Payne's blog, where he delivers little sushi bites of Japanese Culture and language . Mr. Payne owns jbox.com (formerly jlist), which sells "wacky items from Japan." I've been getting the updates emailed to me for years, but now can't figure out how someone would sign up for them - other than just emailing the folks at jbox and asking if this is still possible.
If you're interested in learning Japanese, you will begin by learning the two basic syllabaries (the equivalent of alphabets), hirigana and katakana. You will find useful language links at Mr. Payne's blog along with helpful advice for getting started. And don't forget the resources at yourdictionary.com.
If you're interested in Japan, you may want to visit jbox. If you have a sweet tooth, check out the candy under my favourite section, snacks! They also sell things like chopsticks and bento boxes, kawaii like Hello Kitty and magazines. Excepting the t-shirts, these items ship from Japan, so expect hefty shipping fees.
Note of caution: if you rss the jbox site, you will get only links to featured products for sale. If you want Mr. Payne's informative blog on Japanese culture, you must visit his blog to get the feed. He has a variety of options/links, including my fave, My Yahoo. (He uses Blogger, also.)
