Ramune is called Ramune because in 1884 when a British guy started selling lemonade in Kobe that was how he transliterated the word lemonade into Japanese.
I had no idea why it was called melon pan, but it’s obviously not melon flavored
Wait until you learn there are melon breads with melon cream filling.
GU (the clothing company) is a pun of 自由 (jiyuu – freedom).
It took me a few years to learn that the graphite/lead/しん could be retracted back into the device when not used. All that time I thought people were just snapping off the excess when they were done with writing. I refused to use one because I thought it was too wasteful.
ドンキホテイ has nothing to do with donkeys. It’s Don Quixote. Not something I learned recently, but I think it was at least 10 years before I figured it out.
For bureaucracy sometimes you pay for things, not online ir some simple means but buying special stamps.
For a society that has computerized toilets sometimes they are ridiculously old fashioned.
プチ is not a Japanese word. It’s petit.
Wait are you trying to tell me the boushi pan is supposed to look like a hat? Cause it tastes exactly like one too. Guess that’s just a coincidence.
Up until recently, I thought あらびき(”arabiki”) meant Arabic. However i found out it’s actually “coarsely ground” 粗挽き – kind of makes more sense because i didn’t understand why there was so much “Arabic” black pepper being sold in the supermarkets.
Ohagi is called botamochi in the spring because they’re named after the seasonal flowers
申し訳ございません is the extremely polite form of いいわけありません、”I have no excuses”
Today I learned that when Crown Prince Oama, later known as Emperor Tenmu, the 40th Emperor of Japan and the first to be called Emperor while he was in office, escaped to Yoshino in Nara in the 7th century because his Father wanted to be replaced by another son, Prince Otomo, Otomo’s forces went looking for him in a small group of villages known as Kuzu (alternately read as Kunisu). The local villagers hid Oama from Otomo’s soldiers under an upside down boat, but Oama’s dog smelled him and started to bark, risking alerting the soldiers. So a villager threw a large rock at the dog, killing the dog but saving the future emperor. However, the villagers realized they probably shouldn’t have killed the dog, so they buried it with honors and declared that nobody in the village could ever keep a dog, a rule still adhered to to this day in 2023.
The villagers also fed Oama a local river fish. Oama cut it in half lengthwise, ate one half, and threw the other half back in the river. That half of the fish promptly swam down the river a ways to a spot that bears its name to this day.
Kuzu is also home to the Kuzu-so kagura, a sacred Shinto music and dance performance that has been performed every year uninterrupted for over 1,300 years.
seria def has better craft items than daiso, i was spending more money at daiso for crafts only to find out seria was selling double of what i was paying for a cheaper price
Water dumplings literally served and soaked in the water. Thought it was soup.
Mushroomきのこis木の子, which makes sense because they grow below trees.
Kabocha isn’t pumpkin, but a squash.
I did find this out 5 years ago, but whatever
I learned that mark people put on envelope flaps 〆 is shorthand for 締め, or ‘to tie’.
“羽化不全” or “羽化” I started raising Rhino beetles about 2-3 years ago and started watching bug YouTubers. When the bugs were born malformed after changing from pupa to adult the YouTubers kept saying 羽化不全。I learned 羽化 in English is eclosion. I learned a new English word. Sometimes when I tried explaining beetle things to parents they thought I was trying to say “孵化.” The parents were also not bug experts so they thought my Japanese was wrong, but the problem was that no normal person talks about “eclosion failure” in daily conversation. Fun stuff.
A few years ago I learned that 口コミ is not read as ROKOMI but KUCHIKOMI 😬
The potato *メークイン* is actually May Queen.
That little tap that refills the toilet tank is for washing your hands
Similarly, I recently learned that 柿の種 are not actually seeds, they are crackers. In hindsight, this makes sense. A single packet would have to have like, 20 fruits worth of seeds. But they are probably significantly less healthy than I assumed they were…
Just found out a Mini Costco opening near my house in Nara. They have been trying to get a Costco in Nara for like 15 years but each location they find to build on gets stopped by neighborhood seniors that don’t want the noise and traffic it may bring.
I learnt my name in kanji!
That’s stupid, but I learned that the reason Japanese old people don’t take my seat on the train is because I ask them too. Don’t draw attention to the fact so they aren’t self conscious and shoo off able-japanese jumping in for the seat.
APA Hotel is named like that because it’s in “the center of J**apa**n”.
Just learnt today that the days of the week are ALL related to the solar system! Not just Monday and Sunday!
Today I learned that Washoku Sato isn’t terrible. I’ve had one at the end of my street for 14 years now and was never bothered to try it until today. Live and learn.
Offal and horumon and organ meat are actually delicious, It’s rarely eaten in my country.
The store that has the OIOI logo is pronounced as Marui, and not Oi-Oi
I learned today that I can find fresher, cheaper and tastier meat and produce at the Michi no eki, than at my nearby fancy supermarket or department store . It just takes a hell of a lot longer to drive there.
SEGA is short for “Service Gaming” and it was originally a distributor of slot machines to military bases AKA SERVICE men.
I came to know ハンバーグ and ハンバーガー are two different food.
I was talking with my japanese wife today and jokingly told her that I am such a super nice person I should use sonkeigo when talking about myself. She told me that only the emperor can do that in whole Japan. Seems like the current emperor does not do that but the old ones used to do so.
Am not a car person and only after coming to Japan found out that Mazda is actually pronounced Matsuda.
That “boya” is an actual word 坊や and not just a flamboyant katakanized way to say ‘boy” by some heavily covered in make up 50 yo woman who is working at a strip bar
That kakinotane are not actually real persimmon seeds. Considering that asians seem to eat absolutely anything they see I was kinda disappointed by this.
That スマート(smart) means “slim, slender, fit, stylish” which probably makes Japanese people think that smartphones are called like that because they are slim and stylish compared to flip phones, and not due to their functionality.
Lots of dumb motherfuckers in this thread.
Just arrived here yesterday. Was checking out some bikes on FB marketplace. Turns out you need to register your ownership of the bike
The amount of question marks you use is important.
? Is serious and unfriendly ?? Is casual and friendly
In English I always thought more than one could be a bit rude depending on the context but maybe that’s just me.
While wandering around Japan I occasionally encounter restaurants with the word “Viking” in English or “バイキング”.
I thought, do Japanese have an affinity for Viking food? What is Viking food?
Well, I tried a “Viking” and discovered it is just a loanword for “buffet”, and sadly it didn’t contain any Scandinavian or Viking foods.
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If you think that’s wild check this out:
Ramune is called Ramune because in 1884 when a British guy started selling lemonade in Kobe that was how he transliterated the word lemonade into Japanese.
I had no idea why it was called melon pan, but it’s obviously not melon flavored
Wait until you learn there are melon breads with melon cream filling.
GU (the clothing company) is a pun of 自由 (jiyuu – freedom).
It took me a few years to learn that the graphite/lead/しん could be retracted back into the device when not used. All that time I thought people were just snapping off the excess when they were done with writing. I refused to use one because I thought it was too wasteful.
ドンキホテイ has nothing to do with donkeys. It’s Don Quixote. Not something I learned recently, but I think it was at least 10 years before I figured it out.
For bureaucracy sometimes you pay for things, not online ir some simple means but buying special stamps.
For a society that has computerized toilets sometimes they are ridiculously old fashioned.
プチ is not a Japanese word. It’s petit.
Wait are you trying to tell me the boushi pan is supposed to look like a hat? Cause it tastes exactly like one too. Guess that’s just a coincidence.
Up until recently, I thought あらびき(”arabiki”) meant Arabic. However i found out it’s actually “coarsely ground” 粗挽き – kind of makes more sense because i didn’t understand why there was so much “Arabic” black pepper being sold in the supermarkets.
Ohagi is called botamochi in the spring because they’re named after the seasonal flowers
申し訳ございません is the extremely polite form of いいわけありません、”I have no excuses”
Today I learned that when Crown Prince Oama, later known as Emperor Tenmu, the 40th Emperor of Japan and the first to be called Emperor while he was in office, escaped to Yoshino in Nara in the 7th century because his Father wanted to be replaced by another son, Prince Otomo, Otomo’s forces went looking for him in a small group of villages known as Kuzu (alternately read as Kunisu). The local villagers hid Oama from Otomo’s soldiers under an upside down boat, but Oama’s dog smelled him and started to bark, risking alerting the soldiers. So a villager threw a large rock at the dog, killing the dog but saving the future emperor. However, the villagers realized they probably shouldn’t have killed the dog, so they buried it with honors and declared that nobody in the village could ever keep a dog, a rule still adhered to to this day in 2023.
The villagers also fed Oama a local river fish. Oama cut it in half lengthwise, ate one half, and threw the other half back in the river. That half of the fish promptly swam down the river a ways to a spot that bears its name to this day.
Kuzu is also home to the Kuzu-so kagura, a sacred Shinto music and dance performance that has been performed every year uninterrupted for over 1,300 years.
seria def has better craft items than daiso, i was spending more money at daiso for crafts only to find out seria was selling double of what i was paying for a cheaper price
Water dumplings literally served and soaked in the water. Thought it was soup.
Mushroomきのこis木の子, which makes sense because they grow below trees.
Kabocha isn’t pumpkin, but a squash.
I did find this out 5 years ago, but whatever
I learned that mark people put on envelope flaps 〆 is shorthand for 締め, or ‘to tie’.
“羽化不全” or “羽化” I started raising Rhino beetles about 2-3 years ago and started watching bug YouTubers. When the bugs were born malformed after changing from pupa to adult the YouTubers kept saying 羽化不全。I learned 羽化 in English is eclosion. I learned a new English word. Sometimes when I tried explaining beetle things to parents they thought I was trying to say “孵化.” The parents were also not bug experts so they thought my Japanese was wrong, but the problem was that no normal person talks about “eclosion failure” in daily conversation. Fun stuff.
A few years ago I learned that 口コミ is not read as ROKOMI but KUCHIKOMI 😬
The potato *メークイン* is actually May Queen.
That little tap that refills the toilet tank is for washing your hands
Similarly, I recently learned that 柿の種 are not actually seeds, they are crackers.
In hindsight, this makes sense. A single packet would have to have like, 20 fruits worth of seeds. But they are probably significantly less healthy than I assumed they were…
Just found out a Mini Costco opening near my house in Nara. They have been trying to get a Costco in Nara for like 15 years but each location they find to build on gets stopped by neighborhood seniors that don’t want the noise and traffic it may bring.
I learnt my name in kanji!
That’s stupid, but I learned that the reason Japanese old people don’t take my seat on the train is because I ask them too. Don’t draw attention to the fact so they aren’t self conscious and shoo off able-japanese jumping in for the seat.
APA Hotel is named like that because it’s in “the center of J**apa**n”.
Just learnt today that the days of the week are ALL related to the solar system! Not just Monday and Sunday!
Today I learned that Washoku Sato isn’t terrible. I’ve had one at the end of my street for 14 years now and was never bothered to try it until today. Live and learn.
Offal and horumon and organ meat are actually delicious, It’s rarely eaten in my country.
The store that has the OIOI logo is pronounced as Marui, and not Oi-Oi
I learned today that I can find fresher, cheaper and tastier meat and produce at the Michi no eki, than at my nearby fancy supermarket or department store . It just takes a hell of a lot longer to drive there.
SEGA is short for “Service Gaming” and it was originally a distributor of slot machines to military bases AKA SERVICE men.
I came to know ハンバーグ and ハンバーガー are two different food.
I was talking with my japanese wife today and jokingly told her that I am such a super nice person I should use sonkeigo when talking about myself. She told me that only the emperor can do that in whole Japan. Seems like the current emperor does not do that but the old ones used to do so.
Am not a car person and only after coming to Japan found out that Mazda is actually pronounced Matsuda.
That “boya” is an actual word 坊や and not just a flamboyant katakanized way to say ‘boy” by some heavily covered in make up 50 yo woman who is working at a strip bar
That kakinotane are not actually real persimmon seeds. Considering that asians seem to eat absolutely anything they see I was kinda disappointed by this.
That スマート(smart) means “slim, slender, fit, stylish” which probably makes Japanese people think that smartphones are called like that because they are slim and stylish compared to flip phones, and not due to their functionality.
Lots of dumb motherfuckers in this thread.
Just arrived here yesterday. Was checking out some bikes on FB marketplace. Turns out you need to register your ownership of the bike
The amount of question marks you use is important.
? Is serious and unfriendly
?? Is casual and friendly
In English I always thought more than one could be a bit rude depending on the context but maybe that’s just me.
While wandering around Japan I occasionally encounter restaurants with the word “Viking” in English or “バイキング”.
I thought, do Japanese have an affinity for Viking food? What is Viking food?
Well, I tried a “Viking” and discovered it is just a loanword for “buffet”, and sadly it didn’t contain any Scandinavian or Viking foods.