Japan

: CO-OP: You are just waiting! Japanese grocery delivery service

‘Seikyo’ which is known as Consumers' co-operative is largely popular and common system among Japanese to enrol in all over the country. You may see boxes of foods and groceries placed at the entrance of houses or apartments on certain time and date. They are delivered to the members of the Seikyo, which is familiar with the name ‘CO-OP’, upon their orders. The system is like this member will place their orders weekly, choosing items from paper catalogue or via internet and receive the order on their specific date of the week. You may like to have a private delivery ...

: Japanese seek product miniaturization and functionality

Japanese traditionally appreciate simplicity and minimalism. The idea is much alive to date. An umbrella which goes as compact as nearly 10 cm to fit tiny space in a women's purse will readily come into your mind. Manufacturers emulate not only to make things smaller but also to do it in style, of course, durability won't be left behind. Idea of folding can be seen even in a household. Japanese house has been known for being small. Especially, the housing by mid-century would not betray the images that often embraced by foreigners. The furniture that is foldable has been a ...

: The changing style of Japanese homes

Despite its significance to the life and health, household chores are often under-evaluated as a work, just because its value is not easily recognised as in the way we hardly dare to acknowledge how much air and water mean to our lives. You may catch a hint of male chauvinism in Japanese tradition; access of women to the Sumo ground is strictly prohibited, daughters of Emperor Family cannot take the throne but they are rather dismissed from the royal family once they get married. You may be also suggested by the low rate of political and executive positions taken by ...

: Japanese Home delivery is quick, reliable and convenient

I wonder if there are any major roads and streets in Japan that delivery trucks miss to run in a day. There are several of major courier companies in Japan With the rise of internet shopping and replacement of the classic mode of daily shopping by on-line, delivery trucks have to drive more and more. Since users of the service can request the delivery time as close as every two hours, the truck has to run the same route multiple times a day to meet the time specified. Actually, according to my experience, drivers are always on the run, and ...

: The Japanese name

neme

In many countries, people’s name is written the first name first and the last name at last. In many cases, Japanese also follow the order when they spell in alphabet. But infact, Japanese name never comes that way. Japanese name starts from the last name then first name. Japanese name is consisted of only those two unlike some people in other culture have middle name or any other kind. When they get married, they have to share one family name either husband’s or wife’s. Whichever is fine as the law stipulates equality of both sex. However, most of the ...

: The first step in Japanese: Hiragana and Katakana can express almost any kind of sound.

Hiragana, Janguage, Katakana

Japanese shares Chinese letters (Kanji) in writing. But unlike Chinese, we use them mixing with two sets of our own alphabet. One is called ‘Hiragana’ the other is called ‘Katakana’. Each set has 48 letters out of which two are obsolete. Both of them are phonetic letters. So they can express almost any kind of sound, which is especially convenient to describe foreign words. However, the context of usage makes a distinction between those two. Hiragana is basically used for writing words and expressions of Japanese origin, while Katakana is used for expressing those of foreign origins. Since words and ...

: Japanese traditional door "Fusuma" and "Shoji"

Fusuma, Shoji

Japanese traditional houses normally have sliding doors for the entrance and rooms. But in modern housing, swing doors are dominant and the sliding doors are only to be seen for Japanese style rooms which most of the modern house still contains one or two within. In western countries, the doors open inwardly. On the contrary, they open outwardly in Japan. The reason could be that since Japanese has a custom of taking the shoes off when stepped inside the entrance door, a certain space to take off the shoes and keep them must be secured there. Besides, the movement of ...

: English words you don't know

Japanese-made English Japanese have created a lot of English-based / English-inspired words. The funny thing is that while in most of the case those are believed as ‘genuine English’, actually they are often quite different from what could mean to English speakers. So some people are fully confident to use them only to be puzzled. Here are some examples. How do you understand these typical ‘Japanese-made English’? Salary man？ ‘Salary man’ is the person working on salary-basis, which shall be called a white-collar-worker in English. When it comes to a female worker, she is especially called an ‘Office Lady’, further ...