What is the most complicated point to learn you language? For example, when I was using French, I had to always think the noun masculine-feminine/ single-plural. When I'm using Japanese, I have to always think what is the appropriate politeness level with this person I'm talking to. Please tell me what is the most complicated point in your language?

How do Japanese people tell “Negative Feedback”? It is said that Japanese people don’t clearly tell “Negative Feedback” to others. Is this really true? I’ll show you examples in different situations. 1) From higher position to lower position From a boss to a subordinate, or from an employee who works longer to another employee who works shorter, they tend to tell “Negative Feedback” clearly. One interesting note; even though an employee who works longer is younger than another employee who works shorter, they can tell “Negative Feedback” 2) From lower position to higher position On the contrary to No1, it is very difficult to tell “Negative Feedback” in person even though a lower position person is elder. They may complain behind his back, or they may write a complain letter anonymously to their personnel department. 3) Between neighbors For example, your neighbor is quite noisy at night every day, you can complain this matter to your apartment management company or you may post a complain letter anonymously. However, you would hesitate to complain in person because you are worrying it would hurt the relationship with neighbors. 4) Among Mom-Kidz group For example, you belong to a Mom-Kidz group (a group of mothers and their children of similar ages) and one of the member invites the others to a “home party”. Suppose you behaved badly there; your child malbehaved but you ignored, or you didn’t bring any food at a potluck style party but consumed a lot. Nobody complains to you clearly but you will not be invited again not only by the parson who organized the party but also everyone who knows your behavior. Moreover, you will feel difficulty in communicating with the members because the others share complaints toward what you did. If two people are friends, it totally depends on them whether they tell “Negative Feedback” directly. However, if they are not close and there is no business relationship, it is usual not to tell “Negative Feedback” in person.

Is there advantage to get older? As we get older, our physical conditions obviously get worse compared with younger people. We get sick more easily, our brain abilities become weaker and we can no longer work as we used to in our young days. What is that if there are things we acquire more as we get older? I think there are three things. 1. We can imagine others feelings more easily because we’ve experienced more than when we were young. For example, we’ve experienced fears, failures, conflicts between others, bullyings and so on. These negative experiences enable us to understand the feelings of others in difficult situations. 2. We can expect our futures more clearly. When we were children, we didn’t know what would happen in the future, how we would become in the future. The world and the future were obscure and covered with some positive dreams. Now, however, we have more information, we know more about what we are, what we can do and what we cannot do. We know more about the world and the society we live in. We know our parents stories, relatives stories and many other stories about what may happen in the future. So we can plan more clearly our life plan. 3. We can behave better socially. We know how to get along with people well and can control our emotions better than before. These are things which I think are advantages compared with younger people. If you have any opinions, please leave me your comment.

What will happen If we use only ひらがな/カタカナ(hiragana/katakana) in Japanese sentences? 漢字(kanji: Chinese character) is the most difficult part when studying Japanese. Many foreign learners may wonder why Japanese language uses so many Kanjis, if it’s possible to do only with ひらがな/カタカナ in writing sentences. What will happen If we use only ひらがな/カタカナ in Japanese sentences? I’m sure Japanese sentences are not sufficient if they are written simply in ひらがな/カタカナ. Reason 1 ひらがな/カタカナ are created to express Japanese original words （大和言葉/和語: yamato-kotoba/wago）and we have a number of China origin words（漢語: kango）. If we use ひらがな/カタカナ to write China origin words, it takes more time to read because we have to search for appropriate 漢字 in our brains. Reason 2 Japanese pronunciations are relatively simple and there are many homonyms such as; NIHON （日本/二本）,HASHI （橋/箸）,　HARU（春/貼る）. Without 漢字, it’s sometimes difficult to tell which of the meanings a writer wants to say I think 漢字 plays a role to compensate for the insufficiencies of Japanese pronunciations. In other words, Japanese language relies more on Reading/Writing than other languages. This can also explain why Japanese literacy rate is almost 100%. We often imagine 漢字 which fits the words in our minds when talking with others in order to help understanding. Japanese language cannot be made up without 漢字.

Convenient way to use 漢字(Kanji)、ひらがな(Hiragana) andカタカナ(Katakana) Japanese language has three types of letters; 漢字(Kanji)、ひらがな(Hiragana) andカタカナ(Katakana) (We also use Alphabet these days). Today, I’d like to show you one convenient way to use these three letters to express the same thing. <example 1> When we write the word ありがとう(Arigatou-thank you) we can choose 1. 有難うごさいます　(Arigatou-gozaimasu) 2. ありがとうございます (Arigatou-gozaimasu) 3. ありがとう (Arigatou) 4. アリガトウ (Arigatou) 5. サンキュー (thank you) No1 is the most polite expression and No5 is very casual. <example 2> When we write the word よろしく (Yorosiku) we can choose, 1. 宜しくお願いします (Yorosiku-onegai-simasu) 2. よろしく (Yorosiku) 3. よろしくネ (Yorosiku-ne) 4. ヨロシク (Yorosiku) No1 is the most polite expression and No4 is very casual. As I showed you above, we can choose the level of politeness and how serious we are by choosing these three letters.

Do robots make human lives more comfortable? Robots technology has developed more than ever before and it is said that nearly half of the jobs people are doing now would be replaced by robots in near future. Do robots make human lives more comfortable? The answer is partly “yes”. We don’t need to suffer from sever blue-collar tasks, manual, simple and boring labors. But I think the development of robots limits human choices of their occupations. One is “highly intelligent works” such as; create new products, market research, management of human organization, renovation of present system and so on. These are fields which robots cannot replace. The other is “jobs taking care of people” such as; nurse, teacher, caregiver and so on. We prefer human warm hearted cares rather than robots programed cares. On the other hand, for those who are not intelligent enough to win “highly intelligent works” and don’t have aptitude to do “jobs taking care of people”, what kinds of jobs are still remained for them? If you have any idea, please give me a comment.

How to use 「ちょっと」(chotto) in order to express “NO” When Japanese people want to say NO, we often use 「ちょっと」(chotto) instead of saying NO. I’d like to show you how we use this word. <example 1> 「仕事（しごと）が終（お）わったら、食事（しょくじ）に行（い）きませんか？」 「ごめんなさい。今日（きょう）はちょっと・・・」 -Why don’t we eat together after work today? -I’m sorry I can’t today. <example 2> 「この仕事（しごと）を今日中（きょうじゅう）に終（お）わらせてもらえますか？」 「それは、ちょっと・・・」 -Can you finish this task by today? -I’m sorry to say I can’t. In both cases, 「できません」(dekimasen: I can’t) must be put after 「ちょっと」but it’s omitted. We don’t like to say negative words directly so we only say 「ちょっと」and have a silent pause after the word. (「・・・」expresses the silent pause) In this method, we expect he/she to guess what we want to say and also express we feel sorry to say NO.

When should we use 「あなた」(anata)? The word　「あなた」is translated as ‘YOU’　and often used in Japanese textbooks, but in real life, we use this word only in specific occasions. I’d like to show you 4 ways to use 「あなた」 1. From a wife to her husband A wife call her husband 「あなた」to show intimacy 2. To place emphasize it’s ‘YOU’ I’m talking to Imagine there are two persons: Asan and Bsan and they usually call their names each other. When Asan uses 「あなた」to Bsan, Asan wants Bsan to pay attention to what Asan is going to say. 3. When we don’t know their names We use 「あなた」instead of calling their names when we don’t know them. [NOTE] In case of No2 and No3, it’s possible to use if one person is in higher positions such as: from a teacher to a student, from a doctor to a patient, from a boss to a subordinate. But it’s very rude to use 「あなた」from lower position to higher position. If a person in lower position wants to call a person in higher position, he must always call their names or their titles like 「先生」(sensei: teacher), 「部長」(buchou: general manager) and 「係長」(kakari-chou: group leader) 4. In books or advertisements, toward the public We often see 「あなた」in books, posters in trains and so on. In this case, 「あなた」is unspecific public who may read them. As I showed you above, we don’t use 「あなた」as you use ‘YOU’ in English. When you call a Japanese, I recommend to remember their names and use “family name + san” like 「田中さん」(tanaka-san)「佐藤さん」(satou-san). It is the most common and safe way to call persons.

How to call a person in Japanese? Traditionally, we have used places they usually are to show respect when we call a person or ourselves. For example: 1. あなた(anata): is now used to translate “YOU”, but its original meaning is “a person over there”. Although 「あなた」is often used in Japanese textbooks, we only use 「あなた」in specific occasions in real life. 2. 手前(temae): In contrast with 「あなた」, 「手前」means “a person in front of my hands=myself”. This word was used to call oneself in a modest manner. 3. 奥様(oku sama): 「奥」means “inside or in house”. This word is used to call a wife. This is because a wife was thought to be in house. 4. お前(omae): is impolite word to say “YOU”, means “a person in front of me”. 5. 北の方(kitanokata): was used to call a lawful wife of a nobleman, means a wife who lives in a northern house in the premise.(There were basically several wives in the premise) 6. 御屋形様／御館様(oyakata sama): was used to call a lord. 「館」and「屋形」both means “an aggregate of residences” or ”a castle”. It means “the head of the residences” 7. 殿様(tono sama): same as 「館／屋形」、「殿」also means “an aggregate of residences” or ”a castle” but it’s bigger. 8. お局様(otsubone sama): was used to call a high rank female officer working for emperors, generals, noblemen and so on. 「局」means a private room for an officer. These days, this word is used to call an office lady who is working for long time and overbearing to other workers. These are examples how we call persons according to where they are. We also use the positions or roles they play to call persons instead of calling their names. For example, we usually use 「社長(president)」「部長(general manager)」「先生(teacher)」when we call them. Or we use 「お父さん(father)」「お兄ちゃん(elder brother)」「おじいちゃん(grand father)」to call them or even to call themselves.