December 03, 2021

Amazing Japanese Calligraphers on Instagram (part 1.5 bonus!) - Emi Yogai 恵美・曄涯

December 03, 2021/ Brighton, UK/ Fran Wrigley

I can't believe I wrote an entire blog post about calligrapher @yogai888emi and forgot to include this amazing pun.

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A post shared by 恵美・曄涯　書道 (@yogai888emi)

タイ料理が食べタイ
tai ryouri ga tabe-tai
"I want to eat Thai food."

What's the Japanese word for "Thai?" it's タイ (tai). And how do you say "want to eat" in Japanese? You stick -tai on the end of the verb.

It's funny, right?

Cute, too ♡

Read more in this series:

Amazing Japanese Calligraphers on Instagram (Part 1) - Emi Yogai 恵美・曄涯

Amazing Japanese Calligraphers on Instagram (Part 2) - Mitsuru Nagata

Amazing Calligraphers on Instagram (Part 3) - Isawo Murayama

Amazing Calligraphers on Instagram (Part 4) - Uchiyama Kenichi

First published 25th Jan 2018; updated 30th Nov 2021

Featured articles:

Jul 1, 2022

The Magic of Tadoku: “Extensive reading” in Japanese

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This is the English version of an article I wrote last year which is now published in a Japanese book! 日本語多読上～広がり深化する多読 (Nihongo Tadoku Jou: Hirogaru Shinka Suru Tadoku) is an introduction to Japanese extensive reading that incorporates new practices, research, and knowledge.

How I discovered Tadoku
Ever since a short trip to Japan when I was 19, I’ve been obsessed with the Japanese language. After university I moved to Japan, where I worked in Nagoya city for four years. On returning to the UK in 2014, I started teaching Japanese in Brighton at my school, Step Up Japanese…

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One Year of (Sort of) Learning French

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Like many people in the UK, I studied French in school. I liked French. I thought it was really fun to speak another language, to talk with people, and to try and listen to what was going on in a new country. (Still do!)

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Dec 22, 2021

Amazing Japanese Calligraphers on Instagram (Part 4) - Uchiyama Kenichi

Dec 22, 2021

Uchiyama is a designer from Yokohama, Japan.

He posts clean, minimalist Japanese handwriting on a separate handwriting Instagram account.

I'm not even sure if you can call it calligraphy, it's so gloriously simple. But he's got nice handwriting, and I love having it in my feed.

Dec 22, 2021

Dec 17, 2021

Amazing Japanese Calligraphers on Instagram (Part 3) - Isawo Murayama

Dec 17, 2021

Hello and welcome to the third instalment of "Amazing Japanese Calligraphers on Instagram", where I introduce amazing artists making Japanese calligraphy - and sharing it online.

Isawo Murayama is a busy mum-of-four who makes time to create new pieces daily.

Her work feels a bit like a diary - together with her descriptive Instagram captions, her calligraphy offers up a little slice of her day-to-day life.

Traditional Japanese calligraphy uses a brush which is dipped into ink, but Murayama uses a 筆ペン (fude-pen) or "brush pen".

Dec 17, 2021

Dec 10, 2021

Amazing Japanese Calligraphers on Instagram (Part 2) - Mitsuru Nagata

Dec 10, 2021

Mitsuru Nagata was born in Kyoto, and works extensively in Spain. His work combines elements of calligraphy with sumi-e (Japanese ink painting) techniques.

He performs at "live-painting" events, where he produces huge calligraphy paintings in front of a live audience.

These large-scale performances are often at festivals…

Dec 10, 2021

Dec 3, 2021

Amazing Japanese Calligraphers on Instagram (part 1.5 bonus!) - Emi Yogai 恵美・曄涯

Dec 3, 2021

I can't believe I wrote an entire blog post about calligrapher Emi Yogai and forgot to include this amazing pun…

Dec 3, 2021

Nov 30, 2021

Amazing Japanese Calligraphers on Instagram (Part 1) - Emi Yogai 恵美・曄涯

Nov 30, 2021

I absolutely love kanji - Chinese characters that are also used in Japanese writing.

But calligraphy is not my strong point. My writing is good, but not particularly beautiful.

I have, however, recently become slightly obsessed with instagrammers who post Japanese calligraphy photos.

So I thought it might be fun to share some with you!

I first discovered @yogai888emi via this adorable story about falling asleep on the train…

Nov 30, 2021

Sep 14, 2021

A Brief Guide to Japanese Emoji: Food

Sep 14, 2021

Do you remember the first time you used an emoji?

I do. It was kind of overwhelming. I scrolled and scrolled through my new Japanese phone, and wondered what all these little pictures could possibly be for.

Because emoji originated in Japan, some of them are quite specific to Japanese culture.

Some are obvious - but others might not mean what you think! Let’s take a look at some specifically Japanese emoji.

Sep 14, 2021

Sep 1, 2021

Is it "douzo" or "dozo"?

Sep 1, 2021

"Wait, is it douzo? In the book it says dōzo..."

It's both. And it's neither!

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Sep 1, 2021

Aug 25, 2021

2021 Student Summer Picnic!

Aug 25, 2021

Thank you to everyone (including those not pictured) who came to our student picnic at the weekend!

We had fun meeting up outdoors, drinking tea, eating Japanese snacks and talking about Japan-related (and non-Japan-related) things.

It was so good to see students in person after such a long time!

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Aug 11, 2021

More Ways of Counting in Japanese with "Ippon Demo Ninjin"

Aug 11, 2021

My student shared the funny song "Ippon Demo Ninjin" with us recently.

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Aug 10, 2021

What's The Difference Between Tabemono and Ryouri?

Aug 10, 2021

"Why does this homework say the Japanese word for food is ryouri? I thought you said the word for food was tabemono?"

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So, what’s the difference between ryouri and tabemono? Consider the following:

Potatoes are tabemono, but they're not ryouri.

Aug 10, 2021

The One Million Meanings of Yoroshiku

Aug 10, 2021

So, you’ve learned different ways to say "Nice to meet you!" in Japanese. One way to say “nice to meet you” is “yoroshiku onegai shimasu”.

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Jul 22, 2021

Six Ways To Say "Happy Birthday" In Japanese

Jul 22, 2021

So you want to wish your Japanese-speaking friends "happy birthday" in Japanese.

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First of all, let's say “Happy Birthday”:

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Apr 14, 2021

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Apr 14, 2021

Did you know Japan has the most umbrellas per person, of any country in the world? For every person in Japan, there are 3.3 umbrellas.

At least three of them are mine, left outside shops and restaurants…

In 2011, I had just moved to Japan and I moved into my new flat on the outskirts of Nagoya city. At the weekends I'd head to Daiso, the 100-yen shop, to buy bits and pieces for my new flat.

One day, I left my umbrella in the stand outside the 100-yen shop. It was quite a nice umbrella - a neat little folding one, and it had been a present from my brother, so I went back to the shop the next day.

My little blue umbrella wasn't in the rack, so I asked at the till.

Apr 14, 2021

Dec 11, 2020

"Does Japanese Have Plurals?"

Dec 11, 2020

After the excitement of our first school Summer Barbecue, I spent the day in bed watching one of my favourite films in Japanese.

It wasn’t a Japanese film though. I watched Hot Fuzz (or to give its Japanese title ホット・ファズ -俺たちスーパーポリスメン "Hot Fuzz: We Are The Super-Policemen!")

Watching British comedies dubbed into Japanese might not be the "purest" way to listen to Japanese. But if you enjoy it, it's definitely worth doing. Dubbed films are easy to watch, too, assuming you've seen the film before and know the plot already.

Anyway, there's a little scene in the Hotto Fazzu dub that's a nice example of Japanese plurals in action, so I thought I'd share it with you.

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Nov 13, 2020

Tadoku - Let's Read! Course Introduction Video (and transcript)

Nov 13, 2020

Tadoku (多読), also called Extensive Reading, is the practice of learning a foreign language by reading lots of easy books. It's a really fun way to explore the Japanese language, without feeling pressure to understand every word.

This footage is from the 2019 Tadoku Summer Course at Step Up Japanese in Brighton, UK. In summer 2020, we also held our first Online Tadoku course.

Thanks to Daniel Sheen for making this video!

Watch the video, or scroll down to read a transcript. Click "CC" to turn on the subtitles 👍

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Oct 27, 2020

Games in Japanese - Course Introduction Video (and transcript)

Oct 27, 2020

On Games in Japanese (日本語でゲーム), we practise communicating in Japanese by playing games!

This footage is from the 2019 Games in Japanese Summer Course at Step Up Japanese in Brighton, UK. In summer 2020, we also held our first Online Games in Japanese course.

Thanks to Daniel Sheen for making this video!

Watch the video, or scroll down to read a transcript.

Oct 27, 2020

Oct 26, 2020

How Do You Say "Nice to Meet You" in Japanese?

Oct 26, 2020

Hurray! You've met another Japanese-speaking person. Time to introduce yourself.

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はじめまして。Hajimemashite. "Nice to meet you"

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Oct 26, 2020

Oct 23, 2020

How to Read The Japanese News (Or Any Japanese Website!) with Rikaichan

Oct 23, 2020

When I first moved back to Brighton from Japan I had a lot of time on my hands. I also didn't have a job, so I was desperate for free Japanese reading material.

So I started borrowing Japanese books from the library.

This plan was not exactly a success. It turns out reading Twilight in Japanese is only slightly more entertaining than reading it in English.

But we are really lucky to live in a world where, if you have internet access, you can read just about anything you want in Japanese online. And the news is a great place to start.

Oct 23, 2020

Why Does Everybody Forget Katakana?

Oct 23, 2020

I'll let you into a secret. I used to hate katakana.

Students of Japanese tend to start with its two phonetic alphabets. We start with hiragana, the loopy, flowing letters that make up all the sounds of Japanese.

Then we move on to katakana - all the same sounds, but in angular blocky font.

Hiragana seems fairly straightforward, I think. And when you start learning Japanese everything you read is written in hiragana, so by reading you constantly reinforce and remember.

Katakana? Not so much.

Oct 23, 2020

Apr 7, 2020

A Year of Monthly Japanese Learning Challenges

Apr 7, 2020

How do you keep practising Japanese, even when it doesn’t seem relevant? How do you stay motivated, when your life and your motivations change?

At the beginning of 2019, I decided to set myself a series of monthly Japanese study challenges. I’d do one every other month, and blog about it.

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What's the Difference Between Mina and Minna (And Why Does It Matter Anyway?)

Apr 7, 2020

If you watch Japanese TV or anime (or are paying attention in class) you've probably come across the Japanese word mina-san (皆さん) meaning "everybody".

But what's the difference between mina and minna? What's mina-sama all about? And ... does it actually matter?

Apr 7, 2020

How to Learn Hiragana and Katakana using Mnemonics

Apr 7, 2020

I finally got around to going through the mid-course feedback from my students and drawing up plans to incorporate some of what you asked for into the rest of the course. Several learners mentioned the importance of learning the kana early on.

Learning to read Japanese can be a daunting task. The Japanese language has three distinct "alphabets" (four if you count romaji!) and learning kanji is a task that takes years. You can learn the kana (hiragana and katakana) pretty quickly, though, if you use the most efficient way to memorise them - mnemonics.

Apr 7, 2020

Plateaus in Language Learning and How to Overcome Them

Apr 7, 2020

Do you remember the first conversation you ever had in a foreign language?

The first three years I was learning Japanese I basically studied quite hard for tests and barely opened my mouth. I liked kanji, and what I saw as the oddness of the Japanese language. Three "alphabets"! A million different ways of counting things! I liked hiragana - so pretty! I studied hard and thought my university Japanese exams were easy.

Then, on holiday in China, I met a Japanese woman (at a super-interesting Sino-Japanese cultural exchange club, but that's a story for another time). I tried to speak to her in Japanese. And I couldn't say anything.

Apr 7, 2020

Mar 31, 2020

A Trip to Japanese Vegetable Farm Namayasai, or, Why I Had a Shungiku Omelette for Breakfast this Morning

Mar 31, 2020

Did you know there's a dedicated Japanese vegetable farm right here in Sussex?

I spent a Saturday with the Brighton Japan Club at Namayasai, near Lewes. Namayasai a Japanese vegetable farm owned by Robin and Ikuko, from Devon and Japan respectively, and is a Natural Agriculture farm - a specific type of organic farming that uses no pesticides / herbicides / artificial fertilisers.

Mar 31, 2020

Three Favourite Japanese Jokes

Mar 31, 2020

The worst job interview I ever had started with the interviewer asking me to tell him a joke.

I sat there flustered for a while before mumbling something about a man walking into a bar. The interviewer rolled his eyes.

I didn't get the job.

Sitting in a smokey cafe after the interview I remembered The Michael Jackson Joke which is probably the best beginner-Japanese joke of all time. I should've told him that one! Although he probably would have rolled his eyes at that too...

Mar 31, 2020

Mar 2, 2020

"How Did You Learn Japanese?"

Mar 2, 2020

When I tell people I'm a Japanese teacher they quite often ask: how did you learn Japanese? And I don't find this question particularly easy to answer.

Sometimes I give a quick answer which is that I used to live there.

But you can live in Japan for years and not learn Japanese.

I've met lots of people like this (and there's nothing wrong with that, unless learning Japanese is the reason you moved to Japan).

The long and more honest answer to "how come you speak Japanese?":

Mar 2, 2020

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Amazing Japanese Calligraphers on Instagram (part 1.5 bonus!) - Emi Yogai 恵美・曄涯