Kana-Only Words
These words are typically written in hiragana and/or katakana.
Kanken Level 2 - High School Kanji 2
The Kanji Kentai (Kanken) Level 2 adds 185 characters taught in high school, for a total of 2136 characters. 挨 · 曖 · 宛 · 嵐 · 畏 · 萎...
Kanken Level Pre-2 - High School Kanji 1
The Kanji Kentai (Kanken) Level Pre-2 adds 328 characters taught in high school, for a total of 1951 characters. 亜 · 尉 · 逸 · 姻 · 韻 · 畝...
Kanken Level 3 - Middle School Kanji 2
The Kanji Kentai (Kanken) Level 3 adds 284 characters taught in middle school, for a total of 1623 characters. 哀 · 慰 · 詠 · 悦 · 閲 · 炎...
Kanken Level 4 - Middle School Kanji 1
The Kanji Kentai (Kanken) Level 4 adds 313 characters taught in middle school, for a total of 1339 characters. 握 · 扱 · 依 · 威 · 為 · 偉...
Kanken Level 5 - Grade 6 Kanji
The Kanji Kentai (Kanken) Level 5 adds the 191 characters taught in elementary school grade 6, for a total of 1026 characters. 胃 · 異 · 遺 · 域 ·...
Kanken Level 6 - Grade 5 Kanji
The Kanji Kentai (Kanken) Level 6 adds the 193 characters taught in elementary school grade 5, for a total of 835 characters. 圧 · 囲 · 移 · 因 ·...
Kanken Level 7 - Grade 4 Kanji
The Kanji Kentai (Kanken) Level 7 adds the 202 characters taught in elementary school grade 4, for a total of 642 characters. 愛 · 案 · 以 · 衣 ·...
Kanken Level 8 - Grade 3 Kanji
The Kanji Kentai (Kanken) Level 8 adds the 200 characters taught in elementary school grade 3, for a total of 440 characters. 悪 · 安 · 暗 · 医 ·...
Kanken Level 9 - Grade 2 Kanji
The Kanji Kentai (Kanken) Level 9 adds the 160 characters taught in elementary school grade 2, for a total of 240 characters. 引 · 羽 · 雲 · 園 ·...
Kanken Level 10 - Grade 1 Kanji
The Kanji Kentai (Kanken) Level 10 covers the 80 characters taught in elementary school grade 1. 一 · 右 · 雨 · 円 · 王 · 音 · 下 ·...
2024 in Review
I wrote a haiku-ish poem for every day of the year (an exercise I don't think I will ever repeat). They can be found here. I read some books this...
JYM Part 1 - The Summer Before
Introductory Note from 2024: These posts were from a Blogger blog I maintained between 2005 and 2006 while studying abroad on the Junior Year in Munich. Unfortunately, my blogger export...
Art: Seen Peanuts
It's been years since I last tried using a dip pen and ink, but I recently bought a cheap Speedball set and have done a few inkings to exercise remembering...
The Chambers Dictionary, Revised 13th Edition
General Details Title: The Centruy Dictionary, Revised 13th Edition Volumes: 1 Language: English Publisher: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd Year: 2016 Pages: 1860 + 32 The Chambers Dictionary features a quote...
On Headbands: The Katyusha or Alice Band
I'm trying to read more, in all of my languages, and my current Japanese book is the novelization of 君の名は。 or Your Name. I came across this word I didn't...
Kraft Mayonnaise Attempts to "Hack" the Merriam-Webster Word of the Year
The marketing minds behind Kraft Brand Mayonnaise sent an 8-foot replica of a jar of mayonnaise to the offices of Merriam-Webster. According to their Instagram post, this gift of "the...
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year 2023
A couple of days ago Merriam-Webster announced that its Word of the Year for 2023 is "authentic", triumphing over trendy words like "rizz" and "deepfake." In their blog post on...
Japan Day 12: Flying Home
I managed to get everything into my (now very heavy) backpack. I had a few hours to kill, so I decided to kill my back a little and visit a...
Japan Day 11: Tokyo Tower and Shopping
Today was my last full day. I started off by going to Tokyo Tower. It’s maybe not as cool now that Tokyo Skytree exists (Tokyo Tower is 1092 feet tall;...
Japan Day 10: Casio Inventions, Gundam, and French Fries
First, to go back to last night, I wanted to sleep but was prevented from doing so by street construction that began promptly at 8pm. Japanese culture centers around serving...
Japan Day 9: Traveling to Tokyo and Asakusa
I had a bit of a lazy morning. I had breakfast while talking to the owner of the hotel (he’s a native English speaker who just happened to have been...
Japan Day 8: Michael Ende and Elephants
I was very upset when I found out it was supposed to rain all day. I took the JR local train from Matsumoto to Nagano, and then took an even...
Japan Day 7: Woodblock Prints and Matsumoto Castle
Left Kyoto very early this morning and headed into the mountains to Matsumoto. I recorded video of one of the Shinkansen arriving and departing, in case you didn’t get enough...