マンション — manshon
Your Japanese colleague casually mentions she lives in a mansion. She has 42 square metres, one bedroom and a washing machine…
Read →ハイテンション — hai tenshon
In English, "high tension" means somebody is about to throw a chair. In Japanese it means somebody has had two coffees and is…
Read →コンセント — konsento
You will ask, in English, where the consent is. There will be a pause. That pause is the sound of an entire language shift…
Read →サービス — saabisu
A plate arrives that you did not order. The owner says one word. That word means you are not paying for it.
Read →クレーム — kureemu
"We received a claim from a customer" does not mean insurance paperwork. It means somebody shouted at a 19-year-old for eleven…
Read →ナイーブ — naiibu
In English it means gullible and slightly stupid. In Japanese it means fragile and worth protecting. Same word, opposite…
Read →スキンシップ — sukinshippu
It is not a word in English, it sounds like it should be illegal, and it means hugging your kids.
Read →ワンピース — wanpiisu
"I got a new one piece for the wedding." Three different English speakers picture three different garments, and all three are…
Read →ファイト — faito
Shouted at exam candidates, marathon runners and people carrying heavy boxes. It is encouragement. It has never once been an…
Read →マイペース — mai peesu
Being called "my pace" in Japan is either the nicest thing anyone will say about you, or an extremely gentle warning to your…
Read →バイキング — baikingu
A hotel breakfast menu in Japan will cheerfully advertise a "Viking". Nobody at the omelette station is wearing a horned…
Read →ペーパードライバー — peepaa doraibaa
Ask enough people in Tokyo whether they drive and you'll hear the same hesitation, over and over: a small pause, then "well… I…
Read →フリーター — furiitaa
In 1987 it meant a young person who refused the lifetime desk job on purpose. A few years later it meant the desk job had…
Read →マイブーム — mai buumu
Somewhere in Japan right now, someone is deep into keeping a single houseplant alive, or drinking impossibly bitter canned…
Read →シルバー — shirubaa
Silver means a color, a metal, second place. In Japan it also means retired, and there is a good chance it means you get a seat…
Read →サイダー — saidaa
In most of the English-speaking world, cider means apples, and often alcohol. In Japan it means the exact same word, poured…
Read →スマート — sumaato
In English, telling someone they're smart is about their mind. In Japan, the exact same borrowed word is about their…
Read →モーニング — mooningu
In English, "morning" is a time of day. In Nagoya it is a noun with mass and calories, and it arrives at your table whether you…
Read →カンニング — kanningu
In English, cunning describes a fox, a business plan, or a slightly-too-clever coworker. In a Japanese classroom, the same word…
Read →サラリーマン — sarariiman
In English, "salary man" is barely even a phrase — it's just a slightly redundant way to say someone gets paid monthly instead…
Read →Hang on — the rest of this site is in Japanese?
It is. JAPAN NOW is the English corner of 英会話学習ラボ, a site that teaches English to Japanese learners. Which means the other 600 pages are the exact mirror of this one: what Japanese people find impossible about your language, what they are taught, and where the misunderstandings actually begin. If this page was fun, that is the other half of the same joke.
Look at the Japanese side