On my drive to work the other day, I somehow got to running off a list of all the Japanese words that I know and I was really surprised by how many Japanese words are in my vocabulary. Of course, many are names of products and food...but still.So, in no particular order, here are the Japanese words I know:
Sony, Sanyo, Casio, Citizen, Hitachi, Nintendo, Panasonic, Toshiba, Honda, Toyota, Mazda, Nissan, Isuzu, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, Subaru, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Nikon, Fuji, Pentax, Suntory, tofu, soy, sushi, sashimi, futomaki, chirashi, hamachi, maguro, ramen, miso, soba, somen, sake, yakitori,negamaki, sukiyaki, teriyaki, teppanyaki, hibachi, tamari, umami, yuzu, ponzu, umeboshi, tonkatsu, mochi, tempura, udon, gyoza, shiitake, maitake, matsutake, edamame, shiso, mirin, panko, adzuki, wasabi, bento, daikon, dashi, bonito, nori, futomaki, omakase, kaiseki, koi, bonsai, ikebana, akita, shiba inu, sumo, judo, karate, kamikaze, harakiri, kabuki, origami, tatami, futon, shoji, geisha, maiko, obi, tansu, samurai, shogun, ninja, katana,yakuza, zen, shinto, anime, haiku, karaoke, kudzu, sensei, shiatsu, sodoku, tsunami, ryokan and last but not least, sayonara.
As I wrote down the words, I was really surprised by how many there were and that I could rattle them off so easily!
By the time I arrived at work, I had come to the conclusion that I came to was that I know a lot of Japanese words. But, what do I know really of this country? Very little, I've come to realize.
So, I have a lot of learning to do between now and the time I leave!
