Japanese passive forms can be difficult to get used to at first. Finding a few phrases you understand, such as 初めて言われました, can make it easier to access others. Check out the newsletter and the blog for more info.

Feel free to reach out with any questions or 悩み事 to howtojapanese@gmail.com.

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This month, I wrote about 御社 (onsha) and 弊社 (heisha), two business words used to mean "your (honorable) company" and "my (humble) company." These were difficult for me to differentiate at first, but I have a helpful mnemonic, and a helpful way to understand how they get used: essentially they function as pronouns. Check out the newsletter and the blog.

Feel free to reach out with any questions or 悩み事 to howtojapanese@gmail.com.

You can also follow How to Japanese on the newsletter, Bluesky, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

I'm taking December off to prep for parental leave, so I went back through some of my favorite writing from the past 18 years. Give it a listen, and don't forget the newsletter and the blog.

Feel free to reach out with any questions or 悩み事 to howtojapanese@gmail.com.

You can also follow How to Japanese on the newsletter, Bluesky, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

当日 is an extremely efficient little word that can refer to any specific day in the past or the future. Tune in to learn how to incorporate it into your active Japanese instead of trying to use grammar from your native language translated into Japanese. For more, check out the newsletter and the blog.

Feel free to reach out with any questions or 悩み事 to howtojapanese@gmail.com.

You can also follow How to Japanese on the newsletter, Bluesky, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

謎です。 This is all you need to get a laugh in Japanese, given the right situation. Listen to learn more about how to use this funny phrase, and to dig into the career of comedian Katagiri Jin who acted in a comedy short that went viral on the internet outside of Japan in the late 2000s. See more on the newsletter and blog.

Feel free to reach out with any questions or 悩み事 to howtojapanese@gmail.com.

You can also follow How to Japanese on the newsletter, Bluesky, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

Re-orient yourself in receiver-oriented expressions of thanks! If that sounds complicated, it's not, I promise. Essentially, I show you how to replace your くださって with an いただき and take a look at some interesting language trends that I hope actual linguists are looking into. I've also got a beer recommendation and a way for you to get rid of stuff for free in Japan. See more on the newsletter and the blog.

Feel free to reach out with any questions or 悩み事 to howtojapanese@gmail.com.

You can also follow How to Japanese on the newsletter, Bluesky, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

This month I wrote about one of the very first topics I ever covered on the blog: How do you convey reported information in Japanese? And how does it differ from conveying information in English? ということです is a super convenient way to do so, as long as you do the work of setting up clear context. Take a look on the blog or on the newsletter, which is now at newsletter.howtojapanese.com.

Feel free to reach out with any questions or 悩み事 to howtojapanese@gmail.com.

You can also follow How to Japanese on the newsletter, Bluesky, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

This month I'm taking a look at another set of "impossible pairs." Except this time, they aren't homophones. I've also got soup recommendations, details on the Osaka Expo, and some rambling about 商店街 (shōtengai) shopping arcades. Head to the newsletter and blog for more.

Feel free to reach out with any questions or 悩み事 to howtojapanese@gmail.com.

You can also follow How to Japanese on Substack, Bluesky, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.