NIPPON no Mame-Chishiki

It's February.  In Japan, January is commonly called “1-gatu (ichi-gatu)” February is called “2gatu (ni-gatu)” and March is called “3gatu (san-gatu)” but there are many other ways to call it. Today, I would like to talk about “Kisaragi,” another name for February. The word “kisaragi” means to put on layers of clothes to protect against the cold, and since February is the coldest month of the year, it is used to describe it. “Kisaragi” is expressed with two kanji characters, which are the characters used to express the meaning of the word.The first is not read as “kisa” and the second as "ragi. This kanji is derived from a word found in the oldest Chinese dictionary, “Jiga”. It came to Japan from China during the Heian period (794-1185). In other words, the ancient Japanese kept the form of the letters but adapted the reading to suit the climate of Japan. “Kisaragi” has another kanji character. This three-character kanji is easier to understand than the two-character one, both ...

"Mame Chishiki" means trivia. "Mame" means beans, and "Chishiki" means knowledge. Knowledge as small as a bean is called "Mame Chishiki". In Japanese, small is expressed as “Mame”. A small Shiba Inu is "Mame Shiba", a small piece of charcoal is "Mame Tan", a toy gun with no power is "Mame Teppou",etc. In Japanese, “Mame” mostly refers to food, but it can also mean ‘small’ or “little” in this way. In Japan, there is a female vocal group called "Mame-Shiba no Taigun". "Mame Shiba“ means a small Shiba dog, and ”Taigun" means a horde or large group. The group is called “Taigun” (horde), but it has five members. They are what is called an “idol” group in Japan, and were born as a result of an audition for a TV show. I first learned that “Japanese idols” were a bit strange and unique when I read William Ford Gibson's novel “Idoru” (1996). Reading this novel, I learned that “idols” are unique from a ...

 My name is TAKUAN OKAKA. I am a Japanese living in Japan. I do graphic design and produce radio programs for a living. I like to see foreigners enjoying Japanese anime and music. After seeing many reactions, I decided to start this blog and Youtube to let people know more about Japan. In this blog and Youtube, I will introduce various trivia about Japan. There are many strange words and customs in Japan. I hope this will be a small hint to deepen your understanding of Japan. My English is at a junior high school level (DEGAWA English!!), but I hope to improve it through this activity. I will mainly use Google Translate and DeepL for the challenge. Thank you in advance.I work as a graphic designer and radio producer in Japan. On X, I will give updates on the blog. https://x.com/takuanokaka On Instagram, I update silly daily photos. https://www.instagram.com/takuanokaka/ On PIXPAY, I posting some photos and illustrations. https://pixabay.com/users/takuanokaka-48601997/