Exploring the Rich Diversity of Japanese Dialects

A predominantly homogenous nation, it may come as a surprise that the land of the rising sun contains multiple different Japanese dialects. The country consists of around 6,000 islands and…

Japanese to English Transliteration – How It’s Done

In the translation process, there are some words that simply don’t have an equivalent from the source language to the target language and this is where transliteration comes in. Transliteration…

Dubbing & Voice-over Recording in Japan

Have you heard of a seiyuu? It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that most of us have watched a creative video piece or listened to the radio where a…

Localization Quirks From English to Japanese

Global borders continue to shrink and this is becoming ever more evident when it comes to English to Japanese translations. Many Western companies are heading to Japan to offer their…

Can you translate acronyms from Asian languages?

An acronym is briefly defined as a shortened version of the various words that make up a meaningful phrase, with every first word of the phrase being abbreviated and then…

The Golden Week in Japan

From the 29th of April to the 5th of May each year, Japan and its citizens celebrate “Golden Week”. This period of festivities includes four very special holidays, which we…

Word Count for Japanese for Project Managers

For three years in the translation industry, I learned a trick or two on the peculiarities of working with Asian languages. Sometimes my quest for searching interesting and professional topics…

Itadakimasu – the Japanese Way to Live Life With Gratitude

There’s a Japanese saying that goes like this: “Seven Gods live in one grain of rice.” And what this means is that when one eats food, one should not waste…

What lies behind the names of Asian countries: Japan

What lies behind the names of Asian countries – Japan The land of the rising sun, Japan is home to a population of 126.3 million people. The country is known…

Proper punctuation when doing DTP in Japanese

In English, punctuation might be taken for granted. After all, the comma that adds a natural pause in a sentence or the period that marks its end are things seemingly…

Kokeshi Dolls – the story behind these small beauties

While known for its anime, sushi vending machines, punctual public transport system, as well as other cultural aspects, Japan is an interesting country and other less known aspects about its…

Kaiju – the monster from Japan and China that took over Hollywood

Halloween took place just about a month ago, but we`re here with some spooky stories about monsters from another land. You might be surprised to find out that Japanese culture…

Kawaii: the Japanese art of being “cute”

If you are a fan of manga, anime or Japanese culture as a whole, then you know pretty well that kawaii is not just another Japanese loanword. Kawaii is an…

Ikigai – the Japanese “reason for being”

Every person has their own pace of life and each of us decides for themselves just how much work is enough work. There are some that prefer leisure to hard…

Exploring Japanese loanwords in English

Loanwords are words adopted from another language and there is almost no language that doesn’t make use of such terms. However, when such words are “borrowed” they do not necessarily…

The Challenges of Gaming Localization in Japan

The interactive entertainment software industry, popularly known as the video game industry is reaching overwhelming numbers in net worth and profit from sales. Japan has the third-largest gaming market globally…

A linguistic journey through Japanese restaurant culture

Naturally, wherever we travel, we want to get to know the local cuisine. But each country has its own rules and subtleties, even in such simple matters as going to…

Localization through SEO in Asia: Episode: 3 Japan

If you have read or listened to our previous episodes about China and Korea’s search engines, you might have guessed that Japan, too, would have its own preferred search engine…

Yuki Matsuri – the coolest festival in Japan!

Winter has come to Japan, and a great deal of fun arrived with it. Contrary to the common tourist beliefs, Japan is charming not only in the spring — during…

Ever wondered which Japanese fonts you should use?

Japanese language is a fascinating topic, and inspired by our Japanese week we decided to keep things going and provide you with some practical information regarding it. One of the…