How do you call your wife?

Today, let's talk about the way of describing your family members.

As you may know, in Japanese, describing about your family is different  from family of others.

For example...

私の兄 (watashi no ani) : my brother
私の友達のお兄さん (watashi no tomodachi no oniisan) : my friend's brother

In the past, it was said that wives should stay home and be quiet in Japan.
(In the past, I mean 30years ago... maybe 20years ago or it might be even now, unfortunately.)

The way of calling wives describes the situation a lot.

The common way of saying "wife" is 奥さん (okusan).
奥 of 奥さん means "the inner part" "behind", because wives were always inside the house.

家内 (kanai) is same. 家 means house and 内 means inside.

(奥さん is used for other person's wife and 家内 is used for your own wife)

More unbelievable example, there is a word 愚妻 (gusai).
愚 means "stupid" and 妻 means "wife".
Stupid wife!
When they talked about their wives in a modest way, they used this word.
My stupid wife!!!

I've heard my father used this word when he talked with his boss.
My mother didn't say anything at that time, but she complained later.
If it happened 40years ago, the wife couldn't even complain and the expression sounded natural.
Now, if my husband said 愚妻 (gusai) about me, hmm, it seems difficult to continue our marriage life...

By the way, recently, the way of describing your own wives is quite different depending on the person, especially in the casual situation.
(In the formal situation, you usually say 妻 (tsuma) or 家内 (kanai) )

Here are some examples.
① 嫁 (yome)
② カミさん (kamisan)
③ うちの (uchino)
④ 奥さん (okusan)
⑤ ワイフ (waifu)

① 嫁 (yome) originally meant "my son's wife". I don't know why this word is used so often as "my wife" now.

③ うちの (uchino) sounds "my home's", but it's used as one word (noun) like
うちのは買い物が好き (uchino wa kaimono ga suki)
"My wife likes shopping." 

④ Though 奥さん (okusan) is usually used for other person's wife, recently they often use this for their wife in the casual situation.

Which one do you often hear?

Oyaji-gyagu for Valentine's day

Posters at a supermarket.

チョコっとハッピー

(chokotto happi-)

Be happy a little more with chocolate

ちょこっと means "a little" and チョコ means "chocolate", too.

非常におトク
(hijou ni otoku)
It's very reasonable.

非常(hijou) means not only "emergency" but also "very".
非常におトク means "it's very reasonable" but not "reasonable for emergency".

お金ウキウキ
(okane ukiuki)
Saving money makes me cheerful.

お金が浮きます(okane ga ukimasu) means "to save money" and ウキウキ means "cheerful, buoyant".


Well, those all are like "オヤジギャグ(oyaji-gyagu)".
Do you know what オヤジギャグ is?
(Does your language have オヤジギャグ, too?)
I can't find out how I should explain オヤジギャグ in English...let me know if you know it please!

I found those posters at SEIYU, a famous chain supermarket. 

I love fox noodle♪

Do you like Japanese food?
You know, we have some popular food here in Japan like Sushi, Tempura, Shabushabu…
Besides those popular menus, we have some food called unique (strange?) name.


① きつねうどん (kitsune udon) “fox udon (fox noodle)”
② たぬきそば (tanuki soba) “raccoon dog soba (raccoon dog soba)”
③ ねこまんま (neko manma) “cat rice”
④ 親子丼 (oyako don) “parents and child rice bowl”


① きつねうどん (kitsune udon) is udon with deep fried bean curd.
I’ve heard it’s because foxes like deep fried bean curd.


② たぬきそば (tanuki soba) is soba with 天かす (tenkasu) and spring onions. Tenkasu is kind of tempura.
But tenkasu doesn’t have any ingredient inside.
Should I call it “Bits of Deep-Fried Tempura Batter” maybe?
Here’s the photo of tanuki soba.



③ ねこまんま (neko manma) is rice with dried bonito and soy sauce.
The definition of neko manma is different depending on the area in Japan.
Some people call neko manma a bowl with miso soup on rice.


④ 親子丼 (oyako don) is a bowl of rice topped with chicken and eggs.
It’s because chicken and eggs are “parents and child”.
It’s cute, isn’t it?


Have you ever tried those food?
I love all of them.
If you know any interesting name of food in your language, let me know please!

She lives near the red road.

I’ve heard that seeing old women with purple hair in Japan is surprising for foreigners.

Some old people like changing their hair to bright color and it’s not so unusual to see those people in Japan.

I think it’s because Japanese (Asian) hair is very black and it’s difficult to change the color when we are young.

So, when we get old and have white hair, it’s a good chance to enjoy changing hair color.

By the way, knowing the idea of color is quite different depends on the language.

Do you know what the following expressions describe?

① 肌が黒い (hada ga kuroi) “the skin is black”

② 目が黒い (me ga kuroi) “the eyes are black”

③ 金髪 (kinpatsu) “gold hair”

④ 赤道 (sekidoo) “red road”

① 肌が黒い (hada ga kuroi) means “sunburned, tan”.

In Japan most of women try NOT to get suntan.

This expression doesn’t have bad nuance, but be careful with using it!

② 目が黒い (me ga kuroi) means “alive”.

Because, when people die, their eyes are not black anymore…??

③ 金髪 (kinpatsu) means “blond hair”.

To be accurate, Japanese 金髪 (kinpatsu) is a little different from blond.

When Japanese people try to change the hair color to blond, eventually it becomes gold.

But we call Westerners’ blond 金髪 (kinpatsu), too.

④ 赤道 (sekidoo) means “equator”.

I guess it’s because red color is used in a map, maybe??

Again, about hair color, recently, some dogs have strange “hair color” in Japan.

The hair salon where I usually go has a “hair color course for pets”, too.

What poor dogs! (>_<)

Girls having wrinkles are cute☆

When you describe someone’s face, what kind of expressions do you use?
“She has big eyes.”
“She has freckled cheeks.”
“He has heavy bread.”

In Japan, we often talk about the eyelids, too.
If there is a wrinkle on the eyelid, it’s called 二重 (futae), “double edged eyelid”. If there isn’t a wrinkle, it’s 一重 (hitoe), “single-edged eyelid”.
If there might be a wrinkle, but you cannot see is, it’s 奥二重 (okubutae) … Hmm… I can’t describe this word in English…

Usually, people want 二重 (futae).
There are a lot of cosmetics which you use to make your eyelids seem double-edged.
Also plastic surgery for making a wrinkle on the eyelid is popular here in Japan.

Especially, when you talk about someone cute, you comment about their eyelids.

「彼女は二重でかわいいね。」
(kanojo wa futae de kawaii ne)
「二重というより奥二重じゃない？でもとにかくかわいいね！」
(futae to iuyori okubutae janai? demo tonikaku kawaii ne!)


“She has double edged eyelids and is cue.”
“She has more of 奥二重 (okubutae) than double egded eyelids, doesn’t she? She is cute anyway!”

Also, when we describe people’s faces, we use 濃い (koi) and 薄い (usui).

濃い (koi) means thick, strong, deep, dark.
薄い (usui) means thin, flat, sheer.

I’ve been thinking how I can explain those two words in English for long time, but I still have no idea.
Actually, even in Japanese, it’s quite hard to explain… But most of Japanese people understand and use those expressions.
If you know the words and have a good idea for translating to English, let me know please!