My favorite season in Japan is definitely spring. You’ve got cherry blossoms, fair weather, and the official end of winter. The only problem is that with spring comes hay fever. You know the deal, constant sneezing, a runny nose, and itchy eyes that that can only come from an overabundance of pollen.

So with hay fever hell just around the corner, it’s time to stay ahead of the curve with some potent hay fever medicine. The only problem? Navigating through all those labels. After all, drugstores literally have entire sections dedicated to fighting off that pesky pollen.

Know the basic language surrounding hay fever

Here are some kanji found on over-the-counter medicine to look for depending on your symptoms.

Should OTC not be enough to relieve your symptoms, Japan has a whole host of hay fever products that help with those itchy eyes.

Looking at the package

One thing that I never appreciated before coming to Japan is that there are many different ways to take your medicine. After all, not all of us are okay swallowing pills the size of a reasonably big beetle. Here are a few different types.

Medicines that contain fexofenadine, are mainly used to alleviate allergies related to skin conditions like dermatitis or eczema. Those with epinastine hydrochloride are used to treat bronchial asthma or food allergies.

These may be joined with the kanji 入（い）り, meaning inside the packet, so don’t be confused if you see this mark next to any of …continue reading

    

Living in Japan can be confusing sometimes, especially when it comes to daily tasks like going to the bank. A lot of what you might do at a bank in your home country with the assistance of a teller is often done at the ATM in Japan. While some ATMs in Japan have an English option, others do not.

I can still remember my first time going to the bank to sort out my affairs by myself and how intimidated I felt by all the unfamiliar kanji. Pretty much the only words I could read were the English origin words キャッシュカード (cash card) and クレジットカード (credit card).

Despite a relatively successful trip, I left the bank a little nervous that I had told the banker the wrong thing or pressed the wrong button and sent all of my money to some stranger in a remote part of Japan by mistake!

Not to worry, with these four words you can do everything you need to do at the ATM:

Getting paid

Now that you know the basic words for withdrawing and transferring money, the next thing you need to know is how to check your account balance (残（ざん）高（だか）).

残（）高（） is an interesting word because it is made up of the kanji found in the words 残（のこ）る(left over) and 高（たか）いいい (high), presumably because the amount of money you have left (残る) is high (高い) in your account (残高). Banking humor… you’ve got to have a memorization method, right?

If you want to check your account balance, you are going to have to learn some common Japanese banking terms. Luckily, most of this information can be found by simply looking at your bank card.

On the bank card, you’ll find …continue reading

    

Did you meet a Japanese girl or guy but have no idea what to say to them in Japanese? I have come to rescue you. Here are a few basic Japanese dating phrases that you can use for that special someone.

Good afternoon (こんにちは).

When starting a conversation with that cute Japanese person across the room, you’ll need to first introduce yourself. You can start that by first saying, “good afternoon”, “good evening”, or, if leaving at night, “good night”. “Konnichiwa” (こんにちは) is a word that generally means “good afternoon”, but it can also be used at other times of the day. If you are meeting your potential dating partner specifically in the evening, you can use “Konbanwa” (こんばんは). You’d use these words like you would in English. For example, “Good evening, I’m Phil” would be translated to, “こんばんは、僕はフィルです).

My name is … (私のなめは …)

Let’s break the grammar down for this one, because understanding this sentence is really important because you are going to use this sentence a lot.

There are several ways to say “I” in Japanese, and “watashi” is probably the most neutral and polite way to do so. It is used by both men and women and is commonly used in formal situations. If you are a girl, you’ll probably be using this or the variant “Atashi” (あたし) quite a lot. If you are a guy, you have two additional options for the word “I”: “boku” (僕) or “ore” (俺). “Ore” is considered rougher and more informal (also more manly), while “boku” is more childish, polite, and demurring. Great, so “I” is covered. Next in the sentence, you’ll add the “no” (の) particle which is a possessive particle. This, when combined with “I”, essentially makes the word “my”. The next word, “namae” (名前) literally translates …continue reading