じゅぎょう の にっぽん Nippon Talk #1

As most people who know me find out quite quickly, I'm OBSESSED with Japan. I fit in random phrases and responses in Japanese into most conversations. Simple things like, 'hai' (yes はい), 'arigato gozaimasu'(thank you very much ありがと ございます), and 'ohayo'(good morning おはよ)
Here are some more random phrases/responses/exclamations.

• Ganbatte- go and try your best! (used as we use ‘good luck’)
• Daiyo ne- Yeah, it is!
• Doukan- ditto
• Atetemite- take a guess
• Dewa mata- see you
• Ki o tsukete- take care
• Yoi yume o- sweet dreams
• Kakinasai- write it down
• Ano- umm
• Ara Ara!- whoops
• Yatta!- I did it/yay
• Itai!- ouch

Japanese Question Words:

• Who?- Dare?
• What?- Nani?
• When?- Itsu?
• Where?- Doko?
• Why?- Naze?
• How?- Donoyouni?
• Which?- Dore?

Just about everyone is familiar with the Chinese Zodiac to some extent. A lot of people know of its tagging to the day you were born, but it is for other things as well. I'm not sure about its modern usage since the Meiji restoration and such, but at least at one time, both China and Japan used these animals to tell time. Here are the zodiac hours. When speaking of the time, one would say, we are in the Hour of the 'Blank'.

• 23:00 - 01:00: 子 rat
• 01:00 - 03:00: 丑 ox
• 03:00 - 05:00: 寅 tiger
• 05:00 - 07:00: 卯 rabbit
• 07:00 - 09:00: 辰 dragon
• 09:00 - 11:00: 巳 snake
• 11:00 - 13:00: 午 horse
• 13:00 - 15:00: 未 Ram
• 15:00 - 17:00: 申 monkey
• 17:00 - 19:00: 酉 rooster
• 19:00 - 21:00: 戌 dog
• 21:00 - 23:00: 亥 boa