noun:

• dealing in rice speculating on the year's harvest before seedlings are set out - four character idiom

noun:

• a good chance coming along; the time has come (for, to, when...); opportunity knocking - four character idiom

expression:

• no skin off my nose; somebody else's problem; fire on the opposite shore [literal]

noun:

• wooden plane with a convex base curved in the cutting direction

expression:

• cannot live even a minute without someone or something; meaning the world to one

noun:

• moyamoya disease (rare, progressive cerebrovascular disorder caused by blocked arteries in the basal ganglia)

noun:

• Agent Orange (dioxin-laden defoliant used during the Vietnam War) ➜ 枯葉剤

noun:

• creeper (plant that grows along the ground, etc. similar to a vine)

counter:

• counter for years (following a number in the hito-futa-mi counting system) - archaism

expression / godan ~つ verb:

• to have one's feet reach the bottom (e.g. when standing in water)

noun:

• immobiliser (electronic device that prevents an automobile engine from running without the key); immobilizer

noun:

• Indian song and dance (introduced to Japan by the Chams in approx. 736 CE)

noun:

• grand purification ceremony (so-called because it was overseen by the Nakatomi family) - archaism ➜ 大祓

noun:

• dazaifu (under the ritsuryo system, governmental office with jurisdiction over Kyushu, Iki and Tsushima) ➜ 律令制

noun:

• half lotus position (meditation posture); sitting with one foot placed on the opposite thigh - abbreviation ➜ 半跏趺坐

noun:

• Meiji 27-28 Campaign (alternate name for the First Sino-Japanese war; 1894-1895) - obscure term ➜ 日清戦争

noun:

• ekayana (doctrine that only one teaching, usu. the Lotus Sutra, can lead to enlightenment) - Buddhism term

expression:

• he who touches pitch shall be defiled therewith; one rotten apple spoils the barrel - proverb

expression:

• there is no comparison between the two; it's not a same-day discussion [literal] - proverb

noun:

• archer's glove (with a groove for pulling the string)

noun:

• Boxing Day (public holiday in the UK, Aus., Canada, etc.)

noun:

• increase in digit (e.g. if we add 2 to the number 9)

noun:

• sitting on the floor grasping one's knees (as in a gym class)

noun:

• redface dwarfgoby (Trimma benjamini, species found in the Western Pacific); ring-eye pygmy-goby

noun:

• Megachasmidae; family whose sole member is the rare deep water megamouth shark