expression / godan ~つ verb:

• the prospects look brighter; there is hope of accomplishing (something)

noun:

• University Entrance Qualification Examination (establishes the equivalent of high-school graduation prior to 2005) - abbreviation ➜ 大学入学資格検定

noun:

• University Entrance Qualification Examination (establishes the equivalent of high-school graduation prior to 2005) ➜ 高校卒業程度認定試験

noun:

• style of recitative dance popular during the Muromachi period (often with a military theme)

noun:

• Squamata (order of scaled reptiles, sometimes esp. the Sauria or Lacertilia) ➜ 有鱗類

noun:

• satyrid (any butterfly of subfamily Satyrinae, esp. the dryad, Minois dryas); grayling

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:

• erection of a pillar by sinking it directly into the ground

noun:

• empathetically putting oneself in the place of a handicapped person - From English "cap handy"

noun:

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

noun:

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

noun:

• Zanclidae; family of perciform fish whose sole member is the moorish idol

noun:

• small western mirror with mercury added to the glass (Edo period) ➜ 和鏡

noun:

• seven boarding schools established in Kyoto by noble families during the early Heian period ➜ 大学別曹

noun:

• curtain separating a central room from the aisles around it (in palatial-style architecture) ➜ 母屋【もや】・庇

noun:

• low door used in bathhouses to prevent the hot water from cooling (Edo period)

noun:

• dark sweet liquid produced after the third heating in a thermal sugar-refining process

noun:

• downstage left (in noh), where the secondary actor is often seated ➜ 脇【わき】

noun:

• Acanthopanax sciadophylloides (species of flowering plant related to the aralias)

noun:

• lock; tuft; tassel; feathers (i.e. fringe of hair on the legs); feathering; penicil

noun:

• starting the new school year from autumn (instead of spring); autumnal admission; fall matriculation

noun / ~する noun:

• sitting on the floor grasping one's knees (as in a gym class) - Kansai dialect ➜ 体育座り

noun:

• sake lees with black or brown specks (from oxidation enzymes produced by the yeast) ➜ 酒かす

noun:

• economic downturn precipitated by the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy in 2008 - From English "Lehman Shock"