noun:

• modern Japanese (esp. as a school subject)

noun:

• being driven to the wall; finding oneself between the devil and the deep blue sea; finding oneself between a rock and a hard place - four character idiom

noun:

• dashi (Japanese soup stock made from fish and kelp)
• pretext; excuse; pretense (pretence); dupe; front man ［出し］

expression:

• seven vernal flowers (Java water dropwort, shepherd's purse, Jersey cudweed, common chickweed, Japanese nipplewort, turnip, and daikon) ➜ 秋の七草

noun:

• method of learning through repetition conceived by Kageyama Hideo, which involves multiplying and other calculations carried out on a 10-by-10 grid of numbers

noun:

• cost of fuel and lighting; cost of heat and electricity; energy bill; utility cost

noun:

• yellowtail tang (Zebrasoma xanthurum, species of Western Indian tang); purple tang; yellowtail surgeonfish

noun / suffix noun:

• lesson
• section (in an organization); division; department

counter:

• counter for lessons and chapters (of a book)

noun / suffix noun:

• storey; story; floor

noun:

• stairs ➜ 階【きざはし】

noun / suffix noun:

• stage (in chronostratigraphy)

counter:

• counter for storeys and floors of a building

expression:

• one who experiences a chronic ailment takes better care of his health and lives longer - four character idiom

noun:

• moon, snow and flowers; beauty of the four seasons (from a poem by Bai Juyi) ➜ 雪月花

noun:

• sweet burdock and miso-bean paste covered with a thin layer of mochi

noun:

• sitting between the host and guest of honour at a drinking party (honor); companion

noun:

• top of a flight of stairs; exit involving a descent (e.g. from a bus)

expression:

• like chalk and cheese (superficially similar, but completely different) (the moon and a turtle shell are both round, but they are otherwise completely different); like day and night; like the difference between heaven and hell

godan ~る verb / intransitive verb:

• to topple over and lean at a precarious angle; to fall onto something and lean against it
• to be on the point of collapse; to be about to fall; to begin to fall

noun:

• even (of a trade); no advantage and no disadvantage

noun:

• aged paste; microbially fermented weak adhesive for restoration of Japanese works of art on paper

expression / godan ~る verb:

• to keep a fine house; to put up a front; to make the front of the house nice (and be pretentious about it)

noun:

• weather of the four seasons (warmth of spring, heat of summer, cool of autumn, and cold of winter)

noun:

• palanquin set with jewels
• money and social status gained by marrying a rich and powerful man ➜ 玉の輿に乗る【たまのこしにのる】

noun:

• (a) branch (of flowers); (a) cluster; (a) mass (of clouds)

expression:

• size isn't everything; something might be small but still pack a punch; Japanese pepper is small-grained but has a tongue-numbing tingle [literal] - proverb

expression:

• helping and protecting in all ways; acting as a raincoat (protecting from rain) and acting as a hat (protecting from sun) [literal] - proverb ➜ 陰になり日向になり【かげになりひなたになり】

noun:

• city god; guardian deity of a city and esp. its marketplace