noun:

• Queen Mother of the West (an ancient Chinese goddess)

noun:

• run-of-the-mine coal

noun / ~する noun:

• participating in something by merely following the leaders - four character idiom

noun:

• EIKEN Test in Practical English Proficiency; STEP test ➜ 英検【えいけん】

noun:

• cuisine with fresh seafoods

expression / godan ~ぐ verb:

• to pick up the thread of a story; to resume a conversation

noun / ~の noun:

• initiative taken by bureaucrats in the drafting of government policies and bills (rather than by politicians) - four character idiom

noun / adjectival noun:

• brimming with vitality; full of vigor; full of life

adverb:

• swishing through the air; whirling quickly; moving quickly - onomatopoeia ➜ ビュッ

expression / godan ~く verb:

• to think of as the main point; to make the main purpose; to put the focus on ➜ 主眼

noun:

• event where young men and women paint each others' cheeks with black ink or soot during Little New Year in the San'in region ➜ 小正月

noun:

• dragon-like cryptid fish with many whiskers and no bones (likely a sturgeon) ➜ 蝶鮫

noun / ~する noun:

• performing a part in one's own play; playing a musical piece that one has written - four character idiom
• doing everything by oneself (from preparation to execution)
• put-up job; charade
• sock-puppeting (i.e. pretending to be more than one person on the Internet)

expression:

• while looking on in blank amazement; while gazing at it in shock ➜ あれよあれよ

noun:

• the advertising industry

noun:

• beef boiled with soy sauce, ginger and sugar

expression:

• inscrutable are the ways people are brought together; there is no telling how people are brought together ➜ 縁は異なもの味なもの

noun:

• the car ahead; front wheel

expression:

• the law of arising and ceasing; the law of creation and destruction - Buddhism term

noun:

• traditional Koshogatsu ceremony where the newly-wed wife is hit on the rump with a sacred wooden pole to ensure her fertility ➜ 小正月・祝い棒

ichidan verb / transitive:

• to call in; to invite; to bring in

noun:

• female medium who summons spirits by sounding the string of a catalpa bow ➜ 巫女【みこ】・口寄せ

expression / godan ~す verb:

• to raise the reputation of one's family; to found a house

noun:

• coarse broken tea leaves and buds generated during the sifting process

expression:

• Be careful not to invite the least suspicion; Leave no room for scandal - four character idiom