全国通訳案内士 二次口述試験 対策

Osoji is the thorough house cleaning done at the end of December before the new year.

Oshogatsu is the New Year period, and it is the biggest and most important holiday in Japan.

Osechi is the New Year meal of small dishes packed in stacked lacquer boxes, made in advance to last several days.

Obon is the summer period when ancestors are said to come home, and families gather to welcome them.

Kodomo no hi is Children's Day on May 5th, when families fly carp-shaped streamers outside the house.

Toshikoshi soba are buckwheat noodles eaten on New Year's Eve to wish for a long life and a clean break with the year.

Hatsumode is the first visit to a shrine or temple in the new year.

Haha no hi to chichi no hi, Mother's Day and Father's Day, are American imports kept on the same dates.

Hinamatsuri is the March 3rd festival for girls, when families display a set of ornamental dolls.

Bonenkai and shinnenkai, year-end and New Year parties, are the drinking gatherings that close and open the year.

Howaito de, or White Day, is March 14th, when men in Japan return gifts for Valentine's Day chocolate.

Bon odori is a summer dance in a circle around a raised platform, open to anyone passing by.

A matsuri is a local festival, usually held by a shrine, in which a deity is carried through the neighborhood.

An izakaya is a Japanese pub where people order many small dishes to share along with drinks.

Ichiju sansai means one soup and three dishes, the standard shape of a Japanese meal.

Unagi is freshwater eel, grilled over charcoal and glazed with a sweet soy sauce.

Ekiben are boxed meals sold at railway stations, each made with local ingredients.

Ochazuke is cooked rice with green tea or light broth poured over it, a quick, plain finish to a meal.

Oyakodon, whose name means parent and child, is chicken and egg simmered in broth and served over rice.

Katsuobushi is bonito that has been smoked, dried and fermented until it is as hard as wood.

Katsudon is a breaded pork cutlet simmered with onion and egg and served over rice, eaten for luck before exams.

Kome, or rice, is not a side dish in Japan but the center that every other dish is seasoned against.

Konbu is kelp, dried and used to make stock, and it is where umami was first identified.

Sukiyaki is thin beef cooked at the table in a sweet soy broth and dipped in raw egg.

Sushi is vinegared rice served with a topping, which is often but not always raw fish.

Zoni is the New Year soup with rice cakes, and almost every region makes it differently.

Soba and udon are thin buckwheat noodles and thick wheat noodles, and Japan is divided over which is better.

Daifuku is a soft pounded rice cake wrapped around sweet bean paste, dusted with starch so it doesn't stick.

Tamagoyaki is a Japanese omelet made by rolling thin layers of egg in a rectangular pan, eaten hot or cold.

A teishoku is a set meal that always includes rice, soup and a main dish on separate plates.

Tempura is seafood and vegetables fried in a thin, light batter, and it is generally said to have come from Portugal.

Nihonshu is Japanese rice wine, brewed from rice, water and a mold called koji.

Bia gaden, or beer gardens, are open-air rooftop drinking spots in Japan, open only through the summer months.

Matcha is green tea leaves ground into powder and whisked into water, so you drink the whole leaf.

Manju is a steamed bun with sweet red bean paste inside, sold everywhere as a souvenir sweet.

Miso is fermented soybean paste, and it comes in many regional types, not one.

Mochi is glutinous rice pounded into a dense, stretchy cake, eaten especially at New Year.

Yakitori is chicken grilled on small skewers over charcoal, with each part of the bird served separately.

Wasabi is a fresh root grated to order; most green paste sold abroad as wasabi is something else.

Washoku is traditional Japanese cuisine, built around rice, soup and seasonal ingredients.

Asakusa is the temple district of eastern Tokyo, built around Sensoji, the city's oldest temple.

Arashiyama is the western edge of Kyoto, known for a bridge over the river, a temple garden and a bamboo path.

Itsukushima Jinja is a shrine built on piles over the sea, with a torii gate standing out in the water.

Osaka, often called Japan's second city, is a city of merchants rather than samurai, with its own dialect.

Kamakura no Daibutsu, the Great Buddha of Kamakura, is a bronze statue sitting outdoors because its hall was destroyed.

Gion is the Kyoto district where geiko and maiko still live, train and work.

Kyoto was Japan's capital from 794 to 1869 and is still full of old temples and shrines.

Kiyomizudera is a Kyoto temple whose main hall has a wooden stage projecting out over the hillside.

Kinkakuji is a gold-covered pavilion in Kyoto, rebuilt in 1955 after it was burned down.

Ginkakuji is Kyoto's Silver Pavilion, and it has never had any silver on it.

Kokyo, or the Imperial Palace, is the Emperor's residence on the site of Edo Castle, in the middle of Tokyo.

Shirakawago is a mountain village of farmhouses with steep thatched roofs built to shed heavy snow.

Shinjuku and Kabukicho are the area around the world's busiest railway station and the entertainment district next to it.

Tsukiji and Toyosu are old and new fish markets: auctions moved to Toyosu in 2018, but Tsukiji's food stalls remain.

Tokyo Tawa, or Tokyo Tower, is a red and white broadcasting tower from 1958, and a symbol of postwar Tokyo.

Todaiji in Nara houses a bronze Buddha about fifteen meters tall inside one of the world's largest wooden buildings.

Dotonbori is the canal-side street in Osaka known for huge signs and cheap food.

Nara Koen no shika, the deer of Nara Park, are wild animals protected as a national natural monument.

Hakone is a hot spring area in the mountains about ninety minutes west of Tokyo.

Harajuku and Omotesando are a center of youth fashion and the wide avenue beside it, built as a shrine approach.

Himejijo, or Himeji Castle, is the finest surviving original Japanese castle, never destroyed by war or fire.

Hiroshima to Heiwa Kinen Koen are Hiroshima and its Peace Memorial Park, laid out in the city's destroyed center.

Fujisan, or Mount Fuji, is Japan's highest mountain at 3,776 meters, an active volcano and a World Cultural Heritage site.

Fushimi Inari Taisha is a Kyoto shrine where thousands of vermilion gates form tunnels up a mountainside.

Meiji Jingu is a Tokyo shrine standing in a forest that was entirely planted by hand in the 1910s.

Shashin o toru mae no hitokoto, or asking first, is expected before photographing people, shop interiors or many sacred spaces.

Shokuba no omiyage, or souvenirs for the office, are individually wrapped sweets many Japanese workers bring back after a trip.

Mono wa ryote de watasu, or handing things with both hands, is a Japanese habit signaling care and respect.

Ishi no ue nimo sannen is a proverb: sit on a cold stone for three years and it grows warm.

Isshokenmei means doing something with everything you have, as if your life depended on it.

Okagesama de means thanks to you, and more broadly thanks to help you cannot see.

Omoiyari is anticipating what another person needs before they have to say it.

Omotenashi is hospitality that anticipates what you need before you ask.

Kanji, hiragana, katakana: these three Japanese scripts are all used together in written Japanese.

Senpai and kohai are the seniors and juniors in any group, ranked by who joined first.

An omamori is a small cloth charm from a shrine or temple, bought for a specific kind of luck.

The sando is the path from the gate to the hall of a shrine, and visitors walk to the side of it.

Sanpai no saho, or shrine etiquette, is to rinse hands, offer a coin, bow twice, clap twice, pray and bow.

Jinja to tera no chigai is the shrine-temple difference: shrines are Shinto with torii gates, temples Buddhist with Buddha statues.

Shinto is Japan's indigenous religion, with no founder, no scripture and countless local deities.

The chozuya is the water basin at a shrine where you rinse your hands and mouth before praying.

A torii is the gate that marks where ordinary ground ends and a shrine's sacred ground begins.

A mikoshi is a portable shrine that carries the local deity through the neighborhood at festival time.

Mushukyo, or no religion, is how most Japanese describe themselves, though they keep religious customs all year.

Ohakamairi is visiting the family grave to clean it, make offerings and report how you are.

Gojunoto, or a five-storied pagoda, is a reliquary tower, not a building people go inside and climb.

Zen is a school of Buddhism that puts seated meditation at the center of practice.

Daibutsu means a great Buddha, and Japan's two most famous are in Nara and Kamakura.

Nihon no bukkyo, or Buddhism in Japan, is a sixth-century arrival that many families now meet mainly at funerals.

Butsuzo no miwakekata, or telling Buddhist statues apart, is sorting them into four ranks by clothing and face.

Ukiyo-e are Japanese woodblock prints, made cheaply for ordinary townspeople in the Edo period.

Geisha and maiko are professional entertainers trained in dance, music and the art of hosting a room.

Nihon teien, the Japanese garden, is designed to look like natural scenery, with every stone and tree placed deliberately.

A haiku is a very short Japanese poem in a five-seven-five pattern that includes a season word.

Bonsai is the art of growing an ordinary tree small in a shallow pot.

Wadaiko means Japanese drums, and the ensemble style performed on stage is more recent than it looks.

An onsen is a bath filled with naturally heated mineral water, and you get in with nothing on.

Taoru o yubune ni irenai, or no towels in the tub, means your towel never touches the bathwater.

A rotenburo is an outdoor hot spring bath, and winter is when people want it most.

Kotsukei ai shi kado, a transit IC card, is a rechargeable tap card for trains, buses, shops and vending machines.

Jishin e no sonae, or earthquake preparedness, is everyday readiness, including alarms on every phone seconds before shaking arrives.

Shoshi koreika is Japan's combination of falling births and the world's highest share of people aged sixty-five and over.

The shinkansen is Japan's high-speed rail network, famous for running almost exactly on time.

Taifu, or typhoons, are numbered rather than named in Japan, and a few hit land yearly, in summer and autumn.

Depachika is the basement food hall of a department store, packed with counters selling ready-made dishes, sweets and gifts.

Densha no teiji unko, or trains running on time, is Japan's punctuality, where a few minutes' delay brings an apology.

Famiri resutoran, or family restaurants, are cheap all-day chains with long menus, free refills and no pressure to leave.

Yamanotesen, the Yamanote line, is the green loop train connecting most places visitors want to reach in Tokyo.

Natsuyasumi no shukudai, or summer homework, is the set of holiday assignments Japanese pupils get, including a self-chosen research project.

Yakushoku de yobu, or calling people by title, is addressing a senior colleague by job title, not name.

Kazan to jishin, or volcanoes and earthquakes, are part of ordinary life in Japan, which sits where several plates meet.

Koyo is the turning of the autumn leaves, and going to see them is an event in itself.

Fujisan to shinko, or Mount Fuji and its worship, is the centuries-old reverence for Japan's highest mountain.

Iei is the framed portrait of the deceased placed at the center of the altar at a Japanese funeral.

Kazokusou is a small funeral limited to close family and a few relatives, now Japan's most common funeral style.

Kon'in todoke, or a marriage registration form, is the document that makes a couple in Japan legally married once filed.

Kata are fixed sequences of moves, practiced alone or with a cooperating partner, not against resistance.

A gyoji is the sumo referee who calls the match and points a fan toward the winner.

Judo is a martial art built on using an opponent's force against them, and it was designed as education.

Sumo is a wrestling sport with deep Shinto roots, where bouts last seconds but the ritual takes minutes.

A dojo is a hall for practicing a martial art, and the word originally came from Buddhism.

Puro yakyu is Japanese professional baseball, famous for organized, non-stop crowd chanting.

Mawashi is the thick cloth belt a sumo wrestler wraps around the waist and grips to fight.

Tatami are thick woven mats used as flooring, and rooms are still measured by how many fit.

A washitsu is a traditional Japanese room floored with tatami mats and used for anything.

A kimono is the traditional Japanese garment, now worn mainly for formal occasions rather than daily life.

Migimae, the left-over-right wrap, is how every kimono is worn, by men and women alike.

A furoshiki is a square cloth used to wrap and carry almost anything.

A yukata is a light cotton robe worn in summer and at hot spring inns.

Kintsugi is the Japanese way of fixing broken pottery with lacquer and letting gold show the cracks.

A gengo is a Japanese era name, used alongside the Western calendar in official documents.

The samurai were Japan's hereditary warrior class, who spent most of their history as administrators rather than fighters.

Shiro, a Japanese castle, is a wooden tower on stone foundations, built to command land, not to house a court.

Urashima Taro saves a turtle, spends days in a palace under the sea, and returns to find centuries gone.

Eto is the twelve-year cycle of animals that names each year, from rat to boar.

Engi is whether something is seen as lucky or unlucky, and it quietly shapes many everyday choices in Japan.

Omikuji are paper fortunes drawn at shrines and temples, ranked from excellent luck to very bad luck.

Senbazuru, a thousand strung paper cranes, is a gift for someone ill or a prayer for peace.

Nihon no mukashibanashi, or Japanese folk tales, are a few stories nearly every Japanese child knows and adults still quote.

A maneki neko is the cat figure with a raised paw that shop owners put by the door to invite customers in.

Momotaro is a boy born from a peach who sails to an island to defeat demons.