In Japanese, there is a very interesting system to indicate directions and many other things. It is called the “ko/so/a/do system”, as all of the words in the system begin in those Japanese characters. The ko/so/a/do system indicate the distance of things, places and people. It can also indicate directions and state or kind of something.

Demonstrative Pronouns

The こそあど (ko/so/a/do) system covers so called demonstrative pronouns. That is words like “this” and “that”. Generally, a demonstrative pronoun belongs to the こそあど system. The following table shows the whole set of basic words in this system.

	What
Where:	Thing	Place	Direction/ Place	Person/ Thing	State/ Kind Of
Near speaker	これ (kore)	ここ (koko)	こちら (kochira)	この+N (kono ＋Ｎ)	こんな+N (konna + N)
Near listener	それ (sore)	そこ (soko)	そちら (sochira)	その+N (sono + N)	そんな+N (sonna + N)
Far from both	あれ (are)	あそこ (asoko)	あちら (achira)	あの+N (ano ＋Ｎ)	あんな+N (anna + N)
Question	どれ (dore)	どこ (doko)	どちら (dochira)	どの+N (dono ＋Ｎ)	どんな+N (donna + N)

Comment: N =

Locations Indicated by Demonstratives

Japanese has three locations described by demonstrative words, whereas English and Chinese only have two. In Japanese, ”ko” is used for objects or people close to the speaker, “so” for objects or people closer to the listener, and “a” for objects or people far away from both the speaker and the listener.

Note how the pronouns change in the question and answer pairs below (P = someone):

	Thing	Person
Near first speaker:	kore wa nan desu ka? sore wa N desu or kono N wa nan desu ka? sono N wa NN desu.	kore wa dare desu ka? sore wa P desu. or kono hito wa dare desu ka? sore wa P desu.
Near second speaker:	sore wa nan desu ka? kore wa N desu. or sono N wa nan desu ka? kono N wa NN desu	sore wa dare desu ka? kore wa P desu. or sono hito wa dare desu ka? kono hito wa P desu.
Far from both speakers:	are wa nan desu ka? are wa N desu. or are wa nan desu ka? are wa NN desu.	are wa dare desu ka? are wa P desu. or ano hito wa dare desu ka? ano hito wa P desu.

Comment: N = , NN = , P=

The direction words “kochira”, “sochira”, “achira” and “dochira,” are polite forms; in daily conversation we commonly use “kocchi”, “socchi”, “acchi” and “docchi.”

It’s considered very rude to say phrases like “sono hito (the person)” and “kono hito (this person)” when referring to a person you don’t know well. So in this case, or when you speak to a person who is older than you, or at work or school, you should say “sono kata (the person),” “kono kata (this person)” and “ano kata (that person),” or more polite expressions like “sochira no kata (the person),” “kochira no kata (this person)” and “achira no kata (that person).” These are the phrases you will probably hear in conversation.

Please note that the following examples are made up just for learning the concept. They would likely be considered rude in an ordinary conversation.

Example 1 – Near first speaker

Japanese: この人は　誰ですか？ その人は　韓国の　李さんです。

Romaji: Kono hito wa dare desu ka? Sono hito wa kankoku no Li-san desu. English: Who is this person? He/she is Mr./Mrs. Lee, from South Korea.

Example 2 – Near second speaker

Japanese: その人は　誰ですか？ この人は　韓国の　李さんです。

Romaji: Sono hito wa dare desu ka? Kono hito wa kankoku no Li-san desu. English: Who is that person? He/she is Mr./Mrs. Lee, from South Korea.

Example 3 – Far from both speakers

Japanese: あの人は　誰ですか？ あの人は　韓国の　李さんです。

Romaji: Ano hito wa dare desu ka? Ano hito wa kankoku no Li-san desu. English: Who is that person? He/she is Mr./Mrs. Lee, from South Korea.

Exercise

For each of (a), (b), (c) and (d) , select the best word from the choices こちら, そちら, あちら, どちら (kochira, sochira, achira, dochira).

Japanese:

• 李　：もしもし、（　a　）は田中先生のお宅ですか。
• 先生：はい、田中ですが、（　b　）様でしょうか。
• 李　：李です。ソウルから国際電話をかけています。
• 先生：いやぁ、久しぶりだね。元気だった？
• 李　：ええ、おかげさまで。実は出張で、明日から一週間ほど（　c　）に行くことになったんですが、できればその間に先生にお会いしたいと思いまして。
• 先生：僕の方こそ、ぜひ会いたいね。それで、（　d　）にはいつ着く？

Romaji:

• Li: moshi moshi, (  a  ) wa Tanaka sensei no otaku desu ka?
• Sensei: hai, Tanaka desu ga, (  b  ) sama deshou ka?
• Li: Li desu. Souru kara kokusaidenwa o kaketeimasu.
• Sensei: iyaa, hisashiburi da ne. genki datta?
• Li: ee, okagesamade. jitsu wa shucchou de ashita kara isshuukan hodo ( c  ) ni iku koto ni nattan desu ga, dekireba sono aida ni sensei ni oaishitai to omoimashite.
• Sensei: boku no hou koso, zehi aitai ne. sorede (  d  ) ni wa itsu tsuku?

English:

• Lee： Hello. Excuse me, but is this the Tanaka residence?
• Tanaka： Yes, this is Tanaka. Can I ask who this is?
• Lee： This is Lee. I’m calling long distance from Seoul.
• Tanaka： Ah, it’s been a long time! Have you been well?
• Lee： Yes, thank you. In fact, I’ll be going there on a business trip around a week from tomorrow. I’d like to get together with you then if possible.
• Tanaka： I’d love to see you, too! So when will you be arriving here?

Commentary

The question is about how to use “ko, so, a and do” in a long distance telephone call. “Ko” means close to you, and “so” means close to the listener; if you don’t understand this, you might make a mistake like “Hello, excuse me, but is that (over there) your home, Dr. Tanaka?”. You should note that “achira” is used only for a place far away from both of you.

Answers:

a：そちら　　ｂ：どちら　　ｃ：そちら　　ｄ：こちら

Usage in Context

Students in intermediate classes are more likely to have problems when “ko, so, a and do” refer to WHEN, WHERE, WHO and WHAT in the topic, rather than when they indicate locations being pointed to. Since there are three classifications for locations for Japanese demonstrative words, rather than two as in English and Chinese, the usages can be different.

1. Usage of “こ” in context

The most important usage of “ko” is to refer to something in what you yourself are saying.

Japanese: Ａ：実は、近く社長が交代するらしいですよ。 Ｂ：えっ？ほんとうですか。 Ａ：ええ、でも、この話はしばらく秘密にしてくださいね。

English: A: Actually, it seems that the president will be replaced soon. B: What? Really? A: Yes, but please keep this secret for the time being, please.

Also, there is a different usage of “ko” when you initially broach a topic, indicating a statement which will come later.

Japanese: Ａ：これは人事部の人から聞いた話なんですが。 Ｂ：何ですか。教えてください。 Ａ：実は、近く社長が交代するらしいです。

English: A: I have a story that I heard from someone in the personnel department. B: What? Please tell me. A: Actually, it seems that the president will be replaced soon.

2. Usage of “そ” in context

“そ” generally indicates something the other peson has said. It can also indicate something unknown to you

Japanese: Ａ：孫さんが李君と結婚すると聞きました。 Ｂ：えっ？それはほんとうですか。

English: A: I hear that Son-san is going to marry Lee-kun. B: What? Really?

3. Usage of “あ” in context

It’s useful to think of “あ” as indicating something which is well known both to you and the other person. “あ” is used to talk about a common experience or something known to both of you.

Japanese: Ａ：担任だった田中先生は、今もあの学校にいらっしゃるのかなあ。 Ｂ：あの先生はもう辞められたそうだよ。

English: A: I wonder if our classroom teacher, Tanaka-sensei, is still at the school. B: My understanding is that she’s already resigned.

“あ” is also used to refer to something remembered from the past.

Japanese: Ａ：あのころは楽しかったなあ。 Ｂ：あの頃って？ Ａ：学生時代のことだよ。

English: A: How happy those days were! B: “Those days”? A: I mean when we were in school.

4. Usage of “こ・そ・あ” to express time

In this usage, you can think of “こ” as meaning “now”. For example, “kore kara” has the same meaning as “ima kara”; that is, “from now on”, and “kore made” the same meaning as ”ima made”: “until now”. “Kono aida,” like ”senjitsu”, means “several days ago.”

“あ” refers to a time experienced by both you and the listener. For example:「あの頃は楽しかったねえ」「うん、あの頃にもう一度戻りたいよ」(“We sure had good times then, didn’t we?” “Yeah, it would be nice to go back to those days!”.)

“そ” indicates the time of the topic regardless of the tense indicated by the verb. For example, in the sentence 「昨年、上海に行きました。その時、・・・」(“I went to Shanghai last year, and at that time…”) “sono” indicates the past tense. If the sentence is “、「来年上海に行きます。その時、・・・」(“I’m going to Shanghai next year, and when I do…”), it refers to the future.

Exercise 1

Choose the best word from the choices indicated.

Japanese:

• 後輩：先輩、（こんな／そんな／あんな）に飲んで大丈夫ですか。
• 先輩：（この／その／あの）くらい大丈夫だよ。じゃんじゃん飲もう。
• 後輩：相変わらずお酒が強いですね。学生時代と少しも変わっていません。
• 先輩：（こんな／そんな／あんな）ことはない。もう若くないし、とても（この／その／あの）頃みたいには飲めないよ。

English:

• Kouhai: Senpai, are you alright although you’ve been drinking so much?
• Senpai: It’s okay. Let’s drink a lot!
• Kouhai: You can hold your drink as always! You haven’t changed at all since the old days.
• Senpai: That’s not true. I’m not so young anymore, and I can’t drink like before!

Note: Kouhai means junior, while senpai means senior.

Exercise 2

Choose the best word from the choices indicated.

Japanese:

• Ａ：（この／その／あの）間のコンサート、よかったね。
• Ｂ：うん、すごくよかった。君は（この／その／あの）コンサートの後、すぐ帰ったの？
• Ａ：ううん。「菊屋」っておでん屋に寄って飲んでた。
• Ｂ：もしかして、（この／その／あの）店って、歌舞伎町の「菊屋」じゃない？
• Ａ：そうだよ。
• Ｂ：なんだ。（ここ／そこ／あそこ）は、僕もよく行く店なんだよ。

English:

• A: The concert that we went to some days ago sure was nice, wasn’t it?.
• B: Yeah, it was great. Did you go back home right away?
• A: No, I stopped by at an oden pub called “Kikuya” and had some drinks.
• B: You don’t mean the one in Kabukicho by any chance, do you?
• A: Yes.
• B: I go there often, too.

Commentary and Answer

• Exercise 1: Note that the third sentence refers to the school days these two spent together.
• Exercise 2: (a) refers to the concert they went to together, and (c) to a shop both of them know very well. In the fourth sentence, person B is not sure if the shop “Kikuya” person A went to
  is the one where person B often goes. For something unknown or uncertain, you use “so”.

Answers to Exercise 1:  そんな, この, そんな, あの
Answers to Exercise 2: この, あの, その, あそこ

 

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This lesson is StudyJapanese.org’s translation of the first chapter in the book “日本語教材の日本語駆け込み寺　初級文型の難所”, written by Meguro Makoto, published at http://www.nihongo2.com . It is published here with the consent of the author.

(c) 2008 Meguro Makoto, Nihongo2.com – All rights reserved

Read about the festivities on March 3, during the Hinamatsuri festival – a day of traditional snacks and beautiful dolls.

After バレンタインデー (Valentine’s Day) has passed, most department stores and lots of supermarkets start displaying gorgeous dolls called ひな人形（ひなにんぎょう – hina ningyou – hina dolls). These dolls wear 平安時代（へいあんじだい – heian jidai – Heian Period) costumes, and also lots of accessories (like a paper lump and a folding fan, etc.) are displayed with the dolls on a piece of red cloth.

The 3rd of March is called  ひな祭り（ひなまつり – hina matsuri – hina festival), and we regard the day as “girl’s day.” When a female baby is born, the parents may buy ひな人形 (hina dolls) for her, or they may leave it to her grandparents, because the dolls are so expensive. But if her mother already has some dolls, they may not buy new ones, or they may just add some dolls or accessories if the mother doesn’t have a complete set.

The most important dolls are おだいりさま（お内裏様 – odairisama – Emperor) and おひなさま（お雛様 – ohinasama – Empress), so some people have just these two. Since a large space is necessary to display a complete set of ひな人形 (hina dolls), you might be happy with just those two, depending on the size of your room. Anyway, you can see complete sets at department stores, and other places. In addition to these two, there are さんにんかんじょ（三人官女 – sannin kanjo – three court ladies) and ごにんばやし（五人囃子 – gonin bayashi – five court musicians) which are three drummers, one flute player and one singer. The original models for these dolls seem to have been people in the palace of the 天皇（てんのう – tennou – Emperor), but the dolls attained their current gorgeous forms during the 明治時代（めいじじだい – meiji jidai – Meiji period), which came after the end of the Edo period.

Setting up and Taking Down the Dolls

Well, after 立春 （りっしゅん – risshun), which is the 4th of February, you can start to display ひな人形 (hina dolls) in your room. If you have a complete set of dolls, it takes a lot of time to finish setting them up. Each of the dolls is cherished, so needless to say, you must treatthem with great care. We think that a 人形（にんぎょう – ningyou – doll) guards a human by accepting bad things like 病気 （びょうき – byouki -illness) in place of the human,  so buying ひな人形 (hina dolls) for a girl means wishing her good health and happiness as well. Interestingly enough, you must put the dolls back to where they are stored (often a closet) as soon as the day of ひな祭り (Hinamatsuri, 3rd of March) ends – otherwise you risk missing an opportunity to marry, lol.

Anyway, girls have a party in the room where the dolls are displayed on that day (the 3rd of March). By the way, the day is also called もものせっく （桃の節句 – momo no sekku). We have five せっく (節句 – sekku – changes of season) a year, and 桃（もも – momo) means “peach.” This is the time when the peach flowers blossom– the fruits appear later, in the summer. You might put peach blossoms on the party table, or you might buy a bunch of flowers including branches of peach blossoms even if you don’t have a party. We feel that red is a merry color here in Japan, but with food, in practice, the color is usually pink. 赤飯（せきはん – sekihan – pink rice with red beans) is one such food which is served on the celebration table. We regard pink not only as a merry color, but also as the color of spring. In fact, the Japanese word for the color pink is 桃色 （ももいろ – momoiro – literally, “peach color”).

Foods and Sweets

So you will probably see some pink food on the table. さくらもち (sakuramochi), one of the most popular Japanese sweets, is made from rice powder, sweet bean paste and salted cherry leaves, which smell like cinnamon. You can buy these お菓子 （おかし – okashi – sweets) any time of the year, but especially around this season, and especially on the day ひな祭り (Hinamatsuri), you will probably start wanting to eat these pale pink sweets. If you invite some friends to your party, some of them may bring さくらもち (sakuramochi) to you as a little gift.

Whether or not they’re pink, lots of sweets companies prepare peach products like peach ice cream, small cakes with peach flavor cream, peach pudding, and so on. Some cake shops might have peach flavored treats, but most cake shops have special decorated cakes called ひなデコ (hina deko), rather than peach cakes. There are bigger round cakes called デコレーションケーキ(dekoreeshon keeki – decorated cakes) around here, and we often eat them when we celebrate something like a birthday. The word “デコ” is the short form of  “デコレーション” (decoration), and “ひな (hina)” refers to ひな人形 (hina dolls) or ひな祭り (Hinamatsuri). Each cake shop has its own ひなデコ or ひなデコ・ケーキ; for example, a small お内裏様 (Emperor) and お雛様 (Empress) on top of a sponge cake covered with fresh whipped cream. Such dolls might be plastic, or made of 砂糖（さとう – satou – sugar). Well, lots of cake shops sell ひなデコ as the special cakes for the day, and you might find recipes of ひなデコ on some websites. But you find there are other names like おひな様ケーキ (ohinasama keeki) and ひな祭りケーキ (hinamatsuri keeki) instead of the word ひなデコ at cake shops and websites.

Speaking of sweets for ひな祭り (Hinamatsuri), that reminds me of 菱餅, ひしもち (hishimochi). 菱 (hishi) is an abbreviation for 菱形, ひしがた （hishigata – diamond-shaped), and it’s made with three colors of 餅（もち – mochi – sticky rice cakes); 緑 （midori – green), 白 （shiro – white) and ピンク (pinku – pink). It’s said that each of the colors stands for something– pink for flowers or the season of spring, white for snow or the season of winter, and green for leaves or the earth. Originally 菱餅 (diamond-shaped mochi) were 餅 (mochi – sticky rice cakes), but recently there are more products like hishi jelly, ice cream with the three hishimochi colors, and so on.

Floating Down a River

Well, as I mentioned above, you should put your dolls back where they are stored until the following year, but in some regions, the custom is to float them down a river. That came from the idea that dolls accept your illness and other bad luck, and that these bad things should be removed from you. It’s called 流し雛, ながしびな（nagashi bina). Actually, this is the original form of ひな祭り (Hinamatsuri) in the Emperor’s palace, and some 流し雛 (floating -downriver- hina dolls) have a long history. The custom depends on the region, but in most regions, ひな人形 (hina dolls) are made from paper. In these regions, such paper dolls are put in a ship (made from leaves or straw or such), and people float them down rivers while wishing for good luck (mainly for women). The ship, its contents, and the date of the ceremony depend on the area, it seems.

Most kindergartens celebrate ひな祭り (Hinamatsuri) on that day (the 3rd of March) unless it’s Sunday. Children make ひな人形 (hina dolls) as 折り紙, おりがみ （origami – paper folding), which is one of the traditional Japanese paper arts. Or children might dress up as お雛様 (hina dolls/Empress), wearing cute (although simple) costumes. So you can
enjoy ひな祭り even if you don’t have real ひな人形 in your house. Personally, I was more interested in playing with plastic monsters than in dressing up as a pretty Empress (lol), but I used to do 折り紙 (origami) and at times I made more delicate paper dolls with 和紙, わし（washi – Japanese traditional paper).

Notes on the Article

There are some kanji which are rather difficult and tiresome, and some people prefer using hiragana in place of the original kanji. In this article, 雛 and 菱 are examples of that. Some people write ひな人形 instead of 雛人形, and both ways of writing the word are common. Similarly, ひし形 and ひし餅 are commonly used.

You might have noticed that I used the word お雛様 (you can also write おひな様) to mean both “Empress” and “hina dolls.” When you talk about specific dolls, you distinguish between お内裏様 (the Emperor) and お雛様 (the Empress). Apart from that, we often call the dolls お雛様 instead of saying 雛人形. Using the word 雛人形 makes the dolls sound like just objects, so お雛様 is a friendlier word for the dolls. I think that people use お雛様 to refer to hina dolls in general because the Empress was the most important of the hina dolls.

By the way, the words お内裏様 (Emperor) and お雛様 (Empress) are used only as names for those dolls. In real life, one says 天皇陛下 （てんのうへいか – tennou heika) for an emperor, and 皇后陛下 （こうごうへいか – kougou heika) for an empress. The word 陛下(heika) is a title, like さん, but it is used only for these two people. If you read a Japanese translation of a western book from the Medieval period, you will find that a queen is called 女王陛下（じょおうへいか – joou heika).

There are lots of color names which come from flowers, but actually they don’t refer to the exact color of the flower. For example, we commonly use the word ピンク (pinku – pink). 桃色 (momoiro – peach color) also means pink, but we don’t use it ordinarily when talking about the color. It’s often used in poems, however, and it can give different feelings to the reader depending on the situation– sweet, soft, or at times erotic.

Posted by Shizu

Edited by the StudyJapanese Team.

In Japan we know that Valentine’s Day came from Western culture, but for a long time many of us Japanese believed that Western people also celebrate it in the same way as the Japanese people, who regard the day as “Day for Chocolates”.

The expression comes from the fact that an enormous amount of chocolate is sold and given among people at バレンタインデー(barentaindee – St. Valentine Day), 14th of February.

I don’t know when this big event started here in Japan, but it has been already one of our biggest customs since I was teenager, as if it was our original culture. By the way, バレンタインデー(St. Valentine Day) used to be more important day for lots of girls who have someone special. If you want to confess your special feelings to him, バレンタインデー(St. Valentine Day) is the very day. You will send a love letter with chocolates to him, and may spend sleepless nights for the expectation of the reaction from him.

But the time has changed. Now we regard the day as one for チョコレート(chokoleeto – chocolate) rather than confession of your love,
and more people are curious about buying chocolates and taste them even by themselves. Every cake shop and sweets company can expect a great deal from customers (women, of course), but they should compete by preparing more tasty, more gorgeous and more fresh products. Perhaps Belgian chocolates has been quite popular from before, and recently more imported goods increase like French. Around the end of January, lots of テレビ番組（テレビばんぐみ – terebi bangumi – TV programs) and 雑誌（ざっし – zasshi – magazines) start reporting about チョコレート(chocolate) about the 味（あじ – aji – taste), 値段（ねだん – nedan – price) and other information for the customers, and some of the products are limited of the quantity. Here in Sapporo, one of the biggest デパート(depaato – department stores) invited a chocolate “master” from France, and so expensive boxes of chocolates by him were sold out immediately, a reporter said. Each of the box costed about 15,000 yen, and one of the women told the reporter that she has bought it for herself. But it’s not so wonder, as far as thinking that women like chocolates much more than men do.

Well, if you buy chocolates for yourself, you don’t need to think the specific day (14th), and actually chocolate corners are getting crowded around 10th of February already. Even though スーパー(suupaa – supermarkets) and コンビに(konbini – convenience stores) have lots of chocolate products like クッキー(kukkii – cookies) and アイスクリーム(aisukuriimu – ice cream), they always prepare another version for バレンタインデー(St. Valentine Day). Chocolate lovers can buy such limited products and possibly they may think them as the gifts for someone – if you have a 彼（かれ – kare – boyfriend) and he doesn’t like chocolate so much, you may be happy with sending such a cheaper and reasonable stuff, apart from how he feels.

But anyway lots of women think that they should give chocolate at that day. And they buy chocolates for some people – her male 同僚（どうりょう – douryou – colleagues), her male 上司（じょうし – joushi – boss), her 父（ちち – chichi – father), her 兄弟（きょうだい – kyoudai – brothers), her male 友人（ゆうじん – yuujin – friends) etc. Of course you may give chocolates to your cherished person, but that might be another gift, not chocolates. Anyway, lots of women buy some chocolates, and the shops and the floor of the デパート(department stores) are crowded impossibly and really chaotic  - you will find the horrible state if you happen to be there at the evening of 13th.

By the way, this event (giving away chocolate) is a good opportunity for us to show our appreciation. If you want to say “thank you” to your boss, colleagues and family, sending chocolates has a big effect at times. In this case, the chocolate isn’t important – namely the receiver can get your kind mind. Perhaps Japanese people like sending something when we want to express our appreciation, and the cost is not important. So, even though it’s a quite cheap and small box of chocolate, you can delight the person with it. By the reason, recently more people send chocolates also to female colleagues and boss and possibly women might be able to get more gorgeous chocolates. In fact, I’ve bought a fancy box of chocolates for my female colleague for a long time ago, and I did smaller ones for male colleagues. At the particular day, I found also she did for me the same thing, lol.

White Day

But unfortunately things don’t go always peacefully. Another day called ホワイトデー(howaitodee – White Day) comes next month (14th of March), and men are expected sending back something to women who sent chocolates to him. ホワイトデー(White Day) is still new event, and we had no idea “sending back” before the event begins. If you just want to your appreciation or special feelings to someone, you don’t expect such a thing, I think. But now sending back something at ホワイトデー(White Day) is quite common, and poor men who didn’t know the custom used to be blamed. Amazingly enough such troubles happened here and there, and sending chocolates at バレンタインデー(St. Valentine Day) were forbidden in the office in lots of companies. And even though there weren’t such problems, sending “something” to women is not so easy for men. So, lots of men try to leave the tiresome task to their wives. Thus, lots of sweets shops are crowded by women who are tring to buy boxes of クッキー(kukkii – cookies), lol.

But originally this day for a woman who has a special person, and she might think another gift like handmade stuff like sweater and cakes, or prepare dinner at the evening, or buy something like wallet, clothes etc etc. You might add a box of chocolates, but it depends on if he likes it or not. Both of you might go to attend special events for バレンタインデー(St. Valentine Day) at the evening. The town is lively for some events like コンサート(konsaato – concerts) for lovers, and lots of レストラン(resutoran – restaurants) prepare special menu for the night.

Baking your own gift

And if you like making sweets, you can buy special materials for that. Recently really professional stuff like chocolate liquor, block of chocolates, cocoa powder are imported from Belgium and France etc, and you can find also special forms for chocolate sweets and recipe books as well. Lots of imported sweets are introduced in the original name, so older people can’t read the katakana names especially when they are from Europe except England. So, such precious materials are mainly bought by younger women. Recent sweets magazine tends to use more professional and original French words on the method of the sweets, because the readers seem to feel “cool and trendy” about such expressions. Anyway, young girls often try to bake chocolate cookies or cakes like brownies for the special day if they want to tell their feelings, and some of them have to buy something instead of their “unsuccessful work”.

On the other hand, this day is special for each of boys as well if he has someone in his mind. They cannot but expect chocolates from her at that day even though he doesn’t like chocolates, so if he didn’t get anything from her, he may spend empty days. Well, a boy may get more chocolates from lots of girls, and of course he is proud of that. Brothers may compete the number of the chocolates, or father and the son may do. Anyway the female family are delighted of the chocolates if the men share the capturing stuff with them. But if it seems the 息子（むすこ – musuko – son) can’t expect any chocolates at that day, his 母（はは – haha – mother) might prepare chocolates for him.

Vocabulary

• バレンタインデー – barentainde- – Valentine’s Day
• チョコレート – chokoleeto – chocolate
• テレビ番組 – テレビばんぐみ – terebi bangumi – TV programs
• 雑誌 – ざっし – zasshi – magazines
• 味 – あじ – aji – taste
• 値段 – ねだん – nedan – price
• デパート – depaato – department stores
• スーパー – suupaa – supermarkets
• コンビに – konbini – convenience stores
• クッキー – kukkii – cookies
• アイスクリーム – aisukuriimu – ice cream
• 彼 – かれ – kare  -  he, boyfriend
• 同僚 – どうりょう – douryou – colleagues
• 上司 – じょうし – joushi – boss
• 父 – ちち – chichi – father
• 兄弟 – きょうだい – kyoudai – brothers
• 友人 – ゆうじん – yuujin – friend
• ホワイトデー – howaitodee – White Day
• コンサート – konsaato – concert
• 買った – かった – katta – bought/have bought
• 田中さんに – たなかさんに – tanaka san ni – for Tanaka san
• そう – sou – yes/you’re right
• もしかして – moshikashite – possibly, by (any) chanse
• ぜんぜん – zenzen – no, at all
• レストラン – resutoran – restaurant
• 彼女 – かのじょ – kanojo – she, girlfriend
• 息子 – むすこ – musuko – son
• 母- はは – haha – mother

Notes

彼（かれ – kare) – This word is used as a personal pronoun like below:

• 彼は(kare wa)/彼が(kare ga) – he
• 彼の(kare no) – his
• 彼を(kare o)/彼に(kare ni) – him

However, we don’t use pronouns as much as Western people do, and we also use the words kare and kanojo as the meaning of “boyfriend/lover” rather than the personal pronoun. So, when wanting to say “he”, we mostly use the person’s name instead of the pronoun.

• A:  このチョコレート、田中さんに買ったの？
  (Did you buy this chocolate for Tanaka san?)
• B:  そう、田中さんにね。
  (Yes, it was for him!)
• A:  田中さんって、もしかして雪ちゃんの彼？
  (Is he your boyfriend, Yuki chan?)
• B:  ぜんぜん。でも、彼女だったらいいな。
  (No at all. But I wish I could be his girlfriend!)

Also, regarding kanojo, it’s commonly used as girlfriend rather than
the personal pronoun “she/her”. Of course it’s often used when we
translate something from Western stuff.

• 彼女(kanojo wa)/彼女が(kanojo ga) – she
• 彼女の(kanojo no) – her
• 彼女を(kanojo o)/彼女に(kanojo ni) – her

Posted by Shizu