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In Asian mythology, there are five elements, which are different from the European ones. The four European ones are wind, fire, water, and earth. The five elements in Asia are fire, water, wood, metal, and earth.
Blood type is important in Japan as well. Beliefs on personality relate to the type of blood possessed, which is why a lot of anime/manga, when listing statistics, also have the blood types.
anime: Term commonly associated with Japanese animation. There is a connotative difference between "anime" and the term "cartoons," even though anime itself does refer to Japanese cartoons.
ara: oh
arigato: thank you
baka: stupid, idiot
bishoujo: pretty girl
bishonen: pretty boy, referring to very feminine males (like the Three Lights)
chibi: little, short
daijobu: I'm fine
doujinshi: Parodies of an anime or manga. Most people associate doujinshi with ecchi/hentai, though that is not what all doujinshi are like. (That's like saying all anime is porn which is not true.) Most creators do not sue people who create doujinshi since many artists start off in this field. Some famous Sailormoon doujinshi series would be "Lunatic Party" and "Moon Fight."
ecchi: pervert- connotation is that one is slightly perverted and not as bad as "hentai"
gomen (nasai): sorry
hai: yes; right
hentai: This is actually the same as ecchi, but its connotation is very graphic X-stuff with highly explicit sex
honto ni: really
kakkoii: "handsome (it is generally used for a man)" - Sanahine Roger
kawaii: cute
konnichi wa: good afternoon
konban wa: good evening
kowai: I'm scared
kurai: dark
manga: Japanese comics: many anime come from the original manga version.
minna: everyone
nani: what
ne: similar to 'eh' in English
neko: cat. Haruka calls Usagi 'Koneko-chan.' [Koneko is kitten]
moshi moshi: hello (used more often for phone calls)
ohayo: good morning
otaku: It is used generally, today, as a term for someone who has a great deal of knowledge about something, often anime. In Japan, it's an insult.
shimatta: "used in order to say that something happened and that we can't do anything to change it, you can translate it by "too late", "I can't do anything"....but "too late" is good. it depends on the situation."
shoujo: Describes things for younger girls. Sailormoon is shoujo, though many of its fans are older than 8 and are both male and female.
shounen: Describes things for boys, in contrast with shoujo. Dragonball Z would be an example of a "shounen" anime.
Suffixes on Names
In Japan, suffixes are added on to names to indicate respect, for affection, etc. A lack of a suffix indicates that you are extremely close to the person you are refering to.
-chan: -chan is used for younger children. It is also used for affection, closeness, or endearment.
-ko: A common suffix added as a real part of a girl's name.
-kun: Generally used for boys, though it's becoming more used for girls as well. For those you aren't extremely familiar with, but are younger than you or the same age.
-sama: For formal, or a great deal of, respect. It can equivilate to about Mr. or Ms., used in place if -kun sometimes. It is also used when calling someone a king or queen or other royalty.
-san: For respect. Usually you can call anyone who is older than yourself using this suffix, or whomever you are not close with. Using last names + the -san is typical. (friends call Usagi(me) 'Tsukino-san') "I know it is not uncommon for married couples refer to one another as "name + san", and I don't mean "Okaasan" and "Otousan" so it's not limited to people older than yourself or people you don't know well."
-tachi: When you talk about a group of people. For instance, saying 'Usagi-tachi' means 'Usagi and everyone with her' or 'Usagi and all those other people she's with.'
There are more suffixes, but some of these are the more common ones.
Some Stuff on Language and Writing
The Japanese have three forms of writing: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Kanji is the writing based on Chinese characters. It's the "real" form of writing. Most of the writing is written in a combination of kanji and hiragana. Katakana is generally used for words that are borrowed from other languages other than Chinese, or for some sort of emphasis. Hiragana are for functional words or inflectional endings; however, hiragana can also be written in place of the more difficult kanji. (If you happen to read shoujo manga, you will notice tiny little characters next to the kanji; this is hiragana, called furigana.)
Most younger children do not learn kanji first; they learn to use hiragana and katakana, then learn to write frequently in kanji. The same is true for foreigners learning to write Japanese.
There is no distinguishing between the two letters 'r' and 'l.' They are said as either r or l, or together, even though the 'l' technically does not exist.
Family names are said first in Japanese (as well as Chinese and other Asian languages), and the individual names second. It's more correct to call Usagi "Tsukino Usagi" rather than "Usagi Tsukino," Generally it doesn't matter, unless you're in the library looking up someone who's Asian.
