無理矢理

むりやり
muri yari

Well, you guys seem to have figured out that the way to keep us posting regularly is by telling us how awesome we are in the comments section... and by visiting regularly. Our site traffic has tripled over the last few months, we've found links to ourselves on websites we use and enjoy, and you've given us great motivation to keep on with our JLPT studies.

And since people have mentioned in the past that some Yo-ji is better than no Yo-ji, today I'm tossing up this ateji one for everyone to check out and enjoy.

I haven't had a whole lot of time lately because I'm working two jobs, and trying to organize a bunch of side projects as well (a flamenco night, a photo contest, and a kid's cooking class) so today I thought I could try to find a 四字熟語 that means "burning the candle at both ends." You know, going overboard and working as hard as you possibly can until you exhaust yourself. Unfortunately it seems that in Japanese, you just call that "being Japanese."

So in lieu of that, we have 無理矢理, which, as I mentioned is actually not a real 四字熟語. It's the ateji for the much more common 無理やり.

Definition:
無理と知りながら強引に物事を行うさま。
Translation:
1. Forcibly.
2. To do the unreasonable.
3. Against one's will.

Used most often to refer to "forcing oneself." "無理やりせんでいい" or the less casual "無理やりしないで下さい" get used to let people off the hook when it comes to things like finishing food or drinks, translating roughly as "You don't have to do the impossible..."

無理やり食べる gets used a lot, but be careful, it doesn't just mean "eating too much," it includes the idea of eating something, or an amount, that you don't want to, 7even style.

It can also be used to talk about overwork, canceling personal plans to do someone else a favor, things like that.

As an added bonus, here's a few idiomatic uses of 無理やり：

無理やり押し込む：To force into, or to wedge into. This is what you would do to a square peg that you had to get into a round hole.

きついT-シャツを無理やり着る：Squeeze yourself into a tiny-t-shirt. You could probably use this with pants too...

ズボンを無理やり脱がせる：To depants someone! (Or to pants someone, which means the same thing, right?)

表現 Break: 井戸端会議

I've gotten in the bad habit of including things in posts that I want to write full posts on, at a later time. I mentioned today's expression in the body of one of last week's yo-jis, but I wanted to give it it's own space as well. Promise this'll be the last time.

井戸端会議
いど　ばた　かいぎ
ido bata kaigi

Definition:
主婦達が集まって、人の噂などのおしゃべりをすること。
Translations:
1. Gossip.
2. Idle chatter.
3. Water-cooler gossip.

While the Japanese definition above specifies that 井戸端会議 is used in reference to housewives, I left that out of the translations because you could probably use it about gossipy men as well, or for any conversations that could be considered nothing but "rumor factories." Speaking of which, the word 噂 (うわさ; uwasa), also from the Japanese definition, is a great word word to know and use.

"Water-cooler gossip", or even "water-cooler conversation" is my modern interpretation of something that literally means "the meeting at the side of the well," and I'm not sure how well it holds up as a translation, because my American idea of water-cooler chat is more about last night's TV shows than 噂、let alone 人の悪口. Also, I don't know if American office conventions are the same as Japanese ones. In my school office we had a tea room, with a hot water dispenser instead of a water cooler. Hot tea all summer long. And hanging around in the tea room wasn't really encouraged.

"Well-side meetings", on the other hand, seems to come originate from a history of communities that had common kitchens, or at the least, communal water sources, where the women-folk had a chance to gather and talk women-talk.

I'll take this opportunity to remind you of an old 四字熟語 post, because when they say 悪事千里, one of the ways that bad news travels is by way of 井戸端会議.

Also, I enjoy checking out sites that feature cool or interesting bento lunches, and I found this picture of an 井戸端会議 bento! If you're into this kind of stuff, here are two of the sites that I like:

1.
2.

青天白日

せいてん　はくじつ
seiten hakujitsu

To put kind of a cap on the theme that Brett and I accidentally developed last week, comes a yo-ji that's been languishing on our unpublished draft roster for about half a year. 純情可憐 and 清廉潔白 both deal with people of unassailable character. 青天白日 might be what happens when someone who's character is unassailable gets assailed anyway.

All the kanji in here are about the weather, but don't expect it to be used literally all the time. The feeling and the sense of a bright blue sky and broad daylight are used to express something else.

Definition:
青空に輝く太陽。転じて、心の中が明白で、少しも隠しごとや疑われることがない状態。また、うたがいや無実の罪がはれること。
Translations:
1. Being transparent, beyond even the slightest doubt or suspiscion.
2. Having doubts, or false charges against you cleared away.
3. Being acquitted of all charges.
4. Being secure in the knowledge that your own actions were just; feeling no guilt.

The Yo-ji Databank falls kind of short on this one, providing a cop out 用例: 私はいつも晴天白日だ, but I can see why they went with that. Internet searches reveal tons of results for 青天白日 but most of them are stand alone cases.

It also gets used literally to describe the flag of the Chinese Nationalist Party. This is what a 青天白日旗 looks like.

If we had been formally grouping these 四字s thematically, 正々堂々 would have made a good addition to this run.

例文：刑期が満了した彼は青天白日の身となり、司直を訴えることになりました。
Having been cleared of all charges AFTER his prison sentence had been concluded, he has decided to sue the judicial authorities.

教科書に載っていない日本語

KN^4: Japanese that Ain't in the Textbook

Another weekly installment of words and phrases that we wish we had known when we got here, all to help you make your 言い回し more 日本人ぽい。

Today's post is all about messing with people, in one way or another.

誘惑
ゆうわく
yuuwaku

Seduction; Temptation; Sensual seduction

I think that the English translation isn't quite accurate in terms of the nuance of "seduction," because of it's strong sexual connotation. While 誘惑 is a word that you can apply sexually or within the boundaries of ナンパ territory, I've heard it get bantered around light-heartedly quite a bit. Persuading someone to do something by the use of temptation can be covered by 誘惑, even something as innocent as tempting someone to eat a piece of cake.

The usage is like this: 誰々に 誘惑　＋する or　をかける to mean "to seduce someone," or rather "to try to seduce someone."

If you're on the opposite end, you can say 「誘惑しないで！」 unless you're receptive, in which case you've 誘惑に負けた (been seduced).

迷惑
めいわく
meiwaku

annoyance; disturbance; disruption; nuisance

Also used with をかける or する、this one gets used a lot in public announcements. Cell phones at the movies or on the train = 人の迷惑になる. If you ever get into a situation at a restaurant, or your apartment, or anywhere where the people around you are doing something that is disturbing you, you can use 迷惑. When ever I need to shush my rowdy drunken friends (NIRAV) I say "ちょっと迷惑をかけないように。。。”　Yeah, that's right: when Nirav's drunk, he refuses to respond to anything but Japanese. That in itself is a pretty big 迷惑.

誤魔化す
ごまかす
gomakasu

to lie; to deceive; to charm; to be evasive

Check out those AWESOME 当て字! This is one of those situations where kanji with meanings AND readings that fit the concept of 誤魔化す were specifically chosen as the 当て字、and I think it's really cool, although 95% of the time, you'll see ごまかす in hiragana.

It's another word that gets tossed around in a friendly way (I get accused of it a lot), but it can be as negative as it sounds. Here are some contextual examples.

A politican who's good at 美辞麗句を並ぶこと might be ごまかしている.
Someone who's telling white lies ("I ate before I got here") to avoid saying or revealing something unpleasant ("I hate your cooking.") might be ごまかしている.
Yuri says はぐらかしたりすること is an example of ごまかす.
Many English-to-Japanese dictionaries will list ごまかす as one of the definitions for "manipulate."

騙す
だます
damasu

trick; cheat; deceive

Last on the list for today, 騙す will come up more often in the passive form: 騙される. Again, I don't like the translations so much... along with 誘惑、it's one of those words that I just find easier to think about in Japanese, without trying to English it. I guess I'd describe 騙される as "having one put over on you." It works for being the victim of a prank, a hoax, a scam, or a lie that you bought into... When Brett and I were in India, 毎日、騙された。Like the cab drivers who would drive us to places that were not where we wanted to go, insist that there was little difference, and then ask for money.

Have you had any opportunities to use or hear 「騙された」 in your Japanese experience?

1級 Grammar: 21-25

ADMINISTRATORS' NOTE:

We're doing our best to prepare for, and hopefully, to help you prepare for the 日本語能力試験１級, but please remember: 1級, by its very nature, consists of grammar that is difficult, highly nuanced, and most of the time, rarely used in regular conversations. That's why it's important that you use our posts as references, to be compared with other study sources, and even more important that you CHECK THE COMMENTS after each post. We're lucky to receive corrections and clarifications from native speakers and other foreigners more knowledgeable than we, and they don't always make it back into the body of the post. Thanks, and 頑張って！

1級 Grammar 21-25

My turn on the grammar bus again. This week, I'm feeling pretty good. My work life is coming together nicely, I have enough money to buy food, I'm back on a good Japanese study schedule, and most importantly, my new place is finally all furnished and habitable. Which means that I don't have to live in Brett's apartment anymore. Which means that now would be a good time for some conscience cleaning:

Confessions of a Freeloader!
居候の自白

21. ～ずにはすまない
~definitely must do
~definitely have to do

This is to be used in situations where there's room for internal debate, but in the end there's only one right thing to do. Or as the book explains, 「～しないですめばいいけれどダメだ。やはり、しなければならない」という意味。

Use it like you would with any ～ずに construction, by attaching it to the stem of a verb in ～ない form, with the exception of 「する」which becomes 「せずに」.

Ex. ブレットのアパートに泊まっていた間に、起こった事件が多すぎたので、ブレットに自白せずにはすみませんよ。

22.～そばから
~ as soon as
~right after

If you're anything like me, you're getting sick of grammar points that mean "as soon as" or "right after." There's tons of them, and it's hard to keep the nuances straight. Nonetheless, I'll attempt to explain this one.

It's used for things that happen at almost the same time, but the first part of the sentence MUST occur just before the second part. Also, the two parts should be opposite concepts, like "clean up" and "get messy," or "hear something new" and "forget it." You couldn't use it for "leave the house," and "started raining" for example.

And last, you use it for things that are habitual, not one time occurrences.

Use it with the dictionary form of verbs.

Ex.　例えば、ブレットがビールを買ったそばからそれを私が飲んでしまうことです。飲んだ後、彼に怒られないように、寝ている彼の布団の中に空き缶を放り込みました。次の日、彼が起きると、「お前がまた夜中に起きて暴飲して、酔っ払った」と私が嘘をつきました。

23. ～すら　・　ですら
~ (not) even
～さえ

Links to ～さえ will help explain this one. It means "even" or "not even" as in "Even children can understand," or "Without even water to drink," or "Not even weeds grow here." The difference between さえ and すら, is that すら is an even more formal word, used mostly in writing.

Attach it to nouns.

Ex. そしてブレットがアメリカに帰っていた２週間の間、郵便物を集めることを彼に頼まれました。しかし、手紙などが多くて、毎日集めるのが面倒くさかったので、彼のポストに、「ひらがなすら読めない外国の方がこちらに住んでいますので、郵便物を停止してください」と書きました。


24. ～ただ～のみ
~ only

「ただ～のみ」　is a formal expression or one for written use that emphasizes the sole nature of something. Use it like a very strong version of 「だけ」 or 「しかない。」

Ex. そして、彼がまだ居なかったクリスマスの頃に不在通知が届きました。「アメリカからの荷物10個を数回も配達しに参りましたが、お客様がいらっしゃらなかったので、現在、北郵便局にてお預かりしています。お渡し方法はただ取りに来て頂くのみとなっております。どうぞよろしくお願いします。」僕はその通知を彼に伝えることを忘れました。

25. ～ただ～のみならず
~ not only

Again, like many of these points, 「ただ～のみならず」 is a stronger form of more basic grammar, intended for use in writing, which make my example sentences all that much more difficult.


Ex. ある日、彼の大家さんより、メッセージも届きました。
「スタベルさんへ、
こちらのビルの部屋を借りている方は、ただスタベルさんのみならず、子供が居る家族もいらっしゃるので、夜遅くまで、パーティをしたり、音楽を流したり、風俗のお姉さんたちを呼んだりすることをご遠慮ください。
秀島大家より。」
ブレットがアメリカから戻ってこないうちに、私がそのメッセージの紙を彼の寝室で燃やしました。
伝言を伝えなかったこと、そして、あなたの家を燃やしたこと、ごめんなさい。

清廉潔白

せいれん　けっぱく
seiren keppaku


It's that time of year again - graduation! Whereas the school year finishes around May or June in America for most schools, Japan's school system marks March as the big month. Point in case, my third year junior high school kids will say farewell to our school this Friday(gasp!). My elementary schools are wrapping up next week, but since I'm only asked to come for normal classes (of which they have none due to graduation prep-work) I'm finishing up with them this week. It's always an awkward time because I never know if or when I'll see them again. Which schools I go to and when is up to my employer, so it's impossible for me to wholly disabuse the other teachers of the idea that I'll be gone come April when I honestly don't know if they'll see me again.

The bottom line: most of my elementary kids have been told I'm going back to America next month, even though my job (let alone my residency) ends in August. This will be the third time that they go out of their way to make heartfelt going-away presents, wish me luck back in America, tell me how sad they are that I'll be gone, and then wonder what the hell is going on when I drop in a month later. Always a good time, especially if I throw a blanket over my head and haunt them as the ghost of 英語 past!

The presents are nice, of course, and made doubly so by virtue of the 四字熟語 I found amidst the farewell cards. Yes, dear readers - it is the very yoji you see before you today!

Definition:
「清廉」「清浄」は、心が清く正しいこと。また自分の利欲に心が動かされないこと。「廉」は、清く正しい。「潔白」は、心や行為の清く正しいこと。
Translation:
1. Incorruptible
2. Pure-hearted
3. A straightshooter (since Rikai-chan's definition is kind of klunky)

In a theme that I've accidentally continued since Monday (will the trend go on until Friday?! Stay tuned to find out!), here is another word that can be applied to someone who would not knowingly do any wrong. There are a few huge differences, however. First off, 純情可憐 seems to be exclusively reserved for young women. Or, as I'll slur at them after a few rounds at the bar,
"sweet young thangs". 清廉潔白 enjoys a much wider versatility, and does not discriminate based on age or gender. Who is the pure one NOW, four-character idiomatic expressions?!

Behind this is the idea that 清廉潔白な人々 are aware of greed and corruption, and likely have been directly tempted by it - but pointedly refuse such shady dealings again and again. 純情可憐な女性, however, are compassionate and pure...but perhaps only to a point, since the expression seems to have a cut-off at a certain age.

In honor of this yoji, a treat: the most 清廉潔白な人 I know.


例文：オバマ大統領はなかなかいい人ですね。しかし、伝説の清廉潔白なワシントン大統領みたいなリーダになれる可能性があるか知らない。
President Obama is a pretty good guy. But I don't know if it's possible for him to become like the legendary "never tells a lie" Washington.

表現 Break: その場限り...

We've talked about 九州男児 on this site a few times before, but just to refresh your memory, men from the island of 九州 have a well-deserved reputation in Japan for being the epitome of masculinity in good and bad ways. The only concrete details I was ever able to glean about what makes a 九州男児 were these: They are very strong-willed and they make their women walk three steps behind them. Brett elaborated on them some in 亭主関白, but for an outsider, the definition remained elusive. It makes a great conversation topic, though, and just knowing about the existence of 九州男児 is enough to raise a few eyebrows.

So you can imagine how excited I was when I found a book on the topic in my local Kinokuniya! 九州男児の解説書：Manual of Kyusyu Man.

Now I can explain all sorts of aspects of the 九州男児 personality, like: they're quick to say whatever comes into their mind. They have a habit of referring to even people who they've just met as 「アンタ」 which, like 「お前」, is familiar at best, and insulting at worst; this gets them into trouble when they're outside of 九州. There's all sorts of good stuff, even things that apply to me and Brett, since we've had the benefit of being acclimated to Japan in Kyuushuu. 「とんこつ」以外はラーメンと思っていない； If it ain't Tonkotsu*, it ain't ramen.

For the purpose of today's 表現 post, we're going to focus on one that gives us an idiomatic use for an old grammatical friend: 限り.

その場限り
その　ば　かぎり
sono ba kagiri

九州男児の友情は「その場限り」と心得るべし。
You should understand that a Kyushuu man's friendship, while generous, can be fleeting.

That's an 意訳 that's informed by reading the rest of the section, but the idea of その場限り is clear: confined to a certain place, time, or situation.

Nagasaki, with it's rich history as Japan's 玄関口 and Fukuoka's busy Hakata, brought a lot of different kinds of people into Kyushuu. The folks there were exposed to a lot of commercial traffic, which meant a lot of fleeting relationships. It's not at all uncommon for people to meet, 意気投合して, have a great time, and have that be the end of it. その場限りの友情.

You can use this expression for pretty much anything that is contained or limited in a similar way. Check some examples below.

その場限りつもりだったけど：I didn't intend for it to keep going, but...

その場限りの嘘をつく：Lying, but only in those circumstances.

その場限りの付き合い、その場限りの関係、その場限りの愛情, all kinds of great usages.

See when and how you can use it. And hey, even if you're not in Japan or in Kyushuu, keep the 九州男児 in mind, in case you ever meet anyone from here. I promise you, the conversation will be well worth it.

* とんこつラーメン (tonkotsu ramen), originally from Hakata, I think, is made with a milky pork-bone broth that smells god awful and tastes like heaven. As the book explains, it's not that people from Kyushuu don't like soy-sauce based or other ramen broths, it's just that we don't consider them to be ramen. If you say ramen, we think tonkotsu.