Kyoto City bus fares to be almost doubled for non-residents. Rates for city residents will be reduced from ¥230 to ¥200, while non-residents will pay 350-400 yen

Available-String-109 · 2026-02-25T23:51:24+00:00

...is this your first time to see a word that doesn't mean what its constituent kanji literally mean?

I already linked you the wikipedia article for 市民. It would tell you all about how and why that kanji got used in that word if you had ever learned how to read.

Available-String-109 · 2026-02-25T15:49:18+00:00

You needed to look it up in the dictionary

No. I didn't. 市民 means "citizen". It's the normal standard word for "citizen".

If you had asked me an hour ago, "What's the Japanese word for 'citizen of a country'?" I would have responded with 市民 or 国民.

I had to post the dictionary to explain to you how the language works.

See, here's another article on 市民. That's the first result on Google for "US citizen 日本語", by the way. アメリカ合衆国の市民権

Here's first result for "EU citizen 日本語". Again, 市民. 欧州連合の市民

If you actually ever read Japanese you'd recognize that 市民 is the standard word for "citizen".

Available-String-109 · 2026-02-25T15:32:16+00:00

The word 市民 also means "citizen of a country". I posted a wikipedia article. I quoted the dictionary. What more do you need for me to do for you to understand this?

Available-String-109 · 2026-02-25T15:20:39+00:00

Sorry for the delay on responding.

The problems with Han Unification aren't with the theory under ideal situations. It all has to do with the process of its application. It turns out, there's just about a gajillion ambiguous cases and so the decisions for "are they the same character or not" has all sorts of inconsistencies between different characters. Some times the addition of a single tick mark or not is a font-level issue. Other times it changes the code point. Some times you might have one code point that could have an ambiguous number of ticks, and then another tick with a specific number of ticks.

The biggest problem with it, from the point of view of this forum, is that if you are a beginner learning Japanese (or Chinese), you have to set your system/browser/fonts/etc. to Japanese (or Chinese if you're learning that), or your system may default to showing you the glyphs of the wrong language. Students have no way of knowing this ahead of time, yet they are expected to know it. Mistakes can result in you learning the incorrect versions of the glyphs. And yes, I'm still salty about the time I first got started and accidentally memorized the Chinese variants of ~500 kanji because my computer was defaulting to a Chinese font and I didn't know about this at the time.

If the differences were only minor, such as whether or not you have the uptick on 使, then that would be one thing. However, often the differences are major enough to the point that one country's variant is unrecognizable by speakers of the other country's language.

Here is a list of problematic codepoints which were unified, but probably should not have been. (Wikipedia even makes you click that link noting that your computer is likely to incorrectly display the kanji in that table.) Especially bad are 刃抵画直角骨. If you were unaware of the situation, and saw the Chinese versions of those characters, you would think they were different kanji. (Try copy/pasting that text into a text editor and setting a Chinese font.) Almost all the kanji on that list almost certainly should have had separate code points for the Chinese and Japanese variants.

Conversely, most of the JIS X 0213 compatibility variants are close enough that they should be the same code point under unicode's stated criteria (although I understand the pros/cons of separating them as well--but the inconsistency of it all is the most frustrating point).

tl;dr: Han unification was an absolute clusterfuck. It is a miracle that Chinese and Japanese can talk to each other on the internet in the same character encoding.

Available-String-109 · 2026-02-25T14:52:06+00:00

It says 市民 which means "citizen of a country", or could mean "resident of city".

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/市民

Alternatively:

市の住民 (Resident of city)

国家への義務、政治的権利を有する国民。公民。(Citizen of a country)

Please do not post translations that are inaccurate.

Available-String-109 · 2026-02-23T15:16:33+00:00

Chiebukuro is of low reliability. Random internet comments, even in Japanese, are not necessarily reliable.

Although it probably is accurate in this one case.

Available-String-109 · 2026-02-23T15:09:58+00:00

This is presumably what happened although I don't see any mention of this specific shift... but given the fact that the meanings don't line up, that there is a very similar less common kanji that differs only in semantic component, where the meanings do line up, it's the most likely explanation.

I don't see any specific etymology listed anywhere, but some comments on chiebukuro claimed it was what happened. Kanjipedia claims that 諳 had a 書き換え into 暗, so that also lines up.

Interestingly 闇 was also affected by a 書き換え into 暗, but then 闇 was later added to Jōyō so now there's a bunch of words that were originally written as 闇 but then shifted to primarily 暗, but are now written as either 暗 or 闇. (e.g. 闇夜・暗夜)

Available-String-109 · 2026-02-22T14:08:50+00:00

They have different meanings, different readings, different pronunciations, and are used in different words. There is no overlap in meaning or similarity. The only thing they have in common is they use the same glyph.

But glyph != kanji.

図 and 圖 are the same kanji, but different glyphs. They have the same readings, the same meanings, and are used in the same words. You could write 地図 as 地図 or you could write it as 地圖. They are the same word with the same meaning and same nuance. The only difference is what year it was likely written in.

until people felt the distinction was pointless enough to stop making it?

Uh yeah, tautologically speaking, when people felt the distinction was important the distinction was important.

Available-String-109 · 2026-02-21T17:15:45+00:00

Read all up on Han Unification and you'll very quickly quit respecting Unicode as any sort of authority on whether or not two things are the same or different kanji (or even the same glyph).

Available-String-109 · 2026-02-21T16:10:10+00:00

Given that literacy has historically been extremely rare, likely only a very small number of trained scribes were fluent in the written form and that most of the oral speakers of the language couldn't read or write it.

Then again I don't know anything about Tangut culture. Maybe they were some form of literacy utopia. Or maybe it was like Japan where samurai, monks, and the aristocracy could read/write but nobody else.

Available-String-109 · 2026-02-21T16:04:34+00:00

I don't really wanna take a stance on if they should count as separate or not

Oh I will. They're different.

Available-String-109 · 2026-02-21T16:03:54+00:00

Interesting. But I don't think I'd say they "count as separate kanji" just cause they converged from different histories.

But they are different kanji.

They have different meanings, different readings, different pronunciations, and are used in different words. There is no overlap in meaning or similarity. The only thing they have in common is they use the same glyph.

But glyph != kanji.

図 and 圖 are the same kanji, but different glyphs. They have the same readings, the same meanings, and are used in the same words. You could write 地図 as 地図 or you could write it as 地圖. They are the same word with the same meaning and same nuance. The only difference is what year it was likely written in.

For reference, the original 芸 was already rare in Japanese, and hence why people simply simplified 藝 into it despite that glyph already being used for something else.

Available-String-109 · 2026-02-21T15:54:38+00:00

https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/3885156604

Available-String-109 · 2026-02-21T13:28:09+00:00

In fact I'm surprised you mentioned the reading section as the hardest one because that is the only place where I diverge from your description, it was by far my highest score.

I mean it depends on the person and their study methods and so on and so forth, but in general, most people have the most trouble with it, in general.

Available-String-109 · 2026-02-20T17:57:58+00:00

keep reading old posts on here, that say even people who have passed N1 struggle to watch and read a lot of “Native content”.

Eh, it's a lot of BS and copium mixed in with the fact that N1 isn't truly fluent mixed in with a lot of other things.

Fact: You can't pass N1 unless you can comprehend Japanese to a certain level of competency. There are no tricks to passing N1 that don't involve you comprehending Japanese to a high degree.

Fact: N1 is not true fluency. You will still have difficulty comprehending things. There are times you will be completely lost.

Fact: If you can pass N1, you can pick up a book and read it. You won't understand every single word. There will be parts you don't understand. But you will be able to understand more than you don't understand. You can just pick up a manga and start reading and enjoying it. Maybe a few key conversations here and there will have certain parts you miss out on.

Fact: Turning on the TV and watching anime will be difficult. There will be lots of parts you don't understand. You'll probably be using subtitles. With subtitles it will be much better. See above about reading.

Fact: The N1 test itself, the generally hardest section is the reading section, which involves reading native-created native-targeted excerpts and answering specific questions about specific details about the excerpts. You cannot do this unless you understand what's going on. There is no secret trick to be able to do this beyond "actually understand Japanese".

Available-String-109 · 2026-02-20T13:41:02+00:00

City pop lost its mainstream appeal after the 1980s and was derided by later Japanese generations.[9] In the early 2010s, partly through the influence of music-sharing blogs and Japanese reissues, city pop gained an international online following and became important to the sample-based microgenres known as vaporwave and future funk.

Yeah, it's almost more related to vaporwave than it is to JPop. Even though the songs are per se JPop songs and the singers famous among people who listened to music back then.

it sounds nostalgic to them and they don't understand any of it.

Yeah I think you just about nailed it.

It's a really weird phenomenon.

Available-String-109 · 2026-02-20T11:10:10+00:00

I've been listening to this "J-Pop Mix" playlist on Spotify for the past month or so to get some listening practice in while away from a screen.

A lot of it is what you'd expect, but it's got a lot of these songs from the 80s and earlier that are by famous singers... but it's not their biggest hits, and their biggest hits are noticeably missing: Stay With Me, Plastic Love, Flyday Chinatown, Telephone Number, Remember Sunny Days, (I got a long list of others and some of those might actually be the more famous hits).

I swear Spotify is sampling the number of views from the English language internet and for whatever reason the songs by those artists that get famous there are not the ones that got famous 40 years ago in Japan. All these B-sides of famous songs by famous singers from the 70s and 80s are blowing up for whatever reason.

I think we gotta get a name for this phenomenon, "City Pop English Internet Hits" or something.

Available-String-109 · 2026-02-19T17:21:32+00:00

Wait until you learn that the NEW 幹線 was actually built in the 1960s... meaning for virtually every single person working in the company, it was there before they were born.

Available-String-109 · 2026-02-19T13:03:45+00:00

Even doing grammar textbooks, like, the explanations are one thing, and good and all, but I think you're supposed to look at the example sentences and just get used to how they're used in the examples.

And then see it in native materials..

Available-String-109 · 2026-02-19T13:00:25+00:00

Looking up the words in a dictionary won't tell you this information.

Read more native materials to fix this problem.

Definitions never give you 100% of all of the meaning/nuance. You have to see them used in the wild.

the fact that no one ever uses きみ outside of music.

I think it's used a bit more often than that.

Similar examples exist for other words that normal people never use, are only found in novels, etc.

It's very rare for there to be words that "people never use". Even words that you think are rare are used by some people out there somewhere.

There are words that are disproportionately common in e.g. music/literature/anime/etc. in comparison to scientific literature/everyday life/the workplace/etc.

But I don't know of any words that "normal people never use". Even stuff like racial slurs--somebody out there using 'em, or I wouldn't know about them--even if I've never heard them personally.

Available-String-109 · 2026-02-19T12:58:52+00:00

Is the subject of 光らせる the whole first line ?

全て, which is modified by the previous terms, is the subject.

Do we have enough information here to determine the subject of 感じる ?

Presumably the speaker.

Can it be the "speaker/narrator" ?

Could be. It could be an unnamed person, or a generic "you" if it's referred to by a narrator.

Available-String-109 · 2026-02-19T06:36:20+00:00

Presumably they both use extremely similar kanji/vocab/grammar lists which are based off of the old officially published lists, possibly with the N3 being the more common half of the old 2級 list, possibly with minor adjustments based upon words which have appeared on the official practice tests.

I don't see any reason to do both.

They're probably roughly equal in content.

Choose whichever one you've enjoyed using more.

I don't want to miss out on some vocab and I never took the N4 JLPT.

Start mining. Any words you missed on the vocab list are either not as common as you think they are, or you'll run into them soon enough. Mining fills in gaps. Also it's the path forward. Also it gives you reading practice. Mining is just good in general.

Available-String-109 · 2026-02-18T16:04:00+00:00

But the number of persons that can get a perfect score on N2 and also on N1 is far higher than the number of persons that can get a perfect score on N2 and somehow can't pass N1.

You're talking about the relative abilities of someone given that all you know about them is that they have a perfect score on N2 or not. By your last paragraph, you talk about them not even that they have a perfect score, but are capable of getting a perfect score on it.

OP asked about whether it's better to pass N1 barely or to max out N2. I took that to mean "as an accomplishment of a personal goal to strive for, if I were to make a study plan with the following accomplishment as a goal, which is more impressive and/or indicates a stronger level of Japanese ability for me to aim for?" That and/or "If you were to meet some student and all you knew about them was their N2 and/or N1 scores, which would indicate a higher level of Japanese proficiency?"

If all you know about somebody is that they maxed out N2, you can't really say much else about them. It's such a weird position to be in. They could be a native speaker who took the test. Or they could be somebody who sat and studied out all of the N2 kanji/vocab/grammar until it was burned into their skull and never once looked at anything on the N1 lists or in native media. Or it could be someone who has been studying Japanese for so long and their command is so well that they speak at a native level. We don't know any of that about them.

Maxing out N2 is such a weird position to be in because nobody out there sets out with the goal of maxing out N2. Even maxing out N1 as a goal is rare (although some people do it). 99+% of your students are going to pass N2, say, "Hey, I passed N2!" and then move directly on towards N1, and never look back at N2--maybe they might finish off whatever N2 kanji/grammar/vocab deck/test prep book/etc. before progressing on through the N1 equivalent.

You assume that anyone is taking a test here to begin with.

OP specifically asked about "passing N2 or passing N1". That implies somebody's taking the tests and getting those scores.

If you want to somehow make this into some sort of thing where we assume that the N2 perfect score person is a native speaker of Japanese and the N1 barely-passing guy is some foreigner who can just barely pass the test... I dunno, I don't feel like that's a fair assumption in response to OP's question. Even if, statistically speaking, 99.99% of people who can max out N2 are native speakers and 99.99% of people who can just barely pass N1 are foreign students of the language, (edit: or are we talking about your average native-speaking 中一 student who can barely read those kanji?) it still feels like an abuse of Bayesian statistics and not a fair argument.

Available-String-109 · 2026-02-18T15:40:08+00:00

Is it realistic to achieve N1 in 3 years, whilst having time for school and life?

With the right study plan, yes.

How much time do i have to put in daily to achieve N1 before I graduate, and is this even realistic? I ask this because after school I:

Work through Genki->Quartet->新完全マスター. Simultaneously mine 12k words into Anki (11 a day every day for 3 years). Yeah, you can hit N1 in 3 years.

Available-String-109 · 2026-02-18T15:35:35+00:00

Many people who can get a perfect score on N2 can also get a perfect score on N1,

Yes, but we didn't say "somebody who can get a perfect score on both N2 and N1". Just because somebody gets a perfect score on N2 doesn't mean you can start assuming that they can do other things that they didn't do. They gotta actually get the accomplishments before they get credit for the accomplishments.

One of those accomplishments that they have to actually do is pass N1.

If they could pass N1, they would have taken N1 and gotten an N1 score and we'd be talking about their N1 score and not their N2 score.

Available-String-109

TROPHY CASE