English← Back to selectionEnglish← Back to selectionChapter 7 · Lesson 7 — Daily life
Japan runs on time — trains arrive to the minute. You need just two pieces: 時 (o’clock) and 分 (minutes), with 半 for “half past.”
分 flips between ふん/ぷん (just like 本!):
| 1 | 3 | 4 | 10 |
|---|---|---|---|
| いっぷん | さんぷん | よんぷん | じゅっぷん |
Here’s a lovely secret: each weekday is named for a classical “luminary” — the Sun, the Moon, and the five elements. You already met 日 and 月 in Chapter 3!
火 fire · 水 water · 木 wood · 金 gold · 土 earth — the five elements, hiding in your calendar all along.
City hall · the clinic · “I don’t understand”
The counter at city hall, the desk at the clinic: these feel huge, but a handful of phrases carry you through every one.
Point to the spot and add 〜が 痛いです (“… hurts”):
Kanji Story Cards · No. 12, 13 & 14
Eki — the Horse-Post
(train) station
On the left, a 馬 (horse)! Long ago a 駅 was a post-station where tired horses were swapped for fresh ones. Today the horses are trains — but it’s still where the journey pauses.
Sha — the Cart from Above
car · vehicle · wheel
Look straight down on a cart: the central box is the cargo bed, the long line is the axle, the bars are the wheels. A picture that has rolled, unchanged, for millennia.
Den — Storm in a Wire
electricity
Up top sits 雨 (rain); below, a bolt twisting down — lightning in a rainstorm, the wild power we tamed into trains, phones and light.
Dialogue · the capstone — everything, in one day
Watch this whole book come together in one Saturday — time, particles, verbs, adjectives, trains. And watch Tsuki: she’s come a long way.
One chapter to go → the full Kanji Guild, your grammar map, a can-do self-check, and a send-off from Tsuki, Selene & Marina. 🌸