Cool Japanese Words with Deep Meaning (30 Cards)
🇯🇵 Japanese · 30 cards · B2 · by Haruka Sato
These are the words people ask me about most: komorebi, ikigai, wabi-sabi. Some really do carry a whole worldview; others are ordinary Japanese that got romanticised online. So the deck comes in two halves. The first ten are words you hear every day here — natsukashii, mottainai, shikata ga nai, otsukaresama — and you should use them, not just admire them. The rest are aesthetic and cultural terms: yūgen, mono no aware, iki, kintsugi. Those you will mostly meet in writing, museums and talk about art, seasons and old things. Every card has kanji, kana and romaji, plus a sentence a real person would say. Learn the everyday ten first.
Flip through the cards, then switch to Quiz. Tap the play button on any row to hear it. The full table below is there to read, print or copy into your own flashcard app.
The Reji iPhone app is being rebuilt and returns to the App Store soon.
All 30 cards
| # | Japanese | Pronunciation | English | Example | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 懐かしい An i-adjective describing the *thing*, not you: the song is natsukashii. Casual, said out loud constantly. | natsukashii | nostalgic, brings back memories | この曲、懐かしいなあ。 This song really takes me back. | |
| 2 | 頑張る The 頑張って form is the everyday 'you've got this'. Implies enduring effort, not luck. Polite: 頑張ってください. | ganbaru | to do one's best, to persevere | 明日の試験、頑張ってね。 Good luck on tomorrow's exam. | |
| 3 | もったいない Buddhist in origin: a thing not being used for the purpose it deserves. 「私にはもったいない」 = 'this is too good for me.' | mottainai | what a waste, too good to waste | まだ食べられるのに捨てるの?もったいないよ。 You're throwing it out when it's still edible? What a waste. | |
| 4 | 仕方がない Casual form: しょうがない (shō ga nai). Calm acceptance rather than despair — heard many times a day. | shikata ga nai | it can't be helped, nothing to be done | 雨だから仕方がないね。中止にしよう。 It's raining, so it can't be helped. Let's cancel. | |
| 5 | お疲れさま Greeting, goodbye and thank-you in one, used between colleagues. Polite: お疲れさまでした. Don't say ご苦労さま to a superior. | otsukaresama | thanks for your hard work, good job | お疲れさま、先に帰るね。 Good work today — I'm heading off first. | |
| 6 | 絆 Emotionally heavy — family, teammates, disaster survivors. Overused in slogans since 2011, so it can sound sentimental. | kizuna | bond, deep human tie | 震災で家族の絆が強くなった。 The earthquake made our family bonds stronger. | |
| 7 | 縁 Buddhist in origin. Polite form ご縁 (go-en) is standard in business greetings and at weddings. | en | fateful connection, destined tie | ここで会えたのも何かの縁だね。 Us meeting here must be some kind of fate. | |
| 8 | 我慢 Treated as a virtue: bearing hardship without complaining. Verb: 我慢する. | gaman | endurance, putting up with something | もう我慢の限界だ。 I'm at the end of my patience. | |
| 9 | 切ない A tight ache in the chest — longing, nostalgia, sad love songs. Not plain sadness (悲しい, kanashii). | setsunai | bittersweet, painfully moving | 片思いって本当に切ないよね。 Unrequited love really does ache, doesn't it. | |
| 10 | 生きがい Everyday Japanese, usually about small joys rather than careers. The four-circle diagram is a Western invention. | ikigai | reason for living, what makes life worth it | 孫の顔を見るのが生きがいなんです。 Seeing my grandchildren is what makes life worth living. | |
| 11 | 一期一会 Four-character idiom from the tea ceremony: treat this meeting as unrepeatable. Say it ichi-go ichi-e. | ichigo ichie | a once-in-a-lifetime encounter | 旅先の出会いは一期一会だと思う。 I think the people you meet while travelling are a once-in-a-lifetime encounter. | |
| 12 | 木漏れ日 An ordinary, concrete noun in Japanese — no mystical overtone, just a precise word English lacks. | komorebi | sunlight filtering through leaves | 木漏れ日がきれいな道を歩いた。 I walked down a path with beautiful dappled sunlight. | |
| 13 | 侘び寂び Two ideas fused: 侘び (quiet plainness) and 寂び (the beauty of age). Used about gardens, pottery, tea rooms. | wabi-sabi | beauty in simplicity and imperfection | この庭には侘び寂びを感じる。 I sense wabi-sabi in this garden. | |
| 14 | 物の哀れ Literary term from Heian classics (classical spelling もののあはれ). You will read it far more often than hear it. | mono no aware | the pathos of things, sensitivity to transience | 散る桜に物の哀れを感じる。 Falling cherry blossoms give me a sense of life's transience. | |
| 15 | 幽玄 Aesthetic term from noh theatre and classical poetry: depth you sense but cannot see fully. Written/formal register. | yūgen | profound, mysterious beauty | 能の舞台には幽玄の美がある。 There is a mysterious, profound beauty to the noh stage. | |
| 16 | 間 Space in architecture, silence in conversation, timing in comedy. 間が悪い (ma ga warui) = bad timing, awkward. | ma | pause, meaningful space or timing | あの人は話の間の取り方がうまい。 That person is great at pausing when they speak. | |
| 17 | 粋 Edo-period Tokyo aesthetic: chic without showing off. Praises behaviour as much as appearance. Don't confuse with 息 (iki, breath). | iki | stylish in an understated way, classy | さりげない気遣いが粋だね。 That effortless thoughtfulness is real class. | |
| 18 | 渋い Literally 'astringent', like green tea. A compliment for muted colours, old bars and older men; 渋い顔 means a sour expression. | shibui | tastefully understated, cool in a mature way | 渋い色のネクタイを選んだ。 I picked a tie in a subdued colour. | |
| 19 | 初心 From 初心忘るべからず — never forget your beginner's mind. Common in speeches and self-introductions. | shoshin | beginner's mind, original intention | 初心を忘れずに頑張ります。 I'll keep at it without forgetting why I started. | |
| 20 | 心機一転 Four-character idiom, used when changing jobs, moving house or starting the new year. | shinki itten | a fresh start, turning over a new leaf | 心機一転、髪を短く切った。 For a fresh start, I cut my hair short. | |
| 21 | 本音 Always learn it paired with 建前. Shown to close friends, often over drinks. | honne | one's true feelings | そろそろ本音を聞かせてよ。 Come on, tell me how you really feel. | |
| 22 | 建前 Not considered lying — it keeps things smooth. The counterpart of 本音. | tatemae | public stance, the official line | それはただの建前だよ。 That's just the official line. | |
| 23 | 甘え Warm between child and parent, but a sharp criticism between adults, as here. Verb: 甘える. | amae | dependence on another's indulgence | そんなの甘えだよ、自分でやりなよ。 That's just leaning on other people — do it yourself. | |
| 24 | 空気を読む Literally 'read the air'. The example is blunt — only to friends. Someone who can't do it is called KY (ケーワイ). | kūki o yomu | to read the room | ちょっとは空気を読んでよ。 Read the room a little, would you. | |
| 25 | 以心伝心 Zen origin: mind transmitted to mind. Used about couples, old friends and bandmates. | ishin denshin | wordless mutual understanding | 長年の友達だから以心伝心だよ。 We've been friends so long we understand each other without words. | |
| 26 | 積ん読 A pun on 積んでおく (tsunde oku, pile it up and leave it) and 読書 (dokusho, reading). Light and self-mocking. | tsundoku | buying books and never reading them | また積ん読が増えちゃった。 My pile of unread books has grown again. | |
| 27 | 森林浴 Coined by the Forestry Agency in 1982; now an ordinary health-and-leisure word, not a spiritual one. | shinrin'yoku | forest bathing | 週末に森林浴をしてリフレッシュした。 I went forest bathing at the weekend and felt refreshed. | |
| 28 | 金継ぎ The crack is highlighted rather than hidden, so the repair becomes part of the object's beauty. | kintsugi | repairing pottery with gold lacquer | 割れた茶碗を金継ぎで直した。 I repaired the broken tea bowl with kintsugi. | |
| 29 | 名残 Slightly literary but common in seasonal talk. 名残惜しい (nagori oshii) = reluctant to say goodbye. | nagori | lingering traces of something that is ending | まだ夏の名残を感じる。 You can still feel traces of summer. | |
| 30 | 七転び八起き Proverb linked to daruma dolls, which right themselves when knocked over. | nanakorobi yaoki | fall seven times, get up eight | 七転び八起きの精神で頑張るしかない。 All I can do is keep getting back up and carry on. |
Osaka-born, Tokyo-based. I help English speakers get past hiragana into real conversation. Every card has kanji, kana and romaji, because you need all three at the start.
Questions about this deck
- Are these words actually used in everyday Japanese?
- The first ten are. Natsukashii, mottainai, shikata ga nai, otsukaresama and ganbaru come up dozens of times a day. Yūgen, mono no aware and iki are real but literary — you meet them in essays, museum captions and talk about art or the seasons, almost never in a text to a friend.
- What is the difference between 本音 (honne) and 建前 (tatemae)?
- Honne is what you actually think; tatemae is the socially appropriate thing you say instead. When a colleague says 「検討します」 ('I'll consider it'), that is often tatemae for no. It is not seen as dishonest: tatemae protects the relationship, and honne comes out in private or over drinks.
- Is ikigai the same as the four-circle diagram from the internet?
- No. In Japanese, 生きがい just means whatever makes your life feel worth living — your grandchildren, your garden, running. The chart overlapping passion, mission, vocation and profession was made in the English-speaking world and is not how Japanese people use the word.
- Why is komorebi called untranslatable?
- Because English has no single word for sunlight filtering through leaves, while Japanese joins 木 (tree), 漏れ (leaking) and 日 (sun) into one noun. In Japanese it feels plain and descriptive, not mystical — you would use it about a pleasant walking path, as in the example sentence.
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