Fall in Japan

September 2, 2023

You know how you go to a store in October and you see Christmas decorations on sale?

Well, I'm experiencing the Japanese version of that at this very moment.

It all began about a week or two ago.

They started busting out all the Fall goodies just a bit over halfway through August.

Guess nobody told them it's still Summer 🤣

Seasonal goodies

In my experience with seasonal goodies in the US, it was usually decorations or certain candies, maybe some fruits as well, but it seems to be much more intense over here in Japan than it was in the US.

Everything here - and I mean everything - has some sort of special flavor locked away behind a certain season.

You can tell it's seasonal because it'll say 期間限定きかんげんてい(limited time) and will be some sort of flavor of the season.

You might also see the season replacing 期間きかん (time, period) as well.

For Fall, you might see 秋限定あきげんてい(Fall exclusive).

Another word you might see written on packaging is 季節限定きせつげんてい(seasonal [limited]) as well, and similar to the one above, you might see what season in there as well, so 秋季限定しゅうきげんてい (Fall limited).

That's a lot of words to say basically the same thing. Thankfully, the more familiar you are with lots of Japanese, the less and less scary words like these get.

So keep that wheel turning and hit that Study Now button. It'll be no worries eventually^^

→ → → Study Now ← ← ←

Anyway, in the fall, common flavors are 栗くり (chestnut) and one of my favorites, かぼちゃ (Japanese pumpkin).

Here are some things I've seen that are 栗 flavored:

This is a 和栗わぐりケーキ(Japanese chestnut cake) and you can see that 期間限定 in green that we talked about.

Also, I found one of my biggest weaknesses the other day:

I lack the ability to resist new Kit Kat flavors. You can see 期間限定 written in green on this one as well.

You can even see how it's talking about the fall there when it says 秋あきを感かんじる優やさしい味あじわい (the gentle flavor of fall).

These were pretty good btw. I think my favorite flavor still has to be the standard 抹茶まっちゃ(matcha) though. Or maybe the orange one, both of which are not seasonal thankfully.

The one true flavor

I can't begin to tell you how excited I am for かぼちゃプリン (pumpkin pudding).

This one is a かぼちゃモンブラン (pumpkin Mont Blanc), which I believe also uses 栗 as well?

Not sure. If it's delicious enough, I don't ask questions And this definitely meets that threshold:

I don't shop at conbinis terribly often anymore (supermarkets are cheaper and tastier! Keep that in mind for your next Japan trip 👀), but I will still hunt down all of the かぼちゃプリン or かぼちゃモンブラン I can find at the conbini when it's the season.

Interestingly enough, there are also other seasonal things like chocolate with alcohol in it. And for some reason, there's a company that makes potato chips that lock the sour cream and onion flavor to spring only.

Sad

Though, I guess it does give me something to look forward and help me feel the 季節きせつきせつの変かわり目め (the changing of seasons). So no major complaints there.

If you have any favorite seasonal stuff in Japan, come share them in our community Discord! I'll share some extra stuff as I find it as well^^

Weekly writing prompt:

Your Japanese friend texted you and asked if you're going to the バーベキュー(barbecue) that they're planning at the beach tomorrow with a few other friends. You let them know you are, but you also have a question about it.

Post your responses here and let's talk about them!

Feel free to ask for help if you want to say something specific as well. Both myself and other students will be in there offering advice and help^^

By the way, I also made a channel for requesting situations that you would like to practice and share your Japanese with! Please feel free to make suggestions for future writing prompts here.

Some cool Japanese

There are a lot of uses of the word ちょうど (just right, exactly, precisely), and sadly English translations tend to not capture the full nuances very well.

For example, as this in-depth box says, it also includes that there is a nuance of an expectation that you have set is being met when you say ちょうど, as opposed to some other words like 完璧かんぺき (perfect).

This comes from Unit 144 in Phase Two, in a lesson that can be found here.

If the above Japanese is too difficult for you, all you need to do is keep hitting the Study Now button, and you'll understand it when you get there. Especially when using a study resource like NativShark, you'll be fine as long as you show up as much as you can ^^

NativShark goodie bag

The content team released 4 new Phase Three Units this week~

New Phase Three Units

New Podcasts Episodes:

Laid-back Japanese Podcast

Chopsticks in Japan (& being rude without realizing) - YouTube, Spotify

Not-so Laid-back Japanese Podcast

日本でお箸のだめな使い方と言ったら？？ - YouTube, Spotify

The Konnichiwa Podcast

Paipan? o_0 - Spotify

See you in the next one
Ty