Most of the time you’ll probably only need to recognize the written Japanese phrase, but we’ve included audio so you can listen to the Japanese pronunciation. This way you’ll be able to ask if something is open or closed, or more importantly, on sale!
Let's begin this free audio lesson on signs in Japanese!
Resources for further reading:
How to pronounce signs in Japanese
Practice Your Pronunciation With Rocket Record
Rocket Record lets you perfect your Japanese pronunciation. Just listen to the native speaker audio and then use the microphone icon to record yourself. Once you’re done, you’ll get a score out of 100 on your pronunciation and can listen to your own audio playback. (Use a headset mic for best results.) Problems? Click here!
女 / 女子
おんな / じょし
Onna / Joshi
Ladies
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男 / 男子
おとこ / だんし
Otoko / Danshi
Gentleman
0%
引く
ひく
Hiku
Pull
0%
押す
おす
Osu
Push
0%
開店 / 営業中
かいてん / えいぎょう ちゅう
Kaiten / Eigyō chū
Open
0%
閉店
へいてん
Heiten
Closed
0%
営業時間
えいぎょう じかん
Eigyō jikan
The opening hours
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駐車禁止
ちゅうしゃ きんし
Chūsha kinshi
No parking
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When you buy food in a supermarket and don’t intend to eat it straight away it might pay to check the ‘best before date’ to avoid nasty surprises…
賞味期限
しょうみ きげん
Shōmi kigen
The best before date
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…までにお召し上がり下さい
…まで に おめし あがり ください
…made ni omeshi agari kudasai
Best before...
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Most restaurants have a smoking and a non-smoking area. There is a big discussion in Japan at the moment over whether to ban smoking in public buildings altogether. In the meantime it might be helpful to learn what “Kin-en” means.
喫煙席
きつえん せき
Kitsu-en seki
The smoking area
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禁煙席
きんえん せき
Kin-en seki
The non-smoking area
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禁煙
きんえん
Kin-en!
No smoking!
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Sometimes you will see big bright colored signs in nearly every store window. There must be a sale on…
値引き
ねびき
Nebiki
Discount
0%
格安
かくやす
Kakuyasu
Reduced
0%
バーゲン セール
バーゲン セール
Bāgen Sēru
The bargain
0%
That’s it for this lesson. I hope you had fun!
For more lessons on Japanese vocabulary I recommend these!
- Break the ice by using vocab to do with sports in Japanese.
- DIY while in Japan? This lesson covers the essential vocab for tools in Japanese.
- This lesson is all about using a computer in Japanese.
Sayōnara!
Sayaka Matsuura: Rocket Japanese
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