Before visiting Japan, become acquainted with its writing system – Hiragana and Katakana will make reading signs, menus and written texts such as books or newspaper articles much simpler.

Learn the first five groups of hiragana. They should not take you more than an hour to memorize.

1. Konnichiwa

Japanese greetings typically follow one universal standard – konnichiwa (). You’re likely to hear it used in public spaces like train stations and airports; as well as from friends and family if you visit their homes or social events.

Pronunciation is almost exactly like its written form, although certain vowels may be lengthened or repeated – for instance “okaasan” should be read as “ko-ni-chah-san”, not “okaa-san”. Double vowels also occur frequently; an example being Tokyo where its first vowel has an extended syllable.

Saying “hello” in Japan may not be difficult, but there are certain etiquette rules you need to keep in mind when greeting someone new for work or school. Some greetings are more appropriate depending on the event and formality; for example ohayougozaimasu would be appropriate as a more formal greeting when meeting new colleagues for work or school.

However, casual meetings between friends and families don’t need to use formal greetings such as “ohayougozaimasu”. You may opt for more informal greetings such as oha-ne or (haroo). While there are numerous ways of saying hello in Japanese, konnichiwa remains the most commonly spoken greeting, easy for foreign speakers to pronounce and sounding just like natives! Want to learn more Japanese phrases? Check out Drops: the ideal SIM for travelers going abroad with its Japanese phone number that works worldwide!

2. Sayounara

Sayonara is an elegant goodbye greeting that signifies more than simply, “see you later.” It actually stems from a Japanese term for farewell: Zuo Yang naraba. Everyone knows this phrase when departing a party or event – your not-so-cool uncle may use it, too – yet this term boasts an extensive history and heritage behind it.

“Hi” in Japanese derives from two words combined together – hello (hi) meaning hello and moshi (moshi () for farewell). Nowadays, however, sayonara may no longer be commonly used by native speakers; some younger generations may instead utilize mairimasu which serves as more formal greeting.

If you want to be extra polite in Japan and show a bit of keigo in everyday interactions, learning this phrase for traveling there should certainly help! When seeking directions or needing assistance of any kind. With practice these simple Japanese travel phrases will enable you to communicate more fluently with locals while preventing miscommunication – making your trip to Japan truly amazing! Happy exploring!

3. Koku

Koku, Lily’s violin shop assistant and talented swordsman who can take down criminals with his superior speed. Unfortunately he can no longer remember who or why he did these things – all that he knows for certain is his goal is reaching Canopus (Orion’s star) by any means necessary.

Koku and Kirisame make an escape attempt from the RIS. When soldiers arrive, he becomes distressed that Yuna must share in his fate and powers; Keith advises him instead to fight against fate directly.

After the battle, Koku absorbs Kirisame’s left arm and leg, turning them into blue steel blades for use as weapons. His superhuman speed allows him to easily deflect bullets from guns without taking damage – an achievement which impresses Keith watching nearby. Koku can also fly extremely quickly; Keith was impressed when he flew past security at RIS facility to bypass security guard. Among Koku’s many abilities are heterochromia iridum (his eyes appear grey/black and dark teal), wings sprouting from his back when taking form as black winged king. Additionally he can absorb body parts from other superhuman beings so as to gain their powers and abilities – an ability which Keith found incredible.

4. Koko

Koko was a baby gorilla trained by Penny Patterson to communicate using sign language. Penny Patterson created Project Koko as the first project wherein an animal learned and used language; its success became an emblem for animal-human communication.

Hiragana is a syllable-based alphabet, meaning each symbol stands for an entire sound rather than individual letters. There are 23 basic syllables in Hiragana and each ends in one of five vowels a, e, i, o or u.

Hiragana contains five vowels as its foundation, plus other symbols called “g-lines”. These lines consist of ga, gi, gu, ge and go; ba be bu bo; pa pi pu pe po and the h lines which contain ha he yu and yo respectively. You can tell these apart by the addition of small [ya], [he], [yu], “dakuten” diagonal marks or handakuten circles which add distinctive details that distinguish each syllable in Hiragana.

Once you’ve memorized all the main hiragana characters, it’s time to move on to Katakana – used for writing foreign words and composed of 46 similar-looking characters that use combinations of consonants and vowels to represent sounds not found originally in Japanese. Katakana uses straight lines more frequently than its counterpart.