A few kanji to know for traveling in Japan 日本旅行で役にたつ漢字

Detailed article on kanji

• Entrance and exit

Let's start with two words that share the same kanji, which will be very useful for finding your way around subway stations or department stores.入口( iriguchi ) and 出口(deguchi ) indeed share the kanji meaning mouth: 口 (kuchi). The first kanji of iriguchi represents the verb "to enter", 入口, therefore, means "entrance" (of a store, of a subway entrance, of a queue...). Its antonym, deguchi, means "exit" and features in the first part of the kanji for "exit".

• In local currency

In the West, we generally know the yen symbol ¥, a capital y with two strokes through it. However, this symbol is little used in Japan, where its kanji version is preferred: 円 (en, not yen). This character means "round". Attention, VAT is sometimes not included in the price (税抜き), as in the 100 yen shops, or included (税込み).

• Man or woman?

In Japan, most onsen (温泉 literally "hot spring") are single-sex. The women's bath will generally be indicated by a small red curtain with the female kanji, 女 (onna); that of men by a blue curtain with the male's kanji, 男 (otoko). But these two kanjis can also save you the trouble of getting into the right restroom or, if you're a male, avoiding getting on the subway cars intended for women!

• Know what to eat

Many restaurants have a menu in English, but you may find yourself with a Japanese menu in your hands, unable to decipher these successions of hieroglyphs. These few kanjis should already give you some indications:

- 肉 for meat

- 魚 for fish

- 酒 for alcohol

See: Deciphering a menu in Japanese

• Push or pull?

Never sure if you should pull or push the door? In Japan, it will be even more complicated if you don't know the associated ideograms: 押 (osu) for pushing and 引 (hiku) for pulling.