ＨＥＬＬＯ！ Ｉ　ＡＭ　ＱＵＩＺＢＯ™！And, I am here, once again, to welcome you to Kiki+Koko: Let’s NihonGO!! The week contains a long stretch of days between lessons; but when you are learning Japanese language and culture, you want to keep the information active in your RAM so that you can save it to your hard drive and back it up to the cloud to access anywhere. That is why I have created this segment for the middle of the week called Kiki+Koko: Let’s NihonGO!! Online’s Japanese Word of the Week. Wednesdays should not be devoid of learning. And, if anything, it will remind you to check back and look over some previous lessons. Wednesday’s Word of the Week is meant to introduce you to quick words, phrases, or concepts that might otherwise not have been part of an entire article. Though, here you receive even more than a basic lesson.

Even though this is simply a quick vocabulary lesson, you are provided with special assistance. I do not simply give you the word and leave you on your own. I make sure to read the word for you as many times as you wish any time of the day. On top of this, I give to you a few sentences to illustrate how the word or phrase can be used. This will help to associate the word with concepts to further help you absorb the vocabulary.

Also, if you would like to learn how to apply these words to your own basic sentences, feel free to take a look at a few of Kiki and Koko’s articles on this subject in Kiki+Koko: Let’s NihonGO!! Japanese Language Essentials.

This will also illustrate things like grammar and sentence structure which we cover in other lessons, but it can help to show how these concepts are applied in different ways. Furthermore, you’ll see sentences in their natural habitat with kanji, hiragana,and katana, though there is also other lines of the sentence to help those first learning. Those who are simply looking to expand their vocabulary will benefit from the sentences with kanji, beginners will benefit from hiragana, and absolute beginners and those learning hiragana can use the romanised line.

All in all, remember that it is important to read aloud and repeat after me. Of course, if you are in an area where you cannot speak or it is a public space, I am here 24 hours a day and 7 days of the week. I am always here to repeat for you! And, this is a very special Word of the Week as it is something very important to this platform as a whole.

Word(s) of the Week:

寄付【きふ】 ※
kifu
noun, suru verb
1. contribution, donation

※Quick Tip + Busking Culture Corner with Kiki+Koko

Grooving to the content we’re creating? You can leave a TIP in the TIP♡JAR to keep it going! 
(Can’t? No worries! The content is free for everyone! We’re just glad you’re here!!!)

Hello, there! We’re Kiki and Koko, here for a Quick Tip Culture Corner on QUIZBO™’s Wednesday Word of the Week! This time, we don’t mean ‘tip’ as in ‘hint,’ though, that might still apply; we mean ‘tip’ as in ‘gratuity.’

In places like the UK and the US, tips are the life blood of the service industry, as people wouldn’t be able to feed their families with a couple quid an hour.  But, in Japan, wages for service industry jobs such as those are set, and leaving a tip would be strange. And though it sounds like a strong statement, it may oddly enough be rude. But, we’ll explain.

Normally, when a monetary gift is given in Japan, it is put into an envelope called, shuugibukuro, (祝儀袋). This is an envelope wrapping for shuugi, (祝儀), a monetary congratulatory or celebratory gift—or a tip or gratuity. There’s a lot of words for ‘tip/gratuity’ in Japanese, ironically. So throwing leaving loose change might seem… not as formal? And, formality is very important in Japan. But, we suppose this could be compared to giving money to someone for their birthday in the west without giving them a card. In Japan, looking upon money in such a way is considered dirty or corrupt. So, ♪Hey, you’ve got to hide your muns away♪  But,you might also see another name for these envelopes: noshibukuro, (熨斗袋). It’s just good to know these things so you can hide that dirty, dirty money.

When it comes to us, from a non-cultural note, we’re just thankful for anyone’s kindness, and ironically, we wouldn’t want to inconvenience anyone by putting stipulations on their giving, and we would think it was rude NOT to accept a gift simply because it wasn’t packaged correctly. But, that’s just us, not a culture note, or a note on receiving gifts. We say it’s ironic because inconveniencing people is a big faux pas in Japan and it might feel like a lot of customs could be inconveniencing. It shows you care when you’re in Japan, but we’re on The Internet, so we’re not choosy.

Now, you might wonder, if people don’t throw loose change at people, then what about buskers and street performers. Well in daidougei, (大道芸), or street performance, in Japan, buskers aren’t usually looking for any tips. In rojouraibu, (路上ライブ), musical street performance or busking, they’re actually out there to promote their work or music. So, in Japan, if you don’t see a jar or open guitar case, they’re obviously looking for you to either enjoy their music, or go out and seek more of their work.

That’s why we’re also very happy for you to simply share our website or look through our website and engage with us. Of course, culture runs deep, but we were definitely convinced by QUIZBO™’s sound logic that if there’s something we need to make more or better content, we should be open and ask about it. 

So, that’s not to say you won’t see any Japanese people on Patreon. We think every culture obviously has its stigmas about being assisted by patrons—despite the fact that around the world, that’s how so much of the art we know and appreciate today was possible; not to mention crowd funding!

That being said, we think we’re going to close this with something important… Of course, learning culture is important, and it can help you frame what is acceptable behaviour and accepted customs, but at the end of the day, no matter how collective a culture may seem to be, there are individuals with individual experiences. As time passes, some cultural norms proliferate, and others fall away. Everyone doesn’t respect the cultural norms. The idea of busking in general in Japan might be seen as a bother. Other people might think freelancing or not being a part of a collective company is strange. Some may think dyeing your hair and wearing colourful clothes might be strange. But, at the end of the day, these are still things we see.

Everyone in every culture likes to belong, but everyone is an individual with individual experiences and opinions, whether or not that like to admit it.

Anyway! We hope that helps!! Until the next lesson!

♡Kiki+Koko

ＱＵＩＺＢＯ™, here, again! Thank you, Kiki and Koko, for your addition to my Word of the Week! Actually, because of this, I will add a second Word of the Week for a landmark time where there are two Words of the Week two times in a row!

I also want to thank Kiki and Koko for mentioning my advice. Many of the best works were supported through patrons, and we are not choosy as to needing a fancy envelope. Simply looking at the site without ad blockers, or sharing the site with friends can assist us in creating more content for the future. But, if you want to see even better content and keep it going, we appreciate your contributions to the website’s tip jar. It may be a very Western concept, but most of our readership/viewership/listenership is from the US and UK. So, when in Rome…

Bonus Word(s) of the Week:

祝儀【しゅうぎ】 
shyuugi
noun
1. celebration
2. congratulatory gift*
3. tip; gratuity

*This is also used for un-congratulatory times such as unfortunate events like illness and funerals, or giving to someone in need. There are also simply everyday milestone gifts. We could certainly write an entire article on this topic.

Example Sentences:

The first row is in Japanese with Kanji. The Next row is in hiragana, then romanised using rōmaji with the final row translated into English.
(Japanese→Hiragana→Rōmaji→English)

Example #1:

サポートして寄付したいですが、十分なお金を持っていない・・・
さぽーとして　きふしたいですが、じゅうぶんな　おかねを　もっていない・・・
sapo-to shite kifu shitai desuga, juubun na okane wo motteinai…
I want to support and give a contribution, but I don’t have enough money…

Example #2:

大丈夫です。寄付金に１ドルもいなかったら、このウェブサイトをシェアしてもいい。
だいじょうぶです。　きふきんに　いちどるもいなかったら、この　うぇぶさいとを　しぇあしても　いい。
daijoubu desu. kifukin ni ichidoru mo inakattara, kono uebusaito wo shea shitemo ii.
It’s alright. If you don’t even a donation of a dollar, you can just share the website.

でも、あなたがいるだけで、うれしいです。
でも、　あなたが　いるだけで、うれしいです。
demo anata ga iru dake de ureshii desu.
We’re just glad you’re here.

Example #3:

コンテンツを楽しめて、皆さんにもっとコンテンツを作るのを手伝いたくて、祝儀をやりたいです。
こんてんつを　たのしめて、みんなさんに　もっと　こんてんつを　つくるのを　てつだいたくて、しゅうぎを　やりたいです。
kontentsu wo tanoshimete, minnasan ni motto contentsu wo tsukuru no wo tetsuaitakute, shuugi wo yaritai desu.
I enjoy the content and I want to help to create more content for everyone, so I want to leave a tip!

Example #4:

ご注意して！水引の結びが間違ったら、祝儀袋は香典袋みたいでしょう！
ごちゅういして！みずひきの　むすびが　まちがったら、しゅうぎぶくろは　こうでんぶくろみたい　でしょう！
goshuui shite! mizuhiki no musubi ga machigattara, shuugibukuro wa koudenbukuro mitai deshou!
Careful! If the tying of the decorative cord is incorrect, your gift envelope will look like a funeral gift envelope!

@kikikokoNihonGO

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Also consider following our new page on Twitter to support the spread of this site in a friendly domination of Earth that will help more people. Or, if you are enjoying the content that we are creating, or want to spread this content to more people to be able to access it for free, you can leave a TIP in the TIP♡JAR to keep it going. If you cannot, then no need to worry. We are just super happy that you are here! It is appreciated!

Thank you so much for learning with us!
♡QUIZBO™