A friendly reminder not to allow babies to drive your car, even if they’re going to be a star. But, learn to say words like ‘car’ and ‘aeroplane’ in Japanese in this lesson on【ＳＩＤＥ　Ａ】 .

皆様, こんにちにゃあぁ！Welcome to Kiki+Koko: Let’s NihonGO!! Online, coming back at you with part numero dos in our back-to-back playlist of Japanese language learning. You’ve decided to flip that audio tape over in your car’s hi-fi cassette deck to 【ＳＩＤＥ　Ｂ】, and if this is your first time here, you can flip that tape back over to 【ＳＩＤＥ　Ａ】by selecting the thumbnail of us. Who are we? We’re your hosts, your guides to Japanese language and culture, and today, sort of like your travel guides, Kiki and Koko! QUIZBO™ is our robot computer friend who will help you learn how to say new words and phrases by reading them aloud for you.

We’re here to equip you with more Japanese language learning tools, today, equipping your Essential Japanese Language Survival Kit with important affects that will assist you in getting around. There are so many ways to get around, whether in a luxury car, first class on an aeroplane, or on a bicycle, you’ll know how to communicate these methods using Japanese. Though, we covered those vocabulary in the last section. This time, it’s still basic transportation, but with a few bonus modes included along with some neat fun facts! What are the rides we’ll be mentioning? There’s only one way to find out! Let’s have a look!

But first:

Simple Survival Sentence Study

Even though we mentioned this on Side A, we want to reiterate: A great way to learn these vocabulary words is by trying to create sentences using them. You can apply your knowledge and try using different words in different sentences you’ve seen before. Memorising is important, but putting those words into action will assist you in doing more than just memorising a script, but actually using the vocabulary!  On the flip-side, we created some fairly basic sentences using some of our special tools from our Japanese Language Survival Kit!! These are:  です、は、が、 を, に and へ, and で～！So, mix-and-match, but make sure you’re using the words properly~!

The words we’re giving you are nouns, so you should be able to place these into the formulas and create an easily coherent sentence.

You can open a new window or tab, or use another device, if you would like to reference these whilst looking at these. Now, onto our vehicular vocabulary!! Let’s NihonGO!!

Basic Vehicle Vocabulary | 基本的な乗り物の単語

Lorry ( US: Truck ) 🚚

トラック【とらっく】 torakku

It’s the 70s, you’re hitchhiking through Japan because you didn’t know any better than to get into a lorry with a stranger. Otherwise, we don’t think there are many other reasons you would be riding in a lorry unless you were working a job that required it whilst in Japan. But, you’ll definitely see them on the roads delivering things, carrying things, and doing truck stuff… Don’t get into lorries with strangers. Japan has a higher rate of safety, but there’s still dangerous weirdos in every part of the world. But, hitchhiking has turned modern with ride shares apps, so… 𝕂𝕖𝕖𝕡 𝕆𝕟 𝕋𝕣𝕦𝕔𝕜𝕚𝕟’, we guess.

But, you’ll notice that this is literally an English word. It’s a loan word~! And, many English loan words in Japanese do have their own Japanese version that’s usually a bit longer or just easier to write and say with its English loan word counterpart. And in this case, it’s:

貨物自動車【かもつじどうしゃ】 kamotsujidousha

Usually, you’ll just say torakku, (トラック), but this would apply to a freight car/truck or any vehicle meant to carry things.

トラックを　運転したことは　ないです。
とらっくを　うんてんしたことは　ないです。
torakku wo unten shita koto wa nai desu. 
I’ve never driven a lorry.

(learn more about です and particles は、が、and を)

Train 🚉

電車【でんしゃ】 densha

Before Thomas the Locomotive, kikansha toomasu (きかんしゃトーマス) bursts in here with his dank piano riffs, who is actually extremely popular in Japan, we would like to mention that travelling by train is actually a major way of transportation, so this is definitely a vocabulary word to remember. It’s used from city to city transportation just as in other countries, and is known for being on-time.

Of course, there are different kinds of trains like the shinkansen, (新幹線), of which we talked on Side A.

満員電車ですし詰めにされたとき、
パーソナルスペースが消えてしまう。
まんいんでしゃで　すしづめに　されたとき、
ぱーそなるすぺーすが　きえてしまう。
man’in densha de sushidzume ni sareta toki,
paasonaru supeesu ga kiete shimau. 
When you’re packed like sushi on a crowded train,
the personal space completely disappears.

(すし詰め=packed like sushi or jam-packed)

(learn more about です and particles は、が、and を)

Tram (US: Streetcar) 🚃

路面電車【ろめんでしゃ】 romendensha

As a huge note, this is not a main source of transportation, but we figured if we we’re mentioning more trains, this would be interesting to mention as it’s a bit of a tourist attraction if you go to places like Kagoshima, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, or Kumamoto that have preserved their tram. It’s a very retro feeling that would be different even to the retro feelings of your own country. So, it’s definitely something to take a look at if you’re travelling in these areas, or if you’re in the bay area of Tokyo.

広島にいるとき、路面電車に乗ってみようね!
ひろしまに　いるとき、　ろめんでんしゃに　乗ってみようね!
hiroshima ni iru toki, romendesha ni notte miyou ne!
When we’re in Hiroshima, let’s try to take the tram!

(learn more about particle に)

Taxicab 🚖

タクシー【たくしー】 takushii

Well, would you look at that, another word that’s an English loan word! Again, whilst the loan word is the one you’ll use and hear/see used, there’s also a Japanese word used for taxicab, as well:

辻自動車【つじじどうしゃ】 tsujijidousha

But, in this case, this term is obsolete, so seeing and knowing it would just be for fun. The word comes from tsuji, (辻), meaning crossroad, street corner, or street corner and jidousha, (自動車), meaning automobile. The latter is useful, though.

タクシーは　時代遅れたの？
たくしーは　じだい　おくれたの？
Takushii wa jidai okurechatta no?
Have taxicabs fallen out of date?

(learn more about particle は)

Boat / Ship ⛵

船【ふね】 fune

Are you someone who doesn’t care for air travel but loves taking weeks to travel? Then boat travel is for you! Or, maybe you enjoy a lot of sushi… then a sushi boat is for you!

Any road, Fune, (船), is the general term for any watercraft or vessel. So, if you see a boat, you can say, 「お船！！」(おふね) and you’ll have already correctly identified the object. (Adding 「お」makes it more polite. Though we have covered some honorific speech, there is a lot more coming at you in future!)

日本へ　お船で　旅ましょう！
にほんへ　おふねで　たびましょう！
nihon he ofune de tabimashou!
Let’s travel to Japan by boat!

(learn more about particles へ and で)

Ferry 🚢

フェリー【ふぇりー】 ferii

渡し舟【わたしぶね】 watashibune

So, Japan is an archipelago with five main islands and over 400 other inhabited islands, with almost 7000 in total. This means a ferry is something that would be very useful to know. Whether you’re travelling to Ookunoshima to camp with bunnies or you want to travel from Korea to Japan, a ferry is definitely a useful mode of transportation to remember in Japanese.

渡し舟に乗って大久野島へ行って
ウサギとキャンプするつもり。
わたしぶねに　のって　おおくのしまへ　いって
うさぎと　きゃんぷする　つもり。
watashibune ni notte ookunoshima he itte
usagi to kyanpu suru tsumori.
I’m gonna go to Ookunoshima on a ferry
and camp with bunnies.

(learn more about に and へ)

Spaceship 🛸

宇宙船【うちゅうせん】 uchuusen

Though we said you can’t just beam places using a spaceship in the intro to Side A, we also don’t want to leave out anyone with a spaceship who does want to get around Japan or ask to purchase one. So, if you need to get to Japan from Mars, you can always use your uchuusen, (宇宙船).

宇宙人の 宇宙船に 乗れば、
火星から 日本までは 一時間だけです。
うちゅうじんの　うちゅうせんに　のれば、
かせいから　にほんまでは　いちじかんだけです。
uchuujin no uchuusen ni noreba,
kasei kara nihon made wa ichijikan dake desu.
If you take an alien space ship,
it’s only an hour from Mars to Japan.

(learn more about the copula です, and particles は, and に)

And that’s our basic vehicle vocabulary! This isn’t the only cassette tape in the collection, though. There’s much more to learn, and we hope that you’ll return for more vocabulary and learning in future. This should also have been a great opportunity to practise creating sentences with your newfound vernacular. But, communication isn’t simply speaking. Though speaking is important, reading and writing can be crucial. You can have a look at our Reading and Writing sections to revise / study, whether it’s your first time here, or you’re simply returning for 勉強. Either way, you can take your time and go at your own pace~! We’re always here for you 8 days a week.

If you want to practise your sentence creation, feel free to leave a comment~! This is a place where we encourage making a mistake. Without making mistakes, you’ll never learn. We’ll be here to lead you in the right direction~! And, we’ll continue to lead you on your Japanese learning journey.

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♡Kiki+Koko