Words January 2026 Week 2

The ghost town Nagoro, a.k.a. Nagoru, is home to life-sizes scarecrows (Kakashi). (It's located in the remote Iya Valley in Tokushima Prefecture, Shikoku.)

They were created by Tsukimi Ayano to replace people who have left or passed away. (She has made over 400 dolls.)

On the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, the daytime and nighttime are equal. (These would be “shuubun” and “shunbun” days in Japan.)

The only Japanese traditional New Year food I am good at cooking is black beans. (I think young children should be taught to continues eating “osechi” since it is such an old tradition.)

I simmered the beans for seven hours. (She cooked the beans at a very low heat.)

A good luck charm brings fortune, an amulet protects from harm and talismans attract specific benefits, power, or qualities. (In everyday conversation, they all have the same meaning.)

I didn’t do anything special during the New Year holiday. (His son and son’s family visited him for New Year; I think that was special.)

I’m very happy for him being promoted. (My student used to be the promoted guy’s boss.)

My 15-year-old grandson is now taller than me. (He will continue growing for a few more years.)

The doctor had no bedside manners. (Terrible bedside manner is a doctor’s negative interactions with patients.)

I was reluctant to send electronic holiday greetings. (But. This is becoming common recently.)

I took early morning walks over 90 times since September. (Great exercise, but it is soooo cold.)

All’s well, that ends well. (We say this when something starts out bad but finishes good.)

There were a lot of food stalls (booths) on the shrine’s grounds. (The word “stalls” is ok, but “booths” is more common.)

The dogs were lonely when I went shopping. (She is dog-sitting her daughter’s two dogs.)

I sometimes walk my bike while going up an incline. (Other words for incline are upgrade, slope and hill.)

I want to have good posture. (Posture types include neutral, hunchback, swayback, flat back, and forward head posture.)

I bought a table tennis paddle. (Both "ping pong paddle" and "racket" are used, but "paddle" is more common in North America while "racket,” or "bat" is used in the UK. “Racket” is the official term used by the International Table Tennis Federation.)

Table tennis originated in England in the 1880s as an after-dinner parlor game. (They used books for nets and cigar box lids for paddles.)

The name ping-pong came from the sound of the ball bouncing off the paddle ("ping") and table ("pong"). (Ping-pong came to Asia, especially China, in 1901.)

He crammed for the test. (To “cram” for a test means to “memorize huge amounts of material quickly.”)

Students attend cram school to prepare to take the entrance exam. (A.k.a. “juku” in Japan.)

The Good Year Blimp televised football game from the sky. (The football stadiums look like large bowls so the championship games are called “bowl games” such as the Rose Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, etc.)

I couldn’t agree with you more. (I agree with you one hundred percent.)

They decided to visit their relatives in Tokyo at the last moment. (They suddenly decided to visit Tokyo.)

I’m afraid of heights. (But she wasn’t afraid to stand on the glass floor in Skytree.)

I swam 108 laps in the pool. (One length of a swimming pool is one lap.)

I binge-watched a TV drama. (She watched a couple of seasons of the drama nonstop.)