How to Pronounce Japanese Stationery Terms.
"Oh! What's that?"
"This?
Here!"
"Feud..."
Tired of people asking to borrow your feud pen?
If so, you may want to send them this video.
Our colleague is a native Japanese speaker,
and she'll be helping us with the pronunciation of Japanese stationery terms.
Stay 'til the end to learn how to properly pronounce popular Japanese stationery brand names!
First, let's go through some Japanese vocabulary that is often seen on stationery items.
(Foo-DEH)
Nope! It's not food or feud.
Fude means brush and shows up in the names of many popular brush pen products like the
Tombow Fudenosuke and Kuretake Fudebiyori.
(Ee-ROE)
Iro means color, so it shows up in product names like the beautiful Tombow Irojiten
colored pencils and Pilot Iroshizuku fountain pen inks.
(Shee-tah-jee-kee)
A shitajiki is a flat, lightweight plastic board that is placed underneath a sheet of paper.
It provides a smooth writing surface and is also known as a pencil board or writing board.
(SHEE-ka-ree)
Shikkari is a term that means tightly or securely.
The Kokuyo Campus Shikkari paper has more texture which allows your pen or pencil to
grip the paper securely.
(Teh-CHO)
Based on the words for hand and book, techo means pocket notebook or planner.
The versatile Hobonichi Techo can be used as a planner, journal, and more.
(WAH-shee)
Washi is a type of Japanese paper that was historically handmade using
plant fibers from mulberry, bamboo, or rice.
Washi tapes are made by adding adhesive backing to strips of colorful washi paper.
In Japan, washi tapes are referred to as maste, short for masking tape.
Mimetic words are similar to onomatopoeia, but they imitate physical movement or action
instead of sound.
(KEE-rah-kee-rah)
Kirakira is a mimetic word for something twinkling or sparkling.
Some of our metallic and glitter pens have kira in their name,
like the Sakura Ballsign Kirara.
(KOO-roo-koo-roo
Kurukuru illustrates something rotating or spinning.
It's used in Uni's Kuru Toga to emphasize its rotating lead.
(SAH-rah-sah-rah)
Sarasara is a mimetic word that describes silky smooth items, such as
the smooth writing Zebra Sarasa gel pen or Kokuyo Sarasara paper.
Japanglish.
These terms refer to English words that have been adapted into the Japanese vernacular
but are not readily understandable by an English speaking audience.
(NAW-koo)
Knock is the motion of pressing down on a button to extend the pen tip or pencil lead.
The push button itself is often called a knock button.
Many retractable products have knock in their name,
like the Zebra Optex Care Knock retractable highlighter.
(SHAR-poo)
Instead of its literal meaning, sharp is another word for mechanical pencil,
or a pencil that is always sharp.
(SAIN-pen)
A sign pen usually refers to a felt-tipped writing marker.
However, the term can be used for any pen that is intended for writing signatures.
Brand names.
Here are some popular Japanese stationery brands and how to pronounce them.
(AH-pee-kah)
Apica is known for their high quality notebooks.
(KOE-koo-yoe)
Kokuyo is a well-known stationery brand for students in Japan.
(KOO-re-TAH-keh)
Kuretake makes beautiful supplies for arts and crafts,
and their name is also a type of bamboo.
(MAH-roo-mahn)
Since 1920, Maruman has been producing all kinds of specialty paper products,
including notebooks, sketchbooks, binders, and more.
(MEE-doe-ree)
Midori is well-loved for their high-quality notebooks and cute stationery.
It means green in Japanese.
(SAH-koo-rah)
Sakura made the first ever gel pen, the Gelly Roll.
As you probably know, Sakura means cherry blossom.
(TOEM-boe)
Tombow is another popular stationery brand among Japanese students.
Their name means dragonfly.
(YEW-nee)
Make sure not to say uni (oo-nee), we're not talking about sushi here!
Uni started out as a pencil company, but has quickly become one of the largest pen and
pencil makers in the world.
They've given us classics like the Signo and Kuru Toga.
We hope you enjoyed our video.
Were you surprised by any of the terms?
Are there any other terms you want us to explain?
Let us know in the comments below.
Thanks for watching!