Ado · Japanese · 22 words

Singles 2024–2025

Between the album Zanmu and her 2025 greatest-hits release, Ado put out five standalone singles: "初夏", the Hatsune Miku collaboration "桜日和とタイムマシン", "Episode X", "エルフ" and "わたしに花束". They are her most direct songs — thanking someone, admitting frustration, asking to be told what to do. This set gathers the everyday vocabulary of that stretch: yesterday and tomorrow, courage and resolve, searching, changing, and saying goodbye.

Vocabulary

Word	Meaning	Example
死ぬ	to die (しぬ)	死ぬほど疲れたと言いながら、まだ働いている。They keep saying they're dead tired, and they're still working.
声	voice (こえ)	電話越しの声だけで元気がないと分かった。Just their voice over the phone told me something was wrong.
答え	an answer (こたえ)	急がなくていいから、自分の答えを探してほしい。There's no rush — I want you to find your own answer.
教える	to teach; to tell someone something (おしえる)	どうすればいいのか、誰か教えてほしい。I want someone to tell me what I should do.
桜	cherry blossom (さくら)	去年より一週間早く桜が満開になった。The cherry blossoms hit full bloom a week earlier than last year.
恋	romantic love, being in love with someone (こい)	あれが初めての恋だったと今なら言える。Now I can say that was my first love.
別れ	a parting, a goodbye (わかれ)	別れの言葉をうまく言えないまま駅を出た。I left the station without managing to say goodbye properly.
変わる	to change, to become different (かわる)	町の景色は少しずつ変わっていく。The look of the town changes little by little.
希望	hope (きぼう)	小さな希望があるだけで一日が違う。Just having a small hope makes the day different.
残酷	cruel, harsh (ざんこく)	事実をそのまま伝えるのは時に残酷だ。Telling someone the plain facts is sometimes cruel.
可能性	a possibility, potential (かのうせい)	まだ間に合う可能性は残っている。There's still a chance we can make it in time.
覚悟	resolve, being braced for what comes (かくご)	断られる覚悟で頼んでみた。I asked, braced for them to turn me down.
失敗	a failure, a mistake (しっぱい)	失敗した話の方が後で役に立つ。The stories about failing are the ones that help later.
走る	to run (はしる)	終電に間に合うように駅まで走った。I ran to the station to catch the last train.
探す	to look for, to search for (さがす)	鍵を探しているうちに約束の時間を過ぎた。While I was hunting for my keys, the time we'd agreed on went by.
旅	a journey, a trip (たび)	当てのない旅に出てみたくなる時がある。There are times I want to set out on a trip with no destination.
森	a forest, woods (もり)	森の中は昼でも少し暗い。Inside the forest it's a bit dark even at midday.
ありがとう	thank you	面と向かってありがとうと言うのは照れくさい。Saying thank you to someone's face is embarrassing.
昨日	yesterday (きのう)	昨日の自分より少しましならそれでいい。If I'm a little better than I was yesterday, that's enough.
明日	tomorrow (あした)	明日のことは明日の自分に任せよう。I'll leave tomorrow's problems to tomorrow's me.
勇気	courage (ゆうき)	断る勇気が出なくて引き受けてしまった。I couldn't work up the courage to say no, so I took it on.
悔しい	frustrating, galling — the sting of losing or falling short (くやしい)	あと一問で満点だったのが悔しい。It's galling that I was one question away from a perfect score.