Hikaru Utada · Japanese · 25 words
Distance, Part 1
Distance (2001) followed First Love and sold four million copies. Can You Keep A Secret? and Distance itself work in the vocabulary of not quite saying things - 遠回し, 無口, 途切れる, 主義 - while Sunglasses is about the face you put on: 意地, 臆病, 割り切る, よそ見.
Vocabulary
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 勝手 | selfish, having one's own way (かって) | 勝手なことばかり言ってすまない。Sorry for saying such selfish things. |
| 理想 | an ideal (りそう) | 理想と現実は違う。The ideal and the real are different. |
| 大人しい | quiet, well-behaved (おとなしい) | 普段は大人しい人だ。He's normally a quiet sort. |
| 遠回し | roundabout, indirect (とおまわし) | 遠回しに断られたようだ。It seems I was refused indirectly. |
| 表現 | an expression, a way of putting it (ひょうげん) | もっと柔らかい表現にしよう。Let's use a softer expression. |
| 無口 | taciturn, of few words (むくち) | 彼は無口だが優しい。He says little but is kind. |
| 途切れる | to break off, to be interrupted (とぎれる) | 会話が途切れて気まずかった。The conversation broke off awkwardly. |
| 主義 | a principle, a policy (しゅぎ) | 残業しない主義でやっている。I work on a policy of no overtime. |
| 縮める | to shorten, to close (a gap) (ちぢめる) | 二人は少しずつ距離を縮めた。The two closed the distance little by little. |
| 間に合う | to be in time, to make do (まにあう) | 走ってなんとか間に合った。I ran and just made it in time. |
| 意地 | stubbornness, pride (いじ) | 意地を張らずに謝ろう。Let's apologise instead of being stubborn. |
| 臆病 | timid, cowardly (おくびょう) | 臆病なくらい慎重な人だ。He's cautious to the point of timidity. |
| 割り切る | to accept pragmatically, to draw a line (わりきる) | 仕事と割り切って続けている。I carry on, treating it purely as work. |
| よそ見 | looking away (よそみ) | よそ見をして段差につまずいた。I looked away and tripped on the step. |
| 差し伸べる | to extend (a helping hand) (さしのべる) | 困った人に手を差し伸べたい。I want to extend a hand to those in trouble. |
| 落ち着き | composure, calm (おちつき) | 落ち着きを取り戻して話し始めた。He regained his composure and began speaking. |
| 舞台 | a stage (ぶたい) | 初めて舞台に立った日を覚えている。I remember the day I first stood on stage. |
| 逃げ回る | to run about evading (にげまわる) | 責任から逃げ回るのはやめよう。Let's stop running from responsibility. |
| あてずっぽ | a wild guess | あてずっぽで答えたら当たった。I guessed wildly and got it right. |
| 台詞 | a line, a speech (せりふ) | 台詞を覚えるのに苦労した。I struggled to learn my lines. |
| 周り | the surroundings, those around one (まわり) | 周りの目が気になってしまう。I worry about what those around me think. |
| ざわめく | to stir, to murmur | 客席がざわめき始めた。The audience began to stir. |
| 背景 | background, the setting behind (はいけい) | 事件の背景を調べている。I'm looking into the background of the case. |
| 迷惑 | a nuisance, trouble caused to others (めいわく) | ご迷惑をおかけしました。I apologise for the trouble caused. |
| 事情 | circumstances, the situation (じじょう) | それぞれに事情があるものだ。Everyone has their own circumstances. |
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