Hikaru Utada · Japanese · 32 words
Heart Station
HEART STATION (2008) is Utada's most playful Japanese album. Fight The Blues and Stay Gold are written in plain spoken Japanese - くよくよ, 憂鬱, 深呼吸, 就職, 常識 - Kiss & Cry borrows courtroom and pop-psychology words (被害者意識, 共犯, 上目使い), and Nijiiro Bus closes on school vocabulary: 遠足, 寝不足, 留学.
Vocabulary
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| くよくよ | to fret, to brood over | 終わったことをくよくよしても仕方ない。There's no use brooding over what's done. |
| 憂鬱 | melancholy, gloom (ゆううつ) | 雨続きで憂鬱になる。The constant rain makes me gloomy. |
| 深呼吸 | a deep breath (しんこきゅう) | 緊張したら深呼吸するといい。Take a deep breath when you're nervous. |
| 今宵 | tonight, this evening (こよい) | 今宵は月がよく見える。The moon shows well tonight. |
| 無邪気 | innocent, artless (むじゃき) | 無邪気な笑い声が響いた。Innocent laughter rang out. |
| 潜む | to lurk, to lie hidden (ひそむ) | 問題の裏に別の原因が潜む。Another cause lurks behind the problem. |
| 本能 | instinct (ほんのう) | 本能的に危険を感じた。I sensed the danger instinctively. |
| 就職 | finding employment (しゅうしょく) | 妹の就職が決まった。My sister has landed a job. |
| 常識 | common sense, what everyone knows (じょうしき) | それは常識の範囲だと思う。I think that's within common sense. |
| 知恵 | wisdom, know-how (ちえ) | 先人の知恵に学びたい。I want to learn from the wisdom of those before us. |
| 常 | the norm, the usual way (つね) | 変化は世の常だ。Change is the way of the world. |
| 優等生 | a top student, a model pupil (ゆうとうせい) | 彼は昔から優等生だった。He was always a model pupil. |
| 鼓膜 | the eardrum (こまく) | 大音量で鼓膜が痛い。The volume is hurting my eardrums. |
| 蕩ける | to melt, to be melting (とろける) | 口の中で蕩けるチーズだ。It's cheese that melts in the mouth. |
| 被害者意識 | a victim mentality (ひがいしゃいしき) | 被害者意識が強すぎるのも困る。Too strong a victim mentality is a problem too. |
| 上目使い | looking up at someone from below (うわめづかい) | 犬が上目使いでこちらを見る。The dog looks up at me from below. |
| 共犯 | an accomplice, complicity (きょうはん) | 共犯を疑われて取り調べを受けた。He was questioned on suspicion of complicity. |
| 深読み | reading too much into something (ふかよみ) | そこまで深読みしなくていい。There's no need to read that far into it. |
| 化け物 | a monster, a creature (ばけもの) | 化け物が出るという噂の家だ。It's a house rumoured to have a monster. |
| 肺 | a lung (はい) | 冷たい空気が肺に入る。Cold air enters the lungs. |
| 火照る | to feel hot, to flush (ほてる) | 湯上がりで顔が火照っている。My face is flushed after the bath. |
| 星座 | a constellation (せいざ) | 冬の星座を教わった。I was taught the winter constellations. |
| 絶望 | despair (ぜつぼう) | 絶望せずに手を打とう。Let's act rather than despair. |
| 幻滅 | disillusionment (げんめつ) | 実物を見て幻滅した。Seeing the real thing was a disillusionment. |
| 透き通る | to be transparent, to be clear (すきとおる) | 透き通る水が流れている。Clear water is running. |
| 前世 | a previous life (ぜんせ) | 前世の話を冗談にした。We joked about past lives. |
| 枕 | a pillow (まくら) | 枕が合わなくて眠れない。The pillow doesn't suit me and I can't sleep. |
| 遠足 | a school excursion, an outing (えんそく) | 明日は遠足で山に行く。Tomorrow's outing is to the mountains. |
| 寝不足 | lack of sleep (ねぶそく) | 寝不足で頭が働かない。My head won't work from lack of sleep. |
| 留学 | studying abroad (りゅうがく) | 一年間の留学を決めた。I decided on a year abroad. |
| 弱肉強食 | survival of the fittest (じゃくにくきょうしょく) | 弱肉強食の世界だと言われる。It's said to be a dog-eat-dog world. |
| びしょぬれ | soaked through | 傘がなくてびしょぬれになった。I had no umbrella and got soaked. |
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