karoshi 過労死, "death by overwork, stress death" keiretsu 系列, a set of companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings Poka-yoke "mistake-proofing" or "inadvertent error prevention". kanban 看板, literally a "signal" or "sign" signals a cycle of replenishment for production and materials and maintains an orderly and efficient flow of materials throughout the entire manufacturing process. Initially made famous by the 1986 book of same name. Business kaizen 改善, literally "change for the better." In practice, a Japanese business philosophy of continuous improvement of working practices, personal efficiency, etc. wabi-sabi 侘び寂び, a world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. waka 和歌, "Japanese poetry" a word used primarily to describe tanka (see above) written between the 9th and 19th centuries.
ukiyo-e 浮世絵, a type of woodblock print art or painting. In modern Japan, though, it is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a single manga, as opposed to magazines.
Japanese to english dictionary server series#
tankōbon 単行本, "independent/standalone book" term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series or corpus. tanka 短歌, "short poetry" an older form of Japanese poetry than haiku, of the form 5-7-5-7-7 morae (not syllables see also haiku above). sumi-e 墨絵, a general term for painting with a brush and black ink. shamisen 三味線, a three-stringed musical instrument, played with a plectrum. senryu 川柳, a form of short poetry similar to haiku. noh 能 nō, a major form of classical Japanese music drama origami 折り紙, artistic paper folding otaku オタク or おたく or ヲタク, a geeky enthusiast, especially of anime and manga.
bokeh (from ぼけ boke), subjective aesthetic quality of out-of-focus areas of an image projected by a camera lens.