mama; mamma; mom; female proprietress (of a bar, etc.)
New Year's Eve; December 31
red and white; colours for festive or auspicious occasions (colors); two teams; two groups; Kōhaku Uta Gassen; annual contest between male and female popular singers on New Year's Eve (sponsored and broadcast by NHK)
selection of music; song selection
if that's the case ...; if so ...; that being the case ...
Kitano-tenmangu (shrine in Kyoto)
horse; horse racing; promoted bishop
to carry around; to be roundabout (speech, actions, etc.); to be indirect
there it is; there it comes; got it; of course; it figures; I knew it
trade; buying and selling; trafficking (e.g. of humans, arms, drugs); dealing
soup containing rice cakes and vegetables (New Year's dish)
merger (of companies, towns, etc.); combination; union; amalgamation; consolidation; coalition
Japanese household legal structure (1898-1947)
company president; manager; director
enterprise; business; company; corporation
cooperation; coordination; link
dense; thick; close (relationship); intimate; minute; fine
economic strategy; business strategy
koto (13-stringed Japanese zither); (arch.) stringed instrument
training for homemaking; training in homemaking arts; domestic training
rationality; reasonableness
(starting) from nothing; from scratch
important matter; necessary thing; requirement
compensation; equivalent value; consideration
to carry on one's back; to burden oneself (e.g. with debts, responsibilities, etc.)
exception; exclusion; to omit; to disallow (e.g. in a sport after a rule is broken); to reject (e.g. faulty product)
fixed idea; idée fixe; stereotype; prejudice
to be caught; to be captured; to be taken prisoner; to be seized with (fear, etc.); to be a slave to; to stick to
from the beginning; from scratch
to compose; to put together
pioneer; settler; colonist
posterity; future life; life to come