malicious; spiteful; vicious; shady and damp
human kindness; human weakness
Sun Goddess; Amaterasu Ōmikami
Benten (goddess of arts and wisdom)
system; organization; organisation; architecture
source (e.g. of a river); headwaters; origin of something continuous (language, culture, etc.)
protection; safeguard; shugo (Kamakura or Muromachi period military governor)
to take (be in) charge of
to get the short end of the stick; to get the bad end of a bargain
under repair; out of service
tens of thousands of years
(woman's) undersash; rolled omelette mixed with fish (paste) (omelet)
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)
namasu; dish of raw fish and vegetables seasoned in vinegar
unheard-of; unprecedented; unparalleled in history (unparallelled); record-breaking
New Year (esp. first three days); first month of the year; January
bamboo mat used in food preparation (esp. to roll sushi); sushi mat
straining; draining; drainer; strainer; cutwater (on ship); forefoot
Cape jasmine (Gardenia jasminoides); Cape jessamine; gardenia
mashed sweet potatoes with sweetened chestnuts
Japanese chestnut (Castanea crenata)
Hachiman (God of War); Hachiman shrine; (arch.) certainly
volume (of book); reel (of film); scroll (of books or paintings); roll (paper, etc.)
preliminary arrangements; preparation; spadework; pre-cooking
parboiling; preparatory boiling
to boil (something in hot water); to treat with medicinal steam (a swelling, etc.)
to cut up; to cut and discard; to eliminate systematically (in fault-finding); to isolate
popular song program on radio or television
deep sleep; sound sleep; profound sleep
mixed vegetable and seafood tempura; something pulled upwards; small castle with a simple earthen-walled moat; turning up a lamp wick
roughly; approximately; (cutting) in one stroke; (breaking apart) with vigour; (cutting) deeply; (splitting) wide open
small grain; small stature or ability
person inside a cartoon body suit; voice actor; insider
viewer; (television) audience
block votes (e.g. of a labor union, labour union)
emphatic sentence-ending particle
withering; shrivelling; shrinking; atrophy; contraction
enka; traditional-style Japanese popular ballad
leading figure; influential figure; mogul
very cheesy; very flashy; extremely gaudy