Language
Sixth grade finishes the list.
All 191 grade 6 kanji, completing the elementary school list at 1,026. 経済 finally arrives.
Japan Undercover
Field Notes
The useful explanation behind the post: concise context up front, sources and rights records underneath.
Language
Fifth grade catches what fourth grade dropped.
All 193 grade 5 kanji, including the 21 that moved up from grade 4 in 2020. 835 of 2,136.
Language
Fourth grade can write the whole map.
All 202 grade 4 kanji, ending with the 20 added so every prefecture name can be written. 642 of 2,136.
Language
Every katakana is a piece of a kanji.
All 71 katakana, each with the kanji it came from and the piece it kept. 阿 gave ア its left side.
Language
Every kana began as a kanji.
All 71 hiragana, each with the kanji it came from. 安 became あ.
Language
Third grade picks up the brush.
200 more kanji. The year of the brush, the school atlas, romaji, and the kanji for the word kanji.
Language
Second grade writes its own timetable.
160 more kanji. By the end of the year, most subject names on a second grader's timetable can be written, plus two they have not started.
Language
2,136 characters. Start with 80.
Explore the 80 kanji taught in first grade, with readings, example words and stroke order.
Space and current affairs
Why is Japan going to a moon of Mars?
H3 Flight 10 now has a planned launch time. The prize is at least ten grams of Phobos.
Language in the wild
A Japanese address is a zoom lens.
How prefectures, municipalities, chome, blocks, buildings, and Roman letters change the reading order.
Travel and practical Japan
Mount Fuji has four doors.
The routes are not interchangeable, and the 2026 gate rules are no longer optional background knowledge.
Language and geography
Japan has 47 prefectures. Only 43 are ken.
Why Tokyo, Hokkaido, Kyoto, and Osaka refuse the tidy English label.
Language
Japanese does not use three alphabets.
One sentence, three scripts, and a division of labor hidden by translation.
Ritual and performance
Why are their faces hidden?
The hats, black hoods, memorial tradition, and image rights behind Nishimonai Bon Odori.
Editorial architecture
What belongs here
Each Field Note is the permanent companion to a social post. It holds the fuller explanation, original-source links, image credits, corrections, and related JU material so the social feed can stay focused without becoming disposable.