Day 20 – A day in Japanese

Here’s your storytelling-style blog for today’s Japanese class about learning the months:

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Day 20 – A Year in Japanese

This morning felt like opening a calendar—except every page was written in Japanese.

In today’s class, Sensei smiled as she began, “Today, we’ll travel through the year together.” No planes, no tickets—just words. Twelve of them, to be exact.

We started with January – ichigatsu (一月), “the first month.” It felt like a fresh notebook, waiting to be filled. Then February – nigatsu (二月), short and quick, just like the real thing.

As we moved through sangatsu (三月), shigatsu (四月), and gogatsu (五月), I imagined cherry blossoms, summer beginnings, and golden sunshine. Each month sounded like a step in a slow, deliberate dance.

By the time we reached juunigatsu (十二月)—December—I could almost feel winter wrapping around me. The months weren’t just names anymore; they were tiny doorways to seasons, festivals, and memories I haven’t yet lived in Japan but can already picture.

Learning them was simple:

• Numbers 1 to 12 in Japanese

• Add gatsu (月), meaning “month”
  That’s it. Ichigatsu. Nigatsu. Sangatsu… A rhythm, like a song you hum without realizing.

But as Sensei reminded us, “Language is not just vocabulary—it’s time itself. Every word you learn is a moment you can now live in another culture.”

Today, I didn’t just memorize months. I felt a year pass in Japanese.

またね (Mata ne) – until the next class.

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