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TYJ Hiragana for y + vowels

This article is in the series Teach Yourself Japanese

2.8. Hiragana for y + vowels

y + vowels:
HiraganaRomanizationPronunciationDescription
ya[ ja ] ListenJapanese "y" + Japanese "a".
Japanese "y" sounds like English "y" but is slightly softer. Don't cause friction of breath.
i[ i ] Listen This is the hiragana for "i".
yu[ jɯ ] ListenJapanese "y" + Japanese "u".
e[ e ] ListenThis is the hiragana for "e".
yo[ jo ] ListenJapanese "y" + Japanese "o".

Hiragana examples:
Hiragana:ゆうやけ
Pitch:L H H H
Romanization:yû ya ke
Meaning:the red sky at sunset (noun)

Hiragana:ゆかた
Pitch:L H H
Romanization:yu ka ta
Meaning:yukata (noun)

For your interest: Yukata are light kimonos for summer. Kimonos are scarcely worn today because of Westernisation, but Japanese people, especially young women, have begun to wear yukata again, which are casual and yet have traditional beauty.

Hiragana:よやく
Pitch:L H H
Romanisation:yo ya ku
Meaning:reservation (noun)

Hiragana:おゆ
Pitch:L H
Romanization:o yu
Meaning:hot water (noun)
Next article in the series 'Teach Yourself Japanese': Hiragana for r + vowels
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Takasugi
My name is TAKASUGI Shinji. TAKASUGI is my family name, and Shinji is my given name; a family name is placed before a given name in Japan, as in other Asian nations. My family name is capitalized to avoid misunderstanding.

I have been living in Yokohama since I was born. Yokohama is the second largest city in Japan, which is just 30 kilometers away from the biggest city Tôkyô. It takes 30 minutes to go by train from home to Shibuya, which is the hottest town now in Tôkyô.

I work as a display engineer.

One of my hobbies is creating things with computers; creating programs, computer graphics and web pages is the thing I spent a lot of time doing. I am also interested in a wide range of sciences, and linguistics is my favorite. I like English and I like using it, but my focus is mainly on Japanese, which is my native language. I'm proud of knowing the language, and the difference between English and Japanese has been fascinating me. I have been thinking whether I can introduce it to people outside of Japan. My attempt of introducing Japanese with some Java applets has had more than 1 million visitors.

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