one's circumstances; environment; situation (in life)
handing down (information); legend; tradition; folklore; transmission
to give birth; to bear (child); to lay (eggs); to produce; to yield; to give rise to
honesty; sincerity; trust; reliance; (religious) faith; devotion
hypothesis; supposition; assumption; tentative theory
to be very far apart from; to be remote; to be quite different from
to conceive; to become pregnant; to get filled with (e.g. sails filled with wind); to be swollen with; to contain (a contradiction, danger, etc.); to carry (a problem, consequences, etc.)
March; third month of the lunar calendar
Hinamatsuri (March 3); Girls' Festival; Dolls' Festival
Boy's Day celebration (May 5)
Star Festival (held in July or August); Tanabata; Festival of the Weaver
Bon festival; Feast of Lanterns
Hassaku orange (Citrus hassaku); 1st of August (lunar calendar)
center; centre; middle; -centered; -centred; -focused
every year; yearly; annually
Edo (shogunate capital, now Tokyo); Yedo
foreign; imported; outpatient; outpatient care; outpatient clinic
among (other things); especially; particularly; at the same time; simultaneously; at once
characteristic; traditional; peculiar; inherent; native; eigen-
seed (e.g. of a plant); pip; material (e.g. for an article); matter (e.g. of a story); ingredient; leaven (bread); cause
to be mixed; to be blended with; to be combined; to associate with; to mingle with; to interest
fate; destiny (esp. as a mysterious force that binds two people together); relationship (e.g. between two people); bond; family ties; affinity; opportunity
New Year's Day; New Year's morning; morning of New Year's Day
New Year's Eve; December 31
beginning; outset; first; onset
starting; inauguration; launch; founding; establishment; start-up
year; counter for years (e.g. of an era), grades (e.g. school); period of an apprentice's contract (usu. ten years)
patina; antique look; elegant simplicity; well-trained voice
I wonder; should I?; is it?; I wish that; I hope that
news (from somebody); letter; contact; (somebody's) whereabouts; (somebody's) movements
to hear; to listen (e.g. to music); to ask; to enquire; to hear about; to hear of; to follow (advice, order, etc.)
to get; to earn; to understand; to comprehend; to receive something undesirable (e.g. a punishment); to get (ill)
to discern (e.g. right from wrong); to discriminate; to distinguish; to know (manners, one's place, etc.); to understand; to bear in mind
time; years; days; the Moon and the Sun
occasion; time; section (of a literary work); paragraph; season; term; principle
turning point; change; transition; (arch.) point of difference