which reminds me ...; come to think of it ...; now that you mention it ...; on that subject ...; so, if you say ...
nobility; aristocracy; peerage
riches; wealth; resources; lottery
trouble; hardship; difficulty; anxiety; worry; concern
good-for-nothing; useless; worthless
cause and effect; causality; karma; fate; unfortunate; unlucky
raging waves; stormy seas; hardships; troubles; adversities
devoting oneself to; concentrating on; being an ardent admirer of; (arch.) tipping over and collapsing
to pledge allegiance; to swear an oath of allegiance; to take an oath of allegiance
strange; weird; wonder; mystery; cleverness; adroitness
consent; agreement; acceptance; understanding; satisfaction (e.g. with an explanation); being convinced
to polish; to shine; to burnish; to refine (a skill, etc.); to improve; to hone
weight; weight (e.g. of someone's words); burden; importance; significance
besides; moreover; in addition; to make matters worse
still; even now; to this day
loyalty; sincerity; allegiance; fidelity; integrity
sticking to (an opinion, theory, belief, etc.); clinging to; adherence; persistence; insistence
soft; tender; gentle; mild; light (topic, book, etc.); informal
small amount; jot; nothing much; (to a) slight degree; wee bit
to repeat someone's mistake; to make the same mistake as one's predecessor; (lit.) to follow the ruts (of a previous cart)
rut; wheel track; furrow; groove; (fig.) footsteps; (fig.) wake
to spread out (e.g. a futon); to lay out; to lay down (e.g. a cushion); to impose widely (e.g. martial law); to promulgate; to pin down; to hold down
pretext; history; past; according to ...; ... says
exploitation; bleeding dry; squeezing dry; milking (e.g. a cow's teat); extracting (a liquid) through squeezing
domestic animals; livestock; cattle
to creep up; to crawl up; to overcome (a bad situation); to rise (after a setback)
chance; opportunity; occasion
commoner; plebeian; commoner (in Japan between 1869 and 1947; the lowest of the three classes)
(social) class; rank; grade
whole life; a lifetime; all through life; (the only, the greatest, etc.) of one's life
management; administration; operation
difficult to imagine; quite unlikely to; very doubtful; would not expect
to be aware of; to know about; to be concerned in; to have to do with
to torment; to pain; to inflict (physical) pain; to harass; to cause (emotional) pain; to afflict
incompetence; inefficiency; inability; incompetent person
complete ignorance (usu. in reference to feigning); lack of knowledge
person of high standing, with a warped view of reality; (lit.) naked emperor
easy; trifling; harmless; nothing of the sort; not at all
verbal gaffe; verbal slip; slip of the tongue; using improper words
prudence; discretion; thought; consideration
languid; weary; listless; melancholy