essential; substantial; substantive; intrinsic
pupil in ... year; student in ... year
to open (e.g. doors); to open (e.g. business, etc.); to be empty; to be vacant; to be available; to be open (e.g. neckline, etc.); to have been opened (of one's eyes, mouth, etc.)
bed hair; hair disarranged during sleep; habit of moving around in one's sleep; sleeping habit
to hit (e.g. to have a car hit someone); to run into; to reject; to deny; to eliminate; to exclude; to flip
it was, wasn't it?; must have been; I think (it was); how might it have been?
casual; unconcerned; nonchalant
bookstore; bookshop; publisher; main building
to read; to recite (e.g. a sutra); to chant; to predict; to guess; to decipher; to count
fluently (speaking a foreign language); incessantly (speaking); glibly; one after the other (flipping through pages); thin (paper, cloth, etc.); flimsy
statement; remark; observation; utterance; speech; proposal
to pay no attention to (while listening); to take no notice of; to ignore; to let go in one ear and out the other
feature (e.g. newspaper); special edition; report
present age; present day; today; modern era; modern times
symbol used as a placeholder (either because a number of other words could be used in that position, or because of censorship); certain; unnamed; undisclosed
not entirely wrong but not entirely right; so-so; average
claim; insistence; assertion; advocacy; emphasis; contention
original; unique; distinctive; independent; one's own; personal
country; state; region; national government; central government; home (i.e. hometown, home country); (arch.) province (of Japan)
people (of a country); nation; citizen; national
each (person); individually; one by one; one at a time; in turn
firm; unshakeable; resolute
belief; faith; conviction
admiration; being impressed; admirable; praiseworthy; astonishment; being appalled
to become less crowded; to thin out; to get empty; to be hungry
bean curd lees; soybean pulp; refuse from tofu; deutzia; Deutzia crenata
okara; soy pulp; tofu dregs; edible pulp separated from soybean milk in the production of tofu
umeboshi; pickled dried ume; pickled dried plum
kombu (usu. Saccharina japonica); konbu; kelp; any edible species from the family Laminariaceae
preserved food boiled in soy
mixture of mayonnaise and canned tuna, used on bread, pasta, etc.
nori; laver; edible seaweed, usu. Porphyra yezoensis or P. tenera, usu. dried and pressed into sheets
hazy; dim; faint; minced fish or meat that is seasoned and fried
complete; completion; perfection; accomplishment
smallish; on the small side
comparatively; relatively; unexpectedly; unusually; considering; for one's ...