companions; friends; comrades; mates; partners
source; origin; cause; beginning; genesis
to profit; to benefit (from); to benefit (someone or something); to be beneficial to; to make good use of; to take advantage of
to succeed; to relieve; to take the place of; to substitute for; to be exchanged; to change (places with)
up and down, left and right; top and bottom, left and right
through (e.g. an intermediary, a medium); via; over (e.g. a network); across; by way of; by means of
domino (game); dominoes; domino effect
chain; series; connection; linkage
supporting role (actor); minor role
large hole; big deficit; heavy losses; long-shot win (in horse racing, etc.); big winnings (on a long shot)
cannibalism (in animals); feeding on each other; cannibalization; mutually harmful competition; internecine struggle
random; by chance; haphazard; hit-or-miss; unplanned
selecting a suitable person; personnel selection
not worth considering; out of the question
comparatively; relatively
instability; insecurity; crankiness
management; administration; operation
wild card; wild card; wildcard (character)
equal; equivalent; equals sign; equality sign; equals (as in "A equals B")
national isolation; closing the country (to foreigners); sakoku; policy of national isolation enacted by the Tokugawa shogunate
global scale; worldwide scale
occupying; having (an area) all to oneself; military occupation; possession; capture
defense; defence; safeguard; protection
very small; tiny; insignificant
duck; easy mark; sucker; sitting duck
Bonin Islands; Ogasawara Islands
level ground; plain; flatland
solitary island; isolated island
to store; to save up; to accumulate (e.g. knowledge); to build up (e.g. experience); to grow (a beard, moustache, etc.); to wear
power plant; power station
people (of a country); nation; citizen; Democratic Party for the People
rewinding (e.g. VCR, tape deck, etc.)
sense of the seasons; feeling of seasonality
to blunt; to dull; to weaken
lively; energetic; vigorously (jumping, flopping, etc.); piercing (e.g. sound); penetrating
Japanese rice fish (Oryzias latipes); killifish; Japanese medaka