HSC Japanese Continuers (NSW) cheat sheet

Japan's population is roughly 124 million; the birth rate is about 1.2 children per woman, so the population is shrinking and ageing (about 29% aged 65 or over).

Regional dialects (方言) differ from standard Japanese (標準語) in vocabulary, pitch accent and grammar: Kansai-ben uses おおきに for thanks, あかん for 'no good', and 〜へん instead of 〜ない.

Keigo has three registers: 尊敬語 raises the listener's action (いらっしゃる, おっしゃる), 謙譲語 lowers the speaker's (伺う, 申す), 丁寧語 is polite form (です・ます).

Japanese communities abroad: Brazil hosts the largest Nikkei population (about 2 million), followed by the USA (about 1.5 million); Peru and Canada also have long-established communities.

Uchi/soto (内/外) framing decides politeness: in-group members (family, company colleagues) take humble forms to outsiders, even if senior to the speaker.

Honorific suffixes: さん neutral, さま for customers and gods, くん for male juniors, ちゃん for children and close friends, 先生 for teachers and doctors; never use さん about oneself.

Aisatsu (greetings) are tied to time and context: おはようございます (morning), こんにちは (day), こんばんは (evening), お疲れさまです (workplace), いただきます/ごちそうさま (meals).

Indirect refusal is the norm: ちょっと難しいですね or 検討します signals a 'no'; direct refusal (いやです) is face-threatening in most formal contexts.

Bowing (おじぎ) has three depths: 会釈 about 15°, 敬礼 about 30°, 最敬礼 about 45°; depth and duration rise with the status gap.

Lifetime employment (終身雇用) and seniority pay (年功序列) were pillars of post-war Japanese firms; both are eroding as firms shift to performance-based pay (成果主義).

Non-regular workers (非正規雇用) are roughly 37% of the workforce; categories include パート, アルバイト, 契約社員, 派遣社員 and 嘱託.

The Labour Standards Act (労働基準法) caps standard hours at 40 per week and 8 per day; overtime above these limits requires a 36協定 agreement with a labour union.

Karoshi (過労死) means death from overwork; the statutory threshold for recognising work-related overwork is often cited as 100 hours of overtime in the month before death.

The 'employment ice age' (就職氷河期) generation, roughly born 1970-1982, entered the market during the 1990s-2000s slump and remains over-represented among non-regular workers.

Remote work (テレワーク) spread after 2020; Japanese firms report lower adoption than in the US or Europe, especially in manufacturing and small businesses.

Women's participation has risen but the gender wage gap remains around 20% for full-time workers; the 'M-shaped curve' of female employment has flattened but not disappeared.

Foreign workers under the 特定技能 visa (introduced 2019) fill shortages in care, construction, agriculture and food service; numbers exceed 200,000.

Workplace communication norms: 報・連・相 (report, contact, consult), 根回し (informal prior consultation) and 名刺交換 (business-card exchange) with both hands, text facing the receiver.

Collectivism versus individualism is a continuum, not a binary: Japanese norms favour group harmony (和) but individual expression is increasing among younger generations.

Hierarchy is encoded in language: 先輩/後輩, 目上/目下, and verb choice (差し上げる vs くれる) mark relative status.

Bullying (いじめ) is a recognised school and workplace issue; the 2013 Anti-Bullying Promotion Act obliges schools to have policies and report serious cases.

Family structure is shifting: nuclear households now outnumber three-generation households; single-person households are about 38% of all households.

Volunteering and community groups (町内会, 自治会) provide local services; membership is declining in cities, raising concerns about disaster response.

Social conformity pressures include 同調圧力 and the proverb 出る杭は打たれる ('the stake that sticks out gets hammered down'); counter-proverbs such as 七転び八起き value resilience.

Ageing society: 介護保険 (long-term care insurance, from 2000) funds care for those 65+; family members still provide most informal care, often women.

Youth social withdrawal (ひきこもり) affects an estimated 1-2% of the population; government support centres (地域若者サポートステーション) target NEET youth.

Predict the task before audio starts: note whether the question asks for a fact, a reason (なぜ/どうして), or an inference (どう思う/推測).

Numbers, times and prices are frequent distractors: the first figure heard is often corrected by いや, じゃなくて, or あ、そうではなくて.

Listen for discourse markers that signal the answer: つまり (in other words), 要するに (in short), ただし (however), 実は (in fact).

Register shifts signal speaker roles: です・ます marks formal or service interactions; plain form (だ・る) marks friends, family or inner monologue.

Hedged answers (たぶん, かもしれない, ちょっと…) usually indicate the speaker is not committing; do not treat them as a firm 'yes'.

Note-taking should use symbols and Japanese keywords, not full sentences; write times as 3:15, negation as ×, and arrows for cause and effect.

Traps include reversed polarity (〜ないことはない = 'it is not that it isn't' = it is) and double negatives in invitations (行かない？ = 'shall we go?').

Final particles carry intent: ね seeks agreement, よ gives new information, かな expresses uncertainty, のに signals complaint or regret.

Skim for genre markers first: 〜でございます and 拝啓/敬具 signal formal letters; だ・である signals essays; です・ます signals notices and articles for general readers.

Kanji compounds often carry the argument's keywords; unknown kanji can often be decoded from surrounding kana and context rather than guessed from Chinese meanings.

Cohesive devices to track: しかし/ところが (contrast), したがって/そのため (consequence), たとえば (example), つまり (restatement), 一方 (contrast or parallel).

Passive and causative-passive forms (〜される, 〜させられる) frequently appear in opinion pieces to obscure or shift responsibility; identify who does what.

Inference questions (筆者の考えに最も近いもの) require matching the whole argument, not one sentence; eliminate options that are true but not the main claim.

Relative clauses precede their noun in Japanese: 昨日買った本 = 'the book I bought yesterday'; parse the clause before translating the noun phrase.

Transitive/intransitive pairs change the subject: ドアが開いた (intransitive, door opened) versus ドアを開けた (transitive, someone opened it).

Time and condition clauses use 〜とき, 〜前に, 〜たら, 〜れば; note whether the main clause is past or non-past to fix the timeline.

Three scripts have distinct jobs: kanji for content words, hiragana for inflections and particles, katakana for loanwords, onomatopoeia and emphasis.

Formal letter structure: 拝啓 → seasonal greeting (時候の挨拶) → 安否 inquiry → main body → 結び → 敬具 → date → signature → recipient.

Email register: 件名 (subject), 宛名 (recipient with 様), 名乗り (who you are), 本文, 結び; avoid ！？ and emoji in formal mail.

Paragraphing: one idea per paragraph (段落), each opening with a topic sentence; use まず, 次に, さらに, 最後に for sequence.

Punctuation rules: 。 ends sentences, 、 separates clauses; 読点 is not used before そして or after a short subject unless ambiguity requires it.

Length control: HSC-style tasks often specify 300-400字; count characters excluding punctuation if the rubric says so, and plan about 4-5 paragraphs to hit the band.

Register consistency is scored: mixing だ・である with です・ます within one text is an error unless quoting dialogue.

Useful set phrases: 〜について述べる, 〜と考えられる, 〜ではないだろうか, 〜に違いない, 〜ようになった for reasoned opinion writing.