EJU Japanese key terms

A listening section where you hear each conversation or monologue once and answer questions from what was said, including tasks that require choosing the response that fits the situation.

An integrated section where you read printed material such as a chart, notice, or schedule while listening to a recording, then select the answer that matches both sources of information.

A reading section testing comprehension of academic and everyday texts, including main idea, detail, reference, and the author's overall claim within a fixed time limit.

A writing task in which you state your own position on a given topic and support it with reasons and examples in a short, structured Japanese essay.

The skill of jotting down keywords, numbers, and names while listening, so you can answer questions after a recording that is played only once.

Reading quickly for structure and main points rather than every word, a habit needed because reading passages must be finished inside a strict time limit.

Searching a text for one specific piece of information, such as a date, price, or name, without reading the surrounding sentences in full.

A content word that carries the core meaning of a sentence or passage; identifying these words helps you locate answers and summarize quickly under time pressure.

Words and phrases such as しかし, したがって, and つまり that signal contrast, cause, or restatement, guiding the logic of a passage and of your own essay.

A text type in which the writer takes a clear stance on an issue, gives reasons and concrete examples, and closes with a conclusion consistent with that stance.

Combining information from two sources, such as a spoken explanation and a printed table, to reach one answer that neither source supports alone.

A phrase that expresses the same meaning as another with different wording; exam questions often restate a passage's idea rather than quoting it directly.

Rewording an idea using different vocabulary or grammar, a common technique in correct answer choices that paraphrase the original passage or recording.

The polite register system of Japanese covering honorific, humble, and polite forms, used to judge whether a speaker's wording suits the relationship and situation described.

Language choices that reflect the speaker's view of social relationships, such as politeness level and in-group versus out-group framing; listening tasks often test who is speaking to whom.

Small grammatical particles such as は, が, を, and に that mark the role of the preceding word; misreading them changes who did what to whom.

The surrounding sentences or conversational situation that determines the intended meaning of a word, pronoun, or ambiguous phrase.

Words like これ, それ, あれ, and その that point back to something already mentioned; questions frequently ask what a given pronoun refers to.

The SI unit for amount of substance; one mole contains about 6.02 × 10²³ particles, and it links mass, particle count, and gas volume in calculations.

The number of particles in one mole, approximately 6.02 × 10²³ per mole, used to convert between particle counts and amounts of substance.

A symbolic equation showing reactants and products with coefficients that balance each element, allowing calculation of the amounts consumed and produced.

The principle that total mass stays the same in a chemical reaction because atoms are rearranged, not created or destroyed; it justifies balancing equations.

In the absence of friction or other non-conservative forces, the sum of kinetic and potential energy in a system remains constant throughout the motion.

Newton's second law written as F = ma, stating that net force equals mass times acceleration; it is the starting point for analyzing motion under forces.

In physics, the product of force and displacement in the direction of that force; it measures energy transferred to or from an object.

A segment of DNA that carries the information for a trait or a functional product and is passed from parents to offspring through reproduction.

The double-stranded molecule that stores genetic information in a sequence of bases, replicated before cell division and transcribed for protein synthesis.

The rules of inheritance describing segregation of alleles and their independent assortment, which predict the ratios of traits in offspring of crosses.

The process by which one cell divides into two, distributing chromosomes; mitosis produces genetically identical cells, while meiosis produces gametes with half the chromosome number.

A paired reaction in which one substance loses electrons (oxidation) and another gains them (reduction), often tracked through changes in oxidation number.

The changes made after 1945 under occupation, including a new constitution, land reform, and education reform, which reshaped Japan's politics and society.

The constitution enacted in 1947, establishing popular sovereignty, the emperor as a symbol, basic rights, and the renunciation of war in Article 9.

The division of state power into legislative, executive, and judicial branches that check one another, a principle central to modern democratic constitutions including Japan's.

The simultaneous decline in birth rate and rise in the elderly share of the population, a key issue affecting Japan's labor force, pensions, and local communities.

Public systems such as pensions, health insurance, and long-term care that support people against illness, unemployment, and old age, largely funded by contributions and taxes.

A function of the form y = ax + b whose graph is a straight line, where a is the slope and b the y-intercept; used to model constant-rate change.

A function of the form y = ax² + bx + c whose graph is a parabola; the sign of a gives the direction of opening and the vertex gives the maximum or minimum.

A visual representation of a relationship between variables, read for intercepts, slopes, peaks, and intersections when solving equations or interpreting data.

The operation of finding the instantaneous rate of change of a function, interpreted as the slope of the tangent line and used to locate maxima and minima.

The operation of accumulating a function over an interval, interpreted as the area under its graph and related to differentiation by the fundamental theorem of calculus.

The value a sequence or function approaches as its index or input approaches a certain point; the foundation on which derivatives and integrals are defined.

The number of possible outcomes or arrangements, counted with permutations when order matters and combinations when it does not.

A number between 0 and 1 expressing how likely an event is, calculated as favorable outcomes divided by all equally likely outcomes in a sample space.