Convenience stores were introduced to Japan from the U.S. around 1970. Since there were no stores in Japan with this concept, the name “convenience store” was adopted as-is into the Japanese language. However, because of its word length, the abbreviation “konbini ” became widespread. The same goes for the widespread use of the word “terebi ” derived from the word “television.” Whenever a new cultural concept is introduced from overseas, the Japanese take the original language and use it as it is, evolving it into the Japanese language. The same was true in ancient times, as for the reading parts of kanji characters introduced from China were used as Japanese characters. However, because of the complexity of kanji , Japanese created hiragana and katakana by using a part of the kanji character. Additionally, Japanese characters replicated sounds similar to the original sounds of foreign words such as Chinese and English. That is to say, these foreign words were modified for a Japanese pronunciation. In other words, it is a Japaneseization of a foreign language. There are 45 sounds in Japanese, all of which can be pronounced with their variants, in addition to the long sound and double consonants that are unique to the Japanese language. In the Meiji period (19-20th century), when many concepts that did not exist in Japanese, were introduced from the West, the Japanese created new kanji corresponding to these concepts. For example, “democracy” gave r ise to the word “minshu” meaning people-oriented. Such idioms were reimported by China and are still in use today. The Japanese language is always evolving. ( From August issue, 2022 / 2022年8月号より）