Practice makes Perapera! Learn Japanese ahead of Tokyo 2020

It’s time to impress your family and friends and speak Japanese like a local before the start of the Tokyo 2020 Games next year.

Learning Japanese might seem like a daunting task, but with a few simple lessons you’ll be amazed at how much you pick up.

Follow along with Tokyo 2020's weekly guides, as you go from newbie Olympic hopeful to Perapera (fluent) gold medallist in time for the Opening Ceremony!

This week: Transportation

All major cities have iconic methods of transportation: New York has its historic subway, London has iconic red buses, but Tokyo is in a league of its own!

There are so many memorable ways of exploring Tokyo, from the unique black taxis to the amazingly efficient subway system - and we haven’t yet mentioned the world-renowned Shinkansen or ‘bullet train’.

So, with this week's Japanese lesson, let’s guide you through the city's transportation:

Learn Japanese

Tokyo 2020's ‘Practice makes Perapera’ series introduces one essential Japanese lesson every week – from learning to talk about the things you like, through to how to introduce yourself and the colours of the rainbow. In a few short months, you'll have the basics you need for your visit to Tokyo next year.

The lessons are simple. Tokyo 2020 will show you an image or sentence with the hiragana and katakana underneath (the Japanese character symbols that make up the language).

You'll also see the romaji – the Romanised way of writing Japanese by using the latin or roman alphabet to display Japanese words.

Scroll through the lessons below and begin your Japanese learning adventure today!