初投稿（はつとうこう/the first post）

北海道にもとうとう桜の季節がやって来ました。皆さんいかがお過ごしですか？

Japanese people traditionally make seasonal comments like "sakura had bloomed" or "snow had started covering the ground" so that the reader can have some idea about when the letter was written and get some image of the scenery of the place where the writer lives.

・とうとう：finally

・やって来る：来る can replace this word in most of the cases, but やって来る gives feeling that something appears in front of you. It puts emphasis that something that was absent becomes present. If I say 春がやって来た, it sounds like spring was long absent but it finally arrived here. You can just say 春が来た, but it doesn't have the "emphasis" that something that had been absent had appeared in front of you. You don't use やって来た when someone came to somewhere where you are not present.

・いかがお過ごしですか？：When you want to ask "how are you doing" in formal language, you can use this phrase.

※English translation is at the bottom.

※Japanese part of the post is available as mp3 download in the attachment. 

これが初投稿です。これからちょくちょく記事を書いて、皆さんにシェアしていきます。記事の内容は日本語についてや、日本の文化や雑学(trivia)、時事(events of the day)やニュース、日本・北海道での日常など、僕がおもしろいと思ったことを書いていきます。

I used ていく form (書いていきます) here because this action of writing articles is something that I will continue into the future. For example, if you are studying Japanese now and planning to continue doing so in the future as well, you can say 私は日本語を勉強していきます(I will continue studying Japanese).

・初〜（はつ〜）：first time doing ~. For example: 初体験（はつたいけん・first time experience）、 初恋（はつこい・first love）

・投稿（とうこう）：post (投稿する　is a verb form of it)

・ちょくちょく：frequently (colloquial, not used in formal language)

今日はまず最初の投稿なので、僕の自己紹介をしたいと思います。

僕、要（かなめ）は北海道札幌市出身の日本人です。現在妻と今年の二月(2023年)に生まれたばかりのまだ2ヶ月の息子と札幌に住んでいます。あと、忘れてはいけないのは、うちにはペットのアインもいます。

アニメが好きな方は、うちのペットの名前がなぜ「アイン」かわかるかもしれません。うちのアインはメスですが。

僕は今まで中国語で日本語を教えてきました。中国の陝西省（せんせいしょう）というところにある大学で日本語を教えていて、その時中国語のブログを今の妻と一緒に始めました。フォロワーが増え、妻と日本語オンライン教室を立ち上げました。それから今までそのオンライン教室は続けています。

I used 教えてきました here because this action of "teaching Japanese in Chinese" is what I have been doing until now. てくる can express an action that you continue from the past to the present.

今までは中国語で日本語を教えてきましたが、英語でも同じことをやってみたいと思い、Youtubeのチャンネルを開設(かいせつ)し、英語で日本語を教える動画を作り始めました。英語は大学で勉強し、アメリカに一年留学した経験があって、多少話すことはできました。ただ中国に行ってからはあまり英語で話す機会（きかい）がなかったので、ちゃんと英語で話して動画が作成できるか不安でしたが、様々なYouTuberの英語を意識的に聞き、発音も同時に練習することで徐々に英語でのスピーチに慣れてきました。これからも英語の練習をしながら動画を作っていくので、これからも僕の動画を見続けてくれたら、皆さんの日本語と一緒にぼくの英語も上達していくのがわかると思います。

・Verb dictionary form＋機会がある（ない）：(don't) have an opportunity to do something. For example: 故郷は雪が降らないので、スキーをする機会がありませんでした (There's no snow at my hometown, so I didn't have opportunity to ski)

・意識的に（いしきてきに）：consciously

・同時に（どうじきに）：at the same time

・徐々に（じょじょに）：gradually

・〜に慣れる（〜になれる）：get used to ~

・見続ける（みつづける）：keep watching

・上達する（じょうたつする）：get better at doing something

これから皆さんに毎回「今日の日本語」というテーマで、日本語についての知識やフレーズ等を紹介していきます。

今日の日本語は「店内や建物の中を形容するフレーズ(phrases to describe inside of store or buildings)」です。例えばレストランや居酒屋などに行った時に使うフレーズです。

・人でいっぱいです：It's filled with people

・人がいっぱいいます：There are many people

・にぎわっています：bustling with people (having lively atmosphere / store is thriving)

・にぎやかです：lively, noisy atmosphere

・混(こ)んでいます：crowded

・うるさいです：loud and noisy (unpleasant)

・騒(さわ)がしいです：loud and noisy (unpleasant)

・雰囲気(ふんいき)がいいです：having a good atmosphere. If you like the vibe of the store, you would say this, "this store gives me a good vibe. I like this atmosphere." If you don't like the atmosphere, you can say 雰囲気が悪いです (has bad atmosphere) or 雰囲気が好きではないです (I don't like the vibe)

・がらがらです：no people, or there are only a few people there. If I enter a ramen shop and say この店、がらがらですね, people will get an image of mostly empty seats with no or only few customers.

・がらんとしています・がらーんとしています：not many things in the room, empty and spacious, you don't hear much of noise. If an Izakaya is がらんとしている that means they don't have many objects like furniture or decorations there, empty and spacious and not many people there. It's not lively and not thriving.

※Use past tense if you are describing what was it like in the past. If I'm talking about what it was like last night, I would say がらがらでした. If it is about what it is like generally, you use present tense がらがらです。

・あの店、先週行った時はがらがらでした。(There was no people when I went the shop last week.)

・あの店、いつもはがらがらです。(Usually there's no one in that store.)

以上のフレーズは日本人が飲食店などの店の雰囲気を形容するときによく使われます。皆さん参考にしてみてください。

それでは皆さん、また次回（じかい）お会いしましょう！

Translation

Finally, the season of cherry blossom had come to Hokkaido. How is everyone doing?

This is the first post. From now on, I will write articles and share them with everyone every once in a while. I will write articles about topics such as Japanese language, culture, trivia, events of the day, news, daily life in Japan or Hokkaido, etc. I will write about things I find interesting.

Today, since this is the first post, I'd like to introduce myself.

I'm Kaname, a Japanese born in Sapporo, Hokkaido. I live in Sapporo with my wife and a son who was just born two months ago in February 2023. And, I shouldn't forget to mention it, there is my pet dog, her name is Ein, she also lives in my house.

If you like anime, you may know why I named my dog "Ein". Even though my Ein is female.

I have been teaching Japanese in Chinese. I used to teach Japanese in a university in a province called Shaanxi, that's when I started Chinese blog with my wife together. We gained followers, so we set up Japanese online courses together with my wife. We still do the course now.

Previously, I taught Japanese in Chinese, but I wanted to try teaching in English as well, so I decided to create a YouTube channel and started making videos in English. I studied English at the university, and I had studied English in the US for a year before, so I could talk English to a certain extent. But I didn't have much opportunity to speak English after I went to China, so I was worried I may not be able to speak English well and make videos, but by consciously listening to some YouTubers speaking English, and by practicing English pronunciation at the same time, I gradually got used to making speech in English. I don't stop practicing English from now on as well, so I think you will notice improvement in my English as you keep watching my videos.

From now on, with the theme "Today's Japanese", I will introduce things such as some Japanese related knowledge and phrases in every post.

※about the contents of "Today's Japanese" please check the Japanese text above.

These phrases above are often used when Japanese people describe the atmosphere of stores like restaurants. You can use them to study Japanese.

See you next time!