Vocabulary

warm biz; Japanese government campaign encouraging companies to set their heater thermostats to 20°C over the winter

spanking (a child)

with a smack; with a spank

straw mat used as a bag for carrying earth

climate crisis

language study; language learning

Taiga drama; annual year-long historical drama TV series produced by NHK

legitimation (of a child born outside a marriage)

narration; narrator

to whom it may concern; to the involved parties; to all persons concerned

sire; male parent

high purity

ultrahigh purity

first-person pronoun

second-person pronoun

third-person pronoun

pyrolysis; thermolysis; thermal decomposition; thermal cracking

wooden spatula

vegetable scraps

tappet

tappet clearance

Mexican prickly poppy (Argemone mexicana)

chance; start; cue; excuse; motive; impetus

cholera

dance performance held in April by geisha and maiko in Kyoto's Gion district

woman of mature beauty

egocentrism

in traveling, a companion; in life, sympathy

soy flour

Judgment Day (as described in Christian tradition)

cannot bear (doing); cannot bring oneself (to do); reluctant (to do)

(light) scoring (in cooking)

secondhand bookshop; antiquarian bookshop

attending physician; doctor-in-charge; attending doctor; one's doctor

quack; quack doctor; fake doctor

kanji "plow" or "three-branch tree" radical

Last Judgment (judgment of mankind to take place when the world ends, according to various religious traditions)

indiscriminate killing; indiscriminate murder

ironing

eyewear