Kanji Close-up

March 24th
JapanesePod101.com, Intermediate Lesson #8
Kanji Reading Meaning 1st character 2nd character

渋谷 じぶ・や Shibuya 渋・Bitter 谷・Valley

川 かわ River 川・River
せんたー・
センター街１ がい
Center Street 街・Street, town

ハチ公 はち・こう Hachiko 公・Public

漫画 まん・が Manga, cartoon 漫・Cartoon 画・Picture

喫茶２ きっ・さ Cafe 喫・To smoke, consume 茶・(Green) tea

１
The character「街」is used for both big streets and towns. When used as “town”, the reading would be 「まち」. There is also 「町」
which reads as 「まち」and has the same meaning, but the「街」type of town is usually bigger than the「町」type.

２
The「喫茶」part of 「まんが喫茶」comes from the word 「喫茶店」which was originally a place where people drank tea, ate and smoked.
For that reason, both the characters for “smoking” and “tea” is found in this word.