That’s more than 15 hours of podcasts! Great job! 
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Thank you! And good listening this year to you too
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Episode 48
Hilariously, listening to Utako being excited about her new Bluetooth headphones so she can listen to podcasts while doing chores while listening to her podcast while doing chores with Bluetooth headphones 
Bluetoothception!
All of her no pockets phone places were so relatable too! Now I try and make sure all my clothes (even leggings) have pockets, but sometimes you’re stuck. Anyway this entire segment was very amusing to me as I nodded along while making chili.
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I listened to two episodes while walking. I went back to listen to a couple of spots where I missed the meaning. But, I feel like I am getting more used to U’s conversation style now!
Ep. 352
Cost of electricity is so high! For our 2 bedroom it’s $322 per month. So we investigated and thought it was because of our central AC. Which we leave on all the time during the hot part of summer because we have 2 cats.
So, the next month when weather turned colder we wondered what kind of effect it would have on the price because we weren’t using the AC. Well it was $80! What? It suddenly dropped to 1/4 more than what we thought.
Well just so you know, twice a year we get a climate credit of $80 in our area. The amount depends on where you live in California. So we thought our bill would be like $180 with the credit. But then after the $80 it was $180.
[Note: I’m not sure I understood all the math done here. Also, I looked this up and the climate credit seems to be paid out every April and October for electricity households, which is a share of the revenue collected by the government for charging “polluters” who pay a carbon tax]
So, we stopped using the dishwasher and started washing by hand. Because $180 is still a lot!
Regarding electricity costs, here is something shocking. It’s actually much cheaper in LA according to friends who live there. I was surprised because I thought it would be more. One of my friends paid $22 per month for both electricity and gas combined. How?! I know there are regional differences but still. I bet anyone listening doesn’t have as cheap as $22/month.
Per year we pay $1200. It’s too much. I want to know how to reduce it. I’m worried it will go up in winter due to heating.
Other topics for this episode: Christmas presents and a new corner called “I have changed” (私変わった).
これと本当？ is it true it’s like that in America ? - this episode we explore: is it true that American kids make a Christmas present list? In the U.S. people get presents from friends school, work, family. In Japan, they get them from good friends but not really from work or school. Here, they put all the presents under one tree. Each person doesn’t just get one present but tons. In Japan there’s usually one main present. Here, they give a ton of presents. Parents give like at least 5? Or more to their kids each Xmas. A main present, but lots of little presents like toys etc. And not just present-like things but pyjamas, team shirts, or mugs. Normal things you would normally get for the kids.
And the opening of gifts (開封の議) they will record it. And unwrapping is like frenetic not polite and careful like in Japan.
To the listeners, what’s it like in your U.S. household? How about in Europe and elsewhere? And do kids really make Xmas present lists? In Japan, kids may write a letter to Santa for one present but a list? It’s interesting. And do couples make lists for each other? haha.
I think it would be more fun to get everyday items as Xmas presents like socks etc. more than just receiving it. Even small gifts I see on social media that people are really happy getting these. I’m sure Japanese would enjoy this kind of present too.
Things-that-changed-for-me-since-I-came-here corner: 変わったなーコーナー
People here aren’t really into talking about the year of the animal (Chinese zodiac). In Daiso, there are lots of seasonal items like Halloween etc. And for new year’s there are year of the animal items. Well I saw a box that said ox but inside was horse. Because it was horse in English but the kanji was ox. That’s Confusing. Plus, around the store there were other horse like items.
So why the confusion? Well I was the one who mixed up the kanji!!! Well the “horse” (午)イin the word “afternoon” (午後) looks very similar to “ox” 牛！！！！ So embarrassing.
So, because I don’t talk about the animal zodiac calendar as often I wasn’t aware of the animal etc.
Ep. 353
Last episode of the year. Looking back at the year, this was a mori mori （もりもり）type of year if I am to use an onomatopoeia to describe it. Lots of changes, lots of worries, lots of thinking. Content-wise it was a dense year.
So in chronological order （時系列に ― じけいれつに）
In January I started teaching tap dancing. We moved this year and it was an area we had lived in before, but we only lived here for a year. And we have only lived here half a year. So I didn’t have connections and didn’t know the area well. So I did google research, visited several dance studios, contacted places, did trial classes and talked to studio owners. And out of that, I am teaching 2 regular classes.
In February, I got a job in a sushi restaurant. I never worked at a place where you get tips.
March- April I didn’t do anything special except I was taking four classes in college. Working at sushi and teaching tap class in person and online.
May- there was a double graduation - husband graduated from graduate studies, I graduated from college we attended each others’ ceremonies.
June- prep for moving. That was truly awful. Not smooth at all. Applying etc, tidying cleaning house.
July- July 1st was moving day. I did 2 episodes about it - 331 332 - our car broke down (?) - lots of troubles. Something about selling a car? Purchasing a car?
August – My husband’s new job just started. And our new life in the new location started. I tried to find a full-time job. But it didn’t go well. I wasn’t getting any responses. But I applied for a job at school and I had a little more confidence. Plus, we have two cats and one of them had a urinary sickness so we have to get him to the vets.
September - we planned to go Japan for two weeks. And I started working at Daiso. And we planned to look for a job after we got back.
October, I started teaching tap dance in the area. Thankfully I got help from my teacher who asked. Then I went to the San Diego dance festival.
November- went back to Japan after two years. We have lots of worries etc. but meeting family and friends was fun.
So that was 2025 for me. Pretty nori mori! So many changes, lots of ups and downs. I would like a calmer daily life (?) I hope next year is more calmed down. I anticipate that anyway.
2025 slogan or theme was “when opportunity knocks answer the door” If I look back at 2025 did I answer the door? Well I feel like I did!! I had lots of chances but it’s my conduct as to whether I take it/succeed. I think I probably tried by best this year even though there were some problems.
For 2025 I had two like goals: rapid weight loss (激痩せ- げきやせ) and improving my English. Oh boy I keep saying this but not this year. Also I keep saying I want to lose 5 kilo (10 pounds) (here she talks about whether she’s really got objectives or goals for the new year since she says the same thing each year and doesn’t achieve them)
Everyone: How was your year?
In the next episode I will talk about what kind of year I want 2026 to be.
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Re-listened (?) to episode 33 this morning as I thought I might have missed it. A lot sounded familiar but some didn’t so I probably haven’t heard it before. Utaco does tend to repeat herself over episodes and because my listening has been so random, I’m struggling to keep the timeline straight….
Anyway a few thoughts on the episode:
Ma’am or miss? A question for Americans
I was wondering if any of the American listeners had a comment on the usage of “Ma’am” and “Miss”. Utaco doesn’t like being addressed as “Ma’am”, says it makes her feel
old and would prefer to be addressed as “Miss”while acknowledging there’s some controversy about the use of the latter.
As an Australian, I couldn’t really have an opinion as neither terms are used very often here. Years ago, I worked in a bookshop with an American from New Orleans and he always addressed the customers as either “ma’am” or “sir” which I found exquisitely and adorably polite (loved his accent!) but I also put it down to his Southern background… Listening to Utaco made me remember him and I wondered whether there were regional and generational differences in usage of these terms of address in the U.S.
The only place I can think of reliably hearing these terms here is at airports and big hotels, and I wonder whether it is because the staff are aware they’re talking to foreigners and so adapt a politer usage.
The Intermediate 壁
Utaco’s always talking about the 英語の壁, but listening to the episode made me think she’d hit another language wall - the Intermediate one. She’s got enough English to get by comfortably so her active engagement with it is slipping - so, for example, instead of choosing to listen to English podcasts and YouTube videos while she doing the dishes etc, she’s defaulting to Japanese ones.
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Ma’am or miss?
There’s kinda notion that once you get called ma’am you’re officially old, so getting prematurely ma’am-ed can feel not great. I think though for me personally, ma’am has become kinda a way to dismiss someone and/or a kinda rude form of address, I think exactly because people don’t want to be called that. Or maybe because you’ll really only be using it when you’re in a somewhat confrontational situation 
But all that said, there’s also huge regional differences even within the US, esp around levels of politeness, so it might be entirely different elsewhere.
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like my granny and papa taught me
It does vary some but in my experience as a southerner, it is (or was) considered polite manners to say Sir or Ma’am. My grandparents would insist on it when I was young; sometimes asking me if I answered them “yes” or “yeah”, “does it break your jaw to say Sir?” Among younger people I think it’s weird and may be dying out. I have at least one friend who refuses to be called Sir at work because they feel it’s too hierarchical. I might say it in a customer service environment if I had that kind of interaction with people at my job but otherwise I rarely use Sir and Ma’am now.
I do see it in military contexts some, “Sir, yes Sir” and stuff like that. Miss is for younger women generally, but it’s for addressing someone or getting their attention. If you’re asked a question or ordered to do something, “yes ma’am” is appropriate regardless of age and you wouldn’t say “yes miss”.
It feels weird to think about and spell out the usage rules for this but it’s something I used to know pretty well as a kid. I got less polite as I grew up because I don’t know when the last time I said Sir to someone was. Maybe at some point in Boy Scouts.
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regional differences
Yeah I grew up in California and I’d rather pull out my fingernails than call someone sir.
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Thanks @shitsurei and @SpiderWeb for the great answers. Actually, I love drilling down into these usages and looking into how they change over time and distance.
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Week 50
Episode: 050
Time Count: 31:06
Participation
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Latest Episode
Episode: 356
Time Count: 21:17
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Break week time! How’s everyone getting on?
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thank you @WeepingWeeb for steadfastly posting the latest episodes. I have been digging myself out of a review hole for awhile now (that was 四苦八苦！）, but I see the light, which means I should be more active here. I have 22 episodes before I’m fully caught up, but I’ll start with 33 & 48 since @shitsurei & @Lisaveeta just listened to them (I am looking forward to reading those comments when i’m done).
Hope everyone is making progress when life permits 
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Holy moly good job on digging out of that hole 
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This reminds me, I need to catch back up I dunno what happened to my podcast listening habit but I lost it somewhere..
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I normally interleave catchup with the current week, but I had started and not finished ep 17 so many times I finally just finished it, then moved swiftly on to 18 to put it behind me
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Week 51
Episode: 051
Time Count: 30:59
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Recent Episode
Episode: 357
Time Count: 36:43
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I present to you, the episode 51 bingo card:
https://bingobaker.com#6981eb4c833931a2
Instructions:
- Click the link
- Generate a card
- This is your personal card, so bookmark it if you want to leave and find it again
- Listen to the episode and when you hear one of the words tap the square to mark it off
- Post a screenshot of your card!
I wasn’t sure what to do for conjugated verbs and adjective so I put in the unconjugated form and reading, then the conjugated one I heard in parentheses, but if you hear a different form of the same word that counts!
Edit: updated link
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Amazingggg thank you for doing that
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It was fun! And took surprisingly the whole episode to get them all looked up, copied and pasted. I haven’t decided if that counts as having listened to this episode 
I hope it’s fun to try out.
I tried for a mix of common vs topic specific words.
Anyone let me know if you want different words. I could focus more on easier words but getting harder words would be tough (but I could try). Maybe themed words would be a good challenge, ie, a just nouns or verbs card, and someday if I manage to listen first and then again for bingo I could probably just about manage a key words card.
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Not so well! I took a bit more of a break while travelling in Africa (I’d been trying to focus on French a bit). I started episode 41 on 11/1 and started listening to it again today.
I have to say I can thank Utaco for helping me pass N2 listening. I was thinking of stepping back from Japanese for a bit once I passed N2, but I’ve just booked flights for a late June/ July trip so now I’m keen to keep my listening skills up.
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