Japanese | Word of the Day

水耕栽培(suikousaibai) - Hydroponics, aquaculture

There is no practical reason for me using this word in daily conversation, and to be honest, I’m certain it qualifies as 専門語(senmongo)/specialist terminology. However I do have a story to place this word in context. So, here we go.

Every morning, on my way to work, I listen to podcasts and read news in Japanese. A few days ago, I was listening to a podcast from the comedy duo “Sandwich Man”- strange name, yes. That aside, I believe Sandwich Man is from the 東北(tōhoku)/northeastern region of Japan. The same region affected by the earthquake and tsunami 8years ago. Anyway, Sandwich Mans podcast typically features segments where they read various fan mail from former/current residents of the region and give a call to see what they have been doing since the disaster.

Long story, short; A strawberry farmer was featured and hydroponic farming techniques made its way into the conversation. That’s when I noticed this cool word 「水耕栽培」. So let’s break it down,

• 水(sui)- water
  
• 耕(kou)-till
  
• 栽(sai)-plantation/planting
  
• 培(bai)-cultivate
  

Put them all together and you essentially get “water cultivation”. So, that’s my cool word for the week.
If you find this interesting, leave a comment and I’ll teach you some more useless Japanese next week!