May 2026 ToKini Andy Newsletter

May 23, 2026

May 2026

こんにちは！

May is here, and in Nagano Japan the weather feels like early July. Just last weekend, we heard the first cicadas of the year. They’re not supposed to start singing for another month or two!

Here’s what you’ll read about in this month's newsletter:

N4 Vocabulary Deck Release
Hirameki Beta-test Launch
Question of the Month
Phrase of the Month

Continue reading, for more!

N4 Vocabulary Deck Release!

For the past year we spent over 1000 hours working on the N4 Vocabulary “N+1”* deck. We finally completed it this week!

The deck contains 1252 new words and expressions, and 106 new detailed grammar points! Each grammar explanation includes examples to help them stick. We also included the new grammar within loads of regular example sentence cards so that you can get a firm grasp of each.

We completed the deck and it is now available exclusively on Hirameki. Jump in and let us know what you think!

But wait... What's "Hirameki"?

*N+1 means that every single word in an example sentence is one that you have already learned, except for 1. The 1 you are supposed to memorize.

Hirameki Beta-test Launch

While developing the N4 deck, we also created a custom flashcard “app”! We built it specifically for the ToKini Andy vocabulary and kanji content. We ALSO built it with the future in mind. Over the coming years we will be turning Hirameki into MUCH more than a simple flashcard app.

For now though, the flashcard part is ready for beta testing, and the dictionary part is ready for alpha testing!

How to Get Started

To get started right away, go to HIRAMEKI and register for the beta. If you have an active membership on tokiniandy.com you can join right now!

Already using our Anki decks?

You can IMPORT your progress into Hirameki to benefit from all the awesome new features there!

To learn how to do that, and WHY we made a flashcard app in the first place, check out THIS BLOG POST!

Running into trouble?

If you jump into Hirameki and aren't sure what to do, you can ask on the Community Page of ToKiniAndy.com. We also opened a new channel on the Discord called #hirameki-discussion. @AlexBogues (the developer of Hirameki) and myself will be answer questions on both!

What should you do if you notice a bug or other issue? There is a feedback button on the bottom right corner of every page of Hirameki!

Question(s) of the Month!

"I saw you say "これはあなたの財布ですか". I've always seen mixed opinions about it, but is it considered cold to use あなた with a stranger? Or is it that only when using it towards people you already know?"

When you know the persons name, あなた is generally not used. It's almost always better to use the person's name when referring to them! In English we usually use pronouns in conversation, but in Japanese we almost always use names.

What if you don't know a person's name though? Then あなた is perfectly fine to use! But try to figure out their name as soon as you can.

One other place you'll hear あなた used is between people who are VERY close to each other. A wife might use it when talking to her husband or child. Things like that.

Referring to Genki Lesson 5 Video: "You translate きれい in the Macdonald's example as "clean". But i've also seen that it can mean "pretty". How do you know which is the right translation? Could the guy instead be saying "MacDonald's isn't pretty"?

You can only really tell from context which one is being used. きれい means BOTH beautiful and clean. And both ideas are sort of one in Japanese. If something (or someone) isn't clean, you might not describe them as きれい. Even if they were quite beautiful looking. Because clean IS beautiful. In Japanese, at least.

Japanese Phrase of the Month

Thanks to our student Joseph for suggesting this section!

Our phrase of the month (well... bi-month, since this newsletter is bi-monthly) is:

おつかれさまです。
お疲れ様です。

Literally: "Tired appear it is."
Beautified: "You appear tired."
Implied Meaning: "You're working hard!", "Keep it up!", "That looks tough.", "You must be tired.", "Hi!".

This phrase is used in all parts of daily life in Japan. If you see someone working hard? おつかれさまです as you pass is appreciated. If you pass someone in the hall at work: おつかれさまです is used as a general greeting. Someone you know just finished a tough job? おつかれさまです. Just ran into someone you often work with at the supermarket? おつかれさまです. Someone else going home for the day while you remain at work? おつかれさま　でした (past tense of です).

You can even say just おつかれ to people who are very close to you!

Give it a shot, and let us know what kind of reactions you get! Also, let us know what kinds of phrases you'd like to see in this section of the newsletter.

Next Newsletter

In the next newsletter we will discuss our upcoming N4 grammar livestream, and N4 kanji livestreams!

See you in July! お疲れ様です！

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