In July 2026, I joined a workshop led by Hitomi Tigabelas at LQID Creative Space in Jakarta, to learn how to make a swirling brooch with fabric cord. The workshop was part of an art exhibition called “BLUE” by YOMPAT, a group of artists featuring Yoko Takebe, Hitomi Tigabelas, Tomoko Honda, and Eiko Nishida. The name YOMPAT combines the Japanese word 四 yon and the Indonesian word empat, both of which mean “four,” reflecting the group’s four members.
During the workshop, While I was struggling to thread my needle, Tomoko-san looked at my half-finished brooch and said,
いい感じで！
Ii kanji de!
I was really confused. As far as I knew, Japanese has three writing systems: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. So why did she say “kanji”?
Eiko-san, who was sitting next to me, noticed my puzzled expression and explained,
“It means, ‘That looks good!’”
A few months later, in early October, I went to Hiratsuka City in Kanagawa for a reunion. I’ve been a guest teacher for the online English lessons run by Tanpopo Glocal School for almost three years now, and since I currently live in Japan, they invited me, along with some students and parents, to join them for a dinner party at the house of Momoko Urakawa, the owner of the school.
The menu for that night’s dinner was a mix of Japanese and Indonesian cuisine: shoyu soup combined with Indonesian meatballs, known as bakso, that I brought along.
I had never made shoyu soup before, so I asked Momoko-san how to make it. I also arrived a few hours early at Momoko-san’s house so I could help prepare the dishes for the night. She took out a cutting board and started chopping some of the vegetables.
こんな感じ！
Konna kanji!
I was confused again. What did “kanji” mean this time? I knew that こんな konna comes from これ kore, meaning “this,” so why did she say “This is kanji”?
“Oh, it means something like, ‘Please do it like this!’” Momoko-san said.
Later, after dinner ended and everyone had gone home, I asked her why “kanji” has so many meanings. It turned out there are two different Kanji, and you can’t tell them apart just by looking at them in the English alphabet. She wrote both down on a piece of paper to help me understand the difference.
“There is 漢字 and 感じ. Both are read as kanji.”
漢字 means the characters themselves, while 感じ means a feeling or impression, which is why “いい感じ” is “a good feeling,” or “looks good.”
That was the day I finally understood a little more, the secret of this beautiful and fascinating language.
But still, Japanese Language is very hard to understand!