Japanese with Studio Ghibli - From Up on Poppy Hill

From Up on Poppy Hill is one of the first Studio Ghibli movies I have ever seen, probably the second after The Secret World of Arrietty. It is a quiet, peaceful story of everyday’s life and romance, set in the beautiful scenery of Yokohama.

The movie’s title in Japanese is コクリコ坂から(Kokuriko-zaka kara, From the Hill of Poppies):

1. コクリコ(Kokuriko) means “poppies”. You may have noticed that it is written in katakana: that’s because it is a loanword, from the French word for poppy, Coquelicot. I don’t know if there’s a Japanese word for this flower, nor if the flower was already known in Japan before it came from Europe…
2. 坂(zaka)means “Hill”. Interesting enough, the name “Poppy Hill” seems to come from the name of the boarding house where the main character Umi and her family live, Coquelicot Manor. I initially thought “Poppy Hill” was the name of a neighborhood in Yokohama :)
3. から means “from” when put at the end of a noun. This word is mantained in the English title From Up on Poppy Hill, while it is omitted in the Italian title (yep, Italian is my first language) La Collina dei Papaveri, “The Hill of Poppies”. Anyway, I like all of them :)

As I said, this movie shows glimpses of everyday’s life in Japan, therefore it is well suited to learn some common expressions, like the following:

• ただいま!(Tadaima!) : “I’m home”
• お帰りなさい / お帰り (Okaerinasai / okaeri) : “Welcome back (home)”. From what I’ve seen 帰る(kaeru) means something like “return, go back, go home”.
• 行ってきます(Ittekimasu): “I’m off, I’m leaving” (行is the kanji for “go”)
• いただきます(itadakimasu): polite expression you use before starting a meal. It’s very difficult to translate (but many attempt to do it on the web, if you want to know more about this word)

This movie is also a good way to learn/review some vocabulary about the family, since families, and the relationship between parents and their children is a main theme of the story. Those are some of the words about family I recognized:

• お母さん(okaasan): “mother, mum”
• お父さん(otousan): “father, dad”
• 子(ko): “child” can be either son or daughter
• 息子(musuko): “son”
• おねえちゃん(oneechan): “big sister”.
• 兄弟(kyoudai): “siblings, brothers”

Those are just a few examples, the words that I noticed either because often repeated throughout the movie or because I already heard them in my Japanese course. Anyway, if you have the chance to watch this movie, take it, and enjoy this sweet story while learning (or reviewing) Japanese vocabulary!

P.S.: I am learning Japanese as an amateur, by exploring this language and its culture and making new discoveries every day. This means that I am not fluent in Japanese, and that I can make a lot of errors! If you are a native speaker or a student already fluent in the language, feel free to point at errors in the post, and I will correct them as soon as possible!

Pictures:FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (2011), by Goro Miyazaki, STUDIO GHIBLI.

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