10 Colors

Although they may not come up super frequently, Japanese expressions and sayings can be fun to learn. One of the first ones I remember learning is 一石二鳥 (いっせきにちょう) - "two birds with one stone." That's also a good example of 四字（熟語）- an expression made up of four kanji. There are tons of these yoji.

If you're familiar with the expression それぞれ, which can be used to mean "to each his own," then here's another yoji for you:

十人十色

1, 2, 3...close enough.

If you've studied some basic kanji, you should be able to recognize these ones and maybe glean the meaning to be found here. 十人十色 (じゅうにんといろ）is made up of:

十 - 10
人 - people
十 - 10 (again)
色 - color

So 10 people, 10 colors. 10 people each have their own color. Each individual has his own likes and preferences. To each his own.

Alc: 十人十色

Let's enjoy Japanese: The grass

In addition to puns and riddles, I find Japanese 諺‘（ことわざ;kotowaza; proverbs or sayings) to be interesting. It's quite fascinating to note that some of the sayings we have in English can be found, at times almost word for word, in Japanese. Of course this could be due to cultural diffusion; it can be difficult to pick apart Japanese culture and identify what is truly Japanese in origin.

Anyway, here's one example:

隣の芝生は青い。（となりのしばふはあおい）。

Translation: "The neighboring grass is green."

Interestingly, "青い" normally means "blue" in Japanese, but is sometimes used to mean green, as well. Traffic lights, for example, are "青い" in Japanese.

Regardless of the color of the grass, this proverb is like our "The grass is always greener on the other side."