Time to explain the previous “yaka” advertisement.

This ad is just a string of “na” adjectives with a little catch at the end… So here’s a giant word list.

Honestly I didn’t know a lot of these before looking them up. This is good stuff!

「はれやか」- 「晴れやか」- “Radiant” or “Bright”, as in 「晴れやかな顔」, for a “bright face”.

「しとやか」- “grace” or “modest”. There is an old Japanese movie called 「しとやかな獣」which roughly translates into “the graceful beast”. You can also describe someones personality as 「しとやかな性格」

「なごやか」- “friendly” or “sociable”, as in 「なこやかな雰囲気」to describe a sociable atmosphere.

「まろやか」- 「円やか」”mellow”, “mild”, “smooth”. As in「まろやかな味」

「さわやか」- 「爽やか」”fresh”, as in 「爽やかな空気」

「こまやか」- “detailed” or “warm”, as in 「こまやかな愛情」 or 「こまやかなやさしさ」or 「こまやかな気遣い」

「しなやか」- “limber”, “flexible”, “elastic”, as in 「しなやかなネコ」or 「ねこのようにしなやかに歩く」or 「しなやか指使い」for someone who plays the piano extremely well.

「はなやか」- “gorgeous” or “showy”, as in 「華やかな衣装」for a “flamboyant costume”.

「おだやか」- 「穏やか」means, “mild”, or “gentle”, as in「穏やかな気候」or 「穏やかな公園」

「かろやか」-「軽やか」is “light”, or “airy” as in 「軽やかな衣装」for a “light and airy outfit”, maybe some long flowing gowns a magician would wear in a fantasy movie or something.

「すこやか」- 「健やか」means “healthy” or “wholesome”, as in 「健やかに暮らす」to “live a healthy life”. Note you wouldn’t use this word to say something like, “tomatoes are healthy”, in this case you would use 「健康にいい」or 「健康的」

「にぎやか」- 「賑やか」this means “lively”, like 「賑やかな街」

「スポやか」- This is where the advertisement breaks in. This is an advertisement for a sports newspaper called Sankei Sports. They are using the 「スポ」from 「スポーツ」 as a joke, to make it a “na adjective” like the rest of these words. There is no such word as 「スポやか」in actual Japanese.

「 ウマやか」- Same here. I think this is because the sports paper covers horse racing? (JapanNewbie pics of horse racing in Tokyo) It could also be a pun on the word 「うまい」which literally means tastes good, but can also just mean “great”… But I’m pretty sure it’s the horse pun.

I don’t like this advertisement!

- Harvey