Good, here we go. In bold those I had to look up (i.e. practically everything from ye olde times*).
It took me ages, but I have included a lot of fun facts in between 
Food
| bread | fruit | soup | beef | pork |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| パン | 果物 くだもの |
汁 しる |
牛肉 ぎゅうにく |
豚肉 ぶたにく |
| chicken | vegetables | cake | fish | honey |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 鶏肉 とりにく |
野菜 やさい |
ケーキ | 魚 さかな |
蜂蜜 はちみつ |
Drink
| water | wine | beer | cider | whisky |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 水 みず |
ワイン | ビール | シードル | ウイスキー |
| juice | lemonade | tea | coffee | milk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ジュース | レモネード | お茶 おちゃ |
コーヒー | 牛乳 ぎゅうにゅう |
Notes:
- Cider is not サイダー (saidaa), which is used for non-alcoholic carbonated fruit drinks. Instead they borrowed the French pronounciation シードル (shiidoru) for the alcoholic cider.
- 牛乳 is literally cow milk. They use ミルク (miruku) for other kinds of milk.
Entertainment
| music | dancer | jester | juggler | circus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 音楽 おんがく |
踊り手 おどりて |
道化方 どうけかた |
ジャグラー | サーカス |
| tavern | brothel | stadium | theatre | play |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 居酒屋 / 旅館 いざかや / りょかん |
売春宿 ばいしゅんやど |
スタジアム | 劇場 げきじょう |
演劇 えんげき |
Notes:
- 居酒屋 (izakaya) are a common type of bar where you can get small dishes, it’s the main kind of establishment where people will go for a drink in Japan. 旅館 (ryokan) are a type of inn where travellers sleep, often in traditional Japanese style, quite luxurious, with delicious dinner, breakfast and hot spring included.
- 売春 means prostitute, but the kanji individually mean “to sell” and “spring”. The word spring is apparently used as a euphemism of entertainment, since it’s generally considered the nicest season in Japan. In old times, prostitutes would not only hire their body, but offer general company and entertainment as well.
Geography
| city | town | port | road | river |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 都会 / 都市 とかい / とし |
街 まち |
港 みなと |
道 みち |
川 かわ |
| mountain | hill | coast | plain | island |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 山 やま |
坂 / 丘 さか / おか |
海岸 かいがん |
平野 へいや |
島 しま |
Transport
| horse | ox | cart | litter | bicycle |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 馬 うま |
牛 うし |
荷車 にぐるま |
ごみ | 自転車 じてんしゃ |
| car | train | plane | ship | ferry |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 自動車 / 車 じどうしゃ / くるま |
電車 でんしゃ |
飛行機 ひこうき |
船 ふね |
フェリー |
Notes:
- 牛 means “cow” or “cattle” in general. The Japanese don’t really distinguish between cows, bulls and oxes for working animals.
- The kanji for 荷車 mean “luggage car”, for 電車 mean “electric car”, for 自転車 mean “self rotating car”, for 自動車 mean “self moving car” and for 飛行機 mean “fly-go machine”
The Sea
| wave | seawater | gull | albatross | anchovy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 波 なみ |
海水 かいすい |
カモメ | アホウドリ | アンチョビー |
| tuna | squid | mussel | clam | coral |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| マグロ | イカ | 紫貽貝 むらさきいがい |
貝 | さんご |
Notes:
- Although originally written in kanji as 信天鳥, meaning “believe”, “heaven” and “bird”, the アホウ part also means “idiot” in Japan, so in a way, albatrosses are literally called “stupid birds”. In fact, it seems that it’s more often written with the kanji for “idiot” nowadays, since that’s what my autocorrect suggests first.
- Haven’t really seen mussels in Japan, but they have a lot of different kind of tasty shellfish (貝, kai), most notably hokkigai, akagai, and torigai
Hierarchy
| emperor | king | nobleman | priest | merchant |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 天皇 てんのう |
王様 おうさま |
貴族 きぞく |
坊さん / 僧 ぼうさん / そう |
商人 |
| servant | slave | criminal | prisoner | leper |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 使用人 しようにん |
奴隷 どれい |
犯人 はんにん |
囚人 しゅうじん |
ハンセン病患者 ハンセンびょうかんじゃ |
Notes:
- The main reason I know what a nobleman is in Japanese, is because of a well-known izakaya chain called 鳥貴族: the Chicken Aristocrats. They mostly sell skewered grilled chicken.
- Leprosy is known in Japan by its other name: Hansen’s disease.
Profession
| butcher | baker | builder | cook | soldier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 肉屋 にくや |
パン屋 パンや |
建築業者 けんちくぎょうしゃ |
料理人 りょうりにん |
兵士 へいし |
| author | actor | scholar | painter | sculptor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 作者 さくしゃ |
演者 えんじゃ |
学者 がくしゃ |
画家 がか |
彫刻家 ちょうこくか |
Notes:
- Painter (画家 / がか / gaka) is perhaps known better when adding 漫 in front: cartoon painter, also known as mangaka, a person who draws manga (cartoons). Additional tidbit, in Japan any kind of cartoons / comics are known as manga, and any kind of animation is known as anime, including international ones.
Treasure
| sapphire | emerald | ruby | amethyst | diamond |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| サファイア | エメラルド | ルビー | アメシスト | ダイアモンド |
| opal | jet | ivory | platinum | gold |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| オパール | 黒玉 くろぎょく |
象牙 ぞうげ |
白金 はっきん |
金 きん |
Notes:
- Mostly very boring, either the English name was borrowed, or in case of jet it’s literally “black jewel” and ivory meaning literally “elephant tusk”… Platinum has a nice name as “white gold”, though.
Education
| teacher | student | desk | pencil | pen |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 先生 せんせい |
学生 がくせい |
机 つくえ |
鉛筆 えんぴつ |
ペン |
| ink | chalk | lecture | exercise | knowledge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| インク / 墨 すみ |
チョーク | 講義 こうぎ |
問題 もんだい |
知識 ちしき |
Notes:
- 墨 is ink used for painting and caligraphy (also it’s the sumi in sumi-e, which means “ink painting”), インク is for the ink that goes into pens.
- There was a famous Japanese manufacturer of high quality chalk, loved by mathematicians. Sadly they stopped production…
- 問題 is the kind of exercise in a schoolbook. For physical exercise you use 運動 (うんどう)
*Did you know that the “ye” is actually pronounced as “the”? It stems from the letter thorn þ, which was used in some Germanic languages for the th sound (and still is in Icelandic). The handwritten form of þ resembles the letter y a bit, which is why it became customary to write a y as well. Also, the e from the was written above the y.