Nihongo con Teppei (Beginner) - Ep16: 温泉について

Felix's Learner Note:

Episode 16 of Nihongo con Teppei, the daily Japanese podcast for beginners, is a slow, friendly tour of 温泉 (onsen) — Japanese hot springs. Teppei starts from his own roots: his family comes from Oita Prefecture (大分県) in Kyushu, one of Japan's most famous hot-spring regions, home to both Beppu (別府) and Yufuin (由布院). Along the way he explains exactly what makes something an onsen: warm water that comes gushing up from underground — ボボボボ — which Japanese calls お湯 (oyu), and a bath that nature provides all by itself, 温泉が湧く (the spring wells up).

The real vocabulary payoff comes in the second half, where Teppei compares a 旅館 (ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn) with an ordinary hotel. A ryokan is smaller — fewer rooms, fewer staff, a smaller business — but that is precisely why the hospitality is better: with fewer guests, the staff can ケアする (take care of) each one, and the food is often tastier than hotel fare. He also introduces 和室 (washitsu), the tatami-mat room that gives a ryokan its distinct feel, plus 温泉街 (onsen-gai), the hot-spring town that grows up around the water. Hotels have 沢山の宿泊客 — crowds of overnight guests — while a ryokan stays quiet, so you can ゆっくりする, truly slow down.

For shadowing practice, this episode is a definition machine: Teppei constantly teaches words by defining them — 温泉というのは自然の風呂です (an onsen is a natural bath), 温かい水のことをお湯と言います (warm water is called oyu). You will drill the topic marker 〜について (about ~), the definition frames 〜というのは and 〜ことを〜と言う, the reason-listing 〜し, the causal 〜ので, and the N3 pattern 〜による (it depends on ~). By the end you can explain what an onsen is, where Beppu and Yufuin are, and why a ryokan beats a hotel — all in natural beginner Japanese.

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📚 Grammar Breakdown

1. 〜というのは／〜を〜と言う（定義フレーム）
Meaning: X means ~ / X is what we call ~ / we say ~ for ~
In Text: 温泉というのは自然のお風呂です (an onsen is a natural bath), 亡くなるというのは死んだということですね ("naku naru" means to have died), 温かい水のことをお湯と言います (we call warm water "oyu").
Note: 〜というのは introduces a term you are about to define — "X, that is to say...". Its cousin 〜ことを〜と言う flips the frame: "we say [word] for [thing]." Teppei uses both constantly because his whole podcast is built on defining words for beginners. These frames let you explain any unknown word without switching to English — an essential survival skill for monolingual immersion.

2. 〜し（理由の列挙）
Meaning: And what's more ~ / ~, and ~ (listing reasons)
In Text: おばあちゃんが元気だし、お姉さんもいるしね (Grandma's healthy, and my sister's there too, so...).
Note: 〜し attaches to the plain form and lists facts that all point toward the same conclusion — softer and more conversational than 〜から. The final しね often trails off, leaving the conclusion implied ("...so they're doing fine over there"). Use it to stack reasons naturally: 安いし、美味しいし、近いし (it's cheap, tasty, and close). A small word that instantly makes your reasoning sound native.

3. 〜による／〜によって違う（N3・依存）
Meaning: It depends on ~ / it varies according to ~
In Text: まあ、もちろんそれも旅館によるんですよね (well, of course that also depends on the ryokan).
Note: 〜による cuts off a generalization: "that depends on X." The full pattern 〜によって違う (it differs depending on ~) is its cousin — 人によって違う (it varies from person to person). N3-level but extremely common in real conversation, especially when you want to hedge instead of overgeneralizing — exactly what Teppei does after praising ryokan food and atmosphere. Add 〜によるんですよね to your toolkit for that nuanced, native-sounding "well, it depends."