When a teacher asked elementary & pre-intermediate non-native students of Japanese language 'How is life in Japan?' some students answered that it was boring. The teacher was concerned that perhaps the students had little understanding of everyday life and customs in Japan. However, when we questioned the same students in more detail about their thoughts, we discovered that they were often using the language incorrectly which frequently distorted the meaning. Negative adjectives were being used in the wrong context causing them to be misunderstood by listeners. In this paper, we analyze negative Japanese expressions which appear to be very similar but are actually closer to antonyms, (for example boring/not interesting and dislike/don't like) and show the differences in meaning between them. This paper will demonstrate how to teach these negative adjectives more effectively.
