Honorific speech in Japanese word "meshi", the Japanese equivalent of Sino-Japanese "go-han", is considered rough and masculine (男性語). The honorific "o-" is also sometimes attached to of native verbs (hence native "o-") to refer to a specific item associated with the verb, as in oshibori (お絞り、絞る) "hot towel", and onigiri/omusubi (お握り、握る and お結び、結ぶ) "rice ball". In rare cases, both a base form and honorific are in use with different readings. A notable example is 利益 "ri-eki" "benefit, profit (e.g., business)" and 御利益 "go-ri-yaku" "divine favor, grace"; plain "ri-yaku" is sometimes used, but "go-ri-eki" is generally not. The former, an everyday term, uses the usual
Jimi's Book of Japanese: A Motivating Method to Learn Japanese essential Japanese vocabulary. The second book, "Jimi's Book of Japanese: A Motivating Method to Learn Japanese (Katakana) teaches readers 46 Katakana syllabary plus essential Japanese vocabulary (, ). Both books contain interactive exercises to improve basic Japanese comprehension. The books are aimed at a broader audience in North America and at a grade school audience in the rest of the world. In 2003, Takahashi & Black/PBJ Omnimedia (imprint) won a Parents' Choice Award for category "Doing and Learning." and an IPPY (Independent Publisher Book Award) in the category for Academic books. Jimi's Book of Japanese: A Motivating Method to Learn