You might be right but as someone who studied Japanese and lived in Japan for a long time (15 years) at some point you (or I) grok it and it fits. You (or I) in

You might be right but as someone who studied Japanese and lived in Japan for a long time (15 years) at some point you (or I) grok it and it fits. You (or I) internalize the Japanese sounds of things and start to get it. It also helps to use the Japanese pronounciations and accents. Some examples: Pokki (pronouced Poh (rhymes with "go") then a pause, then Ki (rhymes with "me") Poh Ki, is the sound of stick breaking, which is why those chocolate sticks are called "Pocky" https://youtu.be/IQQKnwZT55o?t=76 https://youtu.be/IQQKnwZT55o?t=76 fuwafuwa (shown in the article), is clearly a soft sound. Vs say "crack" (an english onomatopoeia sound). "zarazara" (zah-rah-zah-rah) vs "sarasara" (sah-rah-sah-rah) note: you need to roll the R one roll and say the word fast. "zarazara" is rough like sandpaper, "sarasara" is smooth like a kitchen counter. The zzzzz vs the sssss feels pretty clear after so many years of practice. zzzzz (bees go buzzzz in English) is clearly a buzziers more vibrating sound than sssss (snakes go ssssss in English) "putsu=putsu" (pronounced puts-puts), vs "pata-pata" vs "zaa-zaa" are different sounds for rain. The rain is falling "Zaa-Zaa" is much harder (imagine hard rain on a thin aluminum roof) than "pata-pata" light rain (just enough for it to make noise) or "puts-puts", a sprinkle.