Learn Japanese with さんぽ (Sanpo) from My Neighbor Totoro — N5 Grammar & Vocab
Why this song is perfect for beginners
Composed by Joe Hisaishi with lyrics by Rieko Nakagawa and sung by Azumi Inoue, さんぽ was written to sound like a child cheerfully setting off on a walk. That's exactly why it works for learners: the tempo is gentle, every word is pronounced clearly, and the vocabulary is concrete — walking, weather, the sky, a path. Nothing is slurred or slangy. If you can only learn one Japanese song this year, this is a contender.
The grammar you'll hear
歩こう — the volitional ("let's ~")
The song famously opens by repeating 歩こう、歩こう (arukō, arukō) — "let's walk, let's walk." That one word is your whole grammar lesson. 歩こう is the volitional form of 歩く (aruku, to walk): drop 〜く and add 〜こう to get "let's walk / I'll walk." It's the casual cousin of 〜ましょう.
公園まで歩こう。
こうえんまであるこう。
Let's walk to the park.
Plain volitional — what you'd say to a friend, exactly like the song.
ヤッタン、いっしょに帰ろう。
ヤッタン、いっしょにかえろう。
Yattan, let's go home together.
帰る → 帰ろう: same pattern on a different verb.
The volitional is formally an N4 point, but さんぽ shows it in its friendliest possible form. Get the full picture in the volitional guide.
好き — saying what you like
The song is all about loving to walk. Liking things in Japanese uses 〜が好き (ga suki), where the thing you like takes が, not を.
わたしは さんぽが 好きです。
わたしは さんぽが すきです。
I like taking walks.
好き behaves like an adjective, so it takes です, not a verb ending.
More on this in the 〜が好き guide.
Key vocabulary to catch
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 歩く | あるく | to walk |
| さんぽ (散歩) | さんぽ | a walk / stroll |
| 元気 | げんき | energetic, lively, well |
| 好き | すき | to like |
| 空 | そら | sky |
| 道 | みち | road, path |
| 坂 | さか | slope, hill |
| トンネル | — | tunnel |
| くもの巣 | くものす | spider web |
| みんな | — | everyone |
These are high-frequency N5 words far beyond this one song — learning them here means recognising them everywhere.
Where to listen
Look for the official Studio Ghibli soundtrack version (the film's opening) on your streaming service, or search 「さんぽ となりのトトロ」 on YouTube. Read along with the official lyrics on a licensed lyrics site — then come back and see how many of the words above you can now pick out.
Want more at your level? See the full list of beginner songs (N5), or find your weak grammar first with a free N5 mock test.