Tropical Country
Southern Country
noun, の adjective
If you go far enough south, every country is a tropical country. Well, relative to Japan anyway… Probably different if you live in the southern hemisphere.
In Japanese, 南国 often refers to tropical countries or islands like Thailand, Guam, and Hawaii. Sometimes it can refer to the warmer southern regions of Japan as well, like Okinawa.
This is a jukugo word that uses on'yomi readings for 南 (なん) and 国 (こく, but rendaku'd to ごく here). You've seen those readings before, but the なん reading is still pretty new, so here's a mnemonic just in case:
When you're in a tropical country, you always get a craving for naan (なん) bread. You could be in any southern country with a warm, tropical climate — for some reason the heat just makes you want to nosh on some naan.
南国は一年中あたたかいです。
Tropical countries are warm all year round.
私は南国で生まれました。
I was born in a tropical country.
南国のフルーツはとてもあまいです。
Fruits in southern regions are very sweet.