The Super Seven in Japanese

Only a few words are necessary to tell a simple story. Terry Waltz identified the seven concepts and coined the term "The Super Seven" in her excellent book, TPRS with Chinese Characteristics (2015). Here they are in Japanese. This list is a translation of her concepts and all but one are among the 100 most frequent words in spoken Japanese, according to the Routledge Frequency Dictionary of Japanese (2013).

Existenceいる・あるis, are, exists
Possessionもつhold, possess
LocationPlaceに　いる・ある
be in a place
Volition〜おう・〜たいwill/want to
Motionいくgo
Identificationだis, are
Preferenceすきlikable

Except for 「すき」, all of the above words are among the top 100 high frequency spoken words in Japanese (A Frequency Dictionary of Japanese, Routledge,  2013).  The word 「すき」is number 196.  For an example in a TPRS story, see this example. However, as Martina Bex writes on her website, The Comprehensible Classroom, it is hard to avoid them. 

日本語の十八番
The Japanese Eighteen

The most frequent verbs in spoken Japanese correspond closely to Mike Peto's "Sweet Sixteen Verbs" in Spanish (an expansion of Terry Waltz' ”Super Seven”). These are from the Routledge Frequency Dictionary of Japanese. The number 18 in Japanese can mean "things one is good at" as it is a reference to the 18 seminole kabuki plays associated with the Ichikawa Danjuro line of actors.

  1. 言う・IU　ｓａｙ，ｓｐｅａｋ、ｔａｌｋ　rank 19
  2. する・SURU　ｄｏ；ｍａｋｅ rank 22
  3. ある・ARU　ｂｅ（ｅｘｉｓｔｅｎｃｅ）、ｈａｖｅ（ｐｏｓｓｅｓｓｉｏｎ）rank 25
  4. なる・NARU　ｂｅｃｏｍｅrank 28
  5. 思う・OMOU　ｔｈｉｎｋ、ｂｅｌｉｅｖｅ、ｆｅｅｌ、ｅｘｐｅｃｔ rank 34
  6. 行く・IKU　ｇｏ rank 48
  7.  来る・KURU　ｃｏｍｅ　rank 64
  8. 見る・MIRU　ｓｅｅ、ｌｏｏｋ　ａｔ、ｗａｔｃｈ、ｃｈｅｃｋrank 67
  9. やる・YARU　ｄｏ、ｍａｋｅ、ｇｉｖｅrank 77
  10. いる・IRU　ｂｅ、ｅｘｉｓｔ、ｓｔａｙ rank 79
  11. できる・DEKIRU　ｃａｎ、ｂｅ　ｒｅａｄｙrank 80
  12. 持つ・MOTSU　ｈａｖｅ、ｔａｋｅ、ｈｏｌｄrank 98
  13. 出る・DERU　ｇｏ　ｏｕｔ、ｃｏｍｅ　ｏｕｔ、ａｔｔｅｎｄ rank 99
  14. 考える・KANGAERU　ｔｈｉｎｋ　rank 102
  15. 分かる・WAKARU ｕｎｄｅｒｓｔａｎｄ、ｓｅｅ　rank 105
  16. 入る・HAIRU　ｅｎｔｅｒ、ｃｏｍｅ　ｉｎ、ｇｏ　ｉｎ rank 109
  17. 作る・TSUKURU　ｍａｋｅ、ｃｒｅａｔｅ、ｃｏｏｋ　rank 110
  18. 聞く・KIKU　ｈｅａｒ、ｌｉｓｔｅｎ、ｌｉｓｔｅｎ　ｔｏ、ｏｂｅｙ rank 112