未来

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 未来, read みらい, is the time noun future.
• Basic usage: 子どもたちの未来を考える concerns the children's prospects; 未来の自分へ手紙を書く addresses one's future self.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• A person's future and a future self
  • In 子どもたちの未来, の identifies whose future; in 未来の自分, it locates the self at a later time.