Cicadas woke me up an hour before my alarm this morning. I cannot believe how loud the cicadas are outside my window. When I'm walking outside with friends we actually have to raise our voices to be heard over them.
I learned the Japanese equivalent of "XYZ PDQ" the other day. In the US we use a subtle abbreviation (which I've always heard stands for "examine your zipper pretty damn quick"). In true Japanese fashion, however, the Japanese use a poetic, profound expression:
社会の窓は開いてますよ。 しゃかい まど あ shakaino mado aitemasuyo.
Directly translated, this means "Your social window (window of society) is open!" Let's all ponder this idiom and what it might mean. In my mind this phrase is connected to some English phrases: "The eyes are the window to the soul," and others like it. Does that mean the trouser fly is the window to society? And if so, what kind of society has this degenerated into?
It is so hot and humid here in Shimonoseki that I am sweating even before I walk out the door of my apartment. I am not exaggerating at all about the sweating. My clothes are soaked through by the time I get to wherever I'm going. Is it this bad in Iowa? Please say it isn't so.
I watched Donnie Darko for the first time yesterday and loved it. It was depressing and weird, but good. So good. It made me think a lot. I love movies that make me think. I also love movies with Jake Gyllenhal. That cutie.
Tons of my friends have seen The Dark Knight and I haven't! Phooey! I am so super duper excited about seeing it, but it's not out in Japan yet. I'll have to wait until I get home.
Speaking of home, I will be there in approximately 11 days. Yikes!
Japundit just posted a link to the most incredible website I've ever seen: Japanese Mascots.com! It's true that Japan has a fascination with giving everything some cute or hilariously strange mascot. It's not just sports teams that have mascots in Japan. Every prefecture has a mascot. Lots of police forces and fire departments have mascots. Airports, famous towers, food products, the Ministry of Justice, festivals, department stores, universities, newspapers-- you name it, it has a mascot.
Here's a link to a post about Yamaguchi prefecture's police force mascot.
Awhile back I posted about the literal meanings of some Japanese words. Since then I have learned some more:
空手 karate -- the name of the popular martial arts form literally means "empty hand."
音楽 ongaku-- Music. The two Chinese characters mean "sound" and "easy/comfortable," respectively. Thus the definition of music in Japanese could be "sounds that are easy to listen to."
カラオケ karaoke-- I think when most Americans think of Japan, they think of karaoke. Indeed, the Japanese invented karaoke, and because of that they will forever be branded in movies and TV as the annoying Asian businessmen drunkenly singing "Country Roads" in bars. The name "karaoke," is derived from the Chinese characters meaning "empty" and "orchestra."
言葉 kotoba-- the word for "word." The first character means "word," "statement," or "remark." The second means "leaf." I thought that was an interesting image-- if an idea or paragraph or essay is a tree, one word would be a leaf. A leaf by itself isn't much, but when they are connected together by branches to form a tree, you get a living, growing thing.
Instead of using hash marks to count things like points, the Japanese use the five-stroke character 正, meaning "correct," to count.
When they're one space away from having Bingo, the Japanese say "Reach!"
In restaurants, getting a doggy bag is rarely an option.
Milk containers are available in sizes of a half gallon or smaller-- no gallon jugs.
Sandwich bread is generally sliced twice as thick as American sandwich bread.
Sliced turkey lunchmeat-- or really, turkey of any kind--is totally unheard of.
Junior high school and high school classes are started and ended with the students standing, bowing, and saying the appropriate phrase: "yoroshiku onegaishimasu" (something akin to please) or "arigatou gozaimasu" (thank you).
The Japanese language has a ton of awesome words for sound effects for things we don't have exact words for. I made a list of some of the more interesting ones. Read the sound and the explanation and imagine the thing making that sound. It's sort of funny.
サクサク saku-saku: Crunching of potato chips, leaves, other crispy things.
ニョロニョロ nyoro-nyoro: Something long and thin like a snake moving along with a wriggling motion.
サラサラ sara-sara: Murmuring, rustling.
ドキドキ doki-doki: Heartbeat.
チュ chu: Kiss noise.
プチプチ puchi-puchi: Pop pop, crackle crackle.
プルプル puru-puru: Shake, quiver.
ゲップ geppu: a burp.
パクパク paku-paku: opening and closing mouth, eating, gobbling. This is where Pac-man came from!
This is for all the people out there who think that Iowa has nothing special to offer. People in Japan (Japanese and Westerners alike) often ask me, "What's Iowa famous for? Are there any famous people from Iowa? What's there to see in Iowa?" I hope this little bit of trivia answers those questions. Thanks to Aunt Angie for sending this out! I loved it! (slightly edited)
Iowa means "beautiful land."
Ripley's Believe It or Not has dubbed Burlington 's Snake Alley the most crooked street in the world.
Strawberry Point is the home of the world's largest strawberry.
Crystal Lake is home to a statue of the world's largest bullhead fish.
Elk Horn in the largest Danish settlement in the United States
Kalona is the largest Amish community west of the Mississippi River.
The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art houses the largest collection of Grant Wood artwork.
Fenlon Place Elevator in Dubuque is the world's steepest and shortest railway.
Wright County has the highest percentage of grade-A topsoil in the nation.
Quaker Oats, in Cedar Rapids , is the largest cereal company in the world.
The Saint Francis Xavier Basilica in Dyersville is the only basilica in the United States situated outside a major metropolitan area.
Cornell College is the only school in the nation to have its entire campus listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Sergeant Floyd Monument in Sioux City honors the only man to die during the Lewis and Clark expedition.
Knoxville 's National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum is the only museum in the country dedicated to preserving the history of sprint car racing.
Herbert Hoover, a West Branch native, was the 31st president of the United States and the first one born west of the Mississippi
Mamie Doud Eisenhower's birthplace is located in Boone and includes a restored frame house, complete with summer kitchen and original furniture from the family.
Van Meter is the hometown of baseball's Bob Feller, an Iowa farm boy who went on to greatness with the Cleveland Indians during the Golden Age of baseball.
Born Donnabelle Mullenger in Denison , Oscar Award-winning actress, Donna Reed, started her career at the young age of 16.
Born Marion Robert Morrison in Winterset, John Wayne was the son of a pharmacist and grew up to become one of Hollywood 's most popular movie stars. The famous actor was born on May 26, 1907.
Meredith Wilson, who played with the famous John Philip Sousa and the New York Philharmonic before launching his career as a famous composer and lyricist, is a Mason City native.
Jay Berwanger, the first winner of the Heisman Trophy, was born in Dubuque in 1914.
Glenn Miller, noted trombonist and orchestra leader, was born in Clarinda, located in Southwest Iowa .
The town of Fort Atkinson was the site of the only fort ever built by the U.S government to protect one Indian tribe from another.
Campers and motor homes are manufactured in Winnebago County. They're called Winnebago's.
Iowa is the only state whose east and west borders are 100% formed by water. Missouri (& Big Sioux) and Mississippi rivers.
The highest double track railroad bridge in the world, the Kate Shelley Bridge , is located at Boone.
Iowa is the only state name that starts with two vowels.
Iowa State University is the oldest land grant college in the U.S.A.
The National Balloon Museum in Indianola chronicles more than 200 years of ballooning history.
I love to look in my Japanese-English dictionaries and find interesting word meanings. A lot of words are two characters that, when put together, can hold an entirely different meaning when separated. To whit:
神風 kamikaze: literally it means "God's wind" or "divine wind." And I thought it just meant "suicide bomber." This adds an interesting insight to the Japanese mindset during WWII.
食道 shokudou: separately the two characters mean "food" and "road." Together they mean "esaphogus." Anyone know the Latin meaning of "esaphogus?" Is it similar at all?
男色 danshoku: These two characters are "man" and "color." Can you guess what they mean when combined? "Homosexual:" a man of a different color. Hehe.
受ける to undertake；to accept; to take; to undergo; to experience; to catch.
愛する to love.
I think it is interesting that these two characters are so similar. The only thing added to "love" is the character for "heart": 心 So "love" in Japanese may literally mean "to undertake/accept/take/experience/catch one's heart." I like that.
My father and I have this ongoing joke with KitKats in Japan. It started when Dad mentioned that there was a new Oreo flavor he and Mom fell in love with-- Dulce de Leche. I wanted to share a cool flavor story, too, so I told them about how Japan has different KitKat flavors than just chocolate (don't get me wrong-- regular KitKats are the bomb. I love nibbling the chocolate off the sides and pulling the wafers apart to eat one by one. It gets a little messy if you're unexperienced). So then Dad said, "Well, I'll send you some Dulce de Leche Oreos if you send me some weird KitKats." So I did. And when I went home a couple weeks ago I brought some more weird KitKats. So far I have seen the following flavors:
green tea
strawberry and nuts
banana
cherry
peach
white chocolate
brandy and orange
blueberry
I think my favorite so far has been the blueberry. The green tea ones were nasty. I haven't actually tried the banana, peach, or brandy and orange ones, but they sure do look good.
Last term I asked my senior high school students who had traveled to the US what they thought was strange about American culture. Here are there responses:
Daily Life:
There is no take-out in Japan. They thought it was strange that people can ask for their leftover food to be put in boxes to take home.
In movie theaters, people say "Awwww" at sad scenes. I think the Japanese are generally more quiet at movies than Americans.
You can't purchase huge jugs of milk in Japan. My students were appalled at how much milk people bought.
Buses stop at train tracks in the US. Apparently they don't do that in Japan.
No one takes off their shoes when they enter a house. Gross! Don't the floors get dirty?!
At school:
In almost every school in Japan students wear very formal, very strictly enforced uniforms. My students were surprised at what American high school students are allowed to wear to school.
American students often eat food or chew gum in class-- something that NEVER happens in Japanese schools. My American colleagues and I are not technically allowed to hand out candy or cookies to students as rewards, but we do anyway. It's a hard habit to break, and they're just so dang cute and appreciative of us giving chocolate or candy to them.
Boyfriends and girlfriends are ALL OVER EACH OTHER in the hallways in America, my students said. Here in Japan, Public Displays of Affection are kept to a minimum in public. I rarely even see people holding hands at the mall.
Here's the Japanese for "have a runny nose:" 鼻水が出る (hanamizuga deru). It literally means "nose water leaves." I thought that was funny.
The word for "butt" is shiri. I thought that was funny, too. Mostly because I'm pretty immature, though.
The first day of spring is celebrated on February 4th. The Japanese still "observe" Spring equinox on March 21st, but February 4th is a special holiday that marks the change of season. Its called setsubun. The holiday is celebrated by throwing beans at the father of the household running out of the house while he wears a demon mask. No, I'm serious. That's what they do. While they throw the beans at the patriarch they yell Oniwa soto, fukuwa uchi, which roughly means, "evil is out, good is in."
It is surprisingly difficult to explain Groundhog's Day to the Japanese-- mostly because I don't know the Japanese word for groundhog.
I just learned that the word "karate" literally means "empty hand." I also learned that the word for "tone" (referring to music) literally breaks down into "sound color." Interesting, no?
I was bored today at school (surprise surprise) so I researched phobias using Wikipedia, the source of all knowledge. Here are some interesting ones:
Ephebiphobia, Hebephobia — fear/dislike of teenagers; Anthropomporphobia — fear or dislike of anthropomorphic traits; Ailurophobia-- fear or dislike of cats; Friggatriskaidekaphobia — fear of Friday the 13th (I like this one because the word contains "frigga"); Erythrophobia — pathological blushing (?!); Luposlipaphobia — the fear of being pursued by timber wolves around a kitchen table while wearing socks on a newly-waxed floor (created by Gary Larson); Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia — fear of long words; Anatidaephobia — fear that somewhere, somehow, a duck is watching you (also by Gary Larson); Phobophobia — the fear of fear itself.
I just thought it was interesting. Does anyone out there actually have a phobia that I can make light of-- er, I mean, learn about?
The word for “green” has some kind of spiritual connotation in Japanese, so the traffic lights are red, yellow, and blue.
The mullet is a very popular hairstyle. For men and women.
Blood type has special significance in matchmaking for the Japanese. Type As are nervous, aggressive people. Type Bs are more easy-going. Type Os are “strange,” according to my students.
Kanji (characters borrowed from Chinese) do not have only one sound. The sound changes depending on the context. For example, the kanji for “person” (人) sounds like “hi-to” when alone. Next to other characters, though, it changes to “jin.” So the translation of the word “foreigner” (外国人) sounds like “gai-koku-jin.”
There are vending machines EVERYWHERE! By everywhere I mean one about every 50 feet-- no joke. The crazy thing is that it is a social taboo to drink a soda or something while walking around in public.
Sometimes when Japanese students are nervous, they will draw the character for “person” (人) on their hand with their finger three times, then pretend to swallow the characters from their hand. No joke. Shiori's mom told me this. She saw a student at the speech contest do it.
P.S. This update is just so Aubrey can procrastinate a little more. Here's to you, Backdoorpheusophyll.
I have been trying to learn some Japanese for a couple of weeks now, in a vain attempt to be able to communicate upon arrival in the Land of the Rising Sun. However, I think I will only be able to apologize and say "I don't understand" with a believable accent. Anyway, during my studies I have found that the thing that sets Japanese apart from every other language I have encountered is the freakishly large amount of syllables the language requires. Here are a couple of examples:
English...............Chinese....................Japanese my friend (2)..... wode pengyou (4)......watashi no tomodachi(8) thank you (2)......xie xie (2)..................domo arigato (6) hello (2)..............ni hao (2)..................konichiwa (4)
Knights of Columbus! It even takes four syllables just to say "hi"!! My conclusion is that Japanese people are fast talkers. They probably have to talk very fast so they can get all the syllables into a managable block of time. If they were to talk slow, they'd be standing around all day trying to say a couple of sentences. Nothing would get done.
Name: Ruthie Home: Japan About Me: I want to know who God is and what his truth is. I love getting lost in beautiful music and cloudless star-filled skies, especially in the fall. I hate being bored. I like big cities. I want to travel the world. read more
Name: Ruthie