The Big Cleanup
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens.

"Out with the old; in with the new." I remember my mother saying at New Year's. The Japanese approach New Year's, their most important holiday, with the same spirit. Forget the past. No regrets. Start fresh.

In Japan, preparations in the week before New Year's Day begin with oo-sou-ji, analogous to Western spring cleaning. (I suppose that under the old calendar, when New Year occured in the spring, it was exactly the same. Cleaning out and airing out after a winter buildup of smoke and grime.)

Having lived all my life in an apartment or small house, I always performed oo-sou-ji (though I didn't know the word for it) in getting ready for Christmas. Old clothes, toys, and books were packed up for Goodwill. Old medicines and cosmetics were tossed from the bathroom cabinet. Unread newspapers and magazines were recycled. I cleaned out the refrigerator. I threw out old herbs and spices. I discovered how freeing it is to toss out unfinished projects, tear up undone "to do" lists, and generally get rid of all the clutter of things that press and nag me to attend to them. If they don't get done by December 31st, I have to face the fact that they are not going to get done. Any receipts, letters, or other records I might need are put in a large envelope labelled with the year. My in basket is clean.

What a relief it is to start the year fresh! So, when I moved to Japan and I discovered oo-sou-ji, I felt right at home.

Continue...

Year of the Horse
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens.

Nani doshi desu ka? What's your sign? If you were born in 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, or 2002, you were born in the year of the horse. You are open-minded and active, smart, talented and talkative (sometimes to the point of being argumentative).

Amy Chavez of Japan Lite wishes a fond farewell to the year of the snake and explains some of the attributes of those born in the year of the horse.

Asking someone their sign is a polite way of asking their age. M2 and I were both born in the year of the monkey, albeit 12 years apart.

Continue...

Pera Pera Penguin
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens.

"All three had been taught French at school. How deeply they now wished that they had learned it!"

E. Nesbit. The Railway Children

Another year and again the resolution: I will study my Japanese. Perhaps this year (and hope springs eternal among us students of Japanese) I will even learn it. Today I've discovered another handy tutor, the Daily Yomiuri's Pera Pera Penguin, a series of "5-minute Japanese" by Hitomi Hirayama, founder Tokyo's Japanese language school Japanese Lunch.

This is another one of those resources I wish had been available when I lived in Japan. The one-page format explains a concept and has examples in kanji and romaji. Too many beginning Japanese books don't include kanji, rendering them useless for practicing with Japanese coworkers who find it as difficult to read romanized Japanese as it is for me to read phonetically spelled English. I can only imagine what wonderful conversations might have ensued with Akamine-sensei and Washizuka-sensei if only we had had "Pera Pera Penguin" as a springboard.

Hanten
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens.

January 7, 1990

We go shopping in Oita-shi. At Tokiwa, I buy a hanten for each of us. A hanten is a short, padded coat, worn indoors to keep back and shoulders warm while sitting at the kotatsu.

There are all sorts of modern designs, but I buy all cotton ones with old-fashioned traditional designs of fans. Mine is indigo blue and JQS's is red. They cost 3800 yen apiece.

Continue...

Borrowed Words
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens.

Although Japanese has borrowed many foreign words, some necessary to describe foreign concepts and some simply to sound trendy, few Japanese words have migrated into English. Even some concepts which seem very basic to anyone living in Japan (futon, tatami, sake, tofu, miso) are frequently "translated" into English--though English has no true equivalent. I'm a great believer in the idea that Japanese concepts should be described with Japanese words and not translated.

Last month the Collins English dictionary added eight words to their more than hundred borrowed from Japanese.

Murago (Village Speak)
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens.

While researching Nicotiana knightiana, I came across this Dictionary of Murago, the Local Word of Sagara Village in Shizuoka Prefecture. This dictionary is compiled by Yasuhisa Amai. This is one of those labors of love that demonstrates the power of self-publication on the internet.

"It is the list of the local words which is spoken in Sagara Villge and Omaezaki Village, Haibara County, Shizuoka Prefecture. the underlined parts are the points of accent. They are written in the Hepburn Spelling and use "h" instead of long tone marks."

Most of the explanation (hiragana pronunciation, romaji pronunciation, part of speech, Japanese equivalent) is in Japanese, but the reading and a short definition of each is included in English.

Tatami
Posted by Isabella L. Bird.

June 10, 1878

"Do not be misled by the use of word matting. Japanese house-mats, tatami, are as neat, refined, and soft a covering for the floor as the finest Axminster carpet. They are 5 feet 9 inches long, 3 feet broad, and 2 1/2 inches thick. The frame is solidly made of coarse straw and covered with very fine woven matting, as nearly white as possible, and each mat is usually bound with dark blue cloth. Temples and rooms are measured by the number of mats they contain, and rooms must be built for the mats, as they are never cut to the rooms. They are soft and elastic, and the finer qualities are very beautiful. They are as expensive as the best Brussels carpet, and the Japanese take great pride in them, and are much aggrieved by the way in which some thoughtless foreigners stamp over them with dirty boots. Unfortunately, they harbour myriads of fleas." p. 44

Bug Hot
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens.

We arrived in Beppu-shi in sweltering August heat. Since Beppu-shi is on the coast, the humidity was closer to that of Houston than to Austin. Plus Beppu-shi literally has steam pouring out of the cracks in the streets. The town is a hot-spring resort built on one of the most thermodynamically active spots in the world. Did our apartment have air conditioning? No. Did either of our schools have air conditioning? No. Did the train station have air conditioning? No. Only modern Tokiwa department store was air conditioned. I suddenly became a fan of shopping.

"Mushi-atsui!" people muttered as they dabbed their foreheads and the backs of their necks with summer handkerchiefs, or waved uchiwa (paper fans).

For months, I thought people were saying it was "bug-hot". I knew that the word for insect was "mushi" and that the word for hot was "atsui". The semi (cicadas) roared at such a deafening pitch that I felt like I was stuck in a Tarzan movie. I could well imagine that the expression "mushi-atsui" came from the idea that, in this jungle-like heat, one could almost feel the bugs crawling.

Typical nipponDAZE moment: I couldn't have been more wrong. That winter, as I was looking up the kanji for o-chawan-mushi (savory custard steamed in a tea cup), I discovered that another meaning for "mushi" is steamed. All summer, people had been complaining that the weather was sweltering, literally, steaming hot.

One note of encouragement: it's these kind of mistakes, the ones that make you feel most like an idiot, that ensure you will remember the distinction ever after.

Next time: the difference between natsu-yasumi and nasu-yasumi.

Weather Report
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens.

I'm a visual, rather than aural learner, perhaps because I have difficulty distinguishing among some sounds. In English, I'm always filling in the blanks left by the words I don't quite catch and picking out the appropriate word from context. This results in my "hearing" a lot of puns; but, it requires a large vocabularly to guess what has been said. My lack of vocabularly in Japanese prevents me from using this splinter skill. Plus Japanese has less sounds to begin with and many more homophones than English.

Therefore, unlike many students of Japanese, I've always gravitated toward learning the written language rather than the spoken language. Although it takes a long time to learn a kanji, once I know it, I'm able to hear words that were previously inaudible.

For example, shortly after learning the kanji for hare, clear. I was watching old videos from Japan. The weather report came on and I heard for the first time. "Hare, tokidoki kumori." (Clear, with occassional cloudiness.) I was so excited.

"Congratulations." said my housemate. "All this studying and you finally know what the weather was going to be like ten years ago."

Promotion
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens.

My youngest brother, MJN, has been visiting me here in Austin over the weekend. He was my only relative to visit me when I lived in Japan eleven years ago. We travelled around Kyushu, spending the night in Miyazaki and visiting Aoshima, an unusual island with strange rock formations.

As we walked along the shore snapping photos, we encountered these schoolkids. The boys yelled "Gaijin-san! Gaijin-san!" When MJN proved to be friendly, the boys insisted on a photo together. The girls, shy as ever, giggled in the background but wouldn't come near.

After the photo, the boys ran off. "Arigatou. Bye-bye, oji-san."

"Hey, you've just been promoted."
"What do you mean?'
"Well, when we first came up, those boys called you 'Mr. Foreigner', but after you talked with them, they called you 'uncle'."

Translator's Dilemma
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens.

Note: We have tried to provide as many films with English titles as possible. However, some films just do not have any English titles.

--the Fukuoka City Library, English Floor, Film Archives

Hina Matsuri
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens.

Sunday March 10, 1991

March 3rd is hina matsuri, the Doll Festival. After last week's lesson, Nana asked me to bring something and we would have a little tea party this Sunday at 15:00 to celebrate. (I brought hand-made chocolate-covered strawberries. We always have them at this time of year for Valentine's Day and Easter in Austin.) Nana's son, Yu-kun, did not attend; our party was strictly girls only. Notice in the photo that the padding underneath the kotatsu is plugged into the wall; this is the Japanese equivalent of an electric blanket. Such luxury!

Click on the thumbnail to see the whole picture.

In the tatami room where we always have our lesson, the huge display of hina dolls was set up. The seven-step display represents the Imperial court and takes up more room than a Christmas tree. Noriko-chan, as eldest daughter, inherits the set of hina dolls. Mrs. Yamanaka's second daughter gets only a separate large doll in a glass display case (which you can see in the tokonoma (display alcove) behind Mrs. Yamanaka).

Mrs. Yamanaka whisked up some matcha (foamy green tea used in the tea ceremony) and we ate special tea ceremony sweets. Afterward, we made earrings and other jewelry out of washi which we then enameled.

Fighting Words
Posted by JQS.

So, S. and I were watching the invasion coverage on TV at work last night and they were talking about sending in the Green Berets and the Black Berets.

"Berets? Berets!?!" says S. "Shouldn't that be "freedom hats"?

Sightseeing
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens.

In Japanese class, we're on the "Travel" chapter, which means we're learning words like 新幹線 (shinkansen), 旅館 (ryokan), and 温泉 (onsen). I'm surprised that my classmates need an English equivalent for these words; they are as much a part of my English vocabulary as sushi and anime. The word that really seems to give the class trouble is 見物 (kenbutsu) -- sightseeing. When 先生 (sensei) asks "If you went to New York, did you do any sightseeing?", they reply with, "I went to a play." or "I went shopping." or "I ate at an expensive restaurant."

"What is it with my class?" I ask JQS. "Is it a cultural thing? A generational thing? They don't seem to have any concept of sightseeing. What's your concept of sightseeing?"
"Sitting on a bus for four hours. Getting out to have your picture snapped in front of wherever. Buying some souvenirs. Then getting back on the bus."
"Ah. Like our trip to Nikko."
"Yeah."
"So maybe sightseeing is a foreign concept to American youth these days. I just wish they'd prepare a little more for class. They show up and wonder 'What are we doing today?' If they read the syllabus, we'd get more practicing in."
"Mom. They probably have other classes to worry about. It's not like you, just studying for the fun of it. God. You take it beyond the realm of hobby. For you, studying Japanese is a lifestyle choice."

It's Funny, Really
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens.

Satoko's comment on my previous post got me thinking about how funny learning a language can be. Why only tonight I told my son (who studies Japanese with me) "After eating, you must wash the monkeys." (食べた後で、さるを洗わなければなりません。) I was just trying to get him to wash the dishes　（さら）。

We delight in listening to our children learning to speak; it reminds us of our own childhoods when we sang "Hark, the hairy (herald) angels sing." and wondered why we lived in a "doggy dog (dog eat dog) world". Likewise, one of the pleasures of living in Japan is reawakening the imagination to the nonsensical possibilities of English. We become more aware of language.

Humorous examples of English abound in Japan because everyone there studies it. The national curriculum specifies that every Japanese student study a foreign language for six years before graduating high school, and English is almost universally the choice. Compare that to America, where only college-bound students are required to study a foreign language and then only for two years (although even that depends on the school, since we have no national standard).

Well it's time to even up the score. If we learn to laugh at our mistakes, we won't be so afraid of making them. If you're reading this blog, chances are you've studied Japanese. What have you said that didn't quite come out right? that was downright laughable? Or, for you native Japanese speakers, has anything a foreigner tried to say in Japanese made you chuckle? I'll start you off with some examples.

• I still laugh whenever I think of Sabine's story where she went around the staff room saying "I'm smart" (あたまがいい。）when she was trying to say "I have a headache." (あたまがいたい。）(At least I thought this was Sabine's story. Now I can't find it. If this was your story, let me know so I can link to it.)
• Then there's the classic. "Stop staring at me. I'm a carrot, too!" (私もにんじんです。）He meant "I'm a human being, too." (私もにんげんです。)
• Speaking of vegetables, I once asked a teacher what he was doing for eggplant vacation （なすやすみ). I meant, summer vacation (なつやすみ). I have a difficult time hearing the difference between つ and す. At least I've been able to remember the word for eggplant ever since.

Seven Herbs of Spring
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens.

This is one of those topics where my love of gardening, words, and Japan intersect. It all started with Rapunzel. Or rather, it started with Lisa, who is having a baby, decorating her nursery with a mural of a field of yellow flowers and the text "Many years ago fields of yellow rape blossoms stretched across the area surrounding Yoyogi Uehara." Lisa remarked that she finds the smell of rape blossoms revolting. And that's what reminded me of Rapunzel.

According to the Brothers Grimm, Rapunzel's mom had a craving for some greens growing in the garden next door, a beautiful garden belonging to a witch. The witch catches Rapunzel's dad stealing the greens and forces him to agree, in recompense, to hand over their first-born, who turns out to be Rapunzel, who is named for the stolen salad greens.

But what plant is Rapunzel named after? I had always thought it was rape. But after telling Lisa that, I began to have my doubts. In the "Household Stories from Grimm", Lucy Crane translates "One day the wife was standing at the window, and looking into the garden, she saw a bed filled with the finest rampion (a vegetable like a radish); and it looked so fresh and green that she began to wish for some; and at length she longed for it greatly...She made a salad of it at once." The translation by Ralph Manheim, considered to be the most accurate, though not always as poetic, says, "One day the wife stood at this window, looking down into the garden, and her eyes lit on a bed of the finest rapunzel, which is a kind of lettuce." The translation by Lore Segal says, "One day the woman was standing by the window looking into the garden and saw a bed planted with the most beautiful lettuce, of the kind they call Rapunzel." In "Translating Rapunzel" Kathleen J. Rinkes at the German Department of the University of California, Berkeley finds some of these translations absurd. She favors lamb's lettuce also called mache or corn salad. Although she seems to miss the point that, whatever the plant, it was the leafy green tops that were eaten, not the roots.

According to my dictionary, rampion is Campanula rapunculus a kind of radish, native to Britain, that has tops that can be eaten raw in a salad or cooked as greens.

On the other hand rape is Brassica napus which has three subgroups: one grown for it's leaves (collard greens, turnip greens), one grown for its roots (rutabaga, Swedish turnips or Swedes), and one grown for its seeds (rapeseed, canola). Before World War II large quantities of rapeseed and oil were imported from Japan.

Brassica rapa (mustard greens, rapini) which is closer to the name Rapunzel.

In the days before refrigeration, people craved the first greens of spring. In the American south, we ate collard greens, turnip greens, mustard greens, and dandelion leaves. And then I remembered that the Japanese, too, have a tradition of eating The seven herbs of spring for the New Year, or nanakusa. And Brassica rapa (スズナ) is usually listed.

Is one of these plants in the song, oborotsukiyo that Lisa's mural refers to?

春の七草「はるのななくさ」

The Gunma Prefecture Botanical Garden provided the Latin equivalents for the Japanese common and some great photos.

• Oenanthe stolonifera (water celery, dropwort) 芹「セリ」
• Capsella bursa-pastoris ペンペン草　ナズナ
• Gnaphalium affine 母子草「ハハコグサ」
• Stellaria media 仏の座「ホトケノザ」 三階草「サンカイグサ」
• Brassica rapa (mustard greens, celery cabbage) 菘「スズナ」 蕪「カブ」
• Raphanus sativus (daikon) 大根「だいこん」スズシロ

The Nagoya Port Wildflower Database provides a slightly different list of The Seven Spring Herbs. This is a Japanese site with English access. The fact that they named the Nagoya Port Wildflower Gardenブルーボネット (bluebonnet) delights me, since bluebonnets are the state flower of Texas, where I live now.

Setsubun: Dividing the Seasons
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens.

February 3, 2006

Added some photos from Flickr to the end of the post.

February 3, 2004

On the eve of the first day of spring in the old calendar, the Japanese celebrate 節分 (setsubun). They fling parched soybeans around the house while shouting, "Oni wa soto. Fuku wa uchi." Out with the demons; in with the good spirits.

Setsubun is celebrated at the coldest time of year. After this, the temperatures will begin to warm with spring. So it is no coincidence that setsubun falls near "Groundhog Day" and "Candlemas" (the old traditional end of the Christmas season). All three celebrations, almost midway between the solstice and the equinox, mark the turning of the seasons. In fact, setsubun, literally means "dividing the seasons".

Continue...

The Sukiyaki Song
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens.

February 9, 2006

Ever since last Sunday, when we went to San Antonio to meet my brother for dinner on the riverwalk, I've been going crazy trying to figure out where I've heard this song. We were sitting next to the river outside the Marriot, eating ice cream while waiting for my brother to arrive from Las Vegas. First the theme song from "The Godfather" played and then this song that I knew I knew. "It's Japanese," I insisted, even though it had a vaguely cowboy sound to it. And why would they be playing a Japanese song in the heart of San Antonio?

The song kept popping up in my head and I vowed to track it down. But how do you search for a song on the internet if you don't know the words, the artist, the song name, when it came out, or what country it's from? You can't type musical notes into Google and have it search every mpeg for a song. Looking for Japanese pop songs, golden oldies, and 1950s hits got me nowhere.

Mentally I hummed the songs from "Totoro" and "Kiki's Delivery Service". Was it that sentimental song from "Tokyo Story"? Nope. And it wasn't the theme song to Chibi Maruko-chan or "Sazae-san". I didn't associate it with any commercials I'd videotaped when I lived in Japan. It wasn't that Miki Hirayama song I liked from that silly movie, Adrenaline Drive.

And then it came to me. There was some other famous pop song that one of my Japan blogging friends discussed some years back because it had a completely unrelated name in English. It had been a big hit. Seems it was Kiyo who mentioned it. I searched his site, but I still couldn't find it. Not chrysanthemum. Not geisha. Not Hiroshima, Mon Amour. Grrrr.

Back to Google. Finally on page 2 of the search "Japanese international hit song writer died" I found it! Sukiyaki (ue o muite arukou) "One popular song in the US, 'Sukiyaki' remains the biggest international hit by a Japanese popular singer." This was exactly the information I was looking for...including mp3s of Japanese and English versions of the song...and even a Spanish version by Selena. Maybe that's why it was playing in San Antonio.

As for Kiyo, he did blog about Sukiyaki...about how Louis Benjamin, the president of a UK record company, introduced the song to the west and renamed it "Sukiyaki" after his favorite Japanese food--apparently because it was one of the few Japanese words familiar to westerners in 1963.

Despite the somewhat cheerful tune, the lyrics are about a heartbroken lover who must "look up as he walks, so the tears won't fall". My Japanese teacher brought the song lyrics to a class I had a couple of years ago.

Kyu Sakamoto, who recorded the hit song, died in 1985 in the crash of JAL Flight 123 north of Tokyo.