I once saw a programme in Japan, about a thief who got caught stealing carpets.
Imagine, putting on your slippers in the living room, in the morning, looking around, feeling funny. Then noticing the carpet’s gone. The furniture’s all been moved, and back into its proper place. The wallet you left out last night, is still […]
A once common scene: Sleeping in front of a television turned on, the screen buzzing in electric grains of black and white. In fact, before the black and white buzzing, there was something about colour testing, when the screen turned bright with different coloured stripes. And before that, the Japanese flag swayed in the blue […]
Slept at 7:30 pm last night, woke 12 complete hours later feeling happily energized.
“How are you?” is “genki? ” in Japanese. The literal translation is “do you have origin of energy?” If you do, you reply “yes yes, I’m very genki”. And so I am today.
“Ki” means a lot of things, but I […]
It came up in a conversation, “he lived in the jungle in the Philippines, this Japanese soldier didn’t know the war was over until 29 years later!”
I thought it was just one person, but no, I came upon a web site dedicated to a band of soldiers who lived the war many seasons too long.
“Imagine […]
Some people say it’s when a ghost sits on your body. I’ve gotten in that state of kana-shibari twice during my school years, both during class. Tremendously tired and sleep deprived, I was trying hard to stay awake, shaking off my heavy, bobbing head.
Then suddenly my mind was completely awake. On both occasions my […]
In regards to the question “is it morally right to cut the tube of a brain dead patient?” 司馬遼太郎 & 井上ひさしsays:
“It was the job of scholars, philosophers and religious leaders to debate and come up with an answer to what ‘death’ is. Because the roles of such thinkers have been overlooked by society, doctors […]
In an American company:
In a Japanese company:
A: I call my boss by his first name.
J: I called my boss by his sir name, with a decorative ’san’ at the end.
A: I can leave for the day before my boss, if my work is done.
J: It was considered rude for me to leave work earlier than my boss, even if my […]
/Some Japanese people I know wash their pajamas every day.
/It’s a national norm to soak in a bath tub every day.
picture from Japan-guide.com
The rule is to wash your body outside the tub before relaxing in a 38C hot water. You scrub yourself with a rough, soapy towel, from the back of your neck to […]
バスの中、チャイナタウンで乗客１０人。
おばちゃん達に囲まれて、
タンスにゴンを香るかな。
中国の人も使ってるんだ。
A Nostalgic Scent
On the bus, 10 hop on at China town.
Surrounded by them
A nostalgic scent of Tansuni-Gon
People from China use it too?
How funny. Children go bonkers over the matter. Adults too. I wonder why.
I realize that in Japan, poo poo is discussed a LOT. I remember in first grade, the teacher encouraged us to develop a habit of …. ‘Raise your hand if you’ve done your morning poo!’ Then once a year, all students had to […]
