As a boy I was intrigued by certain countries, especially if they had a robust culture of fairy-folk and monsters. My intrigue with Scotland, for example, was based on them having the Loch Ness Monster. My lifelong fascination with Japan was kindled by ‘monster week’ on the 430PM movie (oh the embarrassment!). As a ten-year-old I was spellbound by Godzilla.* I didn’t know anything else about The Land of the Rising Sun other than it had bad-ass monsters and it was full-up with spirits and demons.** Since then I’ve tried to learn the land that is behind the schlock. This didn’t diminish my desire to see the place but enhanced it.
I suppose my fascination with Japan rests mostly on its deemed differences to my up bring. Compared to the dreariness of the Midwest, Japan was exotic and it beat what we got here. The music (which I love), the customs, the mentality – it all fascinates me.
Oh! I would love to learn the language! The Japanese language has many lovely words and expressions, some I have borrowed to use in my ever-expanding lexicon (and no-doubt use incorrectly):
Boketto: to gaze vacantly into the distance without thinking.
Danshari: to clean out the clutter for a spiritual and physical well-being.
Hikikomori: folks who have withdrawn into their own little worlds, who are only in contact with others through technology.
Karoshi: a death from working too much.
Nodogoshi: a good feeling in the throat (as in tasty food: see photo of the ramen)
Omakase: to entrust, as in “I will leave it to you”. This is said to bartenders or barbers or waiters whom you trust will give what you would like.
Shikata ga nai: ‘it cannot be helped’ or ‘nothing can be done about it”.
Shinrin-yoku: ‘forest bathing’ meaning a walk in the forest for health’s sake.
A friend of mine lived in Japan for a decade and I could kick myself for never going while he was there. I long to go and see this dreamy and enchanted land – if only to wipe out my probably erroneous beliefs about the place.
Until the happy day arrives when I actually go there I am learning its history and customs and conventions. I found on YouTube a young man who is teaching folks like me about Japanese living. I got his permission to post his link:
I wonder if the Japanese are quite fed-up with Godzilla. It is one of the first questions I ask when I get there.
*The official name for Godzilla et. al. is Kaiju.
**These are the Yokai.
32 comments
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March 6, 2021 at 7:07 AM
David Godfrey
Japan is on my bucket list. A couple of great YouTube channels, Tokyo Lens – very nicely produced by a pleasant guy from Canada, Abroad in Japan – a bit cheeky and sarcastic done by a young Brit who went to Japan to teach English and stayed.
March 6, 2021 at 3:13 PM
Urspo
Do let’s go together !
March 6, 2021 at 7:13 AM
Debra She Who Seeks
I love Japanese aesthetics, especially the concept of wabi-sabi. It speaks to me.
March 6, 2021 at 3:14 PM
Urspo
Funny that a country that was considered demonic and monstrous to my grandparents is seen today as a land of beauty and tranquility.
March 6, 2021 at 8:15 AM
anne marie in philly
konichiwa! (hello)
March 6, 2021 at 3:14 PM
Urspo
Oh, I forgot about that one!
March 6, 2021 at 8:52 AM
rjjs8878
i would love to visit Japan.
March 6, 2021 at 3:15 PM
Urspo
They have lovely ramen soups.
March 6, 2021 at 9:28 AM
Sam
I will let you chaperone my daughter who logs to go to Japan, and speaks not one word (Well. maybe self taught a few words.) Now she has a professor who worked on the latest Netflix Samurai show and she is enthused. even more so. She and my son both love the anime and films.
March 6, 2021 at 3:16 PM
Urspo
Like the young man in the video, apparently many speak English. The friend I mentioned states he had a hard time learning as so many wanted to practice their English.
March 6, 2021 at 9:56 AM
edyjournal
Maybe danshari will have its day in the sun soon, post-covid vaccinations. Kuchisabishii is so 2020.
It’s so neat how a language/culture has a word that others don’t.
March 6, 2021 at 3:17 PM
Urspo
I love words from other cultures that capture the ‘gist’ of a situation in one word when in English it takes sentences.
March 6, 2021 at 12:13 PM
Parnassus
No one could ever get tired of Godzilla. I bought my Taiwan friends’ baby a Godzilla toy and he loved it so much that he insisted on sleeping with it. When he got a little older I showed him the classic animation Bambi Meets Godzilla. Like all truly fine things, Godzilla gets better and better.
–Jim
March 6, 2021 at 3:18 PM
Urspo
Godzilla is so fascinating to me. He started out as the personification of radioactive folly and has ended up as the unofficial defender mascot of the land.
March 6, 2021 at 5:29 PM
Old Lurker
You make him sound as if he is a parable for nuclear power.
March 6, 2021 at 12:59 PM
Robzilla, Native of Slam Diego
My father was stationed in Okinawa in the mid 70s, and that’s where my fascination with the country began. Now that I’m watching anime with English subtitles I can throw in a few words to the mix.
Yokai – demon
Demo – but, as in “But Clinton did it too!”
Ara – oh
Ara ara – oh my!
And my favorite…. Baka, which means idiot
March 6, 2021 at 3:19 PM
Urspo
Baka? Lovely word
My friend who lived in Japan told me they don’t have too many harsh words for each other, ‘country bumpkin’ and idiot were the worse. They borrowed the English words.
March 6, 2021 at 1:11 PM
Lori
Japan is one of the many countries I am fascinated with. I worked with a doctor from Japan for years and we are still close so I’ve learned so much from her. She returns to visit her family once a year and we had plans to travel together until the world shut down. Not sure when we will be able to go. One gift from her was six sets of gorgeous chop sticks from there. I adore them.
March 6, 2021 at 3:20 PM
Urspo
Lovely !
When I go I plan to buy good chopsticks, a yukata, and a Baku.
March 6, 2021 at 1:19 PM
larrymuffin
When I lived in China I flew twice to Japan only about 90 minutes away. Both visits I took the famed bullet trains and visited many various towns. To this day those visits were most enjoyable and everything I saw even mundane was astonishing. Japan and its people are quite amazing. Not speaking Japanese was not a problem and found everyone very helpful.
March 6, 2021 at 3:21 PM
Urspo
yes yes yes I want to go and experience just this.
March 6, 2021 at 5:33 PM
Old Lurker
I am glad you are familiar with the term karoshi, but as you work yourself into the grave please remember that it is supposed to be a tragedy, not an achievement.
March 7, 2021 at 10:34 AM
Urspo
indeed so.
March 6, 2021 at 6:49 PM
Robert
🙏
March 6, 2021 at 8:45 PM
Frogdancer Jones
Before covid, travel to Japan was SO CHEAP from Australia. I know so many people who have been – even my parents went. Everyone absolutely loves it.
A lot f keen skiiers go there during our summer.
March 7, 2021 at 10:34 AM
Urspo
I am mad-jealous!
March 6, 2021 at 10:11 PM
Linda Practical Parsimony
I studied Japanese. My favorite word was “hajimamatsu.” which I may have spelled wrong. It means–I am so sorry to ask/bother you, and thank you.” Someone else may know the correct spelling. It is spoken to an elder or someone with more status.
When I taught a Japanese woman and her daughter to speak Japanese, I never breathed a word that I had ever studied Japanese. When I used this word with and English request for colder ac, the woman was startled and screamed to her daughter that I could speak Japanese. They were delighted.
As a teen I loved godzilla, still do.
March 6, 2021 at 10:13 PM
Linda Practical Parsimony
It is also used when you have a big favor to ask. I was lucky to have a japanese man teach my class.
March 7, 2021 at 10:35 AM
Urspo
thank you for this lovely word to add to my collection.
March 7, 2021 at 8:36 AM
wickedhamster
Turning Japanese, I think you’re turning Japanese; I really think so. (NB: You might be too young to catch the reference.)
March 7, 2021 at 10:36 AM
Urspo
I got it 🙂
March 8, 2021 at 12:55 AM
Raybeard
Apropos this topic, some 20 years ago my late brother, who’d never been abroad before and thus, of course, had never even flown, was called over to appear on Japanese national TV [for his then world-record memory skills]. He did go, though I can’t imagine the scale of apprehension with which he must have been burdened, Japan being even more the ‘other side of the world’ for us than it is for American citizens.