"Foreigner"

There are many words in Japanese that don't translate very well into English. People often ask me how to say "onegaishimasu" in English, and I always have to say, it depends on context. There isn't one easy translation for "onegaishimasu", much like there isn't one for "gobusatashiteorimasu" or even something simple like "kuyashii". The reverse is true too; it's not easy to translate some words of English, like "would", into a single word of Japanese.

Some words seem to have an easy translation, but end up sounding unnatural if you use them the same way that you can use them in the other language. Many, many sentences in English start with "I", or "There", but of course that doesn't mean you should start that many sentences in Japanese with "watashi" or "soko". The Japanese word "gaikokujin" is a notable example of this. Kids as young as 4 use it in Japan, but kids in the US almost never use the word "foreigner". In fact, it would be rather impolite in modern American society to call somebody a "foreigner". A word that is similar in terms of meaning might be very different in terms of usage.

Flowers

I still haven't had the experience of drinking under the cherry trees in spring - but I did sit under them and have a small meal this past weekend. Behold!




The owners of that cafe also have a photo studio, so you can bet they would have taken better pictures than I did... still, if you want some coffee and/or some pictures taken, check them out!

I Read!

My main hobby is reading. I play guitar too, but I spend more time reading than doing anything else, aside from working and sleeping. I was looking up one of my favorite authors on amazon.co.jp, and I noticed that many of his books have been translated into Japanese. If you're interested in language, have a look!

The Stuff of Thought

The Language Instinct

The Blank Slate

There's one more that I really enjoyed, called "Words and Rules". I guess it hasn't been translated into Japanese - but that's understandable, since it's mostly about past tense verbs in English.

Popular science is my favorite kind of book. If you have any recommendations, feel free to tell me!

Secular

Easter was last Sunday. Do you know the story behind Easter, and why we put up pictures of eggs and chicks every year around this time?

Actually, I'm not completely sure. The eggs and chicks are traditional symbols of spring because they have to do with growth and new life. I don't believe they're necessarily traditional Easter symbols, at least they probably weren't before Easter became less a "holiday" and more a "celebration" a la Christmas, in the last century.

These days, almost everyone celebrates Christmas - whether they're Christians or not. You can see this phenomenon quite clearly in Japan, where Christmas is a major event, but almost no one is Christian. Easter is somewhat the same in the US - perhaps not members of minority religions, but certainly non-practicing Christians and agnostics celebrate Easter just the same as Christians do. It's increasingly secular - separate from religion. Can you think of any holidays like this in Japan?