Two Redemptive Gaijin Fables |
In 1995, my new Japanese boss and manager and I left a fine traditional restaurant in Kobe. It was dark. Steady rain made it hard to navigate over the old stone street.
The three of us were 30+ feet into the rain, when the 40-ish hostess, in her traditional silk kimono and wooden geta, came out of the door, saw us, and without hesitation ran with rapid but short 4 inch steps into the rain, like a delicate horse, risking life and limb to give me a tiny box of forgotten business cards – calling as she ran As she drew near, with angry faces my Japanese companions glared at her and barked, This indelible memory makes it impossible to get offended at such a harmless word.Come on ‘intelligentsia’, Find a *real* problem to solve! |
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Japanese pencils, beer bottles and any cylindrical object have a counter suffix. “one pencil, two pencils three-pencils: ippon, nihon, sampon …“My 58 year old 白人high school mate had been in Japan 55 years. when I asked him, Tim, are you Japanese yet?” He answered: “I can never be…”. And told this story to illustrate: |
1, 2, 3, cylindrical items (bottles, pencils, legs): ippon, nihon, sambon: 一本、二本 さんぼん Ni-Hon – from Sun (nichi or taiyo) and root (or source) “Hon” 日本 As English has “to, two, and too (also),” so Japanese has “ni, ni, and mo (also).” see http://www.punipunijapan.com/counting-in-japanese-hon for more. (external Site link has been BROKEN: if still broken please click TOFUGU: |
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this website is dedicated to Cross cultural humor and erasing cross cultural confusion anger and fear
reposted from 24-October-2010