There's a new notion floating around. Perhaps you've heard of it: Danshari. Its three kanji characters signify, respectively, refusal, disposal and separation. Prosaically it means cleaning or tidying up, but there are psychological and religious dimensions, deriving in part from yoga, which suggest the ...
Here we go again. "Young people," frets Sapio magazine, "are rapidly becoming stupid." They can't read, can't calculate, can't communicate. They have no manners, no ambition, no interest in anything; no consideration for other people, no knowledge of world affairs. New technology enabling instant ...
Pop culture. Japan's today is thriving, vibrant, spreading, turning people the world over into manga/anime freaks and costume players. It's a new role for this once introverted, quietly workaholic nation. As recently as the 1980s, "culture" in Japan meant, if not corporate culture, then high ...
"Kimi to kekkon shitai (君と結婚したい, I want to marry you). Hontō ni (本当に, really)." The girl grins. "Look at me. I've got braces on my teeth." Peter is disconcerted — not at the braces but at her refusal to ma ni ukeru (真に受ける, take him seriously). "How ...
Only our descendants will know for sure, but we may be witnessing something not seen in the world since the slow demise of ancient Egypt — a nation expiring of natural causes. Nations, unlike people, are potentially immortal. When they die, it's usually violently. ...
"When these sugi (杉, cedars) were umareta (生まれた, born), if that's the word," says Mayumi, "Japan was in its Jōmon Jidai (縄文時代, Jomon Period, c. 10,000 B.C.-c. 300 B.C.). Before bunmei (文明, civilization), before nōgyō (農業, agriculture), before sensō (戦争, war) — before almost ...
In April, much of the world ground to a halt. No one not an expert in such matters could have foreseen it, maybe not even Paul the psychic octopus. Nothing more remote from our overflowing cup of concerns and anxieties could have been imagined — ...
Some outmoded institutions live on as anachronisms because enduring qualities in them continue to appeal to people. Royalty is one example. Marriage is another. Royal marriage? Well, naturally. Royalty survives here and there as pageantry and as a reminder, always timely, that the present was ...
Words come and words go. Times change, language evolves. Here's a prediction: Two words that will be incomprehensible a generation from now are "secret" and "private." They will wither like "ether," "phlogiston," "the celestial music of the spheres" and so on, and for the same ...
"Omedetō, omedetō (おめでとう, congratulations)! A superb kōgi (講義, lecture)! Daiseikō (大成功, a rousing success!) Welcome back, Professor Keyes!" "You're yopparatta (酔っ払った, drunk) already," I tsubuyaku (つぶやく, mumble), somewhat dazed myself. "Not yet, but we soon will be!" "We'll go to the kyūkeishitsu (休憩室, lounge). Order some beer, ...
