"Kiritsu! (起立! All rise!)" cries the court clerk. The judges — three saibankan (裁判官, professional judges) and six saibanin (裁判員, lay judges), Reiko Keyes among them — take their places. Reiko is surprised at how full the courtroom is. It's manseki (満席, a full ...
"In some rural areas even today, elderly villagers face the rising sun each morning, clap their hands together, and hail the appearance of the sun over the peaks of the nearby mountains as 'the coming of the kami,' " — so wrote historian Takeshi ...
There are about 80,000 torii-gated Shinto shrines in Japan, many of them unassuming little roadside structures at which, from time to time, you might see a passerby pause, briefly join his or her hands in prayer and move on, enriched and refreshed in ways ...
In A.D. 552 (or 538 — experts disagree; some say it never happened) a Korean envoy presented himself at the Japanese court of Emperor Kimmei. The Korea of that time was split among several perpetually warring kingdoms. The three largest were Kokuli, Silla and ...
Reiko glances nervously about her. She's never been in a saibansho (裁判所, courthouse) before. The sixth floor, the yobidashijō (呼び出し状, summons) had said. She looks around for an elevator. "Sumimasen . . . " Momentarily startled, she quickly regains her self-composure. "What am I so ...
Your son is a sainō no aru ko (才能のある子, a gifted boy)," Mr. Sawamura says. "His seiseki (成績, marks) are not impressive, and his social skills are perhaps not as developed as . . . " "He's uchiki (内気, shy)," I say. "As a small ...
"Tamaki-kun! It's you, isn't it?" Startled, the man looked up from the book he'd been perusing. He stared at the woman in bewilderment. "Yes, my name is Tamaki . . . " "And you don't recognize me!" "I . . . no . . . I'm ...
"You ask who I am? I'll tell you," I declaim, being a bit horoyoi kigen (ほろ酔い機嫌, tipsy). "I am the eternal nokemono（除者, outcast)!" "Nōnashi (能無し, good-for-nothing) is more like it," retorts one of my new friends to a chorus of approving laughter. "Like us!" More laughter. "Ma, ...
History has seen worse years than 2009. All the same, this Year of the Ox has been more than most of us born after World War II in the relatively privileged regions of the Earth were conditioned to cope with. Think back to New Year's ...
"Can I help you, young man?" The lady behind the desk smiles. She does not mean her brisk manner to be intimidating (kowagaraseru tsumori wa nai, 怖がらせるつもりはない), but the "young man," uncertain and anxious (fuan, 不安), instinctively (honnōteki ni, 本能的に) takes a step back. "Am I ...
