Category: Japanese Culture

Surprisingly Elegant, Narita

On By Kanariya EishiIn Japanese Culture, Japanese HistoryLeave a comment

『奥様が座席から落ちないよう、奥様のシートベルトをしっかりとお締めください。』
“Okusamaga zasekikara ochinaiyou, okusamano seatbelt wo shikkarito oshimekudasai.”

…was the inflight announcement by a Kiwi cabin crew, who was excellent at Japanese.

His Japanese was literally perfect… except for one word.

In Japanese, “okusama” is a wife, and “okosama” is a child, so instead of saying, “Please fasten your child’s seatbelt so that they do not fall off their seats,” he encouraged us to fasten our wives’ seatbelts- which I did.

Completely unrelated reminiscence from the flight, but yes… Narita!

As you know, Narita International Airport is Japan’s main international airport, and it’s often referred as “Tokyo/ Narita Airport” because its original name was “New Tokyo International Airport”.

This is such a deceptive marketing.

The airport is NOT in Tokyo… AT ALL.

It is in Chiba Prefecture and takes about 80 minutes by an express train to get to Central Tokyo.

It takes at least 3hrs to travel to my hometown in Kanagawa Prefecture.

Before children, we used to travel straight to my hometown after the 11hr flight from New Zealand, but this is not realistic anymore.

So… we decided to stay at an accommodation nearby for the night to be refreshed before the train journey to my hometown the next day.

This place was only 1.5km from the airport, and the friendly hosts even came to pick us up at the airport!

They have 5-star reviews from over 279 reviewers as of today- no wonder their service was excellent!

But what surprised me the most was how quiet this entire suburb was.

Unlike my preconception, it was very rural and spacious. I couldn’t believe the airport was less than 2km away!

As I explored the community, I realised that this area was full of history. I just hadn’t realised this as I’d always bypassed right through this area to go overseas/ home before this.

The host told me a lot of stories about the Narita area, and now I’m planning to explore properly next time.

During the morning walk, we discovered a historical farmhouse nearby that had belonged to an American farmer in the Meiji period (1868- 1912) then to the Imperial family. The exterior of the house can be seen in the photo above.

You can probably see that both the Japanese and the western elements are mingling together in the design of the house. We describe this sort of cultural remix as “Wa-Yo-Set-Chu” (わようせっちゅう 和洋折衷).

Perhaps, I’m a good example of a Wa-Yo-Set-Chu person.

Come to think of it, my graduation theatre project at an American university was called “Wa-Yo-Set-Chu with the Mad Japanese Man”… seriously.

Japanese Street Wisdom Podcast Episode 5 [Listen to Your Inner Voice 自分の心の声でやんなさいよ。]

On By Kanariya EishiIn Digital Rakugo, Japanese Culture, Japanese History, Japanese Language, PodcastLeave a comment

In this episode of the Japanese Street Wisdom Podcast, I will talk about a quote by Yanagiya Kosanji X (十代目 柳家小三治) who just passed away last month on 7 October 2021. He was one of the three rakugo performers to have ever been awarded the status of the Living National Treasure of Japan (人間国宝).

I was inspired to talk about the wisdom of this legendary performer after listening to an interview between him and Hayashiya Shozo IX (九代目 林家正蔵). As my diction of the Japanese quote was horrible (I’ve been away from Japan too long!), here is the actual quote:

上手くなろうと思わないことですよ。もっと下手でいいの。普通の声でやんなさい。自分の心の声でやんなさいよ。Don’t try to improve. It’s OK to be ordinary. Use your own voice. Listen to your inner voice, and let it out.

As you can see, this episode was recorded 11 days after his departure, and I found it interesting to listen to the recording now as my English translation reflected my interpretation of his message back then.

If I’m to translate it again today, I would probably say “listen to your inner voice, and let your heart speak”. I guess I understand what he meant better now.

This episode has some extra rambling and turned out like Japanese Theatre 101, but hey it’s me, my brain is pretty chaotic inside!

Thank you again, Curtis, for reminding and encouraging me to record another episode!

I am always looking for topics for the podcast, so please do comment below if you have anything you want me to talk about.

Finally, if you know where the high-fiving idea came from, please let me know also!

You can also listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.

See you in the next episode!

Is This a Miracle? Superstitious Japanese!

On By Kanariya EishiIn Educational, Japanese Culture, Random, Trivia6 Comments

We Japanese are superstitious people.

Regardless of our everyday high tech life, many of us still follow our traditional ways and beliefs, which I guess is one of the reasons why many people are still drawn to my country of birth.

One of the superstitions that we have is that it is good luck when a tea stem stands up in your green tea.

Deep down, we know that it is not scientifically sound to assume that a piece of stem would affect our future, but many do get overly excited whenever this phenomenon occurs to us.

If you live in Japan long enough, you will eventually hear the following phrase:

見てみて！茶柱が立ってる！（みてみて！ちゃばしらがたってる！）

“Look, look! A tea stem is standing up! (literally means “a pillar of tea is standing up”)

With this in mind, I just witnessed a miracle.

I like to burn incense when I work to get into the zone, and, lo and behold, the following sight interrupted my work!

I screamed with joy.

うおっ！線香立ってる！（せんこうたってる！）

OMG, incense is standing up!

This, my wise readers, is a phrase that you will probably never hear or use for the rest of your life.

This is not a well-timed picture. It kept standing up like this for good few minutes!

A miraculous day is waiting for me and hopefully for you, too!

Who Invented the Legless Japanese Ghosts?

On By Kanariya EishiIn Educational, Japanese Culture, Japanese History, Random, TriviaLeave a comment

One of the rakugo stories that I’ve always wanted to listen to is called “The Ghost of Ōkyo” (応挙の幽霊).

In this story, an antique art dealer came across a picture scroll by Maruyama Ōkyo (1733-1795), a famous realist painter from the Edo period (1603-1867), and sold it to one of his clients for 10 Ryo.

The client left 1 Ryo for the bond and went home to pay the remaining amount the following morning.

That night a beautiful ghost came out of the scroll, and she thanked the dealer for offering her sake and chanting a Buddhist sutra for her.

They enjoyed sake together, and the ghost even sang some dodoitsu poetry for him.

The morning arrived, but the ghost was still asleep, being exhausted from the previous night.

The client wondered why the scroll wasn’t delivered and asked the dealer.

The dealer answered, “I’d like to let her sleep a bit longer, sir.”

Now…

This is one of those stories that I probably wouldn’t perform myself as a lot could get lost in translation.

But what really fascinates me is that it is said Ōkyo invented the legless Japanese ghosts.

As you may know, it is traditionally believed in Japan that ghosts do not have legs.

That is why ghost characters in Japanese manga and anime are usually legless.

It is a widely accepted theory that Ōkyo was the one who was responsible for inventing the convention of legless ghosts.

If this is true, it is relatively a modern invention that is less than 300 years old.

On the left is The Ghost of Oyuki by Ōkyo.

Picture Attributions

The Ghost of Oyuki: Maruyama Ōkyo, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Yuurei: Brigham Young University, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What is a “Pillow” in Rakugo?

On By Kanariya EishiIn Japanese Culture, Japanese History, Japanese Language, Random, TriviaLeave a comment
Can you spot his pillow? And… I wonder who the creepy man under the vase stand is…

Today I learned that the Māori word for a pillow is urunga, which also means “act of entering”, according to Te Aka dictionary.

I don’t know about you, but I found this extremely fascinating!

As some of you may know, the prologue for a rakugo story is called a makura (まくら, 枕), which also means a pillow.

Delivering a good makura is an art form.

You are allowed to talk about literally anything in it.

Some use it to explain some words or old customs that are now hard to understand.

Others use it to warm up themselves and the audience.

You can talk about what happened to you on your way to the performance.

You can make a political statement or even tell some dirty jokes if you wish (though you may lose your fans).

Some performers are so good at makura that they sometimes only do their makura without performing rakugo stories.

This is just my personal interpretation, but I’ve always thought it is called a “pillow” because it acts as the portal to guide the audience members to the dreamlike world of rakugo.

Just like a pillow is the portal to the dream world.

Like the Māori word urunga, makura is the entrance to the world of rakugo.

Weird Professions of Edo No.2: Ear Wax Remover

On By Kanariya EishiIn Educational, Japanese Culture, Japanese History, Japanese Language, Random, TriviaLeave a comment

I have a confession.

I once was an ear cleaning addict until my specialist ear nurse rather strongly told me to stop using the traditional Japanese ear pick.

It is usually made of bamboo, and it often has a “fluff” made of bird feather on one end.

Traditional Japanese Ear Pick

If you are into Japanese film, manga, and anime, you might have seen that a couple cleaning each other’s ears (usually a man laying his head on a woman’s lap, getting his ears cleaned by the woman).

Somehow ear cleaning is considered an intimate act, even romantic, in Japanese culture.

By the way, my western wife doesn’t think it’s romantic and just tells me to stop using it, but this is another story.

Ear-cleaning being such an important part of Japanese life (slightly exaggerated), some people even made a full-time living from cleaning people’s ears during the Edo period (1603-1867).

In fact, the profession of Ear Wax Remover (耳垢取) is recorded in Kotto Shu (骨董集) by Samuru Iwai (岩瀬醒), which was published in 1814/ 1815.

Japanese life in Edo seems to have been much more laidback than how it is now.

What are some of the strange professions from your country? Please let me know in the comment section below. I am very keen to learn about them!!!

Photo Attributions

Ear Pick: Mochi, CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/, via Wikimedia Commons

Kotto Shu: National Diet Library Digital Collection