bailey, everywhere

Hi, everybody.

So, I promise I’m really in Japan. I realize this is extremely difficult for everyone to believe since I fell off the place of the planet… Now that it’s eight weeks in and Fall Break, here’s a brief recap of the last eight weeks:

I landed in Japan at the very end of August, staying in mitcho’s teeny tiny apartment, which he shares with two other (apparently frequently changing) tenants. Each has his own room, with a shared bathroom, shower, and kitchen, and I managed to meet no one the three days I was there. It’s clean and cute and very cozy, and manages to avoid being cramped… if you’re not over 5’4”. While mitcho went to work, I explored his neighborhood (near Hatsudai Station in Shinjuku Ward), making friends with a fruit vendor and learning the word ‘pharmacy’ (薬局・yakkyoku) and generally being the only foreigner for miles around, strangely enough.

On Wednesday the third of September I rode the bullet train southwest to Kyoto, and was immediately shocked to find that Kyoto is, relatively speaking, FULL OF FOREIGNERS. In retrospect, as a city with very little economic UMPH which relies on its history as the Old Capital and Geisha Central to draw tourism, as well as having more college students per capita than any other city in Japan, I shouldn’t have been surprised.

The fifty of us in the Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies, a handful from more than ten prestigious American universities, gathered at the Hotel Fujita for orientation. Orientation consisted mainly of being shown where some things were, but since none of us had any blinking idea where anything was, it was immensely helpful.

On Saturday we all were shuttled off to our respective home stays, sans the five or so kids in apartments, who were shuttled off to their apartments. I recognized my host parents from the pictures they had sent me from CAIRO, where they had taken a trip over the summer. I soon came to find that the Matsunagas consisted of an extremely energetic husband, aged 69, named Toshiharu, who once lived for two months in Malaysia just for fun (despite speaking nothing but Japanese and a heavy smattering of English vocabulary) and now beats younger men at tennis and softball, and his tiny lovely wife Hiroko, 65, who’s pretty game for about anything and sometimes is his  doubles partner. They go overseas sort of mind-bogglingly often, visiting places for fun and going to graduations and weddings of their many, many, many past homestay students… The Matsunagas have been taking in homestay students for almost twenty years, and I am their 36th. We often talk about previous kids, whose pictures are all in two large frames over the dinner table.

I placed into the highest Japanese class, which, while flattering, is also the hardest Japanese class of my life, and the teaching style (interrupting the flow of class for criticism and correction) of one of the teachers I find somewhat jarring, mostly because I’m used to being good at things and not to being criticized, honestly. But my class’s teacher seven out of ten sessions a week is an incredibly sweet and compassionate woman, named Uemiya Mariko. Uemiya-sensei, bless her heart, has much more faith in the eight of us than is probably perfectly wise, and convinced us all at the beginning of the year to sign up for Level One (“Ikkyuu”) of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). We, innocents that we were, all did; last week we took a practice kanji and vocab section, and generally made about half the score required for passing (in my case, at least, that was half owing to pure chance as well). This is slightly terrifying, but nonetheless, it is I suppose a good experience to be genuinely chewed up and spit out by a test once in one’s life.

My other two classes are on Noh & Kyougen (traditional theatre; Kyougen is comedic) and modern literature. The Noh class is fascinating, but it’s also three hours long, which is a little much for anything, even if your teacher (Professor Monica Bethe) IS a charismatic woman with a face deeply lined at the places one uses to make incredibly dramatic expressions, who happens to have memorized basically everything Noh play there is to memorize, as well as the drum rhythms and the flute patterns, and also has carved her own Noh mask, and also has been translating Noh texts (CLASSICAL Japanese, think Chaucer’s English) and books on Noh into English since the seventies. (Not kidding.) The lit class is much lower-key but enjoyable. Professor Sarah Frederick is a laid-back individual and one doesn’t immediately realize the depth of her knowledge about Japanese literature and modern history. She also has brought to Japan a one-year-old daughter (as of October 25th), a three-year-old son, and a husband who speaks no Japanese (hers is very good).

On Tuesdays and sometimes Fridays, I pick Frederick-sensei’s son Sam up from his Japanese preschool and babysit him for a couple of hours until his mother and sister Maia get home. Sam is quickly turning bilingual, which is delightful for me to interact with. His mother started speaking to him in Japanese a year ago, and the teachers and children at his preschool obviously don’t speak any English, so his Japanese is improving rapidly, and he mixes the languages in incredibly endearing ways. Maia, the one-year-old, is round and blue-eyed and drooly and cheerful and is almost enough on her own to convince anyone that having a baby is a fantastic idea.

I ride my bike to school every morning, unless it’s raining, taking the sidewalk down by the river to avoid hills and stop lights. Kyoto, built on a grid, is slowly becoming familiar to me, especially since it’s not vast like Tokyo, or even Chicago. I spent a lot of time at Nishiki Market, a narrow street lined with shops selling traditional pickles and fish and sweets, as well as stores offering tea goods and knives and gifts. There are also stalls selling fried things and shaved ice, which I confess are my favorite. It was the site of perhaps my most touching interaction with a Japanese person, serving to basically erase the bad feelings I’d gotten from a few other experiences ranging from ambivalent to incredibly negative: I was sitting finishing my shaved ice on a bench next to a young mother and her son, who looked no older than four. I thought they were talking about me— I caught the word “onee-san,” which means “older sister” but is a way to refer to young women you don’t know— but couldn’t tell. Then, suddenly, the tiny boy holds out his bag of tiny soymilk donuts, saying “Go ahead and have one.”

DELIGHT!!!

I asked him what it was, and he was like, “it’s a donut! It’s good!!” and I ate it and thanked them and smiled and smiled as they walked away. Children are adorable.

I haven’t translated a song in forever— most of the time I understand them well enough without going through the exercise, and other times I don’t understand them at all, so I can’t. But this song is SO CUTE I CAN’T DEAL (http://pv6pvnewspv6pv.blog102.fc2.com/blog-entry-84.html). ‘Sakuranbo’ means ‘Cherry/ies,’ but it’s got a shortened vowel in it. So it’s cuter. SO CUTE.

手帳開くと　もう2年たつなぁって/ techou hiraku to  mou ninen tatsu naa tte
やっぱ実感するね　なんだか照れたりするね/ yappa jikkan suru ne  nandaka teretari suru ne
そういや　ヒドイコトもされたし/ souiya hidoi koto mo sareta shi
ヒドイ　コトも言ったし/ hidoi koto mo iutta shi
中実がいっぱいつまった　甘い甘いものです/ nakami ga ippai tsumatta  amai amai mono desu

I open my notebook and “Wow, two years already”
Of course I really realize it; I get shy and stuff/And I’ve had horrible things done to me/And said horrible things to you/It’s a sweet, sweet thing, with so much in it [visual pun on “contents” and “meat of the fruit (the part you eat)”]

泣き泣きの1日や　自転車の旅や　書きあらわせれない
だって　多いんだもん!!

Days spent crying and crying and  journeys on bicycle  I couldn’t write them all down
Just, there were so many!!

笑顔咲ク　君とつながってたい/ egao saku  kimi to tsunagattetai
もしあの向こうに見えるものがあるなら/ moshi ano mukou ni mieru mono ga aru nara
愛し合う2人　幸せの空/ aishiau futari  shiawase no sora
隣どおし　あなたとあたし　さくらんぼ/ tonari doushi anata to atashi sakuranbo

Smiles blooming— I want to be connected to you
If I can seen anything beyond this
Two people in love  A sky full of happiness
You and me, two cherry neighbors [ie, on the same stem]

もらったものは　そう愛を感じ/ moratta mono ha  sou ai wo kanji
あげたものは　もちろん　全力の愛です/ ageta mono ha  mochiron  zenryoku no ai desu
やっぱいいもんだよね　共同作業　罰ゲーム/ yappa ii mon da yo ne  kyoudousagyou batsugeemu
思いがけなく歴史は　さらに深いけれど/ omoigakenaku rekishi ha  sara ni fukai keredo

I’ve gotten the feeling of love
I’ve given, of course, love with all my strength
It’s so nice, you know, this teamwork batsu-game [played by the loser of a contest]
Our history is much deeper than I expected, but

1つでも　欠けてたら　とんでもなく/ hitotsu demo kaketetara tondemonaku
足りない　足りない!　足りない!!　2人の絆/ tarinai tarinai! tarinai!! futari no kizuna

If even a single one were lacking, it’d be absolutely
not enough, not enough!, NOT ENOUGH!!  The things that connect us [lit. “our bonds”]

笑顔咲ク　君と　抱き合ってたい/ egao saku kimi to  dakiattetai
もし遠い未来を　予想するのなら/ moshi tooi mirai wo  yosou suru no nara
愛し合う2人　いつの時も/ aishiau futari  itsu no toki mo
隣どおし　あなたとあたし　さくらんぼ/ tonari doushi anata to atashi sakuranbo

Smiles blooming— I want to be in each other’s arms
If I were to predict the distant future
Two people in love, forever and ever
You and me, two cherry neighbors

笑顔咲ク　君とつながってたい/ egao saku  kimi to tsunagattetai
もしあの向こうに見えるものがあるなら/ moshi ano mukou ni mieru mono ga aru nara
愛し合う2人　幸せの空/ aishiau futari  shiawase no sora
隣どおし　あなたとあたし　さくらんぼ/ tonari doushi  anata to atashi  sakuranbo

Smiles blooming— I want to be connected to you
If I can see anything beyond this
Two people in love, a sky full of happiness
You and me, two cherry neighbors

もう１回！！/ mou ikkai

One more time!!

笑顔咲ク　君と　抱き合ってたい/ egao saku kimi to dakiattetai
もし遠い未来を　予想するのなら/ moshi tooi mirai wo osou suru no nara
愛し合う2人　いつの時も/ aishiau futaru itsu no toki mo
隣どおし　あなたと　あたし　さくらんぼ/ tonari doushi anata to atashi sakuranbo

Smiles blooming— I want to be in each other’s arms
If I were to predict the distant future
Two people in love, forever and ever
You and me, two cherry neighbors

愛し合う2人　いつの時も/ aishiau futari  itsu no toki mo

Two people in love, forever and ever

愛し合う2人　いつの時も/ aishiau futari  itsu no toki mo
隣どおし　あなたとあたし　さくらんぼ/ tonari doushi anata to atashi sakuranbo

Two people in love, forever and ever
You and me, two cherry neighbors

From Yahoo Answers Japan, re: the poor usage of a really vague phrase that I don’t particularly understand myself but which appears to carry relatively actual meaning— I found this by googling the phrase trying to figure out how it was used, only to discover it’s apparently the bane of someone’s existence:

mopuimuさん

もしあれだったら、という言葉ですが、私の知っている日本語を勉強している外人学生が執拗に使います。あまり日本語は堪能な子ではありません。

もしあれだったら、という言葉は使っても差し障りない日本語ですか？私は何回も聞かされるとなんだか耳障りに感じるのですが・・・

_About the phrase “moshi are dattara [lit, If it’s {like} that {psychologically distant} thing…]”: A foreign student I know who’s studying Japanese insists on using it all the time. This student [lit. “kid, child”] is not very proficient in Japanese.

Is “moshi are dattara” a phrase you can use in Japanese [ie over & over] without bothering people? Having to listen to it time after time my ears are starting to hurt, but I don’t know…_

triplanehyoueさん

会話の中で頻繁に使われるのは、確かに耳障りかもしれません。

しかし、その学生さんはまだ日本語を勉強している途中ですよね？

それならば、そういう節回しをされても仕方がないことだと思います。

なので、学生さんの為にも貴方から早めに注意をしてあげましょう(^^)

*I suppose something frequently used in conversation can certainly hurt your ears.

On the other hand, this student is still studying Japanese, right?

In that case, I’m not sure there’s anything for it but to have the same old refrain played back to you.

So why don’t you yourself hurry and give the student a heads-up?*

[The above was chosen as the ‘best answer.’]

dendenko123さん

「もしそうだったら」の意味で使っているのではないでしょうか。 または、「もしかして」の意味でしょうかね。 あまり連発されると、おっしゃるように耳障りでしょう。 ですが、それ自体、意味を成していますから、使い方が 違うことを指摘して教えてあげるとよいのでは？

Might they not be using it to mean “moshi sou dattara [if that {aforementioned thing} is the case…]”?
Or else for “moshikashite [I don’t suppose that…],” maybe?
Getting barraged like that does hurt your ears, just as you say.
But still, since the thing itself [ie “moshi are dattara”] gets accross a certain meaning, shouldn’t you consider pointing out that the way you use it is different?

＜田子＞
denko

watashiwadaredeshooさん

その日本語を勉強している外国人学生は、「もしあれだったら」という言い方をどこかで習い、二つの理由で使っているのだと思います。ひとつは、「あれ」が何かはっきり言わずに済ませてしまおう、どう言えばいいか考えなくていい、という気持、もうひとつは、その言い方を使うことによって、こんな難しい言い方が使えるのだぞ、という「ええかっこしい」。

自分の言語運用能力以上の表現を使うのは見苦しいですね。その人には、そんな言い方はするな、というのではなく、「あれって何」、とか、「あれだったら、って何がどうだったら、なの」とか、「もしあれだったら、ってよく意味が分からないんだけど」とか、反応してあげればいいと思います。そのうち、自分でかっこわるいことしているのに気づいてくれるといいのですけどね。

私は親しい友人だったら、はっきり指摘して教えてあげますが、さあ、どうでしょう、「知っている」ぐらいの関係だったら。。。

*I think that student heard “moshi are dattara” somewhere and learned it and then is using it for two reasons. One, they’re feeling like ‘let’s just say “that” and get by without specifying what “that” is, we don’t really need to think about it,’ and two, they’re up on a high horse feeling good about it, like ‘look what a difficult phrase I can use!’

It’s really unpleasant listening to someone use an expression too hard for them, you know? For those people, you don’t say “don’t say that!,” but rather, reacting along the lines of “what’s ‘that,’ exactly?” or “if it’s like that thing means, if what is how exactly?” or “I’m not really sure what you mean by ‘if it’s like that thing’” is best, I think. It would be nice if they then realized what an uncool [awkward, unpleasant to see, socially ill-adapted] thing they’re doing, you know?

If it were a good friend of mine, I’d say it to them right out, but… hmmm… I wonder, if it’s just like “I know this person,” then…*

—

Seriously, Japan? Let me know when it’s okay to join the Moshi Are Dattara Club.

I think I’m mostly just grumpy at ‘watashiwadaredeshoo.’ That username is like, ‘who do you suppose I am?’ or ‘wonder who I am?’ Of course right now I find that obnoxious, too.

“Because Japanese makes use of Chinese characters in its writing system, many people have the misapprehension that Chinese and Japanese are very similar. In fact, Japanese is closer to Korean, and both are classified by some authorities, along with Mongolian, Tungus, Manchu, and Turkish, as members of the Altaic branch of the Ural-Altaic family. In fact, Japanese is as unintelligible to a Chinese as English is.”

THANK YOU.

(With this as a slight caveat, mind you, but let’s be clear that that really only means Chinese people can read academic Japanese a more easily than we whiteys can.)

最近は類語の使い分けを体験しています：

• 独立：支配、束縛からの自由
• 自立 ：力借りず従属しない
• 独り歩き：自力で歩く：本来の意図から離れて勝手に動く

微妙な違いがポイント。