Japan is larger than Italy. larger than Norway, larger than Germany. A journey (from north to south) … covers three thousand kilometres. In north America this would be a journey from Miami to Montreal – and at roughly the same latitudes’
”Ah’ is the first sound you make when you are born, ‘nn’ is the last sound you make when you die. …Between the two lies all of existence, a universe that turns on a single breath’
The Japanese, who have a certain flair for description, refer to the comb-over look as ‘barcode head’
Japanese has audible pronunciation, to ask a question you add ‘ka’ at the end of a sentence. To add an exclamation point you add a ‘yo’
Before Kukai it was assumed that women had an extra rung to climb and could not achieve Nirvana until they were either reborn as a man or became priests.
”Today’s pilgrims, hah! they travel by bus, they stay in hotels, I call them ‘instant henro’. Just add water, like Cup Noodle.”
‘…I realised what made the Japanese landscape so jarring:there were no foothills’. In japan any lowland hills have been flattened in to the valley to make more room meaning that … ‘the flat patchwork of rice fields stretches out to sudden walls of the mountains, and the two meet at 90 degree angles.’
The city of himeji was firebombed during the war, but the White Heron Castle survived, which locals saw as a sign. ‘What they didn’t know was that American bombers had spared the castle. they needed it as a reference point for their bombers. turn right at the castle and you were soon over Osaka’s shipyards. Turn left and you would be over Hiroshima.’
The Bridge of Heaven is one of Japan’s top three natural attractions. funnily enough a research team from a university spent several years using ‘photographic computer analysis’ to ascertain what exactly made the natural bridge so beautiful. They decided it wasn’t the bridge that was so beautiful, but the amount of sky as this took up 31% of the scene as opposed to the bridge which takes up 8.6%. Need I say more?!
One of the pamphlets for tourists about the bridge says ‘enjoy beauty between your legs’ as visitors are encouraged to bend over and look at the bridge through their legs up on a nearby hill in order to create the illusion of a floating bridge. They have even installed decks just for people to bend over an do this!
“In Japan” the teacher assured me “even the ghosts carry business cards”
English speaking teachers working in Japan called themselves ‘GODS’ – Gaijins On Display
In Japan it’s cool to have some english on clothes or with brand labels but little of it makes sense. (Even English speaking companies don’t correct their English, as the deconstructed English is what the Japanese recognise) – a drinks brand named ‘sweat’, Tampon packaging declaring ‘Let’s all enjoy tampon life’, a coffee cream labelled ‘Creap’ and chocolate treats named ‘Colon’.
‘Love hotels are a bargain for couples travelling together’
A nightingale corridor is a corridor where the wooden planks of the floor are tighter to squeak and warn of intruders, an early burglar system.
The Ainu were not officially recognised as being Japanese citizens until 1992 and won’t be recognised as indigenous in order to avoid ancestral land claims. The tribe have a tradition of tattooing enormous lips on to their lower face.
