标题: Falling out of Love in Japan [打印本页] 作者: choi 时间: 11-29-2013 13:22 标题: Falling out of Love in Japan Sarah Herrington, A Silent Partner to Share the Path of Love; When crisis struck, my only friend in this foreign land did nort even speak my language. New York Times, Nov 25, 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/2 ... e-path-of-love.html
Note:
(a) “When I fell for Randy, I told Mika how his James Taylor voice serenaded me while he made smooshed grilled cheese and tomato soup in our small kitchen.”
(i) Mika is a common female given name in Japan, whose kanji is usually 美香. (The kanji 美 has Chinese pronunciation mi or bi (as in bijin 美人, meaning a beauty)
(ii) James Taylor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Taylor
(1948- ; an American singer-songwriter and guitarist)
(b) “My spoken Japanese boiled down to three phrases: ‘No fish flakes, please,’ ‘Thank you’ and ‘Where is the bathroom?’”
The fish flake refers to bonito flake. See katsuobushi 鰹節 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katsuobushi
(the Japanese name for dried, fermented, and smoked skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis))
* fushi 節 【ふし】 (n): “(1) joint; knuckle * * * (3) knot (in wood); node in a bamboo stem”
Definition (3) fits the bill.
(c) “Back in my washing machine apartment I could get free Wi-Fi if I placed my laptop on the windowsill overlooking clotheslines. When Randy and I exchanged instant messages, I felt anchored.“
The author was using a neighbor’s Wi-FI un-licensed.
(d) “She met me at Kiyomizu-dera temple in Kyoto, a huge wooden structure made without even one nail. There was a love shrine there, she said. I was teary as we drank with ladles from a waterfall that ran underneath the main hall in a braid of three streams. It was said to grant wishes. Mika showed me to the Jishu Shrine dedicated to Okuninushi, a god of good matches. The shrine possessed a pair of stones 20 feet apart.
(i) Kiyomizu-dera 清水寺 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiyomizu-dera
(In Kyoto; “The temple complex includes several other shrines, among them the Jishu Shrine 地主神社, dedicated to Ōkuninushi 大国主, a god of love and ‘good matches.’ Jishu Shrine possesses a pair of ‘love stones’ 恋占いの石 placed 6 meters/20 feet apart, which lonely visitors can try to walk between with their eyes closed. Success in reaching the other stone with their eyes closed implies that the pilgrim will find love, or true love. One can be assisted in the crossing, but this is taken to mean that a go-between will be needed. The person's romantic interest can assist them as well”)
(ii) nushi 主 【ぬし】 (n): “head (of a household, etc.); leader; master”
(iii) 地主神社 http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%9C%B0%E4%B8%BB%E7%A5%9E%E7%A4%BE
(iii) koi-urani 恋占い 【こいうらない】 (n): “love fortune-telling”