Ikigai: A concept made up by the Spanish and British 10 years ago

Let us now consider that declaration from our friend over at Abroad In Japan. 生きがい。Is it really a social media age construct barely 10 years old, a meaningless Japanese term co-opted by Brits and Spaniards hoping to appear soulful, as the resident expert on matters Japanese at that site announces? Well, it is defined by publisher Iwanami in its gold standard of Japanese dictionaries 広辞苑 as 生きるはりあい。生きていてよかったと思えるようなこと. In other words, 生きがい refers to one's sense of life's worth, whether it was good to have been born. A very real thing, even if some have monetized the concept (and ikigai is not a bucket-list thing, as in "I've completed my ikigai", or is it?). For, as the site 健康寿命 points out, life's meaning is subjective: 主観的な感情を表す用語. For 健康長寿ネット、this is a serious matter, dealing as it does with the elderly. Methinks our smug curator at AIJ is shallow, sophomoric, cavalier. And doesn't know much about Japan, or care. Why care, when you get 1.7 million views? Broad is just a chancer.

You've Been Lied To About Japan.

A bold assertion from the fella who runs Abroad in Japan. A friend alerted to me to the episode with the above title, and I was able to get through about 5 minutes; not my cuppa. Let's consider AIJ's takedown of 森林浴、or 'forest bathing'. The moderator gleefully ridicules influencers and others who claim that the practice of shinrin-yoku dates to the misty past, pointing out that the term was coined in 1982 by the then Forest Ministry. True enough. But this is really a case of very old wine in new bottles. Obviously, Japanese didn't discover the therapeutic effects or pleasures of walking in the woods as a result of some campaign launched by government bureaucrats during the bubble era, nor did the language acquire its first term to refer to the experience in the 57th year of Showa. Indeed, there are numerous, much older expressions that convey essentially the same idea, among them: 物詣（ものもうで） / 山岳信仰（さんがくしんこう） 山林に投ず (さんりんにとうず) 逍遥（しょうよう） Possibly the last is closest. In any case, the terms predate 森林浴 by quite a stretch (literary references to 物詣 date to the Heian Period) and refer to pretty much the same experience. As AIJ could have told his viewers, if he could have been bothered. But he couldn', and it's not nearly as sexy as "Worst Lies of All".

朝食

Tinned saba breakfast.

焼き魚定食

The grilled fish set meal (1250 yen) at 本町酒場 in Niigata City. Absolutely the best of its kind in town.

Foreigners in Japan: A Handbook for Survival

In the past year, the Takaichi government has introduced significant changes to immigration policies, making an extended stay in Japan difficult for some, rendering a change in visa status a distant dream for others. A mate and I are working on a YouTube channel about this to help foreigners in the country navigate the new and changing regulations. First stop: Spousal Visa Update: the first segment is days away from completion, stay tuned.

Akane Tomoko, ICC Judge

Akane Tomoko is a Japanese judge serving on the International Criminal Court. Like other members of the court, she has been sanctioned by the criminals in Washington DC. I strongly recommend this small volume, which crackles with righteous indignation at the attacks on the court and the essential work it does holding to account state actors accused of using the powers of government to violate human rights. "世界はトランプの暴挙を許さない" roughly translates as "The world does not tolerate Trump's outrages". Well done, USA.

Insider Trading

Akutagawa's story アグニの神 is set in Hong Kong at the home of a soothsayer who receives a visit from an American merchant who will pay handsomely for inside information regarding the impending outbreak of hostilities between Japan and America. The passage in question: 亜米利加人は煙草を啣くはへたなり、狡猾かうくわつさうな微笑を浮べました。 「一体日米戦争はいつあるかといふことなんだ。それさへちやんとわかつてゐれば、我々商人は忽たちまちの内に、大金儲けが出来るからね。」 I am reminded of prescient stock trades made by Trump insiders before US bombings of Iranian targets.

Getting Old As An Expat

It's difficult when medical, end-of-life issues arise for family back 'home'. As I'm now experiencing.

The Magic of Akutagawa

The story: 魔術 It's become one of my favorite Akutagawa stories, I've now read it numerous times, new discoveries with each rereading. The scene in question involves an act of,what, legerdemain, and Akutagawa's choice of the term 撒き散らす to describe spreading or scattering. Now, 撒き散らす is an unusual choice, in my opinion, as either kanji (撒くor 散らす) by itself would have done. 撒き散らす。So, where's the difference, what's the point? The point: 撒き散らすrefers to spreading or sprinkling, of course. But there's more: there's a sense of wasting money. And squandering money (and other things), is what the second part of the story is about. A wonderful story. さすがに芥川。