物の哀れ

[dorchadas]

I'm not sure I've talked about it here--I know I've talked about it before in the book reviews I do--but one of the things that most annoys me about coverage of Japanese culture is the almost worshippful attention paid to the concepts of wabi sabi and mono no aware. Sure, let's talk about the value of wabi sabi while Japanese construction companies

Comments

[q99]

Good post :) I never knew the Japanese phrase for that before.

[dorchadas]

Thank you!

I didn't have space for it in the post, but there's a yojijukugo I really like that captures some of the same feeling: 一期一会 (ichi go, ichi e). I liked it enough that I used it as a tag, but the translation over there is mine. Literally, it translates as "one time, one meeting."

[q99]

I read a manga yesterday (Non Non Biyori) where one character thought they had a fantastic 'one time, one meeting' day, when really it was just her friend in a different hairstyle and outfit so she didn't recognize her ^^

[dorchadas]