#japan

I realized that the world did not exist for my benefit. It followed that the ratio of pleasant and unpleasant things around me would not change. It wasn't up to me. It was clear that the best thing to do was to adopt a sort of muddled cheerfulness. ↗

— Banana Yoshimoto

#change

In most collectivist cultures, direct confrontation of another person is considered rude and undesirable. The word no is seldom used, because saying “no” is a confrontation; “you may be right” and “we will think about it” are examples of polite ways of turning down a request. In the same vein, the word yes should not necessarily be inferred as an approval, since it is used to maintain the line of communication: “yes, I heard you” is the meaning it has in Japan. ↗

— Geert Hofstede

#japan #yes #communication

Of late the nights are dawning plum-blossom white. ↗

— Yosa Buson

#death

Come out, Yamiko, come out... ↗

— Katlyn Charlesworth

#historical-fiction #japan #death

By means of steam one can go from California to Japan in eighteen days. ↗

— Townsend Harris

#days #eighteen #go #japan #means

Als ich sehe, wie Harus Haar verspielt im Wind tanzt und völlig zerzaust wird, und das, obwohl das Grau da draußen doch bleischwer in der Luft lastet, erkenne ich auf einmal, wie weit, weit weg die Vergangenheit ist. Weiter als der Tod, ja weiter sogar als die unüberbrückbare Distanz, die zwischen zwei Menschen besteht. ↗

— Banana Yoshimoto

#deutsch #distance #german #japan #japanese

After listening to a lot of these stories, I began to think that American loneliness is a completely different creature from anything we experience in this country, and it made me glad I was born Japanese. The type of loneliness where you need to keep struggling to accept a situation is fundamentally different from the sort you know you'll get through if you just hang in there. ↗

— Ryū Murakami

#japan #life #loneliness #struggle #experience

It's a saying they have, that a man has a false heart in his mouth for the world to see, another in his breast to show to his special friends and his family, and the real one, the true one, the secret one, which is never known to anyone except to himself alone, hidden only God knows where. ↗

— James Clavell

#inner-self #japan #psychology #family

With a cold"--she spoke evenly, lowering her eyes a little--"now is the hardest time. Maybe even harder than dying. But this is probably as bad as it can get. You might come to fear the next time you get a cold; it will be as bad as this, but if you just hold steady, it won't be. For the rest of your life. That's how it works. You could take the negative view and live in fear: Will it happen again? But it won't hurt so much if you just accept it as a part of life." With that she looked up at me, smiling. ↗

— Banana Yoshimoto

#life

We only have one life to live. Since everybody has the potential to be successful, I hope we'll all take an action and actually live it. ↗

— Gackt

#japanese-singer #life