#japan

After my first visit to Japan, in 1960, to work on a joint model building project at Osaka University, I maintained a continuing interest in the country and the entire Far East. ↗

— Lawrence R. Klein

#building #continuing #country #east #entire

The story of Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Tres was both simple and complicated. Simple in that things never change: people consistently jealous or secretive or brave-hearted. As for the rest, it all came down to a series of misunderstandings, the type that could happen to anyone, really. You assume that the sushi bucket is full of gold coins, but instead it's got Kokingo's head in it. You think you know everything about your faithful follower, but it turns out that he's actually an orphaned fox who can change his shape at will. It was he who spoke my favorite line of the evening, five words that perfectly conveyed just how enchanting and full of surprises this Kabuki play really is: 'That drum is my father. ↗

— David Sedaris

#japanese-mythology #kabuki #plays #wtf #change

I felt as though I owned the whole world. And little wonder, because at no time are we ever in such complete possession of a journey, down to its last nook and cranny , as when we are busy with preparations for it. After that, there remains only the journey itself, which is nothing but the process through which we lose our ownership of it. This is what makes travel so utterly fruitless. ↗

— Yukio Mishima

#travel #business

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

Welcome to thee, O sword of eternity! Through Buddha And through Daruma alike Thou hast cleft thy way. ↗

— Kakuzō Okakura

#japanese #poem #death

Girly’ products can spur Japan’s growth in this century every bit as much as, if not more than, the ‘manly’ technologies. ↗

— Morinosuke Kawaguchi

#culture #design #japan #manga #technology

It is the experience of those who have had to do with the various peoples of the Far East that it is easier to understand the Korean and get close to him than it is to understand either the Japanese or the Chinese. ↗

— Homer B. Hulbert

#japan #korea #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

What a strange thing! to be alive beneath cherry blossoms. ↗

— Kobayashi Issa

#cherry-blossoms #haiku #japan #life #poetry

Those who hurt others will also hurt themselves. ↗

— Natsuki Takaya

#japanese #life #manga #life