Accepting Modernity

Never before has mankind been so connected, and yet so alone. As I get ready for my oral comps (to be administered in written form since I am out of the US), I'm reading up on the classics such as Robert Putnam and his Bowling Alone material. Back in 1995 he wrote that the rise of the television took us away from engaging each other as the tube took more and more of our leisure time starting around the 60s. I haven't read anything of his past the 90s, so I don't know his opinion on the internet's effect on what he calls social capital. What I do know is that society is constantly changing for better or worse; accepting change is always tough for people though.

I got a little Japanese taste of this the other day on the way home. I've written in the past about how maiko-san (like geisha) who adorn the streets of Kyoto now use taxis to get from teahouse to teahouse. To everyone I know, there is nothing wrong with that at all. I've never heard anyone complain they should be taking rickshaw or walking from place to place.

However, maiko-san used to use their beautiful sleeves to keep necessary belongings such as coin purses and the like. Nowadays, though, cellphone have entered their sleeves.

The other day as I rode my bike home from dinner, I passed by a cab with clients in the back and a maiko-san in the front. As I approached, I was drawn to this girl's beauty. Now in all honesty, people have a fear of clowns, and although I don't fear them, I don't really see the beauty in all of that white paint on their faces.

Yet, this girl looked like a manikin in her beauty. The makeup accented the almost perfect features of her face, or perhaps hid the faults. Her kimono was gold with a majestic pattern. At that moment I felt like I understood why maiko-san have stood the test of time and continued to this day. The way she sat in the front seat of the cab unflinching as she looked down only added to the appearance of a manikin. As I thought, "is this real?" I slowly gained ground on the cab and peered more inside.

Yes, it was real. Nevermind the clients in the backseat of the cab, she was busy texting on her cellphone possibly about her favorite SMAP singer Kusanagi being arrested for exposing himself in a Tokyo park in the wee hours of the morning. The beautiful creature wasn't a piece of old Japan time-warped into the present for our pleasure, but rather the future of the past (which equals the present or modern) doing what all idle girls do here in Japan.

The pure maiko-san has gone to the pasture just like bowling leagues (from Putnam). This is just something we have to accept.

However, as technology changes and old forms of association change into different forms, have we become more alone than our predecessors? Would it be more valuable for that girl to put away her cellphone and draw up conversation with her clients in the backseat?

Chicken or Egg?

In my first entry since hell month ended a week and a half ago, I was pondering which topic I wanted to hit in this next post. I have a few ideas, but decided it would be nice to have some pictures to go along with them, so I'm going to my fall back idea, etymology.

Etymology, or the study of words, is extremely interesting because it not only gives an insight into people may have interacted in the past, but also words and cultures have developed within themself. This little entry is more about the former than the latter, but when you think about the former, you also have to think about the latter because interaction has had an effect on cultural development. Through my readings, I've found that it was apparently popular to show the Persian influence on Japanese culture via the silk road throughout the 80's as a number of books were produced on the topic; haven't heard much about that since but....

This is more of a question of phraseology than etymology, but I can't help but ask the questions in this blog...even if they are chicken and egg questions. In English, the phrase "long time no see" comes from a direct translation of a chinese phrase, hence the odd grammatical structure. How about the phrase "to kill two birds with one stone"? There are equivalent Chinese and Japanese phrases (isseki nicho: literally 1 stone, 2 birds; I guess we're supposed to get the idea from that), but where did the phrase originate? The other day, my teacher used the word "blood fest" (chi matsuri) much to my surprise (Japanese teachers don't typically use such phrases....).

How about common expressions? In Japanese, the concept of being dizzy is literally "eyes going in circles" (me ga mawatteiru) which does not really translate literally into English, but "to draw a blank" in Japanese is literally "mind turns white (blank)" (atama ga masshiro). When you think about it, to present the same concepts in similar words is a miracle in itself. How can English and Japanese produce the same general phrases even though they are in other ways polar opposites in structure and grammar?

It would take a detailed study of ancient texts to really find the answer to this question, but it is an interesting one that makes you think about what you are really saying, for example when you "take a shower" (Where are you taking it to?) or when you "have breakfast" (you have it, but will you eat it?).

Or maybe it is only interesting to me, the language freak...