Eight Million Gods-eARC (47 page)

this is one of my favorite Japanese dishes.)

Ryokan
—A bed and breakfast where the rooms are traditional

Japanese with tatami mats and futon bedding. The style of the

rooms and method of dealing with the guests is what makes it a

ryokan
versus a hotel. It may or may not have a hot spring bath.

If it does, then it’s a
ryokan onsen
.

Sake
—Rice wine.

Salaryman
—It’s a cobbled-together English phrase to mean

someone who earns a salary but typically means a man

who wears a business suit.

Seme
—the aggressor of “Pitcher” in a yaoi manga. The related term,

Uke, is used for the “Catcher.”

Shide
—A streamer made of paper that has been folded into a zigzag

shape. Sometimes they are tacked on to objects to create a ward

or mark the item as holy. Other times they are attached to

wands and used in rituals. The wand is called a
haraegushi,
or

lightning wand. When it is waved, it makes a rustling noise.

The wand is often used by Shinto priests and shrine maidens

in cleansing rituals.

Shikansen
—Bullet train.

Shintai
—The vessel of a Shinto god, or physical object serving as

a repository for the god.

Shoji
—A door consisting of paper covering a wooden frame.

Because the paper is nearly translucent, a great deal of natural

light is able to shine through the door while still being able to

block out dust and insects. The paper is sold in sheets and

routine maintenance on the door is to remove the old paper

as it is torn and glue new paper into place.

Soto soto!
—Outside, outside.

Sumimasen
—basically means “I’m sorry’ but in the nature of

“I’m sorry to bother you” or “Excuse me.”

Tabi
—These are traditional socks that have a notch between the big

toe and the second toe so that the foot fits easily into a sandal.

Taiko
—Large drums usually played by ensemble group. The drums

are made from wooden
sake
barrels with skin stretched over

one end. They’re played with two wooden sticks.

Takoyaki
—Fried octopus dumplings, a very common “street”

food often found at food courts, train stations, and festivals.

It’s topped with a BBQ-like sauce and sometimes mayonnaise.

It originated in Osaka. It’s usually found in eight packs,

reflecting the Japanese sense of humor and the fact that

octopi have eight tentacles.

Tanuki
—A common animal found in Japan that fills the niche of

“raccoon,” complete with face mask but is more doglike in

build. It is often referred to as “raccoon dog.” (While on

Miyajima Island we came face-to-face with one in a back alley

one night—they are scary large despite their name.) The name

also refers to a trickster spirit (
yokai)
that can transform its

appearances, from someone the person knows to an object.

For some reason, they’re the patron saint of restaurants

and statues of them are often found by the front door of

an eating establishment.

Tansu
—Traditional wooden storage cabinet, often bound with

metal, they were considered portable and designed to be easily

moved. They could be used for food, clothing, medicine,

or weapons. They were custom built for one specific item so

varied widely on size and shape. Some were chests, others

drawers, and others wardrobes. Occassionallt they were built

with a wheel-base to make it easy to move them long distances.

My favorite tansu are drawers stacked up in a manner that

allowed them to also serve as a staircase to a second floor.

Tatami
—Straw bound into rectangular mats, which are

about two inches thick. Room sizes in Japan are measured

by the number of tatami mats that can be laid down on

the floor, thus the room might be a 4
tatami
or 8 tatami room.

While new, they smell strongly of cut hay fields. The scent fades

over time although high humidity can renew the scent.

Japanese never walk on the
tatami
mats with shoes on and

don’t place chairs on these mats. In modern homes, only the

living room might be set up with
tatami
mats. In older, more

traditional homes, the bedrooms and the dining room

will also have mats.

Toire
—Toilet or bathroom.

Toire wa doko desu ka
—Where is the bathroom?

Torii
—A structure of two post supporting a crossbeam, often

translated as “gate” although there’s no swinging gate or barrier

walls involved. They represent crossing from the real world to

the spiritual world. The
kanji
for this means “Bird Rest.”

Toryanse
—This is an old children’s song, original unknown, that’s

been sung by Japanese children for generations. It is much

like “London Bridge” in that the children play a group game

which involves two people holding hands forming a “gate” and

the other children “passing through the gate” while the song is

sung. The child under “the gate” when the song ends is caught

and held prisoner. For some reason, the Japanese decided when

they first added sound to crossing lights to have this song played.

I love the melody but unfortunately the song has been slowly

changed over to a very piercing beep.

Tsuba
—The hilt of a samurai sword. It is fashioned separately from

the blade and can be changed if the sword is dismantled into its

separate pieces. Generally it’s a disc of metal, several inches

across, with a slot in the center for the blade. Each
tsuba
is

handcrafted and has artwork painted onto the surface. The

artwork often relates to the samurai’s family
mon
.

Uke
—The “Catcher” in a
yaoi
manga. This is normally the character

that is caught off guard by the approaches of the other character.

Often the
uke
is smaller and prettier than the seme.

Uchiwa
—A fan that doesn’t fold, sometimes made of plastic,

traditionally made of bamboo and paper. At festivals, plastic

versions are passed out, often with pretty pictures on one side

and festival sponsor’s names listed on the other. Sometimes

also given out are fans from restaurants with pictures of

popular food dishes and their prices. Because festivals are in

the summer, are crowded, and have countless food stall is

pouring out heat, one often needs a fan and something cool to

eat or drink. You see
uchiwa
tucked up against the kidneys

of people wearing everything from yukata to blue jeans.

Wakarimasen
—I don’t understand.

Yaoi
—Homosexual comics, graphic in nature. (Nongraphic

homosexual comics are considered “boy’s love.”) The two main

characters are divided into the roles of uke and seme in terms of

which character is the aggressive personality in the relationship.

Oddly, the readership is mostly female.

Yen
—Japanese monetary unit. One yen is roughly a penny.

A hundred yen is roughly a dollar. A thousand yen is ten dollars.

A hundred thousand yen is a hundred dollars.

Unlike Americans, Japanese embrace coins. In addition to one,

five, ten, and twenty-five yen coins, they also have a fifty-yen

coin, a hundred-yen coin and a five-hundred-yen coin.

Men’s wallets normally have a coin section to make carrying

these coins easier. That said, Japan is quickly moving to a

cashless society with pre-paid cards and cell phone payments

being accepted in vending machines and many stores.

Credit cards, however, are quite rare.

Yokai
—Supernatural being that generally fall into the “monster”

range as opposed to kami which are more “gods.”

Yuri
—Lesbian comics, sometimes graphic in nature,

but not as often as
Yaoi.

Yuri
—Lily. Often used as an old fashioned girl’s name:

(Yes, I gave Pixii lily flowers on her
yukata
for a reason.)

Yukata
—A summer kimono, less formal than a proper kimono,

often wore to festivals. Normally only teenage girls wear them,

but there are male versions of them. The girl’s yukata’s are

bright, flowery gowns, often in pastel colors. Boy’s are usually

much more plain and run towards tan and navy.

Yakuza
—Japanese organized crime syndicates. Like most things

Japanese, they are steeped in tradition.
Yakuza
members often

sport elaborate and colorful full-body tattoos, but they only

reveal them to fellow
yakuza.
As a penance for failing some task,

they sometimes cut off parts of their fingers, starting with

the pinkie. This apology is the origin of “pinkie promise”

in Japan. Such self-mutation was in order to weaken the

man’s ability to fight, thus making him the need protection

of his organization more.

* * *

And the French!

Mon Ami
—My friend

Monsieur Minon
—Mister pussycat

Pour penser, il faut un cerveau
—for thinking, a brain is necessary