In case you haven't noticed, I'm having fun with segues, shifting effortlessly (at least in my view) from "The Umbrellas" of Christos in California and Japan, to umbrellas in Japan.
Another Postcrossing postcard, this time from Kazue who lives in Nara, close to Kyoto. To me, this is a spectacularly beautiful, and very Japanese image, which came to mind often during and after the tsunami in Japan. I find the stark contrast between this shot and the shots of the tsunami destruction particularly moving.
Japan is a bucket list place for me, in part because I lived there for a couple of years when I was very young, and while I spent a lot of time with our Japanese neighbors, I don't remember anything. I'm told I spoke Japanese at a two-year old level, which is how old I was. When I am with a group of Japanese speakers, I feel the rhythm of their language at a visceral level, and would love to immerse myself in the culture one day. I'm convinced the language is buried in the deep structure of my brain, and through a combination of studying and total immersion, I might actually be able to learn the language without too much difficulty. Wishful thinking, perhaps, or not..
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The best was your talking English to your parents and turn around and speak Japanese to Etsuko and your little Japanese friends. I'm sure it is still in your brain.
ReplyDeleteNever too late to learn! Once it's in you, it will always there. I've been to Japan for a short trip and I fell in love with the country. Because I wanted to be "in", I learned a few basic words to get me by.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Japanese umbrellas - have you seen the cover of this book? http://www.amazon.com/Hotel-Corner-Bitter-Sweet-Novel/dp/0345505336#reader_0345505336
ReplyDeleteThen, I have one of my pieces of mail art that I did for the author here: http://oldpaperart.blogspot.com/2011/03/jamie-ford-oscar-holden-and-alley-cat.html
I LIKE YOUR UMBRELLAS! I'm certain that there are any number of cards out there with Koi on them like the one on the cover of the book, but I'm certain you're aware of that already.
It is a superb card! I feel sure you would be able to learn Japanese more easily than the rest of us. Give it a try! I know I spent only a month in Austria before learning German and somehow it did make the language easier. I could sense when things sounded right. Or maybe I'm just being fanciful.
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