Kanji is hard. The hieroglyphic written script (just one of three) used in Japanese has a weird history, borrowed and bastardized from the Chinese. And it takes years, even for the Japanese, to learn. For foreigners used to Roman scripts, of course, it adds an extra wall to climb: Not only do you have to memorize the words, you also have to memorize the pictograph linked to that word.
Turns out, it isn’t just lazy foreigners who wish Japan would get rid of it. Continue reading
It was just after the morning rush on an April day in Amagasaki, a city of about half a million people close to Osaka. A JR commuter train was taking a bend on the track when it derailed, crashing into a 9-story apartment building.
There were 106 fatalities on the train, including the driver, and more than 500 injuries, not counting the psychological stress on residents of the building. A JR investigation determined the cause of the crash to be the driver’s poor handling of the turn, having taken it too fast to keep control of the train. But there was something else.
The only reason anyone can go shopping is because everyone has something they don’t want.
Continue reading
We were walking around a stupa at Boudhanath when a dead pigeon fell out of the sky.
There’s a Tibetan word, “Bardo,” that refers to the space between different lifetimes.
Continue reading
