I understand why those people are called "language leeches." On the other hand, many foreigners lament the fact that the Japanese rarely engage in chatting with strangers, so I can see the bright side of this practice.
I'm curious to know how the Ogin the Geisha is written. Last weekend we had an excellent evening of sake and yakitori in Tottori city at a place called Ogin written 御銀 (if you ever go to Tottori to walk then I recommend it)
We nearly went to the Osaka Museum of Life last summer but, for reasons, went to the Nakanoshima Museum of Art instead which I guess you will pass on the next installment. There's also the History Museum by the castle which we enjoyed and which I found fascinating because I was unaware of the existence of the Naniwa palaces
There's a couple more museums I pass by in the next instalment, but I don't think I stopped at the Nakanoshima Museum of Art. I'm not sure how Ogin the Geisha is written. I think I only found out about her story from a monument somewhere near the end of the Kumano Kodo. When I find the place, I'll see if I can look up the story in Japanese.
I found that Lady Ogin's name in Japanese is written as お吟. The kanji 吟 can have meanings related to recitation or poetry, which adds a certain elegance to her name.
A great story to end the year, Julian. Looking forward to more stories like this one.
‘Language leech’ and ‘eikaiwa bandit’. I wish I’d known those expressions years ago. Great stuff.
Funnily enough, I found myself doing the same thing tin the UK trying to practice my Japanese on people who’d gone to England to learn English.
A 言語ゲリラ perhaps?!
I understand why those people are called "language leeches." On the other hand, many foreigners lament the fact that the Japanese rarely engage in chatting with strangers, so I can see the bright side of this practice.
Oh yes, I like that one too.
'Waffles of concrete' - excellent turn of phrase!
I'm curious to know how the Ogin the Geisha is written. Last weekend we had an excellent evening of sake and yakitori in Tottori city at a place called Ogin written 御銀 (if you ever go to Tottori to walk then I recommend it)
We nearly went to the Osaka Museum of Life last summer but, for reasons, went to the Nakanoshima Museum of Art instead which I guess you will pass on the next installment. There's also the History Museum by the castle which we enjoyed and which I found fascinating because I was unaware of the existence of the Naniwa palaces
There's a couple more museums I pass by in the next instalment, but I don't think I stopped at the Nakanoshima Museum of Art. I'm not sure how Ogin the Geisha is written. I think I only found out about her story from a monument somewhere near the end of the Kumano Kodo. When I find the place, I'll see if I can look up the story in Japanese.
The Nakanoshima museum has a statue of a cat in a (sort of) space suit outside. You don't really need to go inside, but the cat is cool.
Edit: Realized I can't post images in comments so here's a link to a picture
https://substack.com/profile/13379579-francis-turner/note/c-81991239
I found that Lady Ogin's name in Japanese is written as お吟. The kanji 吟 can have meanings related to recitation or poetry, which adds a certain elegance to her name.