His name was Yasu. He was a public servant, a modest occupation that suited his quiet demeanour. Yasu was softly spoken; he would always pause and think before saying anything, something that I found rare in this world. To me, …
Meagan Sneddon Articles.
Let’s talk about honorifics. As a native English speaker, I’ve always struggled with honorifics (keigo). Not with using them, really – using honorifics is basically just memorizing the sentence patterns, like any other phrase – but with physically using them, …
It would get dark at 4pm in early winter, so I would sit on the train, rugged up in all my layers and feeling sleepy from the heated seats and soothing rock of the train, back and forth. All around …
Japanese people are always seeking agreement or consensus. They avoid any kind of confrontation, regardless of how minor.
The first year I lived in Japan, I was in a tiny shoebox of a student dorm adjacent to the university campus.
I have a love-hate relationship with Tokyo. I love the energy of it, the weird mix of people and the odd mismatch of worn-down salarymen tired of life and strange, quirky nonconformists, lining up patiently for the peak-hour train. Everything …