Eve Kushner's Blog
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May.17.2013
Let's start with a quiz. What do you think the following term could mean?
頭を刈る (あたまをかる) head + to cut
a. to cut off someone's headb. to cut the head off a fishc. to cut one's haird. to excel; be a cut above the rest; stand heads and tails above others
I'll give you a...
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May.17.2013
Let's start with a quiz. What do you think the following term could mean?
頭を刈る (あたまをかる) head + to cut
a. to cut off someone's headb. to cut the head off a fishc. to cut one's haird. to excel; be a cut above the rest; stand heads and tails above others
I'll give you a...
Continue Reading »
May.10.2013
Last week I fell woefully behind. I can attribute it to various things, such as my husband's birthday (and the birthday shopping beforehand), plus extra visits to the park to go running after two caloric birthday celebrations. But the truth is that I can't entirely understand where the time...
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May.03.2013
People constantly have weather on their minds. When I scroll down my Facebook news feed, I see that topic more than perhaps any other.
As far as I can tell, that's what my dogs spend much of their day thinking about, too: "It's cold. Where's the sun? Ah, there it is! Hurray! Life is good! Oh, no....
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Apr.26.2013
Welcome back! Hope you've been doing well. I had a lovely vacation, and I feel fully energized and ready to take on JOK all over again.
I'm revitalized partly because my husband and I spent three days celebrating our anniversary, taking our dogs hither and thither so that they could romp on the...
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Apr.11.2013
A Japanese man asked me for the best English translation of 納棺師 (のうかんし), which some dictionaries define as "encoffiner." That answer is far from satisfying, and it certainly isn't clear to most of us. The term 納棺師 refers to someone who prepares a corpse for cremation, as depicted in the film 「...
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Apr.05.2013
Lately I've had to confront the same fear again and again. With essay 1280 on 魂 (soul, spirit) and then essay 1651 on 塔 (tower; pagoda; monument), I've needed to write quite a bit about Buddhism. What a complicated religion! Even Japanese people seem confused by some of the...
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Mar.29.2013
I recently mentioned that a Japanese man had supplied me with chicken-related information. He has since sent me a two-page essay that he wrote in Japanese and self-published for fun. In a moment, I'll share part of the essay with you, particularly the segment that changed me for the...
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Mar.22.2013
I've had nothing but health problems over the past five weeks. First, an itchy rash on the legs—a bad reaction to food, I'm told. Then the flu and a cold, which left behind a raspy cough as a souvenir that I'm still enjoying. Eyestrain caused headaches and, strangely enough, created a blue line...
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Mar.15.2013
I've struck up a correspondence with a Japanese man who likes colorful expressions as much as I do. He happened to tell me that his wife often lobs the following criticism at him:
三歩歩いたら忘れるんだ！You forget everything in three steps!
三歩 (さんぽ: 3 steps); 歩く (あるく: to walk);忘れる (わすれる: to forget)
I love...
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Mar.08.2013
Last week at the farmers' market, I asked for six eggs. The woman stared at me as if nothing were sinking in, but because she remained silent, I couldn't really clarify. She then disappeared into the vendor's van for awhile, and the next thing I knew, a man told me I owed $30.
I said, "Thirty?! It...
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Mar.01.2013
There's something about Old Japan that draws me in again and again. I don't know what it is. When I see old wooden buildings and the earthy ways in which people went about their lives, I feel a nostalgic ache that's almost unbearable. (I feel no such nostalgia for almost anything in my own...
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Feb.22.2013
It was strange timing. For essay 1777 on 塀 (fence; boundary wall; wall), which ran last week, I pulled out three books by Donald Richie, trying to find out how he interpreted Japan's walled-off-ness on a cultural level. I hadn't read any of these books in a long time, but I somehow found the...
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Feb.15.2013
I've learned a new word:
忌み言葉 (いみことば: (1) taboo word; (2) euphemism used in place of a taboo word) taboo + word (last 2 kanji)
Two things jump out at me. First, if I heard the term いみことば, I would feel certain that the いみ corresponded to 意味 (いみ: meaning), but no....
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Feb.08.2013
Last week, I went to three major social events in five days. That's highly unusual for a hermit who spends all day thinking about nothing but kanji and who generally likes it that way!
By the way, "hermit" is one meaning of 仙, the kanji of the week. Here's a preview of the new essay...
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About Eve
Eve Kushner is a writer in Berkeley, California. In February 2009, Stone Bridge Press published her second book, Crazy for Kanji: A Student's Guide to the Wonderful World of Japanese Characters. Eve's first book, Experiencing Abortion: A Weaving of Women's...
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Causes Eve Kushner Supports
The Milo Foundation, Planned Parenthood, Doctors Without Borders, PCI, FINCA