Japanese

Feb 13, 2004

Posted by Cat Ramos

well, well, it’s friday the 13th! more importantly, it’s valentine’s day tomorrow…and i am dateless, as you know. but again, you know i don’t care. well, i do have a “date” tomorrow, if you can call it that. i’m meeting my friend ritchelle (also my former co-worker) at her university. while everybody is going out on dates, i will be visiting a couple of universities to apply for graduate school!! romantic, huh? anyway, just for the fun of it, i made a haiku for the occasion.

愛のため (ai no tame)

明日へ行こう (ashita e ikou)

二人だけ (futari dake)

loosely translated as:

for the sake of love,

let’s go to tomorrow

just the two of us

sappy, i know. that’s just something i thought of while in the bath last night. honestly, i don’t really like the first line; it sounds lame but i couldn’t think of any other line with exactly 5 syllables. i’m used to writing 5-7-5 haikus but i might try experimenting with 6-8-6 later. what i like about haiku is that you get to say much without using lots of words. i have some random stuff written during some past meetings (that were boring me out of my skull)…if only i could find them, maybe i can also rediscover my lost passion for poetry! ^_^

(if there is any japanese teacher or japanese national reading this, you are welcome to comment on the grammar, contents, etc. of my haiku. the comment thingie is below, right after this post. ^_^). if you are reading this, sensei, be nice! ^_^

if i were japanese…

i would probably be buying some chocolates to give to men on valentine’s day. mind you, these are not tokens of love or anything. in japan, it’s called 義理チョコ (giri choco) or obligatory gift chocolates that women give to men (co-workers, friends, classmates, etc.) on valentine’s day. the men who received chocolates are then supposed to give presents back to the women on march 14, called “white day”. the gesture doesn’t really mean anything deep…from the term itself, it’s just for “obligation”.

as a matter of fact, the concept of “giri” is an important part of the japanese culture…which foreigners find difficult to grasp. so much like 本音 (honne) and 建て前 (tatemae). honne is the real intention or motive, while tatemae is the public opinion of how things should be.

but then again…

this chocoholic would probably eat the chocolates herself, nyahaha! yesterday, i was so hooked on amuro namie’s “wishing on the same star”. surprisingly. i never really cared for j-pop females, since i think they were all made out of the same cookie cutter: same whiny, girlie voice, same cutesy look (blond hair, brown eyes, anorexic body). but when i heard “wishing on the same star”, i thought maybe amuro is different from the rest. i have yet to find out…and i am not in a hurry because i have loads of j-pop and j-rock guys keeping my ears (and eyes) busy right now, hehe! so this means, l’arc~en~ciel’s “anata” is lording it over amuro. ^_^

nobody’s talking about it but i can guess that everyone in the office is offering a silent prayer for jervin, for the “success” of his valentine date. go for it, bro! we’re all behind you, jeering…er, cheering, i meant CHEERING. ^_^v

well, everyone, enjoy your valentine’s day! have fun, and be safe! (you know what i mean).

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