Here’s a pic of my Valentine’s present from the lady that knows me best:
Now, a few days ago “anonymous” wrote:
The healthy, veg-friendly restaurants are good and all, don’t get me wrong, but aren’t there any Indian restaurants with a nice little 3-curry buffet you could introduce us to?
I’m not sure, but I’m assuming “anonymous” is my old curry-chomping chum Greg Ionson back in Tokyo (man that guy could eat curry!). Well, I’m hoping these pictures from tonight’s repast at Didi’s make him happy. For your delectation: vegetable curry:
Chapatti and hummus…
And samosas!
(Update: I have since learned that DIDI’S has rats! I saw one myself! Don’t go there!)
I was in town meeting someone intelligent today (which was quite refreshing) so on my way home I stopped by Houzouji (寶蔵寺) for this month’s meditation:
I’m not sure how to translate this one. It’s the last part that’s throwing me, along with the grammar…
人の世の
幸不幸は
不思議のご縁
よき出合いを
After chatting with the staff at Didi’s (aforementioned curry emporium) about it, I’m thinking something like this:
In the world of men
happiness or sorrow
is but strange chance
live for good encounters
However some of the words there have a deeper significance than my simple interpretation conveys. 縁 (”en”) for example, can be chance, fate, coincidence… It is often used to suggest some kind of karmic bond. So you can say “___と縁がある” to say that you have some deep fated connection to a place or person. I asked the waitress in Didi’s why “deai” or encounter was written with the kanji 合 (to suit or fit) rather than the more usual 会 (meeting) and she thought it might be because although “shiawase” or “happiness” is usually written like this: 幸せ, it can also be written like this 仕合わせ. At that point my mind really began to boggle… so if any of you have any better explanation for it do let me know. And that final “を” I’m not sure how best to put in English, but I thought “live for” as in “do your best for…” was good enough…?Enough of that! Here’s this week’s “Whale-Love-Wagon” featuring the classic question: “So when you were rescuing the whale, weren’t any of you really thinking: Um looks tasty… Let’s eat that! ?”
Now that’s all very lovey-dovey and nice, but it doesn’t really tell me what I want to know. According to the info up here the Japanese Government plans to hunt 945 whales this year, despite already having a thousand whales’ worth of meat in stockpiles that they can’t get rid of. So… why? If whale-meat is not such a popular dish in Japan… why does Japan persist in hunting whales? There must be a reason. What’s the reason? I really would like to know. It can’t be just sheer bloody-mindedness, can it now?
Can it?
Anyway, there’s a campaign up here that you can join in, if you feel so inclined: CLICK ME!!!
Unexpected encounter with “Marmite” to me was one of the best and fondest memories in the UK. Can you get it in Japan?
I read your article of “Deai” with an interest.
Although you might have already gotten the difference:
Defenitions from a dictionary appear simple.
“出会い” is used to describe an opportunity where 2 or more persons meet, whears “出合い” is used when 2 or more objects meet or join together. For example, when a tributary meets a main stream of a river, the place where they meet is described as “Deai” of those rivers. They sound simple, don’t they? However, to my perception, it contains so much meaning, because the song at Houzouji is written for any object that exists in this world but it is a message to us all.
We are here as human being, yet we are, simultaneously, something that is part of the nature. If we define ourselves as just an object which is no more different than the other substances/objects found in this current world, using “出合い” to wish for good encounters would be more suitable than using “出会い”.
Also, my wild guess goes to the point that the “出合い” may be indicating the fact that we are not in the control of which Go En “ご縁” to meet. Go En is something provided. Thus, “出合い” rather than “出会い” insuniates the idea that our life is not driven by ourselves but by someone/something else…
…I may be making the thing so complicated… but as a remark, “Everything will go smooth if you do not stick to it”, that I heard during the talk session conducted by one of the buddist monks last year was reminded while I was thinking of the difference…
Thanks for an inspiring observation.
by “Almost Too Simple To Pronounce”