michael lambe's scrapbook

My favorite monster…

I was watching my Japanese colleague (and immediate superior) bollocking an arsey student today (on my behalf), and I couldn’t help but admire his awesome bollocking skills.

• He was tenacious. Like a dog on a bone, he wouldn’t let it lie until the reluctant student had apologised.

• He was tough and intimidating. He isn’t a big guy by any means, but you get a definite sense he could take down an elephant if his ire was raised. Nevertheless, like a true teacher, he never lost control.

• His anger had eloquence. He cast quibbles, denials and excuses aside like chaff. Never at a loss for words, even when they erupted from his mouth in a furious torrent, he left the student speechless.

Obviously a lot of all that has to do with his personality. He’s a no nonsense kind of guy. But I couldn’t help thinking how cool it would be if I could speak angry Japanese like he can. How awesome would that be? What a pity they don’t give lessons in scolding, arguing and generally venting rage at Japanese language schools. It would be soooo useful (And so much fun to practice too!). Angry time is the one time when eloquence is really handy. Start stumbling and stammering over what you are saying, or use an innapropriate level of politeness and the force of what you are saying is entirely lost. Still, fortunately I’m now in a job where discipline is largely out of my hands. There are other occasions (which I’d better not go into) when it might be handy to be able to express onself like that though… Anyway, all praise to S_____-sensei and the Art of Angry Expression! Twas a beautiful thing to behold!

This month’s message at my school:

他人にやさしく
自分にきびしく

hito ni yasashiku
onore ni kibishiku

他人　- Normally this would be read “ta nin” but in this case “hito” (normally written as 人). “Hito” means people but these kanji mean “other people”
やさしく – “yasashiku” = “gently”
自分 – Normally this would be read “jibun” but in this case “onore” (normally written as 己). Both these kanji mean “self” or “yourself”.
きびしく – “kibishiku” = “strictly”

What’s curious about this message is the difference between the kanji 他人 & 自分 and the furigana readings ひと &  おのれ. It’s a bit of a puizzle. I’m guessing it’s done in order to emphasise – not just “people” but “other people”. Not just “self” but “yourself”. The use of two kanji instead of one in both cases, also gives the message a nice balance. A simple translation:

Be kind to others
Be strict with yourself

It’s a very simple message. But if I think about it honestly, I’m far too inclined to follow my natural instincts and do exactly the opposite…

Naturally when I went home to England this time I took a lot of pictures of my family:

But I also got hold of some old family pictures too. It’s interesting to see how we have changed and how we haven’t…