Comme ça du Japon

I have been living in Japan for several years already. First I was living in Sendai, north-east of Japan and in the Chiba area since october 2006. This is a different Japan. By comparison, Sendai, despite its one million and a half inhabitants, could be mistaken for the country side. Just an example that says a lot : it did not take more than 4 months here to witness for the first time the attack of a 痴漢 (ChiKan) “pervert” on a japanese highschool student.

Sushi tin can

Here, most of the japanese take the train to go to work. I some company, you are even told that 原則 (GenSoku) “as a rule” you should not drive to the office with your car. You can choose to come by bicycle but then as long as the distance is fair, it won’t be the case for the rent. As a result we all ride the same train and get off at the same stations. This like the carnival of Dunkirk where we are all すし詰め (SuShiDuME) “jam-packed” and gently pushes each others but without the colorful masks or the smiling faces. In fact, the crowd movement only happens when everybody get off the train due to some who bring their starting blocks. Everybody run to catch the express for Tôkyô about to leave on the other platform. The podium for the winners of the race is a seat. To hell with the 高齢者 (KôReiSha) “elderly” or 妊婦 (NinPu) “pregnant women”, they should have run too !

Indifference

This certainly explains the reason why nobody helped the student to bring the pervert to the station attendant. She tried to bring him outside the train while shouting at him 来なさい！ (Kinasai) “Come with me !”. He answered with a voice that did not persuade 何もしてないのに (Nani mo shite nai no ni) “I did nothing…”. Well, he was not alone. Except running, they did nothing too.

I don’t run. I don’t need to because I am lucky enough to work outside of Tokyo. My train always arrives empty and everyone has a seat. “Allez hop”, I grabbed the pervert by his arm and pull him out of the train. A few minutes later, others students came along. The station attendant was in sight. As I did not really had a valuable 証言 (ShôGen) “testimony”, I　just left them, got on board of the train, got my seat and started to write this article.

Kanji companion

痴漢 (ChiKan) “Groper” is composed of 痴 (Chi / Oroka) “disease + wisdom” and 漢 (Kan). The use of 漢 (Kan), that generally means china or something chinese, in the word for groper is suprising to say the least. In fact, this Kanji has a second meaning that I did not know : guy, man. The usage of 痴漢 (ChiKan) “Groper” is therefore limited to men. Even if there are female groper, the word 痴女 (ChiJô) “female satyr” does not exist. It is likely that the word 性犯罪者 (SeiHanZaiSha) “sex offender” would be used instead.

If you have ever wondered how young japanese children eat their meal, then this photo is the answer. As you can see this is a quite odd 箸 (Hashi) “pair of chopsticks”. There is a ring on one of the stick and a U-shaped element on the other. Children are taught to slide their 薬指 (KusuriYubi) “annular finger” through the ring and to place their 人差指 (HitoSashiYubi) “index” on the U-shaped element. When this technique is acquired, hexagonal base chopsticks that are easier to handle are used instead. However, let’s note that nowadays children usually start by using a small spoon and a small fork before learning to use chopsticks.

Japanese words for fingers

You may have been surprised when you read the japanese word 薬指 (KusuriYubi) “annular finger” because it uses the Kanji 薬 (Kusuri) “medicine”. The reason is that this finger has traditionally been used to mix the drug preparations. Here is the list of the japanese words used for the 指 (Yubi) “fingers” :

• 親指 (OyaYubi) “thumb (parents + finger)”
• 人差し指 (HitoSashiYubi) “index finger (person + to point + finger)”
• 中指 (NakaYubi) “middle finger (middle + finger)”,
• 薬指 (KusuriYubi) “annular finger (medicine + finger)”
• 小指 (KoYubi) “pinky (small + finger)”