Blue Behind the Ears
This past Saturday, Theresa and I spent the morning tending to our garden. The plot we have available to use here on the Nohara property has soil with a fairly high percentage of clay and sand (i.e. bad for most things). Not being much of an expert on gardening and not having had much time last year to attend to it, last year’s yield was pretty pitiful. This year we have been trying to be more intentional and so spent the morning tilling the dirt into mounds (in what may prove to be a futile attempt) to overcome the hardness. We’ll see…
Our garden with the mounds, ready for rainy season.
Japanese people love to garden, and most houses have some sort of small vegetable patch or bunches of potted plants. Because of the cramped space, there are very few lawns; and potted plants and/or miniaturized gardens seem to be the preferable methods for filling the space around one’s house with greenery.
Speaking of greenery, the word for green in Japanese is an interesting foray into linguistics. Japanese (like some other languages) did not historically differentiate between blue and green. Although the word for green (midori) has been around for a while, it was only after WWII that it began to be taught to children as a separate color and not a shade of blue. (If you want to read more about the linguistic phenomenon, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-green_across_cultures). In modern usage, the word traditionally translated as blue – ao – is associated with vibrancy. Whereas things colored green are often labeled as such, some natural things such as plants (and subsequently landscapes) and unripe fruits and vegetables are described with ao. Youth is also designated by this color. Interestingly, stoplights also use this designation, which, at first, can make discussions about driving a little confusing.
Pray for Theresa and me as we continue to be a little “green” in our understanding of the Japanese language and culture. Pray that we would navigate situations as gracefully as possible, that we would learn well from our blunders, and that overall the love of Christ would shine through us.