Forum › Yuri Manga for Studying Japanese discussion
You know, I often wondered about Souseki Natsume and his famous answer to the question of how to say "I love you" in Japanese.
There are many versions of how the episode played out, but in all of them there's a foreign student (who's learning Japanese from Souseki) who eventually faces Souseki and asks him to say "I love you" in Japanese.
Souseki then looks at the student and says: "Tsuki ga kirei desu ne" ("The moon is beautiful, right?")
I often wondered why Souseki didn't say "Aishiteru" or "Suki da yo" or any other of the many correct answers, instead of giving an obviously wrong translation. Most scholars try to explain this claiming that Souseki wanted the student to realize that the Japanese people prefer to express their romantic feelings indirectly, because doing otherwise is too embarrassing. But... I never found these explanations convincing...
But now, I think I have finally found the real reason. 
Souseki was way too cool to fall for such a transparent prank. Unlike sensei here. Yup.
You know, I often wondered about Souseki Natsume and his famous answer to the question of how to say "I love you" in Japanese.
[snip]
But now, I think I have finally found the real reason.
Lol. Asians are famous for giving convoluted nonsensical explanations to nosy whiteys who annoy them with dumb questions.
Many Westerners were mystified by that famous routine of Asian martial artists who, when breaking a plank of wood or a pile of bricks with a single strike of their bare hands, shout something like Kiai! or Hiyah! or Eeee-yah!
What was the purpose of the shout, they wondered?
When asked about that, martial arts experts usually came up with all sorts of strange explanations: it was a release of the flow of chi, it was a psychological attack, it helped with the tightening of core muscles...
I don't know what other people thought, but I myself never really understood what any of those things had to do with breaking a wooden board with a chop of your hand.
Then one day, I watched a documentary where an old karate master was asked that question – why the kiai shout? – and he gave this simple answer:
"It's a very, very old tradition of us Asian peoples. We yell like that when something hurts like a bitch."
And I was enlightened. ¯⧹_( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°)_⧸¯
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You know, I often wondered about Souseki Natsume and his famous answer to the question of how to say "I love you" in Japanese.
[snip]
But now, I think I have finally found the real reason.
Lol. Asians are famous for giving convoluted nonsensical explanations to nosy whiteys who annoy them with dumb questions.
Asking how you say something in a foreign language isn't a dumb question it's literally one of the most basic foundations of human communication.