Paul Hartrick dot com

This past weekend I was involved in some discussion regarding Japanese Culture and foreigners experiences and views on Japanese life and culture, needless to say somethings were said that didn’t please everybody and nobody was trying to please either. All we can do is comment on what we know as individuals and listen to what other have to say. All in all it was mostly constructive and everybody put across good points.

However, 1 comment certainly grabbed my attention, and that was basically one persons view that if particular participants hadn’t formally studied Japanese Culture then they weren’t qualified to comment. All written in perfect English…hmmm… Now I haven’t formally studied Japanese, and I wasn’t the target of the comment, but with in excess of 3 years of “immersion study” it should count towards a few study credits one would think. Especially given that all my friends are Japanese, I only go out with Japanese, I live with Japanese, I read, write and Speak Japanese…. pretty much my life is Japanese….

Now this is not a tit for tat post, rather it’s advice for everyone thinking of coming to Japan, somebody already in Japan looking for a greater understanding of their environment, or somebody looking for a good read.

Please read Kokoro - Hints and Echos of Japanese Inner Life to enrich your Japanese experience.

The books name is Kokoro which is Japanese for heart. The Kanji used however is just 心(kokoro) instead of what most would expect 心臓(sinzou). So what author is trying to say is the kokoro means more than just heart, the kanji 心 also signifies the following English words: Mind, Spirit, Courage, Resolve, Sentiment, Affection and inner Meaning- just as we say in English- “The Heart of Things”……so keeping these words in mind, imagine the content of the book Kokoro. It’s written as a collection of stories and insights which aims to educate you about what you see “day to day” in the Japanese life.

The book is written by Lafcadio Hearn, (1850-1904), born in Greece to an Anglo-Irish father and Greek mother. Lafcadio was brought up in Greece and Ireland and then moved to the US when he was 19 years old. He first came to Japan in 1890 at the age of 40 were he spent the rest of his life teaching and writing. He took Japanese Citizenship, he married a Japanese and took the name Yakumo Koizumi 小泉八雲.

If you are unable to read Japanese this is probably the best book for you to get you feet wet in understanding the Japanese culture. You can read it here online or purchase to read in you favorite quite place.

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This post is tagged Japanese Culture, japanese heart, kokoro, 心