Judge: (to bailiff) Release this man at once!” Judge: And do you feel ashamed about what you’ve done? Me: Awfully sorry about the manslaughter charge, m’lord. If I am ever hauled into a Japanese court, I plan on using it as my defense. “Shyness: in Japan, it’s the universal excuse.

‘In Japan,’ the teacher assured me ‘even ghosts carry business cards'” ‘But I have his business card,’ I said, brandishing it triumphantly. He was either pulling your leg- or he was a ghost.’ “‘I don’t see how the man you met could have possibly been a direct descendant of the Oishi.

They had alligator crossing signs down on the highways. “Mac had been to America and his English was good, but idiosyncratic. It keeps my mind busy and increases my abilities.’ It also explained the extensive, if somewhat eccentric, vocabulary.” So far, I have completed three lexicons of vocabulary. “A recently retired schoolteacher, he spent his free time reading English dictionaries. “In Japan, where the women live longer than any other group on earth, where men- especially the men of an older generation- rely so heavily on women and are so lost without them… a widower is one of the saddest figures imaginable.” They say, I am sad and so I will smile in the understanding that you will realize it is only a facade that hides a hurt too deep for tears.” These smiles reveal emotions even as they seek to conceal them. I used to be baffled by smiles of sadness, but now I think I understand. It was a smile of sadness, an expression that is deeply Japanese. And that is racism at its most refined an unshakeable belief in the primacy of blood” In Japan, race is taken as being a tangible definition of someone’s talents, worth, and membership. It is racist in the deepest, purest meaning of the word. They equate racism with overt acts of violence, which are rare in Japan. “Asked if there is widespread racism in Japan, the average Japanese will be aghast at the question. As in so many things in Japan, it is proper behaviour that is the essence of worship” Training and proper knowledge are absolutely necessary, but a deep spirituality is not mandatory. “Priesthood is not a calling in Japan it is a hereditary post. Will Ferguson- quotes from “Hokkaido Highway Blues”

Hokkaido highway blues by will ferguson