My Rebirth Part IV

I noticed at first glance the elegancy and complexity of characters that made up the Japanese language. Once my foreign eye overcame this shock of complex looking characters that made up this written language, I noticed how the characters were carefully written top-to-bottom, right-to-left. It did not my critical examination to see how each stroke flew to another, mapping out this appearing to be complex writing system. The characters being flawlessly and quickly written, yet so accurately executed. I looked at the amount detail that each character possessed; it was unbelievable. One wrong stoke on a character could make the difference in what is legible and to what is illegible. This language having a very unique style and sound when used verbally soon becomes an obsession of mine to master. I soon recognized that this verbal language of art that I was hearing was so distinctive to recognize and could not possibly be confused with any other language in existence. I soon felt my life being consumed in obsession with the sound of this language that was making my body to start to have feeling to it. “What was this,” I thought. Could I feel my arms and legs coming to life? There were these tones and pitches in this language that just did not exist in any other language. This language is verbally used as smoothly as it is written. To the foreign ear, this language first appears as a language spoken very quickly and even noisy. This is not at all what I heard. I then truly listened to this language being articulated, and annunciated. I do not think that many Americans can even annunciate, with my many past encounters with not being able to understand a person’s speech due to them having poor annunciation. It was very easy to hear each syllable being in the Japanese language though. I soon started hearing these syllables, and I then realized how each syllable was being effortlessly and flawlessly executed. This language is not spoken fast by any means. Instead, it is spoken very beautifully with listener depending on the speaker to annunciate and express each syllable effectively. The pitch of each syllable being spoken is something else that caught my interest. Some syllables I hear are spoken flat and others at a high tone. I then hear other syllables that are extended to even a few seconds sometimes, while ending with a high or flat tone. This was true beauty in speech, with the Japanese language not requiring ridiculously underused vocabulary, speech, and metaphors that are used in the English language to make the users appear to be more intelligent, when in fact the user is using only mere synonyms of common words that everyone knows, to give off this understood to be intelligence among many Americans.

“Would this language even be possible without the people that live here,” I thought? These people seemed to be a living, walking, and breathing fantasy. I thought it was only in our dreams that we could come in contact with such beings. It really is difficult for me to describe the very nature and culture that makes up the people of Japan, but here is an attempt to do so. With each encounter I noticed that the people were generally very reserved and shy. Even if this is so, I wondered why the people of this country were very easy to open up and to have a really enjoyable time with. Once I opened them up, the true beauty of their customs and culture really did emerge. I am not talking about this loud and obnoxious culture that is present in America, but a culture that is civilized, yet not too formal. I was first greeted with a bow that was conducted several times. This bow was the equivalent of the western handshake and I thought of how this was by far a much more sanitary means of greeting. Bowing was done several times when these people greeted me and others. Was this to ensure that they are being respectful to their greeter? Bowing of several times appeared to be conducted in more formal situations, whereas when the greeting was informal, a single bow seemed to suffice. I observed in astonishment after the people greeted with one another. They greeted each other with a very energetic tone, and continued a lengthy conversation with one another in this manner. This was observed when I walked on the street day after day not noticing a difference from the day before. Each day I saw people use this tone while greeting and carrying on conversation that was full of energy. How could they greet each other day to day being full of energy on the outside even if perhaps they did not feel energy in the inside? I soon felt my body start to feel this energy inside; knowing without the people of this country I would stay this lifeless corpse.

To be continued...