A Tale for the Time Being (59 page)

17
. Can’t find references to medical cafés or Bedtown. Is she making this up?

18
. 
Zuibun nagaku ikasarete itadaite orimasu ne
—“I have been alive for a very long time, haven’t I?”
Totally impossible to translate, but the nuance is something like:
I have been caused to live by the deep conditions of the universe to which I am humbly and deeply grateful
. P. Arai
calls it the “gratitude tense,” and says the beauty of this grammatical construction is that “there is no finger pointing to a source.” She also says, “It is
impossible to feel angry when using this tense.”

19
. 
S
ō
desu ne . . .
—Hmm, yes, I suppose that’s so . . .

20
. 
juzu
(
)—a Buddhist rosary.

21
. 
bosatsu
(
)—bodhisattva, awakened being, Buddhist
saint.

22
. A stout, compact tome, perhaps a crown octavo, measuring approx. 5 x 7½ inches.

23
. Cover is worn, made of reddish cloth. Title is embossed in tarnished gold letters on the front and again on the spine.

24
. Harajuku (
)—area in Tokyo famous for youth culture and street
fashion.

25
. 
peipaakura
(
)—papercrafts, from the English
paper
+
craft.

26
. 
juku
(
)—cram school.

27
. 
kissa
(
)—coffee shop.

28
. 
Aru toki ya / Koto no ha mo chiri / Ochiba ka na

aru toki ya
—that time, sometime, for the time being (
). Same kanji used for Uji (
).

koto no ha
—lit., “leaves of speech” (
). Same kanji used for kotoba (
), meaning “word.”

ochiba
—fallen leaves, with a pun on
ha
(
), implying fallen words.

ka na
—an interrogative particle that imparts a sense of wonder.

29
. Ginkgo leaves are used in tea to enhance memory. Ginkgo trees were often planted on Buddhist temple grounds to help monks
memorize sutras.

30
. “I never think anyone gives a shit,” Oliver said. “Is that sad? I don’t think it’s sad.”

31
. “Once the writer in every individual comes to life (and that time is not far off), we are in for an age of universal
deafness and lack of understanding.”—Milan Kundera,
Book of Laughter and Forgetting
, 1980.

32
. 
seppuku
(
)—ritual suicide by disembowelment; lit. “stomach” + “cutting.” The same kanji are used in
harakiri
(
).