wording

It is Golden Week, one of two weeks of official national holidays in Japan. Yesterday was Constitution Day, today is Between Day, and tomorrow is Children’s Day. This week is also the beginning of the Aoi Matsuri, a festival started over a thousand years ago to keep epidemics out of the capital city. As I did last year, I went to see the archers dressed in traditional costumes ride by on horses. The best ones hit all three targets on their way by. I brought Carolina (of the bicycle incident) along, and we spent the afternoon wading through Japanese people for the best view of the event.

It’s interesting to be at an event where there are translations for the tourists. This one is a particular crowd-bringer, so we were entertained with the same messages four times: Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and English. At one point, though, I must have missed the Japanese version, because I was very surprised when I heard the English translator saying, “Do not walk in the forested areas cordoned off by ropes, or you will risk incurring the wrath of the dieties.” I have to say that I have never heard this said before in any Japanese shrine or temple, so I have a feeling the translator was being creative in his admonishments to oblivious tourists.