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19th January - Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2026
This article is triggered by the following site:
Before reviewing those "Beautiful Japanese Words", let me mention that it is not surprising that a particular word (or a phrase) in one language or culture does not exist in another language or culture.
Explaining the concept of 清貧 "pure poverty" to people in EE.UU is an ordeal of near-impossible difficulty. I even feel it might be fundamentally untranslatable: honest poverty, honorable poverty, frugal living...
Rubbish aside, Finnish has a bunch of modal verbs that don’t have an English equivalent, and this is nothing special.
In the polysynthetic languages like the Inuit languages, for example Inuktitut, a word could differ significantly from what I would expect in German, making me want to double-check the dictionary to confirm the meaning of “word.”
In the most populous country on this planet, where monosyllabic tonal languages are spoken, what is expressed in various human languages as follows is NOT SUPPOSED to exist😶
Menschenrechte, Human rights, Derechos humanos,
Homaj rajtoj, Droits de l'homme…
Literally it does exist, but utterance of the word would be a suicidal act☠️
Back to beautiful Japanese words:
<1> Nagi 凪 ✨👍
This is my favorite Japanese word, as explained in the following article⬇️
<2> Kaizen 改善😏 ➡️ Kaizan 改竄 (falsification) is equally beautiful and practiced at the level of art as part of the culture…
<3> Komorebi 木漏れ日 ✨👍
<4> Yukigeshiki 雪景色 ❄️
<5> Yuugen 幽玄 🆗
…
<17> Wabisabi 侘寂 🆗
…
<19> Ichariba chode いちゃりば兄弟 ❓😕❓ I've never heard of this phrase. I sincerely apologize if I appear to disrespect the expressions used in Okinawa🙇🏻
…
<21> Kyouka suigetsu 鏡花水月 🆗
…
<33> Hikikomori 引き籠り ☹️
A form of severe social withdrawal, called hikikomori, has been frequently described in Japan and is characterized by adolescents and young adults who become recluses in their parents’ homes, unable to work or go to school for months or years…
I think Yosutebito 世捨て人 (= hermit) is more beautiful than Hikikomori…
…
<41> Tsujikiri 辻斬り ❌😱❌😵🆖
Beautiful❓
Who the hell suggested this word to be placed❓
Why not Kaishaku 介錯❓, which is deemed more sensible.
Here is a recent lovely article, the title of which contains 介錯⬇️
Tsujikiri/Tsujigiri is utterly different from Kaishaku 介錯 beyond comparison.
The guy who suggested this word is probably malevolent.
Those m0r0n1c politicians with IQ << 10⁻², who could be tested for a new sword or a chainsaw, would not come up with this kind of espièglerie.
Huh…😵
This is absurd, but absolutely nothing compared to what has been actually taking place since Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2025:
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