Jan 30, 2025
Guests:
K-san, M-san, A-san, J-san, S-san
Discussion Content:
When K arrived, she said she found her lost diary, and pointed out that the cover material was the same as the material of her bag – a type of crocodile-skin style design. After she had someone make her bag, there was some material left over, so she used it to make a book cover for her diary. She said it was peeling off a little, and I asked, “How did you stick it on?”, and she said, “With glue”.
K then asked me, “Do you live close?”, and I answered, “I live EXTREMELY close – just 4 minutes and 20 seconds from my kitchen to where I punch-in.” She then wondered why I say “from my kitchen”, rather than just from door-to-door. I replied that I wanted to know the exact amount of time it takes from the moment I decide to leave home - not merely from my front door – and I am usually in the kitchen when I decide to leave.
J said that he liked that kind of thinking – that is, being precise in the exact timing – because he sometimes has problems with his wife and daughters being late for the train because they don’t know exactly how long it takes to get there.
When he moved in to the apartment, the real estate agent said it takes 8 minutes to the station, but that was incorrect. When you add in the elevator time, and traffic light times, etc., it can take 14 minutes. However, his wife still seems to assume it takes only 8 minutes, and thus sometimes misses the train. J is also worried that his daughters, who tend to take after their mother rather than their father, will also develop the same bad habit.
Regarding the travelling times that real estate agents often add to their advertising, I said that I once saw on a TV show that they don’t actually calculate the literal travelling time, but rather just draw a circle on a map based on a radius from the train station, and any place that falls within that circle is advertised as being that amount of time from the station. Of course, this method ignores the reality of actual walking paths that usually have to follow a much more indirect line to the station.
However, J responded that real estate agents these days do in fact have a more accurate method, and they calculate it using Google maps and a standard amount of time to move a certain distance. Still, there can be all sorts of reasons why the actual time it takes can be different from the advertised time, so people need to work out their own, specific travelling time in order to avoid being late, etc.
Having mentioned the word “radius”, I then asked if anyone knew the word for the width of a circle, and both S and J recalled the word “diameter”. I asked how they knew it, and S said because he is an engineer, and J said because he uses it with photography and camera lenses.
I noticed that when people are thinking of an answer, they tend to look upwards towards the ceiling. I asked everyone to recall in which direction they look, and K said she looks up to the left.
Following on from that, for some reason we talked about how to tell if someone is lying. I said some people have a bad “poker face”, and there are usually facial expressions – or “micro-expressions” – that professionals can use to tell if someone is lying, in addition to using machines such as a lie-detector or “Polygraph” machine. J said there are also some people who have trained themselves to lie without displaying any signs of lying.
Finally, we talked about our spouse’s names, and what we call our spouse. J explained that the origin of his nickname being “J”, is that when he was in the USA, people would always forget his name and wonder if he was Chinese, so he chose the single letter “J” to both represent “Japan” and “Jazz”, and thus be easy to remember.
He also said that he had heard that the sound “J” can have some negative meanings in English, but I had never heard that. After checking on Google, he said that the only negative association seems to be the idea of “J-walking”, which is when people walk across a road in a diagonal path rather than a straight path, and instead of using the proper pedestrian crossing (zebra-crossing).
K wondered why it was called a “zebra” crossing, and M explained it was because of the “white and black” stripes. I noticed that she said “white and black” - which is the order in which it is said in Japanese – whereas in English we always say “black and white”.
J mentioned that addresses in Japan and the USA etc., are also in reverse order. Japan goes from big to small, whereas western countries go from small to big.
Useful phrases:
stick it on
peeling off
door-to-door
assume
radius
diameter
all sorts of reasons
Look up to the left
a lie-detector (Polygraph machine)
facial expression
micro-expression