User Comments - zhenlijiang
zhenlijiang
Posted on: Illegal taxis
February 7, 2009 at 4:25 PMthe illegal taxis in Japan are called not 黑 but 白タク shiro-taku, "white taxis", because the cars have none of the colorful paint or logos legal cabs do.
save for one guy who didn't know his way well, all my Shanghai taxi rides were good. actually most travel guides in Japan advise us not just to stick to the legal cabs but to take 大众, 巴士, or 锦江 as much as possible. but the other companies were good too, and we're maybe the world's most cautious travelers.
Posted on: 中国崛起
February 7, 2009 at 3:12 PMcalkins, many people in many wealthy countries are plenty ignorant about the rest of the world. none of us w/the opportunities for education should be excused for our ignorance, but the US is certainly not alone. and isn't it a testament to the American people's unwillingness to put up with that any more, that Barack Obama got elected president?
changye, yes, just why is our self-image apparently so low? i started thinking, and realized there was just too much to say, so decided to give up sharing my thoughts on this. let me just say the consensus is that we have a whole lot of major sorting out to do. also, i'm sure self-image will differ greatly from one generation to another. i don't think those 平成 heisei (1988-)-born suffer too much from inferior self-image. ah but on second thought they do have many complaints about their lot in life, because they just don't know what things used to be like.
Posted on: Sign Here, Please
February 5, 2009 at 12:06 PMoops, posted before i read changye's above. oh well.
wchan, actually i looked up つくし in my 日中 dictionary because i knew the name of the girl, i've never read the comics but have seen the Taiwanese drama in passing (made me laugh, they gave Jerry Yan a terrible Japanese voice that you can't turn off, to make his fans buy the DVD sets). and got 笔头菜
Posted on: Sign Here, Please
February 5, 2009 at 10:56 AMhi wchan
叫 "つくし" tsu-ku-shi 的日本人（不管是男女老少）我从来没见过，没听过。
but just because i've never heard of such a case doesn't mean there can't be anyone w/that name; it would be quite rare though. Japanese comics for girls--what do you expect. that story is fanciful in every way anyhow.
Posted on: Thoughts on Returning Home 回乡偶书
February 4, 2009 at 12:41 PMi love this image of the children--the contrast between the little ones, smiling, not knowing and the old one, sad at the realization. as i get older myself i understand. being the only one left who can remember something can be a terribly lonely feeling ...
Posted on: Sign Here, Please
February 3, 2009 at 8:00 PMhi all again, apologies for adding yet another post:
the point of 明ける is not as much an ending/beginning as it is "darkness being replaced by light".
in any case, "tonight" has to precede 明天, as a given condition.
hi changye, i had crazy hours these few days so am taking a little break now, having no commitments for wednesday other than catching a movie. yay
Posted on: Sign Here, Please
February 3, 2009 at 6:25 PMre-reading, i thought this part could be confusing.
tomorrow, or the next day, is the day of the dawn that will end tonight.
what i mean is:
the day of (ushered in by) the dawn that will bring an end to tonight.
hopefully i've made myself sufficiently 明白
Posted on: Illegal taxis
February 11, 2009 at 11:01 AMoops