Mum's The Word!

09/09/09 may look cool on paper as a prestigious date but in Japan, 9s are rather ominous (9 is pronounced as kyuu in Japanese which is homonymous with the word for suffering) so I sent out a caveat to all my Nihonjin-pals.


Most have faired well, though one gal has recently had a stalker cause her trouble at work. Our receptionist at work busted her ankle while skateboarding and had the stitches out today. Apart from them, I haven't heard of any other mishaps.

Today has actually worked out well for me, since I managed to book a trip home in October for about 1100$ less than it would have cost me to go home in August or September! That means more cash to spend on Halloween goodies! Furthermore, there's a new flavour of KitKat out, きなこおはぞ味 (kinako-ohazo is a kind of soybean treat)


Apart from all that though, September 9th in Japan is normally 菊の節句 (Kiku no Sekku) It was started in 910 A.D. when the Japanese Imperial court held its first chrysanthemum show. Chrysanthemums are the symbol of the Imperial House of Japan.

The butterfly grown old,
Its spirit plays
Among the Chrysanthemums
(Enomoto Seifu, 1732-1815)