A. 折り紙　B. 将軍　C. 大君　D. 津波　E. 俳句　F. 盆栽　G. 帝

We at the Wandering Wordsman would like to welcome back Shirley.  Let it never be said that we do not appreciate her attitude (valor is indeed the better part of discretion, at least in this game).  We also would have liked to celebrate her triumphant return, but, unfortunately, it seems like she has a little rust to knock off after her long vacation.  Her numerous guesses, while highly entertaining, were entirely wrong.  But that’s okay.  Experts in second-language acquisition have found that sometimes the best thing your students can do is to make mistakes.

This week provided an interesting variety of viewpoints on character A.  Shirley saw it and reeled in terror.  Dragon, on the other hand, perceived it as simple math.  Theoman thought it looked like folded paper, which is exactly what it is: origami.  Also interesting to note is a fact that I think most of you did not realize, which is that the second character is not a kanji.  The ri in origami is a hiragana character, and it means only that: the sound ri.  Knowing your picture characters is key, but it takes more than that to be able to read Japanese.

B was the only completely ignored item on the list this time, and I don’t think it was particularly wise of you to snub the shogun like that.  On the other hand, the tycoon (or taikun) received plenty of attention.  This was a word used to describe the most powerful man in Japan before they borrowed the Chinese idea of calling him an Emperor, though I believe most people think the alternate pronunciation of ookimi was more commonly used.  And I’m sure he would have appreciated being compared to poetry, as Shirley did.

D is our tsunami, and if you want a way to remember that, you can say that the two characters are images of water (left side) falling against buildings (right side).  Shirley was closest in her attempted identification of E, but she mixed her visual arts up with her written ones: it is not the simple grace of folded paper but the simple grace of the three-line haiku.  I agree that F has a lot going on, and it does almost call to mind the topsy-turvydom of an operetta at the Savoy, but it is, in fact, bonsai (all those little branches needing to be trimmed, I suppose).  Which leaves us with, last but not least, G as the mikado.  He was a little upset at first that no one guessed him, and also that someone thought he looked like a miniature tree, but we talked it over and decided to let the punishment fit the crime: those people who failed to figure out the correct answer will be forced to continue participating in the game week after week after week.

This week’s punishment will be geography, specifically, islands of Japan.  For those of you not familiar with the layout of Japan, it consists of way too many islands to list them all here, so we’re only going to be working with five of the better known ones: Honshu, the big one; Hokkaido, the one up north; Kyushu, the one down south; Shikoku, the one that’s all tucked away down there; and Okinawa, the one that’s far away from all the rest.  Since I believe all of my readers have met at least one person from Shikoku, I’ll have you try to find that one.  (Quick reminder to those with insider information: let other people have a chance to guess before you jump in).

A. 沖縄　B. 九州　C. 四国　D. 北海道　E. 本州