Tuesday, 19 March 2024

A Soup at a Public Bath?

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A Soup at a Public Bath?

sentou_big.gifI am a Taiwanese who is very interested in Japanese culture and language. I lived in Japan for a long time and had a variety of experiences there.

Early on, I had a hard time because I was still learning the language and wasn’t used to the country. Yet, I had just turned twenty, young and bold. Because I also come from a county where people use Chinese characters, I used to brag to my friends that if I saw Kanji (Japanese characters based on Chinese characters), I could figure out their meanings, although I didn’t speak the language well.

A few months after I had arrived in Japan, I was getting used to the way of life there. One day, I plucked up the courage to go to a soup restaurant alone. Then, a woman there told me, “You can’t get in unless you take off your clothes!” Stunned, I asked, “Do your customers take off their clothes in this soup restaurant?” She burst into laughter and said, “Miss, this is a Sento (public bath), not a place to eat soups.”

That’s how I came to know that the Kanji “Yu,” the sign for the Sento, could mean a public bath in Japanese, while the same character means a soup in Chinese. I went outside with a red face, apologizing, “I am sorry, I am sorry.” Learning from that experience, I came to understand how profound language is.

Yu-chan