My novel thread - questions regarding Japanese culture

[Wardibald]

Good day,


With my new novel project slowly progressing, I decided to try and get my questioning into a single thread. Which I'll update with new ones when I encounter them.

Questions with an (a) in front have been answered, but that doesn't mean another answer shouldn't be given, if you deem it appropriate.

If someone would like to know more about the story I'm building, don't hesitate to ask. For now, keep in mind I'm writing in Dutch, so I'm afraid reading what I have at the moment could be problematic.

To the questions then:

(a)*Could the name "Narumi Sugibayashi" be a real Japanese name for a woman?

*Just how polite are the suffixes behind names, and can they be used for men and women?
-san
-dono
-ue
-sama

(a)*Could a so-called "furin"( JPN Miyabi – Dubai, UAE ) be used as a way to indicate someone opens a door and enters a room? Is this never done, or are there alternatives?

*About tea ceremonies: is "Ichi-go ichi-e" common when a guest is welcomed in a Japanese home? How does this ceremony work? The subject of tea ceremony is way too complicated for me to understand at this time, so excuse me if this question sounds ignorant.


Thanks in advance for any answers given, however small.

 

[Mike Cash]

"Furin" is an illicit love affair.
"Fuurin" is wind chimes.

They are outdoors (where the wind is) so I wouldn't associate them with a door opening.

 

[Wardibald]

Okay, thanks for clearing that up.
So are there alternatives (the indoors door-opening chimes)?

 

[Toritoribe]

*Could the name "Narumi Sugibayashi" be a real Japanese name for a woman?

Yes. Narumi is a female given name, and Sugibayashi is a family name.

*Just how polite are the suffixes behind names, and can they be used for men and women?
-san
-dono
-ue
-sama

Japanese honorifics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So are there alternatives (the indoors door-opening chimes)?

Doaberu, the transliteration of the English word "doorbell", is the one.

 

[Wardibald]

Thanks for your answers, you've been very helpful

But as for the honorifics, I'm still quite confused. So allow me to be more specific:

Say a man meets a young woman, the granddaughter of a very respected man. He doesn't know her and when she introduces herself, he notices who she is and wants to show his respect, mostly towards the respected family name.
Would the suffix -dono be appropriate?

 

[Toritoribe]

No. Dono is never used in daily conversation. It's basically used only for a business title in a business letter in these days. In your case, chan or san is used depending on her age.

 

[Wardibald]

Thanks

Say this man is not very well versed in customary Japanese speech, and uses -sama. The young lady is at about 24 a bit younger than him, but not much. He does want to show a lot of respect, because her family name is very well known and universally respected, even a bit frightening. How would that sound? Overly polite, rude, silly, appropriate,...?

 

[Toritoribe]

I was talking about a common Japanese speech spoken by ordinary Japanese people. Well, then, even dono would be acceptable. Sama sounds more polite, though.

*About tea ceremonies: is "Ichi-go ichi-e" common when a guest is welcomed in a Japanese home? How does this ceremony work? The subject of tea ceremony is way too complicated for me to understand at this time, so excuse me if this question sounds ignorant.

Are you referring to an ordinary home? There usually is no tea ceremony room(chashitsu) in an ordinary house.

 

[Mike Cash]

Thanks

Say this man is not very well versed in customary Japanese speech, and uses -sama. The young lady is at about 24 a bit younger than him, but not much. He does want to show a lot of respect, because her family name is very well known and universally respected, even a bit frightening. How would that sound? Overly polite, rude, silly, appropriate,...?

A bit silly.

What era is this novel set in?

 

[Wardibald]

An alternate timeline, around the year 2000. Cultural exchange between the far east and the west has been a lot less than in reality. Science and technology are slightly more advanced.

Thanks for your answers
"A bit silly" just might be perfect

How is tea served to guests in a common home? Is it usually "matcha"?

 

[Glenski]

Typically, green tea is steeped in the kitchen, then carried to the living room or dining table on a tray with cups and poured there.

 

[Wardibald]

Typically, green tea is steeped in the kitchen, then carried to the living room or dining table on a tray with cups and poured there.

Okay
Are there no special practices or thoughts about drinking tea in a common home? I mean, when I read a wiki about tea in Japan, it seems like a very spiritual thing.

 

[Toritoribe]

No. There's no difference between coffee drinking and greentea drinking. What you read on wiki page is only about tea ceremony, not daily tea drinking.

 

[Mike Cash]

You have to avoid making your novel sound like you've watched too many samurai movies. So far, it sounds like it might be heading in that direction.

 

[Wardibald]

No. There's no difference between coffee drinking and greentea drinking. What you read on wiki page is only about tea ceremony, not daily tea drinking.

Okay, got it. Thank you. So when and by whom are tea ceremonies held?

You have to avoid making your novel sound like you've watched too many samurai movies. So far, it sounds like it might be heading in that direction.

I'll be honest: some of my questions are just to satisfy my curiosity. With others, answers may be used, or not. I kind of make it up as I go, based on what is in my head at the time. Obviously, the more I know, the better. Not only considering my writing

The alternate timeline has served me well to allow me some errors and inconsistencies, and to explain things that would otherwise be a pain, like how half the world happens to know how to speak Dutch

I do understand I'm treading a fine line in order to avoid getting too stereotypical. On the other hand, I'm sure you understand, if I don't use any cultural flavour at all, there's no point in using the Japanese setting.

I'm still mostly in the information gathering phase, it is way too early to even consider writing a short summary of the story, so don't you worry too much

 

[Glenski]

Tea ceremonies are formal affairs that most people will never experience in their lives. They are arranged for special parties to participate (dignitaries, for one, or people on tour groups). Serving tea at home is just being a little extra polite compared to hauling the pot of coffee to the table like you might do in Indiana and pouring into a cup labeled "world's favorite dad" for your neighbor.

You have to avoid making your novel sound like you've watched too many samurai movies. So far, it sounds like it might be heading in that direction.

I agree. Too many inexperienced people make that mistake. Even a veteran writer does it. I once gave a tour of Sapporo to Raymond Benson, who wanted to write a novel about James Bond returning to Japan, set partly in Sapporo. Sorry to say, but although he got the details correct, the story read more like a Wikipedia article. Every time he mentioned something culturally Japanese, he would stop and describe it too much, and it detracted from the story.

I do understand I'm treading a fine line in order to avoid getting too stereotypical. On the other hand, I'm sure you understand, if I don't use any cultural flavour at all, there's no point in using the Japanese setting.

Yes, it's understandable, but I think you'll learn far more about the culture if you just come here for a while and soak up what you need in the way of information directly. If you've already pitched this story to a publisher, you might get an advance on it to pay for the trip.

 

[Wardibald]

Tea ceremonies are formal affairs that most people will never experience in their lives. They are arranged for special parties to participate (dignitaries, for one, or people on tour groups). Serving tea at home is just being a little extra polite compared to hauling the pot of coffee to the table like you might do in Indiana and pouring into a cup labeled "world's favorite dad" for your neighbor.

So does the thought of "ichi-go ichi-e" on its own still matter to some Japanese people? I find that very intriguing, a very valuable way of thinking for when people meet, for any occasion.

I agree. Too many inexperienced people make that mistake. Even a veteran writer does it. I once gave a tour of Sapporo to Raymond Benson, who wanted to write a novel about James Bond returning to Japan, set partly in Sapporo. Sorry to say, but although he got the details correct, the story read more like a Wikipedia article. Every time he mentioned something culturally Japanese, he would stop and describe it too much, and it detracted from the story.
Yes, it's understandable, but I think you'll learn far more about the culture if you just come here for a while and soak up what you need in the way of information directly. If you've already pitched this story to a publisher, you might get an advance on it to pay for the trip.

Really, I wish that were possible. But I do not hold enough importance to my publisher for them to pay me even a fraction of the funds required for this. It would be very hard for any writer in the Dutch language area, since the market is not that big. No writer in Dutch that I know of, can live off his writing profits alone. And I am just an amateur no one has ever heard of.
On top of that, my personal life does not allow for such a trip in the foreseeable future. At this point, visiting Japan is just a dream I have.

 

[Wardibald]

It's a bit silly I didn't know editing my posts was limited in time. So I guess I'll just have to append.

*The question about honorifics has been answered.
*The "ichi-go ichi-e"-question of my post above is still up.

*New: what is the difference between a hibachi and a shichirin? I am looking for a portable heating device that can be placed on a table to keep a meal hot, or to heat it up.

 

[Mike Cash]

These days that would be a ガスコンロ in almost all cases. Or an electric hot plate.

 

[undrentide]

*Hibachi is a heater to heat the room or one's hand.
*Shichirin is a small heater to be used for cooking mostly outside.
Both using charcoal, and they are not common today, especially hibachi.
Maybe they might have been more than 50 years ago.
We use either gas or electricity for cooking and heating.

 

[Wardibald]

Imagine something small enough to be easily placed on a table. In my story, it should look traditional, but would probably use hydrogen gas for heating. How would you call that?

 

[Glenski]

If you're making up a device for your alternate history, make up a name, too.

"hydro-he" ハイドロヒ or "hydro heater" ハイドロヒーターwould be a catchy enough katakana word (for hydrogen heater).

 

[Mike Cash]

You may as well just make up everything and quit worrying about accuracy.

 

[Wardibald]

If I wanted to make up a name for it in Dutch, I wouldn't need to be here, you know
I was just wondering if something could be called "shichirin", or an existing alternative I don't know about, regardless of how it actually works. It's portable, looks like a traditional device, and heats food. Just like a "furnace" keeps its name, whether it's powered by fecal mass or hydrogen.

I'm probably going for the shichirin. The parallells (and differences) to the real world are important, or I could very well write about "a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away". Resemblance to reality is needed for the messages I want to convey, the symbology, the realism, the cultural flavours, and so on.

 

[Mike Cash]

It is getting frustrating and near impossible for us trying to provide answers based on real world objects and customs, pointing out that seemingly all of your notions of Japan are decades or even centuries out of date, only to be told you're creating your own little alternate reality and are thus going to use whatever you had in mind yourself to begin with. We are limited by reality; you are not. It is a bit crazy-making for us.