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on a package I got from Japan......embarrassed that I'm not sure which direction is correct

thanks again, z
 

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bldrhouse said:
on a package I got from Japan......embarrassed that I'm not sure which direction is correct

thanks again,
Click to expand...
You took the picture with the correct orientation, good job. Does the package have any relation with Seto?
I think it might say 瀬戸 which is a city in Aichi, most famous for a big bridge.
 
Thank you for compliment on direction.

Contained some WWII "Last Ditch" Type 4 Ceramic grenades
FYI:
and this link contains this info: Kilns famous for the production of traditional Japanese pottery, such as Arita, Bizen and Seto were pressed into service to manufacture these relatively crude weapons.
 
mdchachi said:
I think it might say 瀬戸 which is a city in Aichi, most famous for a big bridge.
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Sorry, this is nitpicky and not really relevant to the topic at hand, but Seto in Aichi is most famous for its pottery (as alluded to in the response above).

The Great Seto Bridge (瀬戸大橋) connects Honshu with Shikoku over five islands and the Seto Inland Sea.
It's located in western Japan and is nowhere near the landlocked city of Seto, Aichi.
 
It says "Sakura no koi" or "sakura love" (specifically in the context of romantic love, not just love as in "I love cherry blossoms! They're so beautiful!")
 
another Kanji from the Japanese ceramic grenade packaging
 

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bentenmusume said:
It says "Sakura no koi" or "sakura love" (specifically in the context of romantic love, not just love as in "I love cherry blossoms! They're so beautiful!")
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Thanks! Though, I wonder if the maker intended it to be love of cherry blossoms instead of romantic love. Maybe they should have picked different kanji? I'm just a novice, so...🤷
 
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I have no idea if the person who made it is even a native speaker, or what their intent was, so it's really impossible to say.

The phrase, as is, is an abstract/poetic/romantic phrase that conveys the general meaning "Romantic love of (i.e. related in some way to) cherry blossoms".

If they just wanted to mean a general "love" of cherry blossoms with no overtones of romance, they wouldn't have used the word 恋（こい）, unless they're not a native speaker and they don't understand the nuance.
 
bentenmusume said:
I have no idea if the person who made it is even a native speaker, or what their intent was, so it's really impossible to say.

The phrase, as is, is an abstract/poetic/romantic phrase that conveys the general meaning "Romantic love of (i.e. related in some way to) cherry blossoms".

If they just wanted to mean a general "love" of cherry blossoms with no overtones of romance, they wouldn't have used the word 恋（こい）, unless they're not a native speaker and they don't understand the nuance.
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The noren is being sold by a Chinese seller, though I don't know if it was designed by a Chinese person. I've no skill in reading Mandarin, but what I can look up suggests that they still mean the same thing when using the Chinese reading. I'm not sure how much of a difference context might make between the two. Maybe it's meant to conjure imagery of a romantic date under the cherry blossoms. Works for me. Thanks again!
 

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Sayuri Mai said:
I've no skill in reading Mandarin, but what I can look up suggests that they still mean the same thing when using the Chinese reading. I'm not sure how much of a difference context might make between the two.
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Regardless of whether it was made by a Chinese person, the fact that it contains the hiragana character の means that the phrase, as written, is definitely intended to be Japanese. The kanji characters 桜 and 恋 could also exist in Chinese, but the phrase, as given, is not meant to be a Chinese language expression. If it were, it would not include the uniquely Japanese character の.

Sayuri Mai said:
Maybe it's meant to conjure imagery of a romantic date under the cherry blossoms. Works for me. Thanks again!
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This is one (perhaps the most likely) interpretation, though if it was produced by a non-native Japanese speaker, there's really no telling what they had in mind.
 
As bentenmusume-san pointed out, even if the maker is Chinese, they used 桜の恋 as a Japanese phrase since there is hiragana の there, which is only used in Japanese. If they are Chinese, they could misunderstand the meaning and misuse the kanji.

It seems to be intended to be personification to my Japanese eyes; "cherry blossoms love something (season, atmosphere, etc)", for instance, cherry blossoms bloom because they love the season(spring).
 
bentenmusume said:
Regardless of whether it was made by a Chinese person, the fact that it contains the hiragana character の means that the phrase, as written, is definitely intended to be Japanese. The kanji characters 桜 and 恋 could also exist in Chinese, but the phrase, as given, is not meant to be a Chinese language expression. If it were, it would not include the uniquely Japanese character の.


This is one (perhaps the most likely) interpretation, though if it was produced by a non-native Japanese speaker, there's really no telling what they had in mind.
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I see. I didn't realize "no" (sorry, Japanese keyboard isn't working) was uniquely Japanese. So it's strictly a hiragana symbol then, that wasn't brought into the Japanese alphabet from Chinese Hanzi. I can more easily recognize Hiragana at this point, so maybe that will help me distinguish between Hanzi and Kanji readings more easily. Sheesh. Learning kanji can really drag you down a rabbit hole. :D
 
Sayuri Mai said:
sorry, Japanese keyboard isn't working
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Sayuri,

If you cannot type the character の , you can just copy and paste it from another person's post. That is how I did it, for this post.

You are correct, the character の does not appear in Hanzi. In Chinese we use the character 的 (de) for that meaning.
 
What does the word オーパ mean? I came across it in this video about a high school music band in Japan.

 
Probably that's correct. We can see オーパミュージックフェスタ OPA MUSIC FESTA in the hanging banner on the back wall. OPA seems like an abbreviation of Oriental Park Avenue.

What came to my mind initially was a book title オーパ written by 開高健 Kaikō Takeshi, which comes from a Portuguese word "opa", meaning "Wow!".
 
Thanks Toritoribe!

My first guess was "orchestral performance" but I guess that is not right.
 
Hi

I've been watching a Japanese drama, but I can't really get this phrase. It's a photographer who is saying this (audio attached).
English subs suggest the following translation:
When I notice something is beautiful, that beautiful thing only lasts for a while.
I want to take another shot of that beautiful moment.
I feel like I've always been looking for it...
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I'm not sure about 'that beautiful thing only lasts for a while.' part. I keep hearing きれいなものはも同じで
I'd be grateful if someone would help with the correct transcription and translation.
I'm actually confused about this whole passage.
 

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Judging from the context, he seems to be saying きれいなものはもうなくて "that beautiful thing has already been disappeared/lost".
 

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