#nihonjin

Nanami Iwasaki

Once upon a time…

there was a person made from starlight and briny sea water

on a cold night, when the sky was blue and the snow clouds glittered with gritty 氷 (こおり/ice), a ray of moonlight shot through the blanket of 雲 (くも/ clouds). it punched a hole through the sky, and the smaller rays of starlight poured in.

they eagerly rushed to the ocean shores below, where they drank their fill of 水 (まず/ water), as they had been without it for several days, kept behind the clouds. All the rays left, back to the 夜空 (よそ"ら/ night sky) except for one lone little ray, it came from a star quite far away, and spent longer than the others at their watering hole that was the sea. the sea, however, was lonely. It had been lonely for quite some time. There were no 魚(さかな/fish) yet, and the humans stuck to their land settlements. The only company it got was when the starlight came down to drink. So when it saw the rest of the herd of rays leave, it seized the opportunity.

great waves rolled over the surface, kneading and twisting across the air. The water clung to the small starlight ray, and it became entangled in the 海 (うみ/ocean) . It was dragged down to the bottom of the sandy ocean floor. for three days, the little ray begged to return to it’s herd, it’s family, but the sea refused its pleas. but on the fourth day, the sea decided to listen, as the starlight was not giving it any 面白い (おもしもり/ interesting) conversation. that evening, as the moonlight pierced through the snow clouds and the ocean water, the sea made a deal.

if the starlight would leave a part of itself to stay on earth, and become a 人間 (にんげん/ human) then the ocean would set the rest of the ray free. The small ray of starlight agreed and after chipping a piece of itself with an old crab shell, it was released to return home.

meanwhile, the small human, born from starlight and in the ocean, became a beautiful warrior. They were neither boy nor girl, though the only boys and girls they met were sea creatures, since they lived their life under the waves. by the time the child had turned 二十 さあ(にじゆさあい/20 years old) they had asked the only parent they knew, the water, if they could go on land. They had heard stories about humans, with two legs like them, but unable to breathe underwater, and they were desperate to see some. Parent Ocean reluctantly agreed, and allowed the person to go onto land. “But first,” they advised “you will need a name”. And so the person, picked 星海 (ほしかい/ stars&ocean), and introduced themselves as such when they ran into their first human, within a couple of minutes of walking ashore.

I'm Amanda

This is my journal! I'm on a journey to learn two languages, Spanish and Japanese, in the next 5 months. Self learning has never come easy to me, and I'm sure I will trip up quite a bit! I will try to stay positive, and will also post inspiration and tips and I mess up and learn.

Every day I will be writing a journal in these two languages. I'm much farther along in Spanish than Japanese, so based on where I'm at and what I'm learning each week, that's how my journals will be.

こんにちわ!