Ten promises to my dog...

Tamil and Japanese make me experience the role of languages in our daily lives. Language intertwines with day to day activities in your life, the way you think, act and respond to external events. In short, they give a new perceptions to life. And as always Japanese movies make my eyes glee with tears at some instant of time. One such was 'Inu to watashi no 10 no yakusoku', meaning the ten promises between me and doggy.

Released in 2008, 'Ten promises to my dog' expresses the bonding between the girl and the dog. The film starts with the Akari, a young woman narrating her childhood with her 'socks'. Her mother names the newly found dog 'socks' since her feet resembles socks. The ten promises are the ones her mother tells Akari. True to her name, Akari is like the unending light that the whole universe looks into. The movie also captures the feelings of the girl as she grows up.

As with most of Japanese movies, patience is the key to finish watching the movie. At one point in time, Akari reminded me of Ritu, my mentor/ex-colleague's daughter and her puppy Randy. Lots of thoughts and memories spooled from their rusted reels...

Promises are not only for dog and you, but for any new relation you might enter into!, what do you say?

'Kimi ni shika kikoenai' / 'Only you can hear me'...

If you wish me to comment on the drama in one line, I would say that it is a love story woven through telepathy. Literally translating, the title means 'none other than you can hear me', the story is about a teenage girl who has problems talking with people and she is very lonely, lacking in confidence. The boy cannot talk or hear, but he communicates with this girl via telepathy. Finally when they plan to meet, the boy dies saving this girl from an accident, and after this she does not feel alone, for she has met her own self from the future via telepathy and she has more confidence of being alone. The drama ends with the sign language of him saying that you and I are not alone...

The drama is excellently enacted and portrays the psychology of people in such circumstances.The last portion was a little bit confusing. What I liked was the concept that was never heard of and the excellent background music and tracks. The drama is little more than hundred minutes long and the sub-titles are in sensible english...

Originally written as a short story by 'Otsu-ichi', it has been adapted into movie/drama, kids-series and as Manga-comics.

The drama can be viewed online at 'My-soju'

Best Wishes Prasanna

It is one year since we had started learning Japanese, and already two of our peers left the company...Today was the third person quitting. Prasanna leaving us, makes the 'Mapu' gang(The nickname for gang of 3 persons in the class) with just one lone person. Well I wish Prasanna-san all the best for his masters degree in Italy.

Case of semiconductor

I got a product-line CD from a Japanese company. I was thrilled to see the way the word semiconductor was interpreted. The word is a series of 3 symbols Half, Conduct/guide /Body.
Really amused by the way words are formed :)