Itadakimasu!

Saw this Odyssey article by Marie Sugoi — a glossary of terms that have no real English equivalent — and thought it was well worth sharing (for the lovely photos, too). While I do not recall hearing most of these words while we were living in Japan, many of the concepts are familiar — particularly the notion that beauty comes from imperfection, as with this broken piece of pottery mended with a bit of gold, an art form known as Kintsukuroi.

Click here for more "Beautiful Japanese Words That Don't Exist in English." The one term I recognize is Itadakimasu, or "I will have this," the Amen of a secular form of grace recited by school children before meals...

wait...this is a car commercial?

I've watched this "Baseball Party" ad about eight times now. You can find it on the Toyota website here. There's a behind the scenes/making-of video too. I managed to capture a few screen shots, which I kindly share below. (And yes, Tokyo side streets really are this clean and tidy.)