It's: "Jishan kaminari kaji oyaji."
Translated to English it simply means: "Earthquakes, thunder, fire and father".
Obvious by the latest news: HERE, Japan has a lot of earthquakes, and it's no wonder it's at the forefront of this list. Thunder - sure... a big clap of thunder can scare the beejezus out of anybody. Fire... same... the fact that fireman race into a fire when everyone else races away... well, whatever they get paid, it's not enough. Besides, fires are always a big problem after an earthquake. Father? Well, you only need to read this blog entry about ex lovely lady, Nobuko, myself and her father to get a better understanding of that ONE.
I'm not going to talk too much about earthquakes here - well... just a bit. Did you know that in Japan, there is a superstition that catfish are the cause of earthquakes.
While I can't speak for that one, there is some evidence to the fact that catfish are sensitive to changes in the electrical currents within the Earth that precede earthquakes, as they become very active swimming around and flopping around for about six or seven hours before one actually hits.
Now, that may be an old fisherman's tale, but then again, it kind of does explain the superstition.
As well, there is a bit of Japanese mythology regarding catfish and earthquakes: Namazu (鯰) is a giant catfish who lives deep within the Earth guarded by the god Kashima who basically ties down the catfish with a very large boulder. However, whenever isn't looking, Namazu thrashes about wildly trying to escape, and causes earthquakes.
Somewhere a bit scared of Nobuko's dad - and catfish too, tasty though they are,
Andrew Joseph
Today's title is by Johnny Kidd & The Pirates: ORIGINAL1960.
PS: In the photo above Kashima surfs atop Nazuma in an unnecessary close-up of a stone carving I photographed at the Kashima shrine in Ibaraki-ken (Ibaraki Prefecture), immediately west of Tochigi-ken (Tochigi Prefecture), where I lived in Ohtawara-shi, Japan. Apparently my astigmatism was in full bloom that weekend - hence the blurriness - or was this a photo taken with a box/disposable camera purchased from a vending machine?
