One, two...

Bright summer days are almost here in Tokyo. Sakuras have come and gone (check out some late pictures while you read), cold chilly temps are history, Tokyoiites are bundling up their well fitting winter jackets and opting for the light frilly look, the cicadas and birds are back and the trees look lush green and happy - no more spindly sticks reaching out to the skies. Also time to ruminate lazily on one of those inescapable Japanese truths...

In Japan I am learning that two trees are not quite the same as two books. Growing up as a mathemetically challenged kid (and never quite outgrowing it) little did I know that the spectre of numbers would come to haunt me again one day ! And in Japan the horror of numbers and numbering systems has caught up with me with darned venegence.The language of Japanese numbers can drive you insane sometimes.Read on...

Here I am at a flower shop wanting to ask the man for another stalk of flower (all I could afford looking at the price tags) and I begin to feel my brain quiver in its bony case,my lips purse, brows furrow...Thinking hard.The flower is long, but not cylindrical, not flat, but kind of not big nor small so then- is it 'ippon','hitotsu' or plain 'ichi'? Why is grass green? What is life? Who am I? What am I? Am I? URRRGH.. Existential questions.Momentary state of delirium/panic. Because,dahlings, all those words mean the number 1 in Japanese- but for different objects of different shapes! Ippon could be one tree, hitotsu would be a cup of coffee at Starbucks and ichi could be your door no. As many number names as things... Japanese forefathers clearly believed that making an already devilish thing (like 'rithmetic) even more wicked can only add spice to life! Any downsides to it? Nah. Except for obscure 'gai-jin's(foreigners - like me) tearing their hair over say, a stalk of dahlia...anyway...

The plot thickens when it comes to dates and days.The first of a month has a unique name (tsuitachi). Begin panic mode. After that its a variation of the hitotsu-futatsu counting system - futska(2nd) mikka (3rd)....so on. 4th of a month is yokka and 8th is yoka. Cruel illusion, I ask my Japanese sen-sei (teacher)? No she says looking at me pitifully- dont you see,the first one is yokka and the other one is yo- oka.Oh right I say scratching my head - all the time my Maths teacher's prophecies years ago ringing ominously true in my ears - 'you have no future with numbers'.

Try this if you want to navigate through the maze of Japanese 'counters' -

(Suffixes used depending on what you are counting )

-dai : machines,cars,bikes..
-mai- flat objecst like shopping bags,paper..
-hon: pens cigarettes,trees, long cylindrical objects
- hai: glasses and cups
- nin: people
- ko: fruit,cakes,eggs , small chunky objects
- satsu : books
- kai: floors (1st,2nd ..)

At the flower shop,by now managing to look calm and collected, I settle for a safe,general type "mo hitotsu kudasai"- one more (flower) please.Atleast I didnt splutter foolishly and the man did reach out for a stalk of dahlia....I must have done something right.

Since then my Japanese teacher has gently broken the news to me that animals,birds, squids(ah.to cry out loud) and horses all have different counters. I think I am safe for now. Atleast those dont figure too often on my shopping list!