In this issue of Ray’s Diary, Ray discusses the fact that there are numerous bicycle riders in Japan, a sharp contrast to Korea, where it’s usually college students who own and ride bikes around.

In Japan, however, it seems everyone rides, men, women, children, highschool kids, grandmas, businessmen, I mean everyone. It’s not an uncommon sight to see a housewife with a kid in the back, pedaling while holding an umbrella in the rain.

I posit that in Korea, it’s not as prevalent, since it’s so cheap to get around, and there are buses aplenty, as well as low cab fares and subway fares.

In the final pane of this comic, Ray and his younger brother are using archaic Japanese, easily identified with the use of “gozaru” (a form of “desu”), and terms such as Sessha[拙者]せっしゃ, meaning I or me used humbly, and Wagahai[我輩]わがはい, which is another archaic “I”, but with perhaps a hint of arrogance.

Thanks once again to Ray for great comic.

“Ray’s Diary” is drawn and written by a Korean expatriate named Han Yong Jong, living in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan. I find his drawing style and humor strangely captivating, as he chronicles his daily life living in Japan as a Korean.

I had the pleasure of him emailing me and we corresponded a bit, and I hope he won’t mind my reprinting his old comics here with my translation of his Japanese and Korean into English, so those who can’t read either Korean or Japanese can also enjoy these comic strips.

Also, the author even includes mini Japanese lessons on the bottom.

You can view his latest comics online at his website (warning, it’s kind of hard to navigate, since it’s Cyworld, a notoriously insular and difficult to navigate website, kind of like Korean version of Myspace or something.)

In this installment of Ray’s Diary, he talks about those ubiquitous tissue dispensing people that are all over large cities in Japan. They’re mighty handy, since you can practically solve all your noseblowing needs just by strolling through some busy intersections and looking for these tissue giver-outers. At close to 100 yen each for a pack of “handy tissues” in Japan, they’re practically giving away money on the street.

And what are they advertising? It seems almost anything and everything, but mostly pachinko parlors, from the ones that I’ve received.

忘

Kun-yomi: わす(れる) [wasu-reru]

On-yomi: ボウ [bou]

忘れる: わすれる [wasureru]- to forget

忘年会: - ぼうねんかい [bou nen kai] - a year end party

覚

Kun-yomi: おぼ（える、さ（ます）、さ（める）
[obo-eru, sa-masu, sa-meru]

On-yomi: カク [kaku]

覚える: [oboeru] to remember or to memorize

目覚まし時計- めざましどけい [me za mashi do kei] an alarm clock
感覚- かんかく [kan kaku]: sense, or a sensation

an ultra man mezamashi dokei

送

Kun-yomi: おく (る) [oku-ru]
On-yomi: ソウ [sou]

送る: [okuru] to send (something), to escort someone, to see someone off, or to live a life.

送別会- そうべつかい[sou betsu kai]: A farewell party
運送会社- うんそうがいしゃ [un sou gai sha]: A shipping company

An example of a “運送会社”.

渡る

わたる [wataru]
meaning: to go across, to cross over something

思い出す

おもいだす [omoi dasu]

meaning: to remember

待合室

まちあいしつ [machi ai shitsu]
meaning: waiting room

待 wait (easily confused with “時”, which means time or hour)
合 join, to fit, or suit
室 room or a chamber

洗濯機

せんたっき [sen tak ki] (alternatively, it can also be pronounced “sen taku ki”, presumably in kansai?)

meaning: washing machine

洗 to wash, inquire into(eh?)
濯 laundry, to wash, rinse
機 mechanism, opportunity, machine

脱衣所

だついしょ [datsu i jo] (as oppsed to “datsu i sho“, which i am informed is not a common pronunciation. sorry about the confusion!)

meaning: dressing room

脱 undress, get rid of, escape from, take out
衣 garment, clothing, dressing
所 place