JapanesePod101.com Blog

When you feel uneasy, where do you sense it in your body? Perhaps you feel “butterflies” deep in your belly. Maybe you become lightheaded. You could even get cold feet!

Two Japanese expressions about uneasiness make use of a kanji we’ve seen for two weeks running:

騒 (SŌ, sawa(gu): clamor, noise, disturbance; to make a fuss)

Both expressions locate uneasiness in the chest:

心騒ぎ (kokoro sawagi: uneasiness)     heart + disturbance

One could see this expression as referring to a disturbance in the heart. Or given the many meanings of 騒, one could interpret 心騒ぎ as noise in the heart! Not an ear-splitting noise, of course. Rather, it might be like the irritating static when a radio station isn’t coming in clearly.

胸騒ぎ (munasawagi: uneasiness)     chest + disturbance

The chest and the heart go hand in hand, you might say. So 胸騒ぎ essentially has the same meaning and breakdown as 心騒ぎ. In fact, the two breakdowns might be identical, in that 胸 can mean “heart” or “feelings,” just as 心 can.

A Guide to the Mind and Body …

Sample Sentence with 胸騒ぎ …

The Thing About Noise

For more unsettled feelings, we can look to the following compound:

物騒 (bussō: unsettled, troubled, dangerous)
     thing + disturbance

Sample Sentence with 物騒 …

In some words, 騒 seems to mean both “disturbance” and “noise.” Take 物騒 and add okurigana:

物騒がしい (monosawagashii: noisy, boisterous; turbulent)
     thing + noise

Now the yomi has completely changed (from on-on to kun-kun), and there’s more of an emphasis on noise. Still, the last meaning, “turbulent,” indicates a feeling of inquietude.

Thoughts on Inquietude …

These two kanji, 物 and 騒, combine in two more words:
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Welcome back survival phrase learners!

Our title today translates to, “how is the weather today?”

Fortunately, it’s been sunny, so I’ve been unable to snap one of my own umbrella photos, but this is one I found online. [Photo by: Kristen Joy Watts - http://www.kristenjoywattsphotography.com/japan%20narratives.html]

Today I listened to the following lessons:
SurvivalPhrases.com Japanese 29 & 30
JapanesePod101.com Survival Phrases 23, 24, & 25

The most important section in my opinion from today is about weather! As you may or may not know, it is the rainy season here in Japan this month, and it feels like it rains every day. I’ve been here for two weeks now, and there have only been three sunny days!

It gets depressing waking up every morning to a cloudy sky, but that is the only thing that seems to be truly consistent with the tenki, or weather, at this time of year. Sometimes it is pouring and others a mere drizzle. Yesterday, even though it rained, it was so hot outside I felt like I could hardly breathe. Today, it is raining, but it is cold outside. The temperature seems to constantly vary here despite the consistent overcast sky and precipitation.

One thing I have noticed about Tokyo is that everyone uses kasa, or umbrellas. Every place of business has umbrella racks, including the JapanesePod101.com HQ! It seems as if it is rude to bring an umbrella inside of buildings. Some places have plastic umbrella wrappers to put your wet umbrella in, so that it does not drip.

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