I enjoyed that you give the Honcho-dori theory a clear health warning and then ask what the story reveals even if the etymology is wrong. The portrait of early Yokohama, with curiosity, commerce, exploitation, and cultural arrogance all occupying the same street, is more interesting than a tidy origin story. Ending with the better-attested examples also gives the speculation a useful boundary.
Was so glad that you introduced Simon Partner’s book The Merchant’s Tale, Christopher. That is such a magnificent study.
For your information, a small percentage of my image collection is available on my online archive, MeijiShowa. You can search by medium, theme, place, period (Bakumatsu through Showa), decade, artist or publisher, or a combination of any of these categories.
Below is a link to images of Yokohama during the Meiji period. You can change the selection by using the dropdown menus at the top of the page.
In Australian English "ripper" means excellent or outstanding. Not used very often nowadays but used to be used a lot in sports commentary. Likewise I assume borrowed during the BCOF years.
Fantastic! I hadn’t heard that one. Takes me back to my mother-in-law describing our first child (when he was behaving himself, at least!) as rippa no ko.
Another word in the American vocabulary borrowed from Japanese is "skosh." For example, "I need a skosh more cream in my coffee." Or "The jeans are a skosh too large." Obviously, from "sukoshi," an expression brought back from Japan by GIs serving in Japan during the Occupation.
I enjoyed that you give the Honcho-dori theory a clear health warning and then ask what the story reveals even if the etymology is wrong. The portrait of early Yokohama, with curiosity, commerce, exploitation, and cultural arrogance all occupying the same street, is more interesting than a tidy origin story. Ending with the better-attested examples also gives the speculation a useful boundary.
Thanks! Always worth questioning a tidy story, no matter how attractive…!
I believe https://oldphotosjapan.substack.com will have photos of old Yokohama sometime soon, at least I hope he will
Thank you - will look out for those!
And a day or so after you reply he posts this. https://oldphotosjapan.substack.com/p/yokohama-1920s-grandeur-at-the-grand?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=7yrqz
Thanks for sharing, Francis!
Was so glad that you introduced Simon Partner’s book The Merchant’s Tale, Christopher. That is such a magnificent study.
For your information, a small percentage of my image collection is available on my online archive, MeijiShowa. You can search by medium, theme, place, period (Bakumatsu through Showa), decade, artist or publisher, or a combination of any of these categories.
Below is a link to images of Yokohama during the Meiji period. You can change the selection by using the dropdown menus at the top of the page.
https://www.meijishowa.com/?all&place=Yokohama&period=Meiji
Having a look now - thanks Kjeld!
In Australian English "ripper" means excellent or outstanding. Not used very often nowadays but used to be used a lot in sports commentary. Likewise I assume borrowed during the BCOF years.
Fantastic! I hadn’t heard that one. Takes me back to my mother-in-law describing our first child (when he was behaving himself, at least!) as rippa no ko.
Another word in the American vocabulary borrowed from Japanese is "skosh." For example, "I need a skosh more cream in my coffee." Or "The jeans are a skosh too large." Obviously, from "sukoshi," an expression brought back from Japan by GIs serving in Japan during the Occupation.
Amazing! I'd never heard of that one. Thanks!