Self-isolation in a 和室 (traditional tatami mat room)

One of the most popular comedians in Japan, Nobuyuki Tsuchiya has caught corona virus.

He is from the manzai (comedy duo) ナイツ (Knights). I enjoy their light and chatty podcasts.

I listened to a podcast earlier from when Tsuchiya was isolating at home. He first reassured listeners he was げんき (well/healthy).

Tsuchiya was speaking another curiously-named manzai pair ドランクドラゴン　DORANKU DORAGON (Drunk Dragon) appearing in the podcast

Tsuchiya was broadcasting from the 和室 わしつ WASHITSU (traditional Japanese room with tatami mats) in his house.

和室 わしつ WASHITSU are great places to stay, but 7 days of the week must be a challenge.

He moaned: ずっと和室にいる　ZUTTO WASHITSU NI IRU (I am in the tatami-mat room all the time).

ずっと ZUTTO (continuously / all the time) is a common and useful onomatopoeic word.

To really emphasise the length of time for longer, you can hold the middle sound for longer. ずーっと　ZUUTTO.

Isolating in the tatami-mat room, Tsuchiya complained: こしがいたい KOSHI GA ITAI (lower back hurts)

If you have ever stayed in a washitsu, you may know why.

Tsuchiya explained: 和室だから、いすがない WASHITSU DAKARA ISU GA NAI (It’s a traditional room, so there are no chairs)

ドランクドラゴン (Drunk Dragon) made fun of him.

One of the Drunk Dragons said that from おくさん OKUSAN (Tsuchiya wife)’s point of view, this is: 反省をしなさいという時期 HANSEI O SHINASAI TO IU JIKI (the time for Tsuchiya to reflect on his behaviour)

反省 HANSEI (reflection / repentance on behaviour) is a word that I got used to hearing a lot when living in Japan. I had much to HANSEI on, both good and bad.

The other Drunk Dragon suggested Tsuchiya use the time to do some: 座禅 ZAZEN (seated Zen meditation) or 瞑想 MEISOU (meditation)

I loved the short conversation and interaction between the 3.

They were making light of what could be a dark and difficult.

Discovering he had to stay at home, the hardworking Tsuchiya initially thought: 休めるかな　YASUMERU KANA (I guess I can rest).

But his OKUSAN had better ideas. Instead, he was doing lots of そうじ　SOUJI (cleaning).

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Students have recently asked me about how numbers are written in Japanese.

When I looked up Nobuyuki Tsuchiya online, I saw his birth date: 1978年10月12日.

同い年　ONAI　DOSHI　(the same age as me)

You can see decimal numbers are used with kanji to represent dates.

The format is compact and clear.

If it was in hiragana, it would be: せんきゅうひゃくはちじゅうねんじゅうがつじゅうににち　(SENKYUUHYAKUHACHIJUUNENNJUUGATSUJUUNINICHI).

A bit of a eyeful and mouthful