Quote Japan
Interesting, odd, outrageous or informative quotes about JapanGeorge Mikes- Quotes from “The Land of the Rising Yen”
“All guests are requested to be united in bed before midnight”- Ryokan sign, quoted by George Mikes, The Land of the Rising Yen
“(Ryokan) food is tasty though puzzling” George Mikes
“Built in the eighth century. Burnt down and completely rebuilt in 893, 1217, 1526, 1718 and 1933. The present structure of this lovely 8th century temple was erected in 1965″- only slightly exaggerated history of a Japanese building, as written by George Mikes
“How is it that a physician can qualify in six years but a whore- even if she is the most accomplished and delightful whore in the world- needs sixteen?”- George Mikes, not swallowing the myth of the geisha
“In the West the average male has two wives- one after another. In Japan, he has two wives simultaneously” George Mikes
“There are no people who are completely illiterate; but there are no people who are fully literate either” George Mikes gets to the bottom of the enigma of learning kanji
“The war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan’s advantage”- a translation of the clearest reference to surrender in the speech on Japanese radio ending WWII, quoted by George Mikes
“The true samurai refused to learn arithmetic because it smelled of commerce; he was proud of his ignorance and stupidity like so many ruling classes all over the world” George Mikes
(The basic criticism of Japanese manners seems to be that)
“Japanese courtesy is useless because they would be terribly rude if only they were not so polite” George Mikes
