by Matthew

Osaka and Kyoto:

京の着倒れ、
大阪の食い倒れ。

食い倒れになる means “to ruin one’s fortune through extravagance in food.” Only in Japan, a nation obsessed (somewhat grandly in my opinion) with food, would there be such an expression. Anyway, 京の着倒れ、大阪の食い倒れ。means basically that people in Kyoto spend far too much on clothes, and people in Osaka spend too much on food.
My question [...]

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by Matthew

出る杭は打たれる。

Or, if you prefer —- Deru kugi ha utareru. “The nail that sticks up gets hammered down.”
My ability to roll this one out in conversation is always hampered by my inability to remember the word for “nail”.

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by Matthew

いしのうえにもさんねん [ishi no ue nimo sannen] means to sit even on a rock for three years, namely that perseverance brings success / patience is a virtue.

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