Author Archives: connorye

猿も木から落ちる

Nationality: Japan
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Tokyo
Performance Date: 4/19/16
Primary Language: Japanese
Language: English

SF was born in Tokyo, Japan, and lived there for 10 years. She is a student at USC majoring in Business Administration. SF is in my Introduction to Music Technology class and she had a ton of Japanese folklore to share with me.

Proverb: 猿も木から落ちる

Pronunciation: saru mo ki kara ochiru

Literal Translation: Even a monkey falls from a tree

Meaning: It means nobody’s perfect, and that everybody makes mistakes.

My informant learned this proverb in Japanese class.

I found this proverb interesting because there are many variations of it from different cultures. With this proverb it recognizes the universal fallibility in humans. Even in cultures that highly prize expertise and perfection, there is still an acknowledgement of some sort of the phrase “we are all human.”

Tanabata

Nationality: Japan
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Tokyo
Performance Date: 4/19/16
Primary Language: Japanese
Language: English

SF was born in Tokyo, Japan, and lived there for 10 years. She is a student at USC majoring in Business Administration. SF is in my Introduction to Music Technology class and she had a ton of Japanese folklore to share with me.

“In Japan, there’s a festival called ‘tanabata’ on July 7th. On that day each year, people say that 織姫 (orihime) and 彦星(hikoboshi), a princess and a prince who were separated by the milky way, get to reunite for just one night.”

“How did you learn about this festival? Have you taken part in it before?”

“Yeah, my parents told her about it, and I’ve also participated in it each year. You put a wish on an index card and put it on a bamboo tree.”

“Is tanabata celebrated in certain regions or cities, or is it celebrated everyhwere?”

“It’s celebrated all throughout Japan.”

It seems to be that this festival is based off of an old Japanese myth, as implied by my informant. Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to ask her the full backstory behind the origin of the festival. It is interesting to note that the festival takes place all throughout Japan, which suggests that the festival is probably quite ancient. If it was a newer tradition, the festival would probably be celebrated in select regions of Japan instead.

Milo Dinosaur

Nationality: Canada, Hong Kong
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Hong Kong
Performance Date: 4/27/16
Primary Language: English
Language: Cantonese

DC was born and raised in Hong Kong. He went to an international school there, and a lot of his friends from high school were also international students from different parts of the world. He currently attends USC as a Business Administration major in the Marshall School of Business. DC is also my roommate.

“So there’s this legend that passes around the Singapore National Service until today. The moral of the story is don’t let people serve you drinks. And…so, there’s this guy who is the star soldier, not soldier, but more like national service guy. He was super fit, very capable, but then one day he started having a lot of pain in his back. Um, and then he wasn’t sure why so he went to the doctor. And the doctor was asking him a lot of questions, and it got to the point where the doctor asked: ‘Have you ever done anal sex?’ And then the guy was really confused and said no, and then the doctor said ‘your condition is common for someone who does anal regularly.’ And so the guy was still really confused. A bit of time later, he realized that almost every night, his roommate served him Milo Dinosaur – which is a type of chocolate powdered milk drink – and it was always right before he slept. And because he always felt the pain in the morning, he came to the conclusion that his roommate had been drugging him and doing anal sex when he was asleep.”

“Who told you about this story?”

“My friend who’s serving in the army right now told me, and I asked another friend who currently attends USC and went to the Singaporean army as well, and he confirmed it.”

The first time my roommate told me this story was at the beginning of the school year, when we somehow stumbled upon the topic of the Singaporean army. He started laughing and asked me if I knew about the “Milo Dinosaur myth,” to which I said no and he proceeded to tell the story to me. I thought the story was pretty funny but at the same time kind of scary, and it also perpetuates the army stereotype/saying “don’t drop the soap,” suggesting that if you are not careful, you can easily receive unwanted sex.

The Tale of the Lazy Boy

Nationality: USA
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Palo Alto
Performance Date: 4/19/16
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin

WW is a first generation Chinese American from Palo Alto, California. She is double majoring in Business and Accounting at USC Marshall School of Business.

“My favorite story my mom used to tell me was the story of a boy who was extremely lazy. His mom had to go on a trip, so in order to make sure he ate, she baked him a carb of some sort to go around his neck, so he could always have food within his reach. When she came back, to her horror, HER SON WAS DEAD because he was too lazy to turn the bread around when he ate all of the food in front of him.”

I think I have heard this story once or twice from my parents as well when I was growing up. It also has a clear moral to the story, which I feel makes it more-so of a tale than a legend (as the main purpose of the story is to teach a lesson). I personally felt that stories such as this one were more effective in getting a point across than tales with talking animals, for example, because the setting is more realistic but the actions of the characters are so exaggerated that they make me think “I would never do something like that” while at the same time providing a reminder to myself not to end up like the lazy boy.

Bending a Blade with Bare Hands

Nationality: USA, Korea
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Durham
Performance Date: 4/19/16
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

JK is a first generation Korean American from Durham, North Carolina. He is a spring-admit freshman at USC who is currently undecided.

“This is a story passed down in my family. My grandfather came from a wealthy landowning background in Korea. His family at one point were the lords of a small town in the mountains. One year there was a series of bandit raids and the leader of that group came to my great-great-something grandfather. He asked for his land and said if he didn’t give it to him, the bandit would seize the village by force. At the meeting my great-great-something grandfather mentioned the bandit had a nice sword and asked to see it. The bandit agreed and allowed him to hold it. My great-great-something grandfather then, while admiring the blade, bent it in half with his bare hands. The bandits then left and never came back.”

I thought this piece was pretty unique because it is a story specifically passed down within a family, as opposed to one that has circulated within a larger community. The story highlights the qualities such as bravery and strength of the “great-great-something grandfather” and seems to be a revered one to have passed down so many generations. In some sense it also suggests that these qualities also run in the family and can inspire younger generations.