Today I was planning to write about a text message convo I had with my friend Yusuke...

...but I have a feeling I might not get to it...

...until tomorrow...

The thing is--I first met Yusuke on my first real date with Rei.

And now he's living with (& dating) my friend Asami, who I used to work with and introduced him to:



It's weird how people meet, yeah?

You might say...

運命だ。
unmei da.
It's fate.
(Literally: "fate + is.")

運命 (unmei), "fate; destiny," is such a cool word, I think.

The word 運 (un) all by itself means "luck."

You can say:

運がいい
un ga ii
I'm lucky.
(Literally: "luck + が + good.")
(Note: This could just as easily be "He's lucky" or "You're lucky." We would guess the subject from context.)

Or you can say:

運が悪い
un ga warui
I have bad luck.
(Literally: "luck + が + bad.")

Or you could ignore the kanji completely and just say:

ツイてないなあー
tsuite nai naaa
I have bad luck.
(Literally: I have no idea, haha. I think maybe this is the verb つく in te-form, but I can't say for sure [and Rei doesn't know, either]. This exact phrase is the only way I ever hear it. And it seems to always have the tsui in katakana: ツイ. )

Anyways, I think it's so strange that the kanji 運 (un) all by itself means "luck," because as a verb, it means "to carry:"

運ぶ
hakobu
to carry

So maybe if you're "lucky" you're being "carried," so to speak. I'm not sure.

命 could mean a lot of stuff, but all by itself it means:

命
inochi
life

So we can level up our understanding of 運命 (unmei) by saying that our "lives" are being "carried."

(↑ At a temple in Kyoto.)

Where our lives carry us is our fate, after all, is it not?

But maybe that's misleading, because...

命 (inochi) is a tricky word.

It only means "life" in the sense of "not dead."

The "course of your life," would be your 人生 (jinsei), and the "way you live" is your 生活 (seikatsu).

Notice those last two have the kanji 生, which means many things:

The "draft" in "draft beer!" 生ビール (nama biiru).
The "raw" in "raw fish," 生魚 (namazakana).

But perhaps most notably it's the verb for "to live:" 生きる (ikiru).

(↑ And here's a river near Kyoto.)

One of my favorite phrases in the world is:

今を生きる。
ima wo ikiru.
Live in the moment.
(Literally: "now + を + to be alive.")

(Note: I once spent a very long time trying to get a Japanese person to explain to me why it's not 今に生きる [ima ni ikiru], which would seem closer to "live in the moment," but... that was a failure. Maybe the Japanese is a bit closer to something like "Live this moment.")
(Note #2: This is pretty much just a set phrase. Memorize it as a whole.)

Oh and here are some samples for all those other "life" words:

人生短いんだよ。
jinsei mijikai n da yo.
Life is short.
(Literally: "life + short + んだよ.")
(Note: This is my excuse every time I blow off work.)

命を大切に
inochi wo taisetsu ni
Don't forget to appreciate life.
(Literally: "being alive + を + important + に)"

日本での生活はどう？
nihon de no seikatsu wa dou?
How's life in Japan?
(Literally: "Japan + で + の + life[style] + は = how?")
(Note: Stay in Japan for a while, and someone will ask you this.)

I started talking about a 2-second convo with my friend Yusuke (which I haven't even included yet), and I ended up talking about fate... then life... and life... and life.

Is this that ADD thing?

Can't help it--I love connecting concepts in Japanese.

It thrills my nerd heart.

Also, whatever--I'll break down that text convo tomorrow, I guess...

Bonus Phrases

この荷物運んでくれる？
この　にもつ　はこんで　くれる？
Will you carry these bags [this luggage] for me?

生ビールください。
なまビール　ください。
I'll have a (draft) beer, please. // Beer, please.

俺生魚ダメ。
おれ　なまざかな　ダメ。
I can't eat raw fish.
Literally: I + raw fish + no good.