IMPORTANT INFORMATION!!!

[telophase]

For those of you living in or phoning Japan, that is.

My lunchtime reading today was in The Fox and the Jewel: Shared and Private Meanings in Contemporary Japanese Inari Worship, which is basically an anthropological investigation of the many, many forms that Inari worship takes in Japan today, with special emphasis on the foxes that serve as the deities' messengers.

So, the question is: how do you tell if you're talking to a fox on the phone?



According to the author, Karen Smyers:

But unlike folk foxes in Western cultures, or Hermes, with whom the Japanese fox has much in common, the Japanese fox is not cunning of speech. He usually tricks people through appearances, not words. In fact, Meiji folk wisdom had it that foxes in human form could speak only in fragments of words. (The telephone salutation in Japanese is "moshi moshi"--so one immediately knows that the caller is a fox if only one "moshi" is forthcoming.)

Good to know.

Comments

[chomiji]

I just had the damnedest vision of a Japanese Henry Higgins coaching a fox spirit through a proper phone greeting ... .

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Hee! XD

[lady-noremon.livejournal.com]

Knowledge to live by, the same as "Silva or Penguin"!

Thanks for sharing almighty Telophase :) *bow*

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I have made your life infinitely better now that you can tell the difference between Silva and a penguin and how to tell when a fox is calling you.

[lady-noremon.livejournal.com]

Yes, and now I can feel so much safer at night!

(what if the fox is from the Kansai region?)

[telophase.livejournal.com]

(I think in that case you're just screwed. XD)

[lady-noremon.livejournal.com]

Oh joy, well as long as it doesn't try to drain my soul through phone sex, then I guess random calls from foxes is perfectly fine X3

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

Heh, I thought you already knew. I forget when I learned of this. Maybe when I read The Anime Companion.

[marith.livejournal.com]

Hmmmmmmmmm. Can this be extended?

If someone answers the phone with....

Moshi moshi, you know they're Japanese, or practicing.

Moshi, you know they're a kitsune.

Mushi mushi, you know they're Ginko.

Mocchi mocchi, you know they're hungry.

...

Maybe not.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Round here, Mole mole means you're contemplating Mexican food for dinner.

Mushi mushi, you know they're Ginko.

Or rachelmanija, trying to buy bug repellent in Japan.

[marith.livejournal.com]

Round here, Mole mole means you're contemplating Mexican food for dinner.

Or Mola mola, if they're looking for the Monterey Aquarium?

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Or Moolah moolah if they're short on cash?

[marith.livejournal.com]

Or Mullah mullah, if you've reached the office of the coordinator for Islamic affairs?

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

I am so glad to know this! I often have pointless conversations with people who, it turns out, are really foxes on the phone.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

And now you know how to avoid them! Unless you're bored and want to talk to a fox on the phone!

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

It's better than working sometimes!

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I should have used this icon. XD

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

It's important to have at least one cracked-out phone icon.

[chibicharibdys.livejournal.com]

My friend's younger brother, no matter how hard he tries, can only say "mochi mochi," so we were wondering...

[telophase.livejournal.com]

NOW YOU KNOW!

[sho-sunaga.livejournal.com]

LOL! Now I know who that weird phone call last night without caller ID was from.... IT WAS A KITSUNE!

[telophase.livejournal.com]

AND NOW YOU KNOW! XD

[droiche.livejournal.com]

Go figure. Reynard the fox in Europe was known for being a smooth talker. =P

[droiche.livejournal.com]

Wait. What if it's a European fox who is just bashful and tongue-tied?

Oh my. The possibilities are endless. X-D

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Or what if the fox is just learning Japanese and not very good at it?