Comments on: “November” is the hardest month for Japanese http://whatjapanthinks.com/2010/10/19/november-is-the-hardest-month-for-japanese/ From kimono to keitai; research Japanese facts and figures through translated opinion polls and surveys. Thu, 10 Apr 2014 22:29:01 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.2 By: Mark in Yayoi http://whatjapanthinks.com/2010/10/19/november-is-the-hardest-month-for-japanese/comment-page-1/#comment-238100 Thu, 21 Oct 2010 18:14:51 +0000 http://whatjapanthinks.com/?p=3323#comment-238100 I wonder, for the people who couldn’t name all twelve of the month names, how many they *could* come up with. (I knew 8 out of 12 before reading this entry. Forgot 長月 and 霜月 even existed, much less what months they referred to.)

They must not have surveyed anyone from Shimane prefecture, where the tenth month is “Kami-ari-tsuki 神在月” because all the gods gather at Izumo Shrine (leaving the rest of the country godless, thus 神無月 Kannazuki).

The famous Yayoi district in Tokyo, where artifacts were dug up from an era which then took the district’s name as its own, only has *its* name because March is the month of its creation, back in 1828. Insipid and dull place names aren’t just a product of post-WWII bureaucracy!

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