My next 50 years...

Okay, Okay, so it's been 5 months since my last posting... Quality cannot be rushed! Just like fine wine, my postings need time to age and mellow, to ferment in my own creative juices, to....

well, you get the point! I've missed you too!

Here is a random though for any of you who know someone, but you can't tell whether they are from China or Japan. It is, after all, an important distiction. I know it's a "generalization, but China and Japan are NOT warm relations (steming from, among other things, human rights issues related to the Japanese invasion of China in the early 1900s. If you want a clue to names, read on......

Here is one more interesting observation for my blog (Hmmm, some of you are rolling your eyes)........ But as I have already eaten two bowls of spicy noodles at the HK airport, and have another 2 hours to wait, here goes:

I have a number of Japanese aquaintances (all good friends) in my work, like;
Hiroshita Suenaga,
Michihiko Ishikawa, and
Takasuki Tsutsumi

Now, I have just left China behind, where I spent the last week with the "short name race", as follows:
Li Lin
Ms. Tao Bin
Ms. Feng Jin
Ms. Dai Ling
Ms. Li Li (record for fewest letters)
Wei Ang An
Mr. Xu Bin
Mr. JJ Chen - little boss
Mr. Luo Dong Hong - bigger boss
Mr. Liu Yonj Jie - The guy that moves behind the scenes
Mr. Yang Yun - the big boss

Notice that there are no 2 syllable names, where the Japanese, typically are 3+. By the way, I was honored to be placed to the right of Mr. Yang Yun at my recent banquet. I used my chopstix for the whole meal, but I did have to eat some disgusting stuff, at his direct invitation!

The conclusion to your name puzzle: If it has 2-3 letters, likely Chinese, multiple sylables - I'd guess Japanese (but it's always good to ask)!

Just a random observation from the Traveling Irishman!