More "only Japan" and waste

I can't remember if I wrote about this before but since about a year ago the Japanese have found a new reason to love themselves, and it satisfies TWO Japanese cravings:

1. we are unique
2. we love nature

the African woman who won the Nobel prize recently (2 years ago?) gave a speech where she said "I think the Japanese word 'mottanai' is a good word to explain the concept of waste not want not." I paraphrased but that was the gist of it. Anyway, since then I often meet people who think Japan is the only place with a word for "waste" in their language and that African people (!) among others are learning from Japan about how to live in harmony with nature.

so yesterday I was doing a "diary check" where my students keep diaries in English and I check the grammar, make coments. The man who wrote the diary explained to me "Kikr, do you know the word 'mottainai'? Can you understand it? Have you ever used this word? I think it characterizes the Japanese people sense of how we must value the environment and even man-made things."

I thought that by now this myth would have vaporized. I hadnt heard it lately. People generally have a short news attention span.

One nice thing though was that at least he went on to ask me if such a word exists "in my country".

Next: CANNONIZE, / china is rich, japan poor, wealth gap,/ cicada cuz english is bad