The Moon Is Beautiful, Isn’t It?

月が綺麗ですね | tsuki ga kirei desu ne translates to “The moon is beautiful, isn’t it?” This phrase is a more poetic way of saying I love you . During Japanese writer Natsume Sōseki’s (1867-1916) teaching years, he supposedly overheard a student translating “I love you”  rather awkwardly into its literal and direct translation: “Ware Kimi wo Aisu .” Soseki believed—as a product of his time and culture in the Meiji period—that this direct translation rejected  Japanese sensibility. Thus, this more subtle, nuanced translation of “the moon is beautiful… ” was born.