Dear Marie,
I’ve always admired Japanese culture as a whole, whether it comes to traditions, language, habits, folklore or lifestyle, everything about it is really unique.
One of many things that really gets me though is how the Japanese people treat emotions as something sacred, especially when it comes to Love.
Like in English and probably every other language on earth, there’s the “I like you” as something to express that a person has a sort of affection towards another, whether it’s a simple friendship, or two people newly dating; and there’s the much more meaningful “I love you” as something to express a greatly deeper affection between close friends, family members, a couple, etc.
But in Japan they don’t just use equivalents to “like” and “love”; they actually have “suki” for “I like you” in early stages of a relationship, and there’s “daisuki” which is used to express love in most situations. But the strongest word for love, which is kind of the equivalent of “I love you” in English between a couple in love is “aishiteru”.
From what I understand, “aishiteru”, derived from “Ai” which stands for “love”, doesn’t just mean “I love you”, nor do they use it often.
“Aishiteru” means a huge deal of deep and true love and respect towards someone; it is a word that is rarely used in very emotional and private situations, a word that means that a person is unconditionally and irreversibly in love, the kind of love that a lot of people fantasize about, and not so many get to experience.
That somehow makes it a sacred word. Almost holy.
It’s just another way the whole Japanese culture amazes me, because indeed human emotions and close relationships should be sacred things, something to really cherish and put effort into.
My dearest,
Till we someday live together and be able to discuss everything without boundaries and be able to say such deep words,
Your eternal life companion,
Pierre.
