Word: nambanjin
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Dates: during 1978-1978
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...contains some sharp reminders of cultural relativity. Since the Japanese were more insular than any other advanced culture, East or West, foreigners were objects of intense curiosity to them. The Portuguese traders and Jesuit missionaries whose caravels found their way to Japan in the 16th century were known as nambanjin, or "southern barbarians." Naturally, the artists knew next to nothing of the habits of these white-faced extraterrestrials with their quaint, long spindly noses. Yet they became a popular motif on screens: gesturing from their ships, clumsy as grounded kites in their absurd pantaloons. They were to Japan what...
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