Japanese is a difficult language, and even native speakers can sound awkward at times. This happened last month when 自民党 (Jimintō, Liberal Democratic Party) Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai was asked to comment on a vote-buying scandal in his party.
“党としても、他山の石として、しっかり対応していかなければ” (Tō to shite mo, tazan no ishi to shite, shikkari taiō shite-ikanakereba, The party must deal with this by letting it be an object lesson).
The term we want to look at here is 他山の石 (tazan no ishi), which means “object lesson” in context but can be translated literally as “a stone from another mountain.”
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