I would like to thank Kaori Shoji for a characteristically entertaining and informative Bilingual page column on Oct. 13, "In rice we trust — come winter, war or wage slips." Even though I've studied Japanese for 28 years, the column's contributors keep coming up with things I don't know, so I keep on reading.
I do, however, have a quibble with the use of "reverent" as a translation of the Japanese honorific prefix. "Reverent" means "showing reverence," but the rice described in this article isn't showing reverence, it is the object of reverence. I suggest that "revered" would be a better translation in this case. Thanks again for the first-rate column. Please keep 'em coming.
paul smith
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