03-03
The writing on both the cup and the saucer reads
a fragrance of lavender bring happiness
Which has, arguably, two errors in English. Might be better expressed as:
the fragrance of lavender brings happiness
This actually highlights one of the main difficulties my students encounter: subject-verb agreement and the use of definite vs. indefinite articles (or one could say articles at all). The reason these are so difficult for all Japanese is because there is no equivalent to them in the Japanese language. Nouns are not qualified in any manner, not even for plurality. Verbs don’t change depending on the subject (though, unlike Chinese, they do have different forms for past tense, passive voice, progressive voice, and a psuedo-future tense).
However, why lavender would bring happiness, I have no idea.
365 / 三百六十五 
lavender could bring happiness as it is an uplifting and relaxing fragrance and the most used essential oil in aromatherapy. Lovely cup and saucer.
March 13, 2010 at 02:34
I actually like lavender quite a bit, but Christine really doesn’t like the smell, and thus it’s become a running joke on Iki. 🙂
March 13, 2010 at 23:06