Someone squeeze the water out!

mizu mashi (水増し) - Mitsuko kept muttering this as we watched the rakugo story this week. It refers to adding water to stretch something out. Padding, inflation of figures, and so forth? And sometimes stories get a dash of water added to fill the time?
( Details, details . . .  )

So - Monday did the setup, and Friday picked up the action. But we spent three days just paddling in the watery soup, looking back at memories. I kind of think someone couldn't figure out how to keep the action going, and the tempo slipped. I think it might have helped if we had a new rakugo story introduced, or more details from Jigoku Bakkai, but there wasn't much.

Now what will they do on Saturday? Finish the show, and have the death of the teacher? Stay tuned (but skip the extra water, we're soaked already:-)

Is that what it takes?

Almost forgot. The other day the news people did a short piece on sumi ink - the black ink stick used for brush painting here in Japan? It's kind of incredible, the process for making it.
( The Process . . . )

Egads, but that's a labor-intensive process. Of course, he says that only hand-made ink really has the right feel, but . . . they never did tell us how much a stick of ink costs. I certainly appreciate it more after seeing that, though. I wonder if there are young people looking to take up the work?

And just think, it all starts with a burning stick of pine.