Japanese is rich in onomatopoeia and using these words is one of the delights in speaking Japanese. “zawazawa” suggests the bustle, confusion and joy of our Kitsilano kitchen, especially in the first part of the 21st C when we were all living on West 3rd and there were many people dropping by, visiting or living with us. An old joke, that Steven learned while studying Japanese at the Nichibei Kaiwa Gakuin in Yotsuya (the same school Kaito went to and the school Steven was going to when Kaito was born). “Anata no daitokoro wa itsumo kirei desu ne. Sore wa so desho, date, itsumo kitchin to shiteiru!”
Other good words -
pikapika - sparkling clean
dorodoro - murky and muddy
gayagaya - a loud and bustling room full of people
shitoshito - rain falling softly
zaazaa - a hard rain
doushadousha - pouring rain
sayasaya - softly softly
From the Kojiki
The story of a a boat, built from an old sea coast pine, that ran salt from Awaji island to the capital until it was wrecked and burned for salt. The remains were made into a koto ('cithern' translates 'koto' here).
Karano, oh,
They burned it for salt.
Of its leftovers
They fashioned a cithern
For to pluck and play:
In Yura Strait
In mid-strait on sunken rocks
Stand swaying touching
Oozy stalks
Softly softly.
tr. by Edwin A. Cranston
In romaji
Karano o
Shio ni yaki
Shi ga amari
Koto ni tsukuri
Kakihiku ya
Yura no to no
Furetatsu
Nazu no ki no
Sayasaya
