Getting lost in the park.

Just had a fun moment while studying in the park with some Japanese materials—Tobira, kanji quiz apps, NHK, Akutagawa's short story "鼻". (The JLPT registration period, Aug–Sep, always inspires.)

Just as my quiz app served me "迷"—"to lose one's way"—a little girl toddled up to me in the grass and waved hello. I said, "Hey, there. 道に迷っちゃったんですか?" There wasn't a 道 to have lost, but I think she got the idea.

The kanji 迷 (MEI, mayo・u) is a favorite of mine, for its mnemonic. It's the movement/road radical (SHIN'NYOU, 之繞), then "rice" (米), which per Henshall may be phonetic or derive from "unfinished" (未), suggesting indecisiveness. As 米 also stands for the US, though, to me this is an American in the older streets of Japan: utterly lost. Perplexed. Like rice in the road. He MEI never figure it out. (笑)

To quote the JLPT, 「いい天気ですから、散歩しましょう。」　
でも、道に迷わないように気を付けようね。