japan

The Nightingale

One morning, one morning,
one morning in May
I spied a young couple all on the highway
And one was a lady so bright and so fair
And the other was a soldier,
a brave volunteer

Good morning, good morning,
good morning to thee,
Now where are you going my pretty lady?
I'm going to travel to the banks of the sea
To see the waters gliding,
hear the nightingales sing.

They hadn't been there
but an hour or two
Till out of his knapsack a fiddle he drew
The tune that he played caused the vallies to ring.
O harken, says the lady,
how the nightingales sing.

Pretty lady, pretty lady,
'tis time to give o're.
O no, pretty soldier,
please play one tune more.
I'd rather hear your fiddle
at the touch of one string
Than to see the waters gliding,
hear the nightingales sing.

Pretty soldier, pretty soldier,
will you marry me?
O no, pretty lady that never can be.
I've a wife back in London
and children twice three.
Two wives in the army
is too many for me.

Japan

Background: While retaining its time-
honored culture, Japan rapidly absorbed Western technology during the late 19th
and early 20th centuries. After its
devastating defeat in World War II,
Japan recovered to become the second
most powerful economy
in the world and a staunch ally of the
US. While the emperor retains his throne
as a symbol of national unity, actual
power rests in networks of powerful politicians, bureaucrats, and business executives. The economy experienced
a major slowdown in the
1990s following three decades of unprecedented growth.