Shinoda gossip

[Alan Kita]

Just a comment from the following "snippet" from Jean Williams' post: 
(quote) JS' film director, Dr. Kyoko Hirano, taught me in a course this
past
summer, so I saw my big opportunity.  With her introduction, I asked
Shinoda whether the character of the oiran with the black cat might have
been inspired by a kouta and jiuta mai dance I know about a lower class
prostitute with a black cat.  He looked at me indulgently as though I
were
one of the world's most henna of henna gaijin and replied that in the
18th
century it was very fashionable for women to keep cats. (endquote)

Clearly to me, in talking to different Japanese and American people.
that "might have been inspired" takes on a different nuance, whether it
is translated into Japanese or the Japanese take on the english word,
"inspire."  I also think that some english-speaking Japanese would read
the Oxford dictionary definitation of "inspire" and come out with a
nuance completely different that English-speaking Americans.

Alan