ABSTRACT
In order to appreciate how bodily experiences are associated with abstract conceptualizations. This chapter offers some examples from the most basic experiential encounter we all have: spatial arrangements and location. It examines how certain concepts are used illustrates how spatial experiences are pressed into service to symbolize anything including social relations, linguistic forms, the flow of information, material objects, and bodily experiences, as well as psychological states. The chapter begins with most elemental feature of Japan's sociocultural geography: uchi, which primarily means inside or internal but has a host of extended, secondary meanings centering on the bodily proximal self or in-group. The counterpart of uchi is soto-outside or external-which also has multivocal expressions. Two other binary-opposing concepts need to be mentioned: ura and omote. Ura is the bodily-proximal concept and often refers to something not obvious at first glance. Omote resonates with tatemae, while ura resonates with honne.
