It is often noted that Arctic indigenous communities in Alaska possess a rich vocabulary to distinguish the many shades and textures of what English simply calls “white.”

In their languages, “white” unfolds into many names: the white of a raging blizzard, the white of cold ice and snow, the white of warm steam.

To us, they may all look the same. But perhaps for people living in the far north, surrounded by whiteness, the subtle differences between one shade of white and another are surprisingly clear.

By contrast, in Japan, which is surrounded by deep forests and open sea, there is a rich vocabulary for the colors we group under “ao” (blue) and “midori” (green).

Besides the most common and broad ao for blue, there is “ao” written in a different kanji to........

© The Asahi Shimbun