“The moon is beautiful, isn’t it?”

This famous phrase is linked to Japanese novelist Natsume Sōseki.

According to the story, when a student translated “I love you” directly into Japanese, Sōseki is said to have told him that Japanese people would never express love so bluntly.

Instead, he suggested something indirect and poetic:

“The moon is beautiful, isn’t it?”

If your Japanese date suddenly starts talking about the moon out of nowhere, they might be trying to tell you something important.