Let's enjoy Japanese: The grass

In addition to puns and riddles, I find Japanese 諺‘（ことわざ;kotowaza; proverbs or sayings) to be interesting. It's quite fascinating to note that some of the sayings we have in English can be found, at times almost word for word, in Japanese. Of course this could be due to cultural diffusion; it can be difficult to pick apart Japanese culture and identify what is truly Japanese in origin.

Anyway, here's one example:

隣の芝生は青い。（となりのしばふはあおい）。

Translation: "The neighboring grass is green."

Interestingly, "青い" normally means "blue" in Japanese, but is sometimes used to mean green, as well. Traffic lights, for example, are "青い" in Japanese.

Regardless of the color of the grass, this proverb is like our "The grass is always greener on the other side."