body-part as grammatical subject

A characteristic Japanese pattern where a body part is the が-marked grammatical subject of the predicate, while the whole person stays out front as the は-topic. Covers both involuntary reactions with verbal predicates (身がすくむ 'be paralyzed,' 胸が痛む 'one's chest aches,' 目が回る 'one's head spins') and quality predications with adjectives (背が高い 'tall' = 'stature is high,' 頭がいい 'smart' = 'head is good,' 鼻が高い 'proud' = 'nose is high,' 目が悪い 'have bad eyesight'). The whole person experiences or is described, but the body part takes the subject slot.