traxlation

[traxlation]

Mongol800 Lyrics - Aru ga Mama / Just the Way It Is

Just the Way It Is - MV

A song from camp that I figured I could do a quick rendition of. Remembering how to use the text editors was a fun challenge too :) BONUS romaji included after translation! Not formatted well because. well. I gave up on making it not ugly due to challenges with the text editors :) :) :)

The sky I saw in a dream The clouds that floated through my dreams Now, close your eyes And take in the scent of the wind

Just the way it is

The sky I saw in a dream The clouds that floated through my dreams Now, close your eyes And take in the scent of the wind

The road the wind blows down The road that we wished for In the shining center of the wind Thinking back on the miracle of you

Just a little more than yesterday will be fine Just a little is all right That’s why I take pride Spreading above us is the blue of the sky We live unaware Of the kindness that surrounds

Blown by the wind Beaten by the rain That night I realized I was fine just the way it is The moon for my pillow The song of the sun Wrapping me up gently The azure of the sea

Just the way it is

Even if you put on makeup Even if you grow taller There’s a self that doesn’t change When you look in the mirror

How long will it continue? This endless journey These unanswered questions Sometimes we lose our way We worry, make mistakes

Blown by the wind Beaten by the rain That night I realized I was fine just the way it is The moon for my pillow The song of the sun Wrapping me up gently The azure of the sea

Just the way it is

While this hand still moves While this eye still opens Leave time to the winds And live in this precious moment

Just the way it is

------

Yume ni egaku sora

Yume ni ukabu kumo

Saa me wo tojite

Kaze no nioi wo kagou

Aru ga mama

Yume ni egaku sora

Yume ni ukabu kumo

Saa me wo tojite

Kaze no nioi wo kagou

Kaze ga nukeru michi

Bokura motometa michi

Hikaru kaze no naka

Anata to iu kiseki kamishimete

Kinou yori mo sukoshi de ii no

Sukoshi de ii kara

Mune wo haru n da

Soko ni hirogaru wa sora no ao

Kizukazu sugosu yasashisa no shita

Bokura wa ikiru

Kaze ni fukare

Ame ni utarete

Aru ga mama de ii koto ni kizuita yo

Tsuki no makura

Taiyou no uta

Yasashiku tsutsumu wa konpeki no umi

Aru ga mama

O-keshou shite mo

Senobi wo shite mo

Kagami ni utsuru

Kawaranu jibun

Doko made tsuzuku no ka

Owari naki tabi

Kotae naki toi

Toki ni wa mayoi

Nayami machigau

Kaze ni fukare

Ame ni utarete

Aru ga mama de ii koto ni kizuita yo

Tsuki no makura

Taiyou no uta

Yasashiku tsutsumu wa konpeki no umi

Aru ga mama

Kono te ugoku uchi

Kono me hiraku uchi

Toki wa kaze ni makase

Ima wo daiji ni ikiru

Aru ga mama

出典：Uta-Net

[traxlation]

Radwimps lyrics (16/?)

Is There Anything That Love Can Still Do? - MV

Is there anything that love can still do?

I was born with nothing I’ve been struggling in these cracks in eternity Where can the clever and those who’ve given up Breathe in this age of winners?

The rulers and the gods look away But really they must understand The magic of courage and hope and connections Adults avert their eyes from such useless things

But even so, both then and now, You are at the center of my justice Even if the world turns its back on you You’re still here standing up to them

Is there anything that love can still do? Is there anything that I can still do?

You gave me this courage, so I want to use it for you You shared this love with me, so if it’s not with you, what meaning does it have?

Is there anything that love can still do? Is there anything that I can still do?

So is fate just a roll of the dice? Or the eternal whims of the gods? A chosen armor you can’t remove Or a far-off, unshakeable will

Unfulfilled wishes, ungranted reunions Unresolved misunderstandings, hatred that piles up like snow Voices of forgiveness, hands that hold each other This earth has all of these and more

Is there anything that love can still do? Is there anything that I can still do?

You gave me this courage, so I want to use it for you You shared this love with me, so if it’s not with you, what meaning does it have?

Is there anything that love can still do? Is there anything that I can still do?

Why did you make us dream when we have nothing? Why did you give us hope in lives that must end? Why did you only give us things that slip through our fingers? And do you think we’re pathetic when we try to hold onto them? Or are we beautiful? Answer me

All the world’s love songs have been sung to death They’ve been played out in so many movies That’s the barren wasteland I was born into But even so, you--

There is still something that love can do There is still something that I can do

出典：LyricFind

[traxlation]

Bump of Chicken lyrics - Astronomical Observation

Astronomical Observation - MV

Carrying my telescope Across the railroad crossing1 at 2 AM The radio on my belt Said it wouldn’t rain tonight

You came two minutes later Carrying way too much equipment Shall we start our astronomical observation And start looking for that comet

It took everything I had Not to be swallowed up by that deep darkness That day that I couldn’t Hold your unsteady hands2

We looked into the telescope To try to see what couldn’t be seen Our voices cut through the silence If tomorrow was calling We made no answer Chasing the comet of the present Together with you

When did I realize I was just searching for something How to define happiness Or where to put my sadness

From birth to death I’ve always been searching So shall we start our astronomical observation And start looking for that comet

I remember everything I’ve ever found Even the pain of not being able To grab your shaking hands

We looked into the telescope To try to understand what couldn’t be known We searched for a tiny light That could light up the darkness Even now I still remember The pain I learned from that Even now I’m still alone, chasing The comet of the present

As I grew taller The things I wanted to tell you grew too Piles of letters with no address Stacked up until they fell over

I’m doing well I don’t have much to worry about But there is one thing I still remember

That day in the rain That they hadn’t forecast You looked like you were about to cry I couldn’t take your trembling hand

I shouldered the telescope again Not seeing what was in front of me3 And ran on home Through the darkness and silence The pain I learned from that Even now it keeps me up4 Even now I’m still alone, chasing The comet of the present

I’ll shoulder that telescope again To try to meet you one more time At 2 AM, just like before I’ll head out for the railroad crossing Shall we start our astronomical observation Even if you don’t show up two minutes after me Together we’ll still be chasing The comet of the present

Footnotes: 1The word 踏切 is written as フミキリ here indicating it’s a play on words. 踏切 can mean both “railroad crossing” and “starting line”. Same thing in the last verse - there’s a sense of “going back to the start” and trying to start again. 2This line uses the same vocabulary in the 3 different bridges (君の震える手を握る) but the conjugation/context is different. I don’t particularly like any of the translations here but I thought mixing it up would be slightly less jarring :D 3This is also wordplay - the first chorus uses 見ようとして (miyou to shite, “trying to see”) while this one uses 見落として (miotoshite “failing to see”). 4Selfishly introducing my own wordplay here. The Japanese uses 支えている for the verb which usually means “to support or hold up” but can also mean “to hold (someone) back”. Of those two definitions, “keeps me up” only strictly matches the first, but it also has the connotation of “keeping me up at night” and being something of a sticking point for the speaker.

出典: kkbox

[traxlation]

NHK article on kanji abbreviations of country names

[Part of an ongoing series by NHK on the grammar and language use rules that NHK tries to stick to in their reporting. Will probably be doing more of these in the future.]

Question: I want to abbreviate the name of a foreign country using only one kanji. For example, would it be acceptable to abbreviate “Russia” as 露? What rules are there about what other country names can be abbreviated with just one character?

Further Explanation:

It’s currently common practice to write the names of foreign countries (with the exception of a few countries and regions) in katakana, but until the end of the Taisho period, one would regularly see newspapers and magazines that wrote foreign countries’ names using kanji. Even into the Showa period, newspapers often wrote country names in kanji.

One can still see remnants of the previously-used kanji transliterations of these country names even now, in abbreviations. For example:

米: USA 英: England 独: Germany 仏: France 伊: Italy 豪: Australia 印: India

Countries such as these will sometimes be abbreviated in modern broadcasts and newspapers. Because they are used in the news frequently, they are also often used in subtitles. The fact that most people understand which country these abbreviations refer to, and the fact that writing them with one kanji character instead of multiple katakana characters decreases the number of characters in the subtitles, making them easier to read, are among the reasons why they are habitually abbreviated.

As for the name “Russia” in this question, 露 is used when speaking about the Russian Empire, such as in 日露戦争 (the Russo-Japanese War), but NHK uses the katakana ロ for the modern country. This helps clearly distinguish between the Russian Empire and modern Russia.

There are other country names with historical kanji abbreviations, or ones that are used by certain organizations or groups. For example:

伯: Brazil 葡: Portugal 蘭: Netherlands (Holland) 西: Spain 比: Philippines 墺: Austria

Each of these are countries that have historically had relationships with Japan, and as such have developed established kanji representations or abbreviations of their names, but as a rule, in modern television and newspapers, these kanji abbreviations are not used. None of these countries’ kanji transliterations can be said to be in general use today, and their abbreviations are also not widely understood. In addition, in comparison to the countries whose names are abbreviated, they appear in the news less frequently, so there is no need to abbreviate them.

There are no fixed rules on kanji abbreviations for foreign countries’ names, but in modern Japan, one should consider how they are customarily written and whether the abbreviation of that customary expression is likely to be understood, and decide on a case-by-case basis whether or not to use such abbreviations.

Media Research Division, Broadcast Terminology: Yamashita Youko

出典: NHK

1163 字 > 503 words

[traxlation]

Asahi article on gene-knockout vs GMO food regulation

Beefier Cows and Non-toxic Nightshades How is genetic engineering of food products regulated?

Fukuji Kentarou, Kawamura Tsuyoshi, Abe Akiyoshi

Sept. 20, 2018 05:00

[Caption: Chicks whose male sex chromosomes have been disrupted via genome editing = Hiroshima University, East Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture]

New products that provide a variety of benefits to consumers and producers, such as meatier sea bream and cows who have had genes for sinew production deactivated, as well as potatoes with non-toxic eyes, are continually being developed. Large American agricultural companies are also muscling in on the market, and competition is growing fierce worldwide. It is with this atmosphere in mind that the cabinet decided in June on an integrated innovation strategy, and asked the Ministries of Labor and Environment to quickly implement the technologies and to clarify their legal status.

Genome editing causes mutations by snipping DNA, the carrier of genes, at targeted points. When the snipped portions are rejoined, the genes’ functions change or are deactivated. Because the material needed to snip DNA includes genetic information, the process shares many characteristics with genetic recombination, but the material is removed--so the end product is indistinguishable from naturally-occurring spontaneous mutations.

In the agricultural industry, genetic modification has been used as a means to edit genes, but it is restricted by law. However, if no genes from an external source are present in the end product, the product doesn’t fall under the definition of “genetically modified”. Therefore, the fact that “unregulated” food products may be manufactured, based on which method of genome editing is used, has become a topic of conversation.

The investigative meeting held on the 19th by the Ministry of Labor resolved to proceed with investigation into the necessary rules for such products as they enter the market, with results by the end of the year. Genome editing can include adding foreign genes at the places where the DNA is cut; in this case, these products would fall under the definition of “genetically modified”.

On the other hand, in July, the Ministry of Environment began examining their legal position based on the Cartagena Protocol, which protects biological diversity. In August, an assembly of experts accepted a policy proposal that would place organisms whose genes had been edited, but in which no foreign genetic material remained, as outside the scope of the law. However, many also held the opinion that even organisms that were verified to have no foreign genes “need to be dealt with based on the law”. As a result, the ministry set in place a temporary policy under which those wanting to grow or raise such organisms outdoors would provide information beforehand on which genes were modified and potential effects on native species. As this would not be a legal obligation, doubts were raised around how effective the measure would be.

In addition, in the cases where foreign genetic material was inserted into the snip locations, they would be considered genetically modified organisms, and be subject to regulation. Those wishing to grow or raise such organisms outdoors in a non-isolated location would need to evaluate whether they would have any effect on native species and receive permission from the government.

The Issues That Divide Progressives and Conservatives

Professor Horiuchi Hiroyuki (Applied Zoological Life Sciences) of Hiroshima University is working with companies to develop chicken eggs that people with egg allergies can eat. Their strategy is to use genome editing to deactivate the gene for the protein that causes the allergy. Horiuchi, whose son is allergic to eggs, always checks food labels when they go out to eat. “Egg allergies are common in people under 20 years old. If we can get this out, it’ll be helpful to those who worry about [egg] allergies and their parents too,” he says.

Horiuchi is also working on a way to select the sex of chicks. As research into a mechanism for this goal progresses, the researchers hope to identify genes that are related to sex determination and manipulate their workings. Egg producers want hens, which lay eggs, while meat producers want cocks, who have more meat on them. Horiuchi hopes to “make it easier to provide producers with the chicks they need”.

In Japan, research is underway on projects such as tomatoes rich in certain nutrients, and calmer tuna to be raised in aquaculture. Overseas, scientists report work on pigs that are immune to a virus that can cause breathing issues, and wheat that is resistant to powdery mildew, a plant disease that turns leaves and stems white.

The technology used in these advances is called CRISPR/Cas9, which is a simpler way to edit genes. Since its introduction it has rapidly advanced, and has also allowed scientists to decode genetic information much faster, paving the way for identification of specific genes in various organisms and understanding of their roles. “The scope of where genome editing can be used is expanding,” says Tabei Yutaka, regional head of the Genetic Applications Foundational Research division at NARO (National Agriculture and Food Research Organization). “Agriculture is headed for a tipping point.”

Opinions on how to handle this can be divided into “progressive” and “conservative” groups. Yamamoto Taku, professor of genetic biology at Hiroshima University and chair of the Japanese Society for Genome Editing, says, “while it’s necessary to confirm that (the substances used to snip the DNA) have been removed (in the final product), in the end, it’s almost no different from what happens when you have a naturally-occurring mutation. If they can be confirmed to be safe, then we should start treating them as food products.” On regulations: “If they’re considered the same as GM food products, then the cost will be too high and businesses won’t use them.”

However, Professor Ishii Tetsuya (Biological Ethics) of Hokkaido University takes a more careful stance. “We don’t have any actual results confirming that it’s safe to actually eat these products,” he says. He points out that it’s possible that people may develop allergies or other problems due to unexpected changes from knocking out certain genes, or having genes cut in unexpected places. “It’s important to analyze the composition of these products in order to evaluate the risk, rather than just declaring that something’s safe, and to be able to clearly explain this to the public.”

In August, the Consumers Union of Japan submitted a written opinion to the government asking these products to be regulated on par with GM products, as their safety has not yet been confirmed.

出典: Asahi Shimbun

2125 字 > 1155 words

[traxlation]

Asahi article on heavy rain casualties

Torrential Rains in West Japan Continue 81 deaths confirmed in 11 prefectures

July 8, 2018 10:20 pm

[Caption: (Video) The search for survivors continues as roads are torn to pieces. Aki County, Hiroshima Prefecture (Footage by Iteo Masahiko)]

[Caption: Police officers and other rescuers carry out search operations around a residential building that was violently destroyed by a landslide. July 8, 2018, 00:04, Kawakaku 5-chome, Kumano Town, Hiroshima Prefecture. (Photography by Hosokawa Taku)]

According to the Asahi Shimbun’s data, since Typhoon 7 approached Kyushu on July 3rd, the number of dead by prefecture as of July 8th at 7:30 am was: 36 in Hiroshima, 19 in Ehime, 13 in Okayama, 3 in each of Yamaguchi and Kyoto, 2 in Fukuoka, and 1 each in Gifu, Shiga, Hyogo, Kochi, and Saga. The number of missing persons is 47 in Hiroshima, 22 in Okayama, 7 in Ehime, and totals at least 87. 51 are injured.

Per interviews with prefectural police, in the afternoon on July 8th, a further 15 were reported missing in Mabi-cho, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture, which has experienced widespread flooding. Families have sought help for family members they can’t get in contact with, and the investigation into their safety continues.

According to the prefectural Office for Disaster Response, as of the morning of the 8th, approximately one thousand people were stranded in flooded homes and buildings, prompting rescue operations for those stranded.

Landslides occurred in the morning of the 8th in the prefectural highway in Otsuki Town, Kochi Prefecture. As of publication, a man who was driving in the area at the time could not be contacted. Sources say he may have been affected.

In Hiroshima Prefecture, another at least 12 people have been reported missing from a residential area in Kumano Town, and the search continues. In an incident on the 7th in Fukuyama City in which a reservoir burst, a 3-year-old girl in the area was reported missing; her body was recovered today.

For the heavy rainfall, which is expected to produce the largest individual weather disaster in the past few decades, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) issued emergency warnings from the 6th to the 8th, in a total of 11 prefectures. On the 8th, the same warning was issued for Gifu, Kochi, and Ehime prefectures, but was lifted in the afternoon.

According to the JMA, 24-hour rainfall totals as of 6:00 am on the 8th included 383.5 mm for Sukumo City, Kochi Prefecture; 237.5 mm for Gero City, Gifu Prefecture; and 193 mm for Satsuma Town, Kagoshima Prefecture. Due to the effects of the humid atmosphere, rain clouds are expected to gather over the Chugoku and Shikoku regions on the 9th.

The names of 12 people in Hiroshima Prefecture who were confirmed dead as of the 8th as a result of the record-breaking rains have been released.

[snipped]

1056字 > 538 words

出典: Asahi Shimbun

[traxlation]

Biz-Journal article on NigeHaji and non-romantic marriages

Who Knew “Contract Marriage” Couples Had It So Good? No need to fit the other’s lifestyle and no stress

Author: Fujino Yuri / Seidansha

[Caption: Aragaki Yui]

Starring Aragaki Yui, the drama “Nigeru wa Haji da ga Yaku ni Tatsu” (“Running Away is Embarrassing But Useful”)1 (TBS) continues to rise in popularity and attention as it sets viewership records such as capturing 16.9% of viewers with its ninth episode on December 6th (Kanto region, Video Research Ltd.).

The most common topics have been how cute2 Aragaki is, and the “Love Dance” included in the outro to the song “Love”, sung by lead Hoshino Gen and danced by cast members.

“NigeHaji” is the story of Moriyama Mikuri (played by Aragaki), a woman who, despite her high grades, failed to find a full-time position and was then cut from her temp position; and Tsuzaki Hiramasa (played by Hoshino), a software engineer with no experience in relationships--the two of whom decide to get married “as a work relationship”, and begin living under the same roof without ever having gone on a single date. Of course they sleep separately, and as of the end of the ninth episode, they are not in a sexual relationship.

Japan is currently full of men and women in their 20s and 30s who have never gone on a date, let alone get married. According to results from the National Fertility Survey, conducted by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research and released in September of 2016, about 70% of unmarried men between 18 and 35 years of age “have never dated anyone”, and the number has risen to about 60% for unmarried women in that age group.

Even if they want to get married, they’re in a situation where they aren’t even finding anyone who’s interested. Under this shadow, men and women who have ditched the idea of “marriage for which love is a prerequisite” and gone with something more along the lines of “NigeHaji”’s “marriage as an extension of communal living”.

No Sex, Meals Separate--But They’re Happy

“Until now, marriage has been thought of as something that comes from a process of romance and dating. But there are many cases recently where men and women get married after hitting it off with someone they can see as a ‘roommate’. I call these kinds of marriages revolving around communal living ‘communal marriages’3.”

So says Kameyama Sanae, an author with a number of books on love and marriage issues under her belt. Ms. Kameyama says that in recent years, the number of chances she’s had to hear from men and women who are happily cohabiting and marrying without having romantic feelings for each other has increased.

The question that often comes up is: Even if no feelings of love exist at first, can men and women can live under the same roof without developing such feelings for each other? In “NigeHaji” too, the main plot thread revolves around the heroine Mikuri’s development of feelings toward Hiramasa, her “contract marriage” employer.

But Ms. Kameyama says that “couples4 in communal marriages aren’t really aware of their partner as the opposite sex, whether they’re male or female”.

“So both before and after getting married they don’t have sex, and of course their rooms and beds are separate too. There’s not a sense of assigned roles like ‘the man goes out and works’ and ‘the woman stays in and does housework’. Many couples in communal marriages don’t feel the need to match the other’s schedule, so meals are usually separate too. They might go out to eat together once every six months.”

It’s a strange marriage where a couple’s lives and time are completely independent of each other. But surprisingly, instead of marital relations breaking down, couples in communal marriages maintain for many years the same type of relationship they had at the start, and are able to get along with each other’s families.

“They see the other’s family on holidays and send ‘happy birthday’ texts on LINE. It’s because they have some distance that they don’t forget their feelings of gratitude to each other. To those around them, they look like a normal happy couple,” says Ms. Kameyama.

What About Kids?

But in an age where it’s difficult to find someone you want to marry, is it that meaningful or beneficial to marry someone you have no romantic feelings for? On that point, Ms. Kameyama says, “Because they aren’t harboring any ideals or dreams about marriage or the person they marry, they don’t develop disappointment in the gap between their ideals and reality.”

Indeed, for those unmarried men and women in the 20-40 age range, what gives them the most trouble is pressure from family and others around them--”Aren’t you going to get married?”, so a communal marriage, which at least quacks like a marriage, can give their parents some peace of mind.

“The primary benefit of a communal marriage is to be able to freely live the life you want to. You don’t have to worry about your spouse’s living style or when they eat or sleep, so there’s less stress. You don’t have to quit work, and you’re able to live the life you had when you lived alone, while still being able to reach out for help when you have problems. Your spouse doesn’t get over-involved in your life. There’s a sense of someone else being there, but on the other side of the wall.”

Certainly traditional marriage has the image of “taking away your private time”. In a survey of 500 people who were either married or cohabiting carried out by MyNavi Renting in June-July 2012, over 80% of respondents answered “Yes” to the question “Do you want more alone time?”.

When asking unmarried men and women for their reasons for remaining unmarried, many are likely to give reasons such as “I still want to be free”, “I want to use my money on myself”, “I want to keep working”, or “I don’t want to be tied down by family”. One can consider communal marriages as a new form of marriage that removes these sources of dissatisfaction.

But while spouses can protect each other’s freedom, it’s not as though communal marriages have no downsides. The conspicuous example is children. With no romantic feelings for or sexual relations with each other, as long as the couple doesn’t take the routes of sperm donation or artificial insemination, no children will result from a communal marriage.

“But among those who choose communal marriages, there are many who ‘don’t like sex that much’ or ‘don’t want children’. For those kinds of people, not having children isn’t that big of a problem.”

Will Communal Marriages and “NigeHaji” Couples Keep Increasing?

When looking at the increase in marriages that cut out the process of finding love and are “based on an extension of communal living”, one must take into consideration the fact that there are many people who have had bad experiences dating or are tired of their partner interfering with and constraining them. There are also the type of people who need to keep a certain distance from others to be able to live with them.

For them, a non-romantic marriage where partners don’t interfere with each other and can live at their own pace will work fine. If they don’t have any expectations of their partner, they won’t run the risk of getting hurt and failing in their romantic endeavors.

“By nature, the people who choose communal marriages include many who will do work and housework and anything else that comes up by themselves,” says Ms. Kameyama. “This is the type who are independent and have the mindset of ‘I can do it myself’ and therefore pull away from marriage. But as a result of the Tohoku quake or other factors, those kinds of people have started to think, ‘maybe I’d feel safer living with someone else instead of by myself’, or ‘if I get married, the people around me will stop worrying about that, and my life might get less stressful’.”

In short, dating is a pain, but I want to be with someone. When two people with that mindset get together, the result is new forms of marriage like communal marriages.

“Marriage isn’t a ‘must’. If the situation is fine for the people living together, that’s all that’s needed. There’s a large possibility that communal marriages will continue to increase going forward.”

Of course, cases like that between “NigeHaji”’s Mikuri and Hiramasa, in which couples who haven’t known each other well start to live together as part of a contract marriage, then later develop romantic feelings for each other, are also likely to arise.

As the difficulties in dating and finding love rise, the shapes marriage takes will diversify. Perhaps communal marriages or couples like the one in “NigeHaji” will simply continue to spread.

出典: Biz-Journal.jp

(Page 1 of 3) 1123字 > 578 words

(All pages) 3046字 > 1530 words

Footnotes: 1I reject the official translation and substitute my own. 2Without more context I’m not sure how else to translate “kawaii” for an English-speaking-but-not-necessarily-familiar-with-Japanese-culture audience. Pretty? Charming? Lovable? 3Wonder if something like "cohabiting marriages" would be better and sound less like free love.... 4Author uses 夫婦 (“couple, husband and wife”) throughout the article--I know same-sex marriage isn’t legal in Japan yet, but the article generally assumes marriage is between a man and a woman.

P.S. @ this website...why have a page break in the middle of a section...

P.P.S. I have concerns about how superscript is actually working on my blog so if that's ugly, my apologies....

[traxlation]

Radwimps lyrics (15/?) - Mayfly / 五月の蠅

Mayfly - MV

I listened to this a while ago and found it catchy but apparently didn’t look farther into it. Recently I remembered this song and went and watched the MV again and was all, Hmmm that’s kinda dark! but I like the music so maybe I should translate it. So I looked up the lyrics and found why I might have left it alone the first time...it’s actually extremely dark. Very violent and angry and not what I would really expect from Radwimps, although the worst of the violence is in the form of if X bad thing happened to you, and not something the narrator actually speaks about doing or wanting to do himself. Either way, mind the warnings on this one….

Mayfly

I won’t forgive you No matter what happens, I’ll never forgive you If you’re chased down and stripped naked Raped and thrown away And you don’t know where to turn I’ll skip on by, wearing my widest smile and humming a song I won’t forgive you I won’t forgive you I won’t forgive you anymore

That face of yours which had never borne the shadow of sadness or grief Which had gotten used to being told it was beautiful, and so had rotted and grown ugly I want to stab it with a fork Oh, I want to do it* I want to see you as a corpse

Feeling shame in my hideousness and with my head* hanging low I’ve spent my life clasping my hands together And spewing out “I’m sorry” before I even say my own name So stupid When I look at you

I feel like you could be the purest person in the world But unfortunately I can take care of myself without such a roundabout way of doing it So I don’t need you

I won’t forgive you No matter what happens, I’ll never forgive you If you get stabbed by some slasher on the street And your guts fall out and you’re puking up blood as you beg for help I’ll put on headphones and listen to my favorite song And use your guts for a jump rope I won’t forgive you I won’t forgive you I won’t forgive you anymore

There’s no law that can judge your sins Oh, what a world Let me punish you instead --as if I’d say that, you idiot

Let the words I gave to you enter nirvana Give me back that precious semen I spilled in your body Pitiful, so pitiful I want to cry

I hate you as much as the sky is blue, in the same way flowers fall I can’t explain it any further In the movie of your life I’m the biggest, baddest villain At the end of all this upheaval I finally made it The absolute existence that I too was able to achieve People go on living like this, right? The first religion I ever had was* you

I won’t forgive you No matter what happens, I’ll never forgive you One day your beloved child will become old enough to understand She’ll scream at you “Mom, why was I born” “I wish I’d never been born as your child”* “I wish I’d never been born as your child” “I wish I’d never been born as your child”

Then I’ll stride in gallantly and softly wrap my arms around her You have nothing to be sorry for Nothing to be sorry for Nothing to be sorry for at all

出典: J-Lyric

Footnotes: * The title, 五月の蠅, literally means “fly of May”, but the word that would normally be used for “mayfly” is かげろう. 五月蠅い, or “fifth month fly” is one way to write うるさい (“loud, annoying, shut up”) in kanji. This is because, surprise, flies are pretty loud and obnoxious in June, and June corresponds to the fifth month of the old lunar calendar. There certainly might be other, better translations here that preserve the same kind of association (something to do with mosquitoes? cicadas?) * Oh, I want to do it - this is wordplay on したい (I want to do [something]) and 死体 (corpse) * head hanging low - 髑髏 is actually “skull” but the pronunciation used is, instead of the expected dokuro, sharekoube. I’m not sure on the connotations here. * The first religion I ever had was you - the verb is actually です in the present tense, and it’s formal (です vs. だ). There’s not too much reason for it to be formal due to scansion so someone who is smarter than me can probably figure out what’s actually going on here. In any case, leaving this as “was” since that’s how it would normally come out in English, but there’s definitely wiggle room for other interpretations here.

There are quite a few blog posts out there about this song but this one and this one were probably the ones I used most.

Also PROTIP: 乗 and 垂 are not actually the same thing….

[traxlation]

Kochi memoirs snippet

Wajima Fumiko*

72 years old, Kochi City

The place where I experienced the great bombing raid on Kochi City was in what is now Eikokuji-machi, but then was called Kita-yoriki-machi Number 30. There’s a hospital there now.

It was just before dawn on July 4, Showa 20 [1945]. Just when the air raid sirens went off, the dawn sky turned almost black with B-29 squadrons. Eventually, above us as we scrambled, incendiary bombs started hailing down, giving off pale blue flames and an uncanny whistling sound. I put a comforter over my air defense headscarf and ran about looking for a place to hide. It was life or death.

There were poor people who passed away while moaning, having been caught in the earth-scorching flames but failing to die immediately, and pitiful families who hid in the air defense ditches and died all together. When I think of it now, I truly can’t forget that sight.

[2 more pages]

No romaji or furigana given.

[traxlation]

Wagakki Band lyrics - Senbonzakura

Senbonzakura - MV

Soooo I had not really listened to the lyrics on this & just found it catchy the first ~20 times I listened to it...turns out it is mostly not about cherry blossoms and more about...political satire involving golden-age SF-style warfare in the Edo-slash-Meiji-slash-modern era? Maybe? The rabbit hole on this one turned out to be a whole lot deeper than I was expecting! More info in the footnotes.

Senbonzakura

The thousand cherry trees’ blossoms disappear into the night Not even your voice will reach them The depths of the indigo sky Pierced by your ray gun

Daredevils in a haikara* revolution Openhearted and carefree in an anti-war nation A bicycle with the hi no maru fallen over on the side of the road An ICBM dispersing all the evil spirits

Running around the beltline I’m on the go Boys and girls, unrivaled warring states At the mercy of this fleeting world

The thousand cherry trees’ blossoms disappear into the night Not even your voice will reach them This is a feast, a steel cell Look down on it from the guillotine

Three thousand worlds in eternal darkness Not even the laments they sing are heard The depths of the indigo sky Pierced by your ray gun

The one taught by many battles looks like an officer A procession of courtesans going back and forth Here and there they gather The parade of wise men, one-two-three-four

Struggling through the gates of meditation To reach the comfort and the cleansing of heaven My last moments will surely be a grand finale In the moments between the applause

The thousand cherry trees’ blossoms disappear into the night Not even your voice will reach them This is a feast, a steel cell Look down on it from the guillotine

Three thousand worlds in eternal darkness Not even the laments they sing are heard Far off, on the hill of hope Launch your flash bomb

Running around the beltline I’m on the go Boys and girls, unrivaled warring states At the mercy of this fleeting world

The thousand cherry trees’ blossoms disappear into the night Not even your voice will reach them This is a feast, a steel cell Look down on it from the guillotine

The thousand cherry trees’ blossoms disappear into the night Under their branches you sing, I dance This is a feast, a steel cell Now hold down the trigger on your ray gun

出典: Utaten

Footnotes: WOW I could say a lot more about this but I'll stick with this for now so that I can actually post it.

On the time period: I’ll point out the various references below but from the song’s Wikipedia page (in Japanese), there’s this quote: “The song’s lyrics are set in the post-Meiji Restoration error when Japan had begun to borrow Western culture, and contains satirical metaphors on modern society ”. Haikara: From “high collar” & coined around 1900; refers to people or things that have taken on a “Westernized” appearance. Hi no maru: Associated with Japan as a whole, but particularly the Empire of Japan (1868-1947). Fleeting world: Per Wikipedia, “[u]kiyo describes the urban lifestyle, especially the pleasure-seeking aspects, of Edo-period Japan (1600-1867)”. Warring states: Sengoku period in Japan was 1467-1603. Anti-war country: Modern (post-1947) Japan has often been called this due to Article 9 of its constitution, in which Japan renounces the right to belligerency and to maintain armed forces.

Beyond that I need to do a bit more reading but it seems like the general consensus on the lyric interpretation blog posts I’ve skimmed is that the setting is the Taisho period (1912-1926).

Lots of yojijukugo too: 大胆不敵 - audacity, daredevil (attitude) 磊々落々 - openhearted, free and easy 東奔西走 - being on the move; on the go; taking an active interest 百戦錬磨 - veteran, (someone) schooled by adversity in many battles 花魁道中 - procession of courtesans (questionable as an actual yojijukugo imho but wwwjdic has [yoji] on it so /shrug) 安楽浄土 - Heaven; specifically the Pure Land

Four kanji but maybe not yojijukugo: 反戦国家 - anti-war country 悪霊退散 - dispersing evil spirits 戦国無双 - apparently a name of a video game about the Warring States period

[traxlation]

Candies lyrics - Haru Ichiban

Haru Ichiban - MV

I want to say I learned this at Japan Camp but I can’t think of any time we would have actually learned it. The idol group from the 70s who sang this (Candies) were active around the same time Pink Lady was, and I know we learned a dance to Pink Lady’s UFO as rajio taisou so...maybe that was it? In any case here is a song about it being WARM and not like the pipe-freezing weather we have been having here.

First Winds of Spring

The snow melts and flows away in streams The horsetail buds shyly show their faces It’ll be spring soon - why don’t we try being a little stylish?

The winds are blowing and bringing us warmth Someone from somewhere has just come to pick up the girl next door It’ll be spring soon - why don’t you ask him out?

You’ll never become happy if you just spend all your time crying Why don’t you throw off that heavy coat and come out? It’ll be spring soon - why don’t we try falling in love?

The sparrows are playing in the sun The pussy willow shakes off the snow and raises its rose-gold face It’ll be spring soon - why don’t we try being a little stylish?

The boys are getting all dressed up and heading out The tadpoles flick their tails and swim through the water It’ll be spring soon - why don’t you ask him out?

The last time we talked about breaking up was last year already Let’s be grown-up and just forget about it It’ll be spring soon - why don’t we try falling in love?

The snow melts and flows away in streams The horsetail buds shyly show their faces It’ll be spring soon - why don’t we try being a little stylish?

The last time we talked about breaking up was last year already Let’s be grown-up and just forget about it It’ll be spring soon - why don’t we try falling in love? It’ll be spring soon - why don’t we try falling in love?

出典

Footnotes: * Hmmm not sure about translating tsukushi/nekoyanagi for a few reasons: 1) nobody knows wtf horsetail is in English and more generally they are not really evocative in English; 2) I hate how “pussy willow” sounds even though it’s...basically a direct translation of nekoyanagi ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but anyway I am trying to make this more accessible to English speakers with low or no Japanese culture/language experience * Holy moly the nature-related bits could have been...more poetic on the English side but I tried to stick relatively close to the Japanese. Might revise this in the future.

[traxlation]

Radwimps lyrics (14/?)

You, a Sheep, and the Color Blue - MV

I’ve already realized that now is the time I knew it without being taught how to shine The reality before me is already turning the color of memories

I just kept hitting any buttons I could see Thinking that miracles aren’t things that happen, they’re things you make happen1 I’ve been living my life to the fullest, with all my heart Enough to make “now” wear away

My emotions spilling out in all directions I ran through the passing days wildly, as I pleased

What I felt when I found you still moves me down to the marrow of my bones I closed my eyes because it was too bright But the afterimages are still waving at tomorrow

The world is going to leave us behind So, undaunted, I walked out on them But once I did, the lonely world broke back in from the other side

Today is the best-before date for the me of today Worrying that I was going to be made to sleep and rot I fell, still green and not quite finished And you accepted me

“It’s bitter, but it’s not painful2,” you said “It’s sour, but it’s not bad at all”

Oh, my days of greedily hungering for and stuffing myself With just the “twist”3 in the story My days that went on with no resolution

What I felt when I found you still moves me down to the very fiber of my being I closed my eyes because it was too bright But the afterimages are pointing out the path I should take

Reality, dreams, eternity, now, illusions Have all grouped up to cheer and toss me in the air The ultramarine4 that stained us dark on that day I still carry underneath my skin

出典: J-Lyric

Footnotes: 1Play on words between 起こる and 起こす - one of those pesky intransitive/transitive verb pairs in Japanese. 2Kanji pun with 苦い (“bitter”) and 苦しい (“painful, difficult”) 3OKAY SO. There is a four-character compound 起承転結 that describes a particular narrative structure in four parts: introduction, development, twist, conclusion. These lines refer to the “twist” and “conclusion” portions--my interpretation being that the speaker is/was only looking for excitement but was never able or willing to “finish” a particular story. 4Kanji pun on the title and also on the “green” from a few stanzas ago. The word used in Japanese for “green/unripe” here is 青い, which can also mean “blue”. Ultramarine here is 群青; if you break up the first kanji you get 君 “you”, 羊 “sheep”, and 青”blue”, hence the title. It’s not immediately clear what “ultramarine” refers to in the theme of the song though - it’s both “very blue” but also, being deeper, seems to imply more maturity? On the general topic of 青 in this song, this blog post also suggests a possible connection to 青春, literally “green spring” but meaning “adolescence”. Here’s another blog post that mentions the same idea as well as a few others. On a somewhat related note, this song was used on NHK in 2011 (the year of its release) for a soccer theme song, presumably because the nickname of the national men’s soccer team in Japan is Samurai Blue - again relating to the blue theme.

[traxlation]

Section from Japanese Wikipedia on criticism of Endo Shusaku’s Silence

Criticism from the Catholic Church and later statements from Endo

"Silence" received strong backlash from the Catholic Church when it was first published. According to some, it was treated like a banned book, particularly in Nagasaki, largely due to criticism from church leaders that did not see the shocking ending (of a priest committing apostasy by stepping on a fumi-e icon) in a positive light.

An article dealing with Endo's treatment of fumi-e was published in the January 13, 1972 (Showa 47) edition of the Catholic Weekly, a Japanese newspaper). In response to a quote from Endo [in an article titled "Fumi-e" published in Catholic Weekly on January 2]: "[Rodrigues] feels that the face of Christ [on the fumi-e] is telling him, 'Trample on me quickly. It's fine. I exist for the sake of your weakness.'"1, the editors at the time of the magazine Catholic Life, Fr. Federico Barbaro and Fr. Aloysio Del Col, both members of the Salesian Society, held that Endo's scene depicting fumi-e constituted a justification of that behavior, and rebutted it:

"If Jesus had abandoned his concept of 'blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness (Matthew 5:10)' and considered only the immediate happiness of these poor, weak humans, we would have something like what Mr. Endo has described. [...] Every day, as humans and as believers, we are made to stand before fumi-e in a variety of ways. We are constantly tested: Do we choose Christ, the kingdom of Christ, the love of Christ, or do we choose our own pride, profit, and greed?

"In this case, if the weak should choose the easy option, and if, therefore, Christ came for the sake of the weak, and we use that as an excuse for our actions, then the words of Christ, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48)", ring hollow. If that is the case, then Christ is no longer "an emblem of the noble road that humanity ought to walk"(?), and instead becomes "a messenger of humanity's weakness and base nature, and the greatest traitor to that which is most holy and sublime within humanity". Christ became an emblem of humanity's nobility precisely because he gave his life to defend the ideals of justice, love, and truth."

In Endo's 1974 collection of essays "The Village of Christians", Endo states his own thoughts towards apostates:

"Of course there are reasons to think that way. An apostate, to the Christian2 Church, is a rotten apple, something they don't want to talk about. If something smells bad, put a lid over it. The motivation for apostates to commit apostasy, their psychology, how they live their lives afterward, are all things outside the Church's sphere of interest, and is something that Kirishitan2 scholars absolutely do not want to research further.

"[...] Thus the weak are silenced by politicians and historians. They are buried in the ash of silence. But the weak are humans just like us. When they betrayed what had been their ideals, and what they had thought was the best, most beautiful thing in the world until that point, how can one say that they shed no tears? How can one say that regret and shame did not wrack their bodies? As a novelist, I cannot remain indifferent to their sorrow and suffering. Even after they fell, if they clasped their crooked fingers and desperately offered up wordless prayers, I too would cry."

Endo's concept of a "companion Jesus" who walks alongside the weak is fully realized in his novel "The Samurai", published in 1980.

1 This passage is from that article as far as I can tell, but the Wikipedia page doesn't link to it directly so all I can find is that one quote, cited in the rebuttal. The Wikipedia author page for Endo cites the date of his article as being January 23, but if the rebuttal appeared on the 13, that doesn't make much sense. There are pages with the rebuttal up (citing the date of Endo's article as January 2, which seems more authoritative), but they are quite long so I am gonna skip those for now.

2 Endo uses 基督 (used in the book) and 切支丹 (not used extensively in the book) here, rather than the more modern キリスト (Christian, rather than Catholic), so I'm not sure if he's trying to specifically refer to the Christian church/believers in Japan in the 1600s (which were Catholic by default) or if that was just the style when he was writing?

出典: Wikipedia

1304字 > 594 words + 158 in footnotes

[traxlation]

Asahi article on rice crop worries

Long spells of rain cause late harvest worries in some regions September 12 2017 4:30 pm

[Caption: Farmer Hikichi Jun checks on ears of rice = Misato Town, Miyagi Prefecture]

Rice in Hachimantai City, at the foot of Mount Yamagata, finally started turning gold as it turned to September. Farmer Takahashi Yoshiko (77) began mowing grass on the paths between rice paddies in preparation for the harvest. “August is when the rice flowers, so I was worried when it rained the whole month, but it’s coming along all right,” she said, with a relieved expression.

The weather on the Pacific side of the Tohoku region has been rainy this August, with less than half the normal number of sunny days—the lowest number since records started in 1946. In the first third of the month, the proportion of sunny days only reached about 20% that of a normal year in Sendai. However, September has seen continued sunny weather.

“We have a decent amount of heads of rice, so the harvest probably won’t even drop ten percent”, commented Hikichi Jun (76), a farmer in Misato Town, Miyagi Prefecture. According to the prefecture, in a trial of an early-maturing variety called Gohyakugawa, the entire harvest was graded A-1 and there were no problems with quality.

Due to a stagnant high-pressure system over the Sea of Okhotsk, the Tohoku experiences a cold, wet wind called “yamase” from the Pacific in summer, often leading to fears of damage due to the cold. The yamase and typhoons were to blame in 1993, when the harvest was catastrophically poor and rice had to be emergency imported from Thailand.

The number of ears of rice that develop, as well as the number of grains on each ear, is determined by the weather in June and July. In 1993, the temperature remained at spring-like temperatures throughout summer, with the average temperature in Sendai in July being 18.5 degrees. The harvest that year was doubtful, while the average temperature in July this year was 25.1 degrees. With the rain, the average temperature in August was 23.0 degrees, over the 20 degrees necessary for rice grains to mature.

The rice variety “Sasanishiki”, which is susceptible to cold, has declined, while hardier varieties “Hitomebore” and “Haenuki” have become more widespread. “Koshihikari” has been known to be susceptible to developing rice blight in cold temperatures, but has been developing a resistance to it.

But that’s not to say there’s no worry. Infertility—when a rice kernel doesn’t develop inside the husk—is still a concern. As of August 15, crop conditions were generally “on par with a normal year” or “somewhat good”, but ripeness, determined by the maturity of the grains themselves, was “somewhat poor” in prefectures in eastern Japan such as Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Ibaraki, and Chiba.

In Aomori Prefecture, emergency infertility assays have been underway since August 21. These assays, carried out by holding a grain up to the light to see whether there is a kernel inside, usually find about 4-5% infertility in a normal year, but in Aomori this year, the percentage reached an average of 13%. Ripeness across the region has also been delayed. “If we try to wait for the rice to ripen to ensure a larger harvest, low-quality rice will also be picked up and make its way into the marketplace”, worry prefecture staff. (Saitou Toru, Yamamoto Its, Sugiura Kanji, Nakano Hiroshi)

Crop Conditions in Top Rice-Producing Areas

Region - Condition - Grain ripeness Hokkaido - Normal - Good Aomori - Normal - Poor Iwate - Good - Poor Miyagi - Good - Poor Akita - Normal - Normal Yamagata - Good - Normal Fukushima - Good - Normal Ibaraki - Normal - Normal Tochigi - Normal - Poor Chiba - Normal - Poor Niigata - Normal - Normal

*Data as of August 15 (MAFF)

出典: Asahi

1268字 > 705 words

[traxlation]

Kochi Shimbun on Kochi-born LGBT advocate

February 5, 2017 8:15am

[Caption] Ookubo Akira gives a speech about his experiences (3 years ago, Kochi City Welfare Center in Shiota-cho, Kochi City)

”In search of all kinds of happiness”

One former teacher from Kochi City is fighting to spread understanding toward LGBT individuals* and the diverse forms of gender. Falling under the category of “transgender” individuals, whose bodies do not match their gender**, Ookubo Akira, 35, is now living as a man in Moriguchi City, Osaka Prefecture. He is calling for “a world where everyone can be accepted as a person”.

Ookubo was born with a woman’s body, but disliked trying to be “feminine” since he was young. When he started to become interested in girls as a grade schooler, those around him made cruel comments, so, he says, “I hid my feelings and decided to stop liking people” and lived a troubled life.

He worked as a physical education teacher at schools both inside and outside Kochi Prefecture, but as the prospect of turning 30 grew closer, he decided “at least once, to live my life in my own way”. He underwent sex reassignment surgery, and, five years ago, changed his family register.

When he was living as a woman, Ookubo says, “I used to hide a lot of things about myself and care a lot about what people thought of me. I got frustrated and if anything happened I would quickly lose my temper”. Once he became a man, he said, smiling, his mind settled down.

After changing his family register, he moved to Osaka Prefecture, and in 2015 got married. His wife is understanding of sexual minorities, and his parents-in-law also welcomed him warmly. “There have been times when I thought I would die,” says Ookubo. “But when I first met my wife, I thought that maybe I could be happy too.”

Since the summer of 2016, Ookubo has been working in schools and other areas to raise awareness of LGBT issues and become a source of support for those who struggle with the same troubles. On February 3, he gave a speech to teachers and other professionals in Kochi City. He is also involved in supporting wedding ceremonies for a variety of people, including same-sex couples.

“It’s okay if you’re biased at first, because I want people to be interested to start with,” Ookubo says. “I don’t want people to think that ‘LGBT people are miserable*’, but rather that they can have this kind of happiness too. I hope we can create a world where everyone can live as themselves.��

Ookubo also gives advice on his own website.

…To read the rest of this article, please see the print version of the Kochi Shimbun.

出典: Kochi Shimbun

838 字 > 464 words

Footnotes: [General] As always when talking about LGBT-related issues, there is the chance that Japanese expressions don’t always map well to the currently-accepted English terminology. I’ve tried to stick with commonly accepted English terminology where there is room to do so, but also to change the meaning of the Japanese text to the smallest extent possible. For example, I consistently use “he” for Mr. Ookubo since the Japanese doesn’t use any gendered pronouns for him (convenient!), but the phrase 男になり is probably most accurately translated as “became a man” (regardless of whether that phrase is representative of Mr. Ookubo’s experiences from his own perspective). *The headline uses the acronym “LGBT”, which is equated with 性的少数者 (sexual minorities) in the first sentence - in this sense I think the Japanese use of “LGBT” in at least this context is that of a noun (one who is LGBT) vs. an adjective. **I can’t decide if I think the original Japanese is very elegant or very imprecise: 心と体の性が一致しない, “the 性 of their bodies and their minds doesn’t match up”. As I’ve mentioned before, 性 can be used for both “sex” and “gender”, but also more broadly means “nature”, “quality”, or “-ness”. So it’s a little hard to translate it, particularly when it’s used to refer to two different realities as it is here. Also gotta confess, I don’t know if the paradigm of “sex means physical qualities, gender is your identity” is still the (a?) preferred explanation of these terms in English.

Should probably go check out his website!

[traxlation]

Asahi article on university nationalization

Kawaguchi Kyouko, Sugano Yuusuke February 4, 2017 10:57pm

[Caption: Nationalized private universities across the country]

A movement to revitalize private universities in rural areas by nationalizing them is gaining steam. According to investigation by the Asahi Shimbun, seven universities have already been nationalized, and there are plans or proposals to nationalize six more. Increasing difficulty in the management of private universities due to falling birth rates has been the largest factor, but some also point out that the financial burden to the country and to local governments will continue to rise as well.

Beginning in 2018, the portion of the population that is 18 years old is projected to start falling, and national financial difficulties make it unlikely that assistance payments to private universities will be extended. In this context, last December, Chitose Institute of Science and Technology requested to be nationalized by Chitose City, Hokkaido, citing the rapidly falling birth rates, the numbers of students studying to enter national or large private universities, and the increasing burden of educational costs due to downturns in regional economic activity, and stating that “operating private universities in rural areas is very difficult”. Tokyo University of Science (Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo), which has two sister schools whose administration it has turned over to local authorities, says that management of all its facilities, including the sister schools, is running well, but in preparation for the effects of falling birth rates and increased competition with other universities, it is promoting “choice and centralization” via methods such as campus reorganization.

The reason that local governments are willing to take on the financial burdens of nationalizing universities is that they anticipate ripple effects on the local economy from students who stay in the area and attend the university. In addition, part of the funds to run the universities will be distributed as national tax allocations to local governments, so lowered tuition will also make it easier to for students to attend. Originally, when the universities were founded, the majority received financial aid from local governments.

However, because the business environment is difficult, there are also obstacles for the local governments who will take over the universities. The governments taking over certain universities have been accused of naivety in their financial planning, and some have urged them to reconsider their management. Further, the Ministry of Education (MEXT) holds the right to approve a university to be nationalized, but it is claimed that they will approve any application without exception as long as the initial requirements are met. This means that the nationalization of any university means a corresponding increase in the amount of tax allocations to local governments paid out by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIAC), causing the taxes of citizens nationwide to be invested in universities in certain areas.

Satou Ryuuko, professor (higher education policy) at Ryuukoku University: In the discussion of nationalizing private universities, there is a certain significance to lightening the burdens (e.g. tuition) on students, revitalization of local economies, or the preservation of opportunities for higher education in rural areas. However, as the 18-year-old proportion of the population continues to decline, students will fail to gather at universities, and since it involves the use of tax revenue, we must be careful when discussing private universities that would normally be weeded out via natural selection continuing to be preserved via nationalization. This move will place pressure on management at other private universities, and will be linked to reductions in quality in higher education across the board.

出典: Asahi

1013 字 > 597 words

[traxlation]

Asahi article on Russian ambassador assassination

Istanbul = Kasuga Yoshiaki, Moscow = Komaki Akiyoshi December 20, 2016 10:07 am

[Caption 1: Shooter Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş brandishes a gun after killing a Russian ambassador in the Turkish capital Ankara on the 19th (AP)]

[Caption 2: Russia’s permanent ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, victim (AP)]

In Ankara, the capital of Turkey, on the night of the 19th (Japan: early morning on the 20th), the Russian ambassador stationed in Turkey was shot and killed by a policeman. The shooter was then shot and killed at the scene himself, but after firing his shots shouted in Arabic “Allahu akbar” (God is great), then in Turkish, “Do not forget Aleppo. Do not forget Syria.” Turkish security forces are investigating the shooter’s motives, including his connection to the Syrian civil war.

Russian Ambassador Shot and Killed in Ankara, Turkey

According to Minister of the Interior Süleyman Soylu, the shooter was Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş (22), who worked as a member of the special riot police force in Ankara. He had been working in the same unit since graduating police academy two and a half years ago.

According to Turkish media, on the 19th at around 7pm, at the opening ceremony for a photography exhibition at a cultural center in central Ankara, the man approached Russian diplomat Andrei Karlov as he attempted to give a speech, and shot the ambassador in the back. Afterwards, he became engaged in a gunfight with police forces and was shot and killed. Three other people sustained light injuries during the gunfire.

The eastern side of Aleppo, which the shooter referenced, has been a stronghold of anti-establishment forces since the Syrian civil war broke out, but they were suppressed in mid-December by forces loyal to the Assad regime, which Russia supports.

Turkey has supported the anti-establishment forces and has had antagonistic relations with Russia, but in its response to the Kurds, a minority ethnic group who are working towards independence from Turkey and Syria, Turkey has also been exploring avenues of cooperation with Russia. It has tacitly approved of the Assad government troops’ suppression in Aleppo, and discontent at Turkey’s “betrayal” has been growing among anti-establishment forces and radical organizations that fight alongside them.

After the incident, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated to Anadolu Agency, “This was a provocative action meant to destroy the relationship between Turkey and Russia”. Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, confirmed in a phone call with Erdogan that Russia would cooperate in the investigation. “There is likely only one way to respond. We must strengthen our battle against terrorism,” he said.

865 字 > 436 words

Footnotes: *Japanese press usually refer to people suspected of committing a crime as “suspects” until they are proven to have committed (or not committed) that crime. Not sure how that will play out in Turkey, or with the accused dead, but I’ve changed those references to “man” or “shooter” or similar language here. The English articles I’ve seen have positively identified Altıntaş as the shooter (the attack took place in front of running TV cameras) so I will do the same. *For whatever reason, the Asahi Shimbun (and others) doesn’t use a president’s first name when first introducing them in a work, as English-language texts often do. I’ve added first/given names here.