WIT Life #261: After Life
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WIT Life is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends along with her own observations.
Last night Japan Society concluded its Tribute to Donald Richie: Richie’s Fantastic Five with a screening of After Life (「ワンダフルライフ」), my favorite film from my favorite Japanese director, Hirokazu Kore-eda (The second part of the Richie Tribute, Richie’s Electric Eight, will start on March 13). It was released in 1998, and I remember catching it at the local arts cinema in my hometown. I hadn’t seen Kore-eda’s first film, Maboroshi （「幻の光」）, and I was blown away by After Life. Maboroshi was based on a novel by Teru Miyamoto, but After Life is Kore-eda’s original screenplay, one he created after interviewing hundreds regarding recollections of their lives. In the film as well he actually used some of these non-actors to tell their stories.
The movie takes place at a way station where people are sent after they die. They are to reside there for a week, during which time they must pick one memory that they are allowed to take with them into the afterlife. Each counselor is assigned about seven people who they must help make this decision. The style of each employee varies, as does the nature of their clients. We meet elderly deceased who fondly recall their childhoods, as well as young deceased who struggle to find meaning in their short lives. The audience also later learns that the reason Read More
WIT Life #260: Shohei Imamura Film Festival at Asia Society
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WIT Life is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends along with her own observations.
First of all, a belated 明けましておめでとうございます！ It’s been a busy start to 2014, but I’m happy to be blogging again in the year of the horse (午年 or umadoshi). It being umadoshi is good news for people like me whose animal sign is the horse, as one is said to have good luck when the zodiac sign for the current year is the same as the one from the year when you were born. This makes me what is called a 年女 (toshi onna), and I’m hoping this year of the horse gives me faster feet in the many marathons I run…
In conjunction with the Japan Foundation, the Asia Society is currently featuring the Vengeance is Shohei Imamura film series from January 17-February 1. I have been a fan of Imamura’s ever since seeing The Eel (「うなぎ」, with Yakusho Koji playing a former convict) in 1997, and was glad to have the opportunity to check out some of his other flicks. He was the first Japanese director to win two Palme d’Or awards, one for Unagi, and one for The Ballad of Narayama (「楢山節考」) in 1983, screened this past Saturday night as part of the Imamura film festival.
Set in the 19th century, the movie takes place in a small rural Japanese village where they have Read More
Let’s Talk Japan Podcast, Episode 19 – Japanese Translation & Interpretation
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Let’s Talk Japan is a monthly, interview format podcast covering a wide range of Japan-related topics. Host Nick Harling (Mie-ken, 2001-03) lived in Japan from 2001 until 2005, including two great years as a JET Program participant in Mie-Ken. He practices law in Washington, D.C., and lives with his wife who patiently listens to him talk about Japan . . . a lot.
In this episode, Nick speaks with Stacy Smith about the joys and challenges of working as a professional Japanese translator and interpreter. Stacy worked as a Coordinator of International Relations (CIR) for the Japan Exchange Teaching (JET) Program in Kumamoto prefecture before eventually returning to the United States and turning her love of Japanese into a career. When not on the road with work, Stacy lives in New York City.
Together they discuss how Stacy became interested in the Japanese language; how she went about deciding to become a professional translator & interpreter; the impact of technology; and tips for improving your own Japanese study habits
To learn more about Stacy, check out her website as well as her blog posts for JETwit. Also, here’s a great article about Japanese translation and interpretation.
If you have not already done so, be sure to “Like” the podcast on Facebook, and follow the podcast on Twitter @letstalkjapan. Additionally, please consider leaving a positive rating and/or review in iTunes.
WIT Life #259: 右傾化 & スメハラ
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WIT Life is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends along with her own observations.
As Japan enters its last day of 2013, the Abe administration is demonstrating a drift to the right which is alarming to some. The PM recently made news with his official visit to Yasukuni Shrine, where the almost 2.5 million Japanese who perished during conflicts spanning from 1867 to WWII are enshrined. The reason this is so inflammatory to neighboring Asian countries, as well as the rest of the world, is that those buried there include convicted war criminals and it seems to indicate a flaunting of nationalistic views. This tendency is what got PM Abe into trouble during his first time in office, and once again there is nervous commentary regarding his 右傾化 (ukeika or conservative swing), which some say supercedes his three-arrowed Abenomics economic revival efforts.
This weekend the NYT highlighted this issue with an article on a local battle regarding textbooks being fought on the eight-island township of Taketomi in Okinawa. Here you can see a side by side Read More
WIT Life #258: Ivan Ramen debut!
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WIT Life is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends along with her own observations.
The recent addition of Japanese food or 和食 (washoku) to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list is something that warmed the hearts of all of us Japanophiles out there. Although sushi gets more attention, ramen is what is considered to be Japan’s soul food and is increasing its presence here in the city at a rapid rate. I previously wrote about the impending arrival of Ivan Ramen to the New York scene, and his slurp shop has now set up camp in the new Gotham West Market. I finally had the chance to try it out the other day, and really enjoyed the meal even though I am not a huge ramen lover to begin with. My friend and I shared a bowl each of the roasted garlic mazemen and the chili eggplant mazemen (pictured here), both featuring rye noodles and minimal broth. I liked the powerful punch of the garlic version with its chicken and dashi double soup, whereas my friend preferred the milder vegetarian version.
Besides three other types of regular ramen, there are two kinds of donburi and curry rice. To hear more about Ivan Orkin and his path to becoming a ramen restauranteur, check out this profile in today’s NYT.
WIT Life #257: 今年の漢字
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WIT Life is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends along with her own observations.
It was recently announced that the kanji representing 2013 would be 輪 (rin or wa). It means ring, circle, or wheel, and refers to different aspects that have converged this year. This was the most popular submission in the public contest run by the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, and there were several explanations for why. One idea came from the five rings symbolizing the Olympics, in regard to the September announcement that Tokyo would host the Summer Olympics in 2020. Another was the coming together of citizens in a circle of recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake (Thanks to this rebuilding, construction and real estate related stocks have been booming on the Nikkei Stock Average). Yet another interpretation was the private/public cooperation that led to the recent registration of Mt. Fuji on the World Heritage List. 輪 received 9518 votes, and second-place 
楽 (raku) which received 8562 votes referred to the Tohoku Rakuten (楽天) Golden Eagles’ victory in the Nippon Series baseball championship.
For those who are interested in kanji and Japanese calligraphy, I would highly recommend the current exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art entitled Brush Writing in the Arts of Japan. It was interesting to learn about Read More
WIT Life #256: Seattle’s Katsu Burger!
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WIT Life is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends along with her own observations.
I spent the weekend here in Seattle for the purpose of running the local marathon, which I successfully completed this afternoon! Due to Seattle’s large Japanese-American population and their great influence, on previous visits I have taken advantage of cultural offerings such as the Uwajimaya shopping center (similar to our Mitsuwa), but I was excited to discover a new Japan-related restaurant this time around. I was pretty ravenous after running and craving something substantial, so on the way to the airport I found myself at Katsu Burger. It is in an area surrounded by several fast-food teriyaki joints, but not much else. However, once stepping into the shop you are greeted by a wide variety of Japanese memorabilia, as well as a map adorned with push pins indicating where customers have visited from. As you would expect of Chikyu no Arukikata bearing Japanese tourists, Japan was full from Hokkaido to Okinawa!
Katsu Burger bills itself as serving “Japanese-style burgers and beyond,” and all items Read More
WIT Life #255: San Francisco’s Xanadu Gallery
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WIT Life is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends along with her own observations.
My current three-week business trip finishes on the West Coast, with Thanksgiving in San Francisco and the weekend here in Seattle. When I am in the former city, one of my favorite places to visit is the Asian antique art themed Xanadu Gallery. I was first drawn to visiting this location as its architect was Frank Lloyd Wright, who I love. Interesting fact is that he used this building to practice how to incorporate curves into his designs, and five years later went on to create the Guggenheim with its distinctive spiral.
Xanada features a permanent jewelery collection upstairs as well as rotating exhibits, and I was nicely surprised to find that this time Japanese items were being showcased. As seen in the picture, the main display is of exquisitely detailed Noh robes. They have typical Japanese patterns such as Read More
WIT Life #254: Denver’s Japanese influence
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WIT Life is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends along with her own 
observations.
My interpreting travels bring me again to Denver, and earlier in the fall I posted here about the city’s amazing History Colorado Center, currently showing an exhibit about Japanese American internment during the war. It is still running, so make sure to check it out if you are in town! My clients and I spent the first week of our three-week journey in DC, as these Department of State programs always do. There I spent some time at the Memorial to Japanese-American Patriotism in World War II. It features two Japanese cranes caught in barbed wire on top of a tall marble pedestal, and it was created by Japanese-American sculptor Nina Akamu in 2000. It sits in a landscaped plaza surrounded by a granite wall with inscriptions of the battles that Japanese Americans fought in, as well as the names of Read More
WIT Life #253: Preserving Japanese Traditional Arts
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WIT Life is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends along with her own observations.
This week I had the opportunity to interpret for a Japanese delegation comprised of two groups who traveled to New York to receive the annual Tiffany Foundation Award. This award was created by the Tiffany Foundation in collaboration with the Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE), and it recognizes non-profits that are preserving Japanese traditional arts at the national and regional community levels. This year’s recipients were the Association for the Promotion of Ipponsugi Street, located in Ishikawa Prefecture, and envisi, located in Miyagi Prefecture. They were the 6th round of winners since the award’s establishment in late 2007.
The Association for the Promotion of Ipponsugi Street, whose members are featured here wearing the happi coats, preserves their city Nanao’s unique custom of 花嫁のれん (hanayome noren). Noren are long curtains that hang in the entrances to Japanese restaurants and traditional Japanese rooms, and the special bridal ones are dyed using the Kaga yuzen technique. Hanayome noren are hung in the doorway leading to the butsuma (a small room holding sacred objects) for the bride to walk through when she gets married, a ritual that Read More
WIT Life #252: Ivan Ramen
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WIT Life is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends along with her own observations.
I can’t believe it’s been over a month since I’ve written here, but during that time I’ve traveled from Hawaii to LA to NY and then to Japan for various interpreting gigs. Needless to say, there were many adventures along the way! A particular highlight was getting to interpret for my favorite Japanese director, Hirokazu Kore-eda, when his fabulous new film Like Father Like Son (そして父になる) debuted at the New York Film Festival last month. It will have its widespread release here in the States early next year, and I will write more about it and meeting the director then…
It’s always great to be home again, and one of the best parts is being able to enjoy the many events taking place on a daily basis here in th
e city. Last night I was able to check out one at Strand Books, which hosted the author Ivan Orkin to talk about his experiences running a ramen shop in Tokyo, his new memoir/cookbook, and the opening of his upcoming ramen shop here in NY. I was looking forward to meeting Orkin as he graduated from Read More
WIT Life #251: Honolulu’s Byodo-in
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WIT Life is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends along with her own observations.
Every time I come to Honolulu I try to find a new place to explore that I haven’t tried before, and during this trip my discovery was the Byodo-in Temple in Kaheohe. This is the city where my local JET friend lives, who said it was a must see. For me this was a particularly special spot, as the temple is a replica of the original Byodo-in in Kyoto Prefecture’s Uji-shi, where I first lived in Japan as an exchange student. The Hawaiian version did not disappoint, as it is located at the foot of the 2,000 foot tall Koʻolau Mountains which provide breathtaking background scenery.
Honolulu’s Byodo-In was built in the 1960’s to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants to Hawaii, who came to work in the sugar plantation fields. In consultation with Hawaiian religious representatives, the developer of the park chose to Read More
WIT Life #250: Mochi, mochi and more mochi!
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WIT Life is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends along with her own observations.
I am at the tail end of my State Department interpreting gig here in Hawaii, and was glad to find that even when you are far from home you are never far from other JETs. I sat down to breakfast the other morning in my hotel, and who did I see but fellow NY JET alum Mark Flanigan! He was here on ICU business, and I was lucky enough to catch him before he flew back to NY that night. Small world! Tomorrow when work ends I’m planning on Read More
WIT Life #249: 小東京
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WIT Life is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends along with her own observations.
Marugame Monzo’s insanely rich uni cream sauce udon!
My interpreting travels find me in Los Angeles, where of course I made a stop at 小東京 (shou Toukyou, or little Tokyo). I enjoyed the legendary umami-packed uni cream sauce udon at Marugame Monzo, which opened this past spring. It is located right by the ever popular ramen joint Daikokuya and specializes in sanuki udon from Shikoku, handmade at the restaurant. The menu features traditional items as well, but its appeal lies in more unconventional offerings such as vongole udon and quattro cheese udon.
I am a huge uni fan but not so much of cream sauce, so wasn’t sure how I would take to the dish as it seemed excessively creamy. But you only live once so I decided to give it a try. Surprisingly, it was just the right amount of creamy! Certainly not something you would want to eat every day or even every week, but there was a nice balance between the uni and the cream and it was not as heavy as you might think. I somehow managed to finish the whole thing, a feat I didn’t think was possible upon first glance. Bottom line: if you are an uni lover and can deal with something relatively creamy, I think you will enjoy it.
My hotel is actually in Santa Monica this time, and I was excited to find about the existence of Read More
WIT Life #248: Ralph Carr’s Fight for Japanese-American Justice
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WIT Life is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends along with her own observations.
The bust in Sakura Square of former CO governor Ralph Carr, who fought for Japanese-American civil rights
My interpreting for a State Department energy-themed delegation brings me to Denver, Colorado. In the past I’ve written here about the Japanese connection at Sakura Square, where former governor Ralph Carr who took a stance against internment camps during WWII was honored with a bust in 1976. He also was named “Person of the Century” by the Denver Post in 1999. Most recently, his contributions have been recognized by naming the new Colorado Judicial Center after him. This is a 695,767 square-foot building housing the Colorado Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Supreme Court Law Library, the State Court Administrator, the Colorado Attorney General and the Colorado Public Defender. It seems like the perfect tribute to a past politician who sacrificed his political career rather than betray the rule of law.
Carr was the 19th governor of Colorado who served from 1939 to 1943. He was in office when FDR forcibly resettled residents of Japanese descent from the West Coast to a camp at Amache near Granada, Colorado. The relocation included Nisei who were U. S. citizens by virtue of being born in this country. While many politicians Read More
