WIT Life #32: Hisashiburi Hello
Blogs, Books, Events, Japan Trends, Translating/Interpreting, WIT Life 
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WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Interpreter/Translator/Writer Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03). Recently she’s been watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese and sharing some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.
I have been on a bit of a hiatus as I was traveling around Japan for the last 2 weeks! It’s always great to go back and experience what a wonderful, crazy, beautiful, amazing country it is. This trip was particularly special as I had the chance to visit my JET hometown of Kumamoto where the sakura were in full bloom!
The ones in Tokyo were just starting to bud, but I unfortunately wasn’t able to see them in all their grandeur. I was, however, able to Read More
J-News Mini-Roundup: The Economic Downturn
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J-News Mini-Roundup is a recurring feature written by Friend Of JET, Jon Hills, founder of Hills Learning (www.hillslearning.com). Hills Learning is a NY-based language learning services company offering customized and personal Japanese language learning options.
The Economic Downturn and its Effects: Most Pessimistic to Most Optimistic
4 – NHK: The biggest news on economic glum came from the NHK news station today. Within the financial community the highly anticipated “Tankan Survey” done by the Bank of Japan stated record pessimism amongst company executives. 61% stated their companies were doing poorly, while only 3% stated they were doing well. This measure is the worst it’s been since the survey’s inception, about 30 years ago.
3 – Nikkei: Not to be outdone, the Nikkei then reported that bankruptcies from listed companies in 2008 had reached 45. This is the highest rate of bankruptcies since WWII. To underscore this point, the second worst year of bankruptcies in Japan was 2002, with only 22 bankruptcies.
2 – Asahi: The Asahi ran a headliner this morning about how lay offs and the economic downturn are good for some companies. Reporting from within the headquarters of a recruiting agency that hires part time workers ( a company called あず) executives were rejoicing on how this is their chance to get more recruits for part time work than ever before. They referred to the “フリーター魂” the furi-ta- or “seasonal worker” spirit!
1 – Yomiuri: The headlines at Yomiuri this morning topped the optimism radar. They made no mention of an economic downturn, but instead decided to focus on North Korea. So you’re probably expecting some kind of article regarding missile launches accidently dropping missiles on Japan? Nope, the headliner read: Kim Jong Ill’s thinness is due to dieting, he’s getting thin due to health reasons.”
Job: Call for resumes of experienced translators of literary works and financial translators (Tokyo)
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Via the Honyaku Google Group:
Modis Design, a company that specializes in bilingual Japanese/English marketing, is seeking experienced translators of literary works as well as financial translators. Read below for more information. Read More
SWET: Wordsmithing in Japan seminar (Tokyo)
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SOCIETY FOR WRITERS EDITORS & TRANSLATORS (SWET) OPEN FORUM: Wordsmithing in Japan
April 21 (Tues), 2009; 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Fee: 1,000 yen for SWET members; 2,000 yen for non-members
Place: 5th Floor, Shoko Kaikan/Shohisha Senta, Shibuya
1-12-5 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku
Miyamae-zaka area; map at www.city.shibuya.tokyo.jp/est/shoko.html
Are you hoping to launch a career in writing, translating, copyediting, editing, English-language publishing or other work based in Japan? Where should you start? What qualifications do you need? Who can you collaborate with? How can SWET help you? What can you do for SWET?
Open to members and non-members alike, the SWET Open Forum offers an opportunity to address questions to established professionals in a variety of wordsmithing professions, as well as present requests and suggestions for SWET activities throughout the year. Take this opportunity to tap SWET resource persons on hand, sound off on questions and concerns, and enjoy a chance for informal networking and information-sharing.
The SWET members present will share their expertise in the following fields: J-E translation, editing, copyediting, proofreading, editing translations, writing, rewriting, technical writing, copywriting, design and layout.
For further information, contact SWET by email at events at swet dot jp.
Job: Freelance news gathering – Korean/English (and Japanese) – Tokyo Broadcasting System (NY)
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JET alum John Ellis-Guardiola, a news producer for Tokyo Broadcasting System’s New York Bureau, is looking for a freelance news gatherer. He says there’s potential for a long term working relationship as well.
I wanted to reach out to the JETAANY Community for help on a search regarding Korean language help. Tokyo Broadcasting System’s New York Bureau is looking to establish a relationship with a Korean/English or Korean/English/Japanese speaker who could help us with our newsgathering for Korean issues on a freelance basis. If the person is interested in media, that’s also a plus, but not necessarily a requirement. If you would like to contact me regarding this position, feel free contact John Ellis at jelgua at tbsi-us dot com.
Translator’s Corner: Keep Our English Out of Your Japanese Puns!
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By translator and writer Jamie Graves (Saitama-Ken 2002-2003)
The Japanese language is notorious for having a relatively small number of phonemes compared to other major world languages, which can be a hindrance when having to learn new sounds outside that structure (the infamous “L” and “R” distinction), but results in a tremendous number of homonyms. While there are slight changes in emphasis between the words for “hair”, “god” and “paper”, they are all kami. I think we can safely assume that the Japanese have been making linguistic tricks like this into bad puns for centuries, if not millennia.
When the Chinese writing system first crash landed onto the Japanese language around fifteen-hundred years ago no one could have predicted the historical fallout: an explosion of bad puns. As Chinese characters were gradually adapted to Japanese, all of the tones that had previously distinguished words like“mǎ” (“horse”, 馬) from “má” (“hemp” 麻) were flattened out. In a language already rife with nearly identical words, this produced a new explosion of homonyms, the building blocks of puns. (The Chinese also use these for puns. In an effort to mess with government censors the phrase 草泥马, “grass-mud-horse” has gone viral on the Chinese blogosphere because the same sounds with different tones mean… something not really printable here. ( This page explains the whole phenomenon.)
Case in point, the furious Japanese tongue twister “Uraniwa niwa niwa, niwa niwa niwa, niwatori ari”. (裏庭には二羽、庭には二羽、鶏あり). Niwa in Read More
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WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Interpreter/Translator/Writer Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03). Recently she’s been watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese and sharing some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.
A little while back I profiled the trend of men and bento making, and it appears to be going strong with advocates receiving the new moniker “Bento Boys.” I was recently doing some copy editing of a market research report which discussed this topic, and though it would be interesting to share as a follow-up. Previously I mentioned the “Oyaji Bento” blog, and this report highlights a blog of a similar nature called “Kyo no Bento.” Below is an excerpt from the report:
“Previously in Japan, frugality was a virtue but stinginess was not welcomed. Now the Japanese do not think someone is necessarily stingy when they are saving money in the process. There are increasing numbers of Read More
Job: J->E In-house translator – Daiwa Institute of Research (Tokyo)
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Posted by Daiwa Institute of Research on the Honyaku Google Group:
In-house J-E Translation Position at DIR
Daiwa Institute of Research is looking for a full-time, in-house J-E translator for analyst reports covering Japanese stocks for our Tokyo office. A successful candidate should have some knowledge of economic topics and a basic understanding of accounting. Securities industry experience is also welcome. In addition to strong Japanese reading ability (Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level 1 preferred), we seek candidates with strong writing skills and the ability to paraphrase difficult Japanese texts. Read More
Translators Corner: Translating Obama, Audaciously
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Posted by translator and writer Jamie Graves (Saitama-Ken 2002-2003). JetWit invites other translators to post commentary on for Translators Corner as well. Contact translatorscorner atto jetwit dotto com if interested.
While President Obama’s name has proved remarkably compatible with the Japanese language (I wish MY name were that easy to write in kanji), his eloquent rhetoric has proved a little bit more difficult. There is currently an excellent discussion on the Google Honyaku Group about how to translate the now iconic phrase “The Audacity of Hope“. The title of the official Japanese translation of the book conveys only one meaning of the phrase, meaning something like “Revitalizing America, By Embracing Large Hopes”. You can find the discussion on how to accurately render the poetic brevity of “The Audacity of Hope” here.
I thought the first suggestion “あえての希望” (Aete-no-kibo, “daring to hope”) best captured the succinctness of the original phrase. It was followed by many interesting, and occasionally very funny suggestions, as well as some fascinating digressions on what exactly the meaning and feeling of the word “Audacity” are in the original phrase.
Particularly interesting was how people were looking for something to convey the brash feeling of audacity, how the phrase relates to the already popular “Boys Be Ambitious” (青年よ大志を抱け), and the slightly dark (and prescient) joke that “オーダシティ” may soon enter the Japanese language as is.
For those who are interested, Dwight Van Winkle posted an interesting link to a list of official translations of the “The Audacity of Hope” in many different languages.
SWET Workshop: Problems with Presentations? The Doctor is In! (Tokyo)
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Via the e-mail list for the Tokyo-based Society of Writers, Editors and Translators:
Problems with Presentations? The Doctor is In!
If you usually work with words, but are wondering how to make the most of your presentation software, this hands-on seminar is for you.
Date: Saturday, March 28, 2009 10:15 – 16:00 (lunch break 12:00-13:00)
Place: Sophia University, Library room 524
Price: 10,000 (SWET members), 15,000 (non-members)
Presenters: Hugh Ashton & Shuji Yoshida
Language: English
Participants: Up to 12 Read More
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By translator and writer Jamie Graves (Saitama-Ken 2002-2003)
If you studied Japanese at the college level, your first exposure to the language most likely came from the red and black circles of Eleanor Harz Jorden’s seminal textbook “Japanese: The Spoken Language.” Jorden recently passed away at the age of 89, having spent her entire adult life studying and teaching Japanese linguistics to English speakers. Jorden was part of the generation of Japanese scholars that became active and influential just after World War II, and whose work laid the foundations for modern study and understanding of Japan in the English speaking world. When the translations of Donald Keene and Edward Seidensticker inspired many to study Japanese language and literature, it was often the system Jorden developed that they used to learn it.
As a linguist, Jorden was extremely concerned with accuracy and precision. Switching to Japanese in the middle of my junior year, I moved from the copiously illustrated “Genki” series of textbooks, with its illustrated storyline of Mary-san the exchange student slowly learning Japanese language and culture, to Jorden’s blocky and forbidding introduction. There were no photos, illustrations or cultural asides in Jorden’s book, just rows of text and the occasional explanatory table. Instead of hellos and introductions the book begins like a science text, defining its most basic terms. “Mora is the term we will use to refer to the syllable-like unit of Japanese: each mora represents one beat and occupies roughly the same unit of time (a 3-mora word takes three times as long to pronounce as a 1-mora word).” Read More
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WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Interpreter/Translator/Writer Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03). Recently she’s been watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese and sharing some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.
In these tough economic times we are all looking to save money where we can. In eco-conscious Japan, this is taking the form of restaurants looking to reduce their amount of waste. Not only is this better for the earth, but they are also able to decrease processing costs so it’s a double bonus. An interesting phenomenon is that this idea is being applying to the ubiquitous enkai, known to be the worst waster of food. Instead of putting out a great spread and having much of it end up as leftovers, Read More
Health Insurance and Freelance Translators
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For any freelancers–translators or others–there’s a good discussion of what various freelance translators in the U.S. do for health insurance on the Honyaku GoogleGroup at http://groups.google.com/group/honyaku/browse_thread/thread/ede45eb284546152?hl=en. (You need to sign up and be a member of the group to see the discussion, btw.)
WIT Life #29: International Recognition to Wipe Away Domestic Woes
Article/Journalism, Blogs, Career, Cartoon/Illustration, Celebrity, Japan Trends, Translating/Interpreting, Uncategorized, WIT Life, Writers Comments Off on WIT Life #29: International Recognition to Wipe Away Domestic Woes
WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Interpreter/Translator/Writer Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03). Recently she’s been watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese and sharing some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.
For those of you who didn’t tune in to the Academy Awards last night, Japan cleaned up in all the categories in which it received nominations. Going against heavily favored Waltzing with Bashir from Israel, Director Yojiro Takita’s Okuribito (Departures) took the award for Best Foreign Language Film. Since the establishment of this award in 
1957, Japan Read More
WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Interpreter/Translator/Writer Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03). Recently she’s been watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese and sharing some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.
Today’s news profiled companies that are not only surviving this tough economic climate but prospering in it. The first was McDonald’s, who in America was also one of the retailers along with Walmart that reported positive gains last year. In Japan its success 
is attributed to the revamping of the coffee served there dubbed McCafe. Its taste was reformed last February, and 2008 sales saw great improvement over the previous year (for hot coffee growth of 40 million cups, for cold 20 million cups). It goes for 120 yen, and a survey of customers during the peak 7:45-8 a.m. 15-minute period found that 50 out of 63 customers purchased coffee. One of those 50 asked about its taste responded with a satisfied smile, “It tastes just like can coffee.” Keeping stores open 24 hours and expanding the 100 yen menu McDonald’s also contributed to the store’s success.
Japanese convenience stores have also been seeing their sales grow. This is directly related to the introduction of the Taspo last May. This is a smart card from the Tobacco Institute of Japan issued to adults (20 or older) so that they can use the age verification tobacco vending machines. A recent survey indicated that only Read More
