Anti-Buddhism Movement in Kofukuji Temple, Nara 興福寺のお坊さんってそんなに弱かったの？

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

Kofukuji Temple's five-story pagoda

From a low angle

This is the five storied pagoda of Kofukuji Temple in Nara. I've been there twice a year for the last ten years, so didn't expect to take a picture of it this summer again. But during the vacation, I was reading a book about ancient Japanese history, which naturally includes historical events in Nara, one of the former Japanese capitals, older than Kyoto, and this book made me look at this temple from literally a new perspective.

Kofukuji is one of the oldest and most famous temples in Japan, but, according to the book, is well-known for being obedient to the authority.

At the beginning of the Meiji period (1868-1912), anti-Buddhism and temple destruction movement (haibutsu kishaku) occurred. This was led by the then government, mainly by people from the Satsuma Domain (the current Kagoshima prefecture), to make Shinto the state religion under the Emperor. As a result, the monks of this temple were told that they were fired and to become priests of Kasuga Taisha Shrine, a nearby Shinto organization. The temple's other assets were sold as firewood with this five-story pagoda being once for sale at JPY250 (current JPY5 million). On the other hand, monks of temples in Osaka, a prefecture next to Nara, ignored that order. Osaka people are well-known for being open, talkative and rebellious.

I learned about this event in such detail on the website (Japanese only) and don't know if the author's characterization of Nara and Osaka people is true. But this historical event made me feel closer to Kofukuji Temple because I realized that a temple is not just a religious organization, but also full of human dramas. If you are interested in another drama, a labor dispute at Horyuji Temple, another temple in Nara, read this!

ここ10年、毎年奈良に行っている。行ったら必ず興福寺には行くので、今さら五重の塔の写真を撮るなんて思ってもいなかったが、この夏は井沢元彦氏の「逆説の日本史」を読んで面白いことを知ったので、ついつい撮ってしまいました。

興福寺って廃仏毀釈の時に、「みんな春日大社の神官になれ、五重の塔も売ってしまえ」と言われ、従ってしまったんですって。あるサイトによると、大阪の寺にも同じような命令が来たけど無視。だけど奈良県民は権力に弱いので興福寺は従ってしまい、一時期、五重の塔が250円（今の500万円くらい）で売られていたとのこと。県民性の話はさておき、寺にもいろいろドラマがあるのかと、興福寺に親しみを感じてしまいました。ちなみに法隆寺の労働争議について知りたい方はこちらをどうぞ。

360-Degree View from Nara Prefectural Office Roofptop 奈良県庁の屋上

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

These photos were all taken from the rooftop of the six-story Nara prefectural office building.

The rooftop is open through the year from 8:30 to 17:30 or 19:00 on weekdays and from 10:00 or 13:00 to 17:00 on weekends and among other things, no admission fee! (For details, go to this website [Japanese only].) I have been to Nara for the last ten years and seen tourists increased dramatically as I wrote in another post, but have seen almost nobody on the rooftop, which makes me google for information about the rooftop and found this. The picture on the website for non-Japanese tourists is terrible! That is why I took pictures myself to recommend this rooftop. 

The pagoda in the first photo is Kofukuji Temple's. You can't miss this beautiful 360-degree view if you go to Nara!

奈良に行ったら必ず寄るのが奈良県庁の屋上。市内をぐるりと見渡せる絶好の場所です。なのになぜかいつも人がいない。理由が分かりました。英語の紹介サイトの写真がひどい。これじゃ行く気になりませんよね。というわけで自分で取って見ました。写真の腕は大したことないけど絶景です。是非行ってみてください！

Literary Translation VS Technical Translation 翻訳の種類

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

A friend of mine, Sachiko, works for a foreign financial firm as a translator. She once told me, also a translator, that she liked reading novels, but had never considered translating novels. She has translated only technical documents for more than 20 years.

Some think that literary translation and technical translation are after all both translation and the same, but this isn't true. They are more different than people think from the following perspectives:

1. Fee
I only know about Japan, but at least in the country, it's very difficult to be financially independent by translating only novels and movies (i.e., adding subtitles) because translators of this kind first have to work for senior translators for a small fee, i.e., work as apprentices.

2. How to get jobs
Technical translators can relatively easily get jobs through agents or by working as in-house translators for companies as long as they have knowledge in the area.

3. Subject matter expert
Literary translation is a kind of art. It requires a deep understanding of the world of the author and special skills to describe it in the translator's language and for that, the translated product is no longer only the author's but also the translator's product. The subject matter of literary translation is the author's view of the world while that of technical translation is IT, law, accounting or other technical matter.

Sachiko and I both like reading novels, but aren't interested in translating them or reading translated ones because we don't want someone other than the author to stand between him/her and us. The problem, however, is we don't know what to do with novels written in languages other than English or Japanese....

幸子さんは金融系の会社で長年翻訳をしている。ある日、同じく翻訳を生業とする私にこう言った。「小説読むのは好きだけど、翻訳しようなんて思ったことは一度もない」

皆さんの中には文芸翻訳もビジネス翻訳も同じでしょ、という人もいらっしゃると思いますがそうではない、というのが今日の話です。

1. お金
日本のことしか知らないが、小説や映画の翻訳だけして食っていくのは難しい。先ずは偉い人について見習いするからね。

2. 仕事の取り方
ビジネス系だと、専門知識があれば、エージェントを通したり、社内翻訳で働けば比較的仕事は入りやすい。

3. 専門分野
文芸翻訳はある種芸術。訳者は著者の世界観を理解して訳さなければならない。だから訳本は、著者だけではなく訳者の作品ともいえる。つまり、文芸翻訳の専門分野は著者の世界観。ビジネス翻訳の専門分野はITとか法律会計。

幸子さんも私も小説読むのは大好きだが、小説を翻訳することには興味ないし、翻訳本を読むのも嫌。だって著者と自分の間に誰かが入るの嫌でしょ。でもそんなこと言ってると日本語と英語の本以外読めないのである。困った｡｡｡

Hide and Seek in Nara 奈良のひょっこりはん

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

Deer in Nara Park

Baby lizard at Enjoji Temple (円成寺)

Grasshopper at Enjoji Temple (円成寺)

Baby lizard in Ikaruga (斑鳩)

All these pictures were taken in Nara. I live in Tokyo, so have no opportunities to see deer, insects or lizards, but dogs, cats and cockroaches! They remind me of my good old childhood when I played with these bugs and lizards (but not deer!).... Can you find them?

四枚とも奈良で撮った。最初は奈良公園、次の二枚は円成寺、最後の一枚は斑鳩。東京に住んでるので、普段は犬猫とゴキブリぐらいしか見ません。子供の頃は虫たちと一緒に遊んでいたのに！鹿とバッタと赤ちゃんトカゲ、分かりますか？

Kyoto Souvenirs 京都みやげ たまにはお菓子以外でどうでしょう

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

I have been collecting these dolls since last year. They are sold at Kogatanaya Chubee (Japanese only) in Kyoto and there are 13 types in total. This summer, I bought the central one, a boy holding a chimaki, usually meaning a Japanese desert, but an amulet for this (for details read this). The store was first founded in 1656 as a hotel, but now sells these dolls and other variety of Japanese dolls.

In addition to this cute boy doll, I bought this Japanese tea mug at Horaido Chaho, too which I found when taking a walk around Sanjo. It was so beautiful that I couldn't keep my eyes off it for a while. I got it to drink hot shochu (not Japanese tea), but have been using it for wine, too. The color of red wine matches that of the kannyu cracks of the mug.

Both shops sell traditional Japanese dolls and teaware and all of them are kawaii and beautiful. It's worthwhile to take a look at them. The shops are both in Sanjo, Kyoto, five to ten minutes apart.




普段はお菓子ばかり買う私だが、この夏は、人形と湯呑を買った。人形は小刀屋忠兵衛、湯呑は蓬莱堂茶舗。湯呑は焼酎のお湯割りに使うつもりだったがワインにも合う！赤ワインの色と貫入の色がぴったりだ。どちらのお店も三条にあり、歩いて5分か10分くらい。歴史のある古い店だが、商品はかわいくてともてきれい。お勧めです。

What Does "Limited" Mean? 近畿日本鉄道 特急料金の謎

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

I went to Kyoto/Nara this summer. The two prefectures are next to each other, so I took the Kintetsu Kyoto line when travelling between the two places. On the first day, when waiting in a line to buy tickets for a limited express at the Nara station, I overheard a Chinese tourist asking a guy in the ticket office in English, "What does 'limited' mean?" He wanted to know why he had to pay an additional fare of JPY510 to a regular fare. The ticket seller could say that that was for a limited express, but couldn't explain what "limited" means. 

Limited express trains only stop at a limited number of stations. The JPY510 is for that reduced number of stops, but I don't understand why the fare amount is the same for any number of stops, i.e., the additional fare when a train doesn't stop at all between Kyoto and Nara and that when it stops at one or more (but not all) stations are the same, JPY510. It's like the fare for Nozomi Shinkansen is the same as that for Hikari Shinkansen.

I've been to Nara for the last ten years. Ten years ago, I saw a few non-Japanese tourists, but for the last several years, the number of tourists to this prefecture has dramatically increased. It may be good for it financially, e.g., more tourists meaning more revenue, but also has caused some issues as well, e.g., becoming more busy with handing questions about what would never have been asked by local residents, like the meaning of a "limited express." Nara has been changing. I hope this is a good change for them. By the way, if you are looking for a good place to eat in Nara, please read another post about Nara obanzai cuisine!

夏休みに京都と奈良に行った。京都と奈良の行き来には近鉄を使うのだが、奈良駅で特急券を買おうと並んでいたら、前にいた中国人が英語で「limited express の limited とはどういう意味だ？」と聞いていた。乗車券に加えてどうして510円を払うのか理由を知りたかったようだ。駅員さん、英語で510円が「limited express」のためだということまでは言えたが、limited が何を意味するのかまでは答えられなかった。

limited は限られた、という意味で、限られた駅にしか止まらないという意味だが、実は私も一つ、以前から不思議に思っていたことがあった。ノンストップでも2～3駅止まっても特急料金は一律510円なのだ。のぞみとひかりの特急券が同一料金ということ？。

奈良にはここ10年、毎年行っている。10年前は少なかった外国人観光客はここ数年でぐっと増え、まるで京都のようだ。観光客が増えるということは街も潤うということだが、地元の人なら聞かないような質問（limited の意味とか（笑））にも対応しなければならない。奈良がどんどん変わっている。地元の人にとっていい方向であることを祈っている。ちなみに奈良で食事する場所をお探しの方はこちらをご覧ください！

Location and Direction 帰国子女と留学生

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

We, the Japanese, often ask English-speaking Japanese if they are "returnees" or have studied abroad. "Returnees" are those who lived overseas when they were kids because of their parent's business (like working at foreign branches), went to local schools and that is why fluently speak English (or other language). On the other hand, those who have studied abroad (ex-foreign students) were born and grew in Japan and decided to study in another country (the US in most cases) themselves when they were high school or college students. Can you see something in common and a difference between these two?

The answers are "location" and "direction." Both are here in Japan, but they are heading in different directions, i.e., returnees heading inward while ex-foreign students outward. Many friends of mine are returnees or ex-foreign students (all females), but most returnees are married to Japanese men while ex-foreign students non-Japanese. In other words, returnees have found their places inside Japan while ex-foreign students outside. Let me explain more specifically using an example....

A friend of mine fell in love with a Japanese guy before graduating from a college. She had studied in the US when she was a high school student. A few years later she broke up with him, went to the US again to get an MBA, met her future husband, who is French, there, and got married. She has been living in the US/France since then. On the other hand, her ex-boyfriend got married to another Japanese woman, who had lived abroad during her childhood because of her father's business. They have lived in Japan since marriage.

She must have felt something wrong with him that he liked "international" women, but not her, i.e., an ex-foreign student, who wants to find a place outside of Japan, but a returnee, who wants to settle in Japan. I believe that for marriage, direction matters more than location because even if you are with someone, it doesn't mean that you are sharing the future with him...

英語のできる人に会うとついつい「帰国子女ですか、それとも留学してたんですか」と聞いてしまいますが、帰国子女と留学生の共通点と相違点について考えたことはありますか。　

共通点は「現在の場所」です。両方とも今、日本にいます。では相違点は？答えは「方向性」。帰国子女は内向き、留学生は外向きです。私の友人には帰国子女と留学生が多いのですが（全員女性）、帰国子女のほとんどは日本人男性と、留学生のほとんどは外国人と結婚してます。つまり、帰国子女は日本に、留学生は海外に居場所を求めるわけ。例を挙げますと｡｡｡

ある友人が学生時代に恋に落ちました。彼女は高校時代にアメリカに留学したことがあります。数年後二人は別れ、彼女はMBAを取りに再度アメリカに行きます。そこで将来の夫（フランス人）と出会い、今はフランスかアメリカで暮らしています。一方、元カレは別の人と結婚したのですが、その相手は帰国子女。こちらの二人は日本に暮らしています。

彼女、何か違うと感じたんだと思います。だって元カレ、「国際的な」女子が好きだったんでしょうが、彼女の目が日本の外に向いていたこと、一方、その後結婚した女性は日本に居場所を求めていたことに気付いていたんだと思います。一緒にいても必ずしも同じ方向を向いているとは限らない。結婚相手を決める時のポイントだと思います｡｡｡

Which Side Should We Stand on Escalator, Left or Right? エスカレーターは右派、左派？

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

I have been to Kyoto and Nara twice a year for the last ten years and always wonder why in these prefectures (i.e., western Japan) people stand on the right side of an escalator while those in Tokyo on the left. I made research. First, look at this picture taken in Shibuya, Tokyo.



This picture below was taken in Osaka, one of the prefectures in western Japan.



You can see the difference clearly, can't you? One possible answer (Japanese only) for the difference is that Tokyo is based on the culture of samurai, who don't want others to stand on their left side because they carry katana (i.e., Japanese swords) on their left side while Osaka's culture is based on merchants. However, I find it a little strange. Escalators were invented long after samurai disappeared.

Another explanation (Japanese only) is that Osaka started to announce in 1967 that the left side should be left open for someone in a hurry when Hankyu Railway moved a long escalator at the Umeda station.

But I also found an article stating that in London the right side is for standing and the left side for someone who wants to walk, while in Australia people walk on the right side of an escalator. (The reason is unknown.)

So, there are neither a global rule nor a convincing reason for the difference between eastern (e.g., Tokyo) and western (e.g., Kyoto, Nara, and Osaka) parts in such a small country..... But I'm telling you that in Tokyo you should stand on the left side especially during commuting hours because if not, you would be stared at by others like you were a criminal.

京都・奈良に毎年二回行っているが、エスカレーターを歩く側が東京と関西でなぜ違うのかがいつも気になる。すぐ下は東京渋谷駅の写真。



で、これは大阪梅田駅の写真。



違いは一目瞭然。調べてみたら、何でも東京は武士の文化で刀を持つ側である左に人に立ってほしくないから左立ちになったとのこと。でもエスカレーターが使われるようになったのは武士がいなくなってから大分後のことでしょ。

もう一つ、関西が右立ちになった理由として、1967年の梅田のエスカレーター移転時に、右に立って左を開けるようにアナウンスしたということが挙げられていた。

でも、BBCによると、ロンドンは右立ちでオーストラリアは左立ちなんですって。

すると、グローバルルールはないし、日本の東西の違いを示す理由もないか｡｡｡でもこれだけは言えると思う。東京の通勤時間帯、右に立っていると目で責められます。

Nara's Struggle to Be Visited 奈良の戦い 京都に負けません

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

I went to Nara and took this photo of the Tokae Festival. Many festivals are held across Japan in mid-August (i.e., the obon period) to honor the spirit of our ancestry, but this one is so beautiful and mystical. 

The Tokae (燈花会; meaning lantern flower) festival started in 1999, relatively recently, and the Nara city has another more famous festival for the same period, the Chugen Mantoro Lantern Festival, which has lasted for over 800 years. 

Both are worthwhile to go and although not being a Nara citizen, I'm so happy that so many tourists came to see this beautiful scene as I know Nara has been struggling to attract tourists, who usually stay, eat and shop in Kyoto, the prefecture next to Nara. If you are looking for a nice place to eat in Nara, read my another post about obanzai cuisine Koryoriya Nara.  

奈良の燈花会で撮った写真。幻想的だった。1999年に始められたこの行事、800年続く春日大社の中元万燈篭に比べれば新しいが、とてもよかったです。私、奈良とは何の関係もありませんが、結局、京都に泊まって、食べて、買い物する観光客を振り向かせようと努力しているのを知っていたので、観光客が増えて自分のことのようにうれしいです。奈良のお勧めおばんざいやさんを知りたい方はどうぞこちらをご覧ください。

Obanzai Cuisine "Koryoriya Nara" 奈良のおばんざい「小料理屋 奈良」

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

I went to Kyoto and Nara and found a very good Japanese restaurant, "Koryoriya Nara," in Shin Omiya, Nara. A famous Japanese author, Naoya Shiga, was said to have said that there was nothing delicious in Nara, but it's wrong. I rated this restaurant on a five star scale from five perspectives.

Labor Dispute in Horyuji Temple 法隆寺－北小路と赤ちゃんトカゲ

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

I went to Horyuji Temple in Nara this summer and took this photo. This is a street toward Yumedono hall and the gate is about 1,300 years old, built in the Asuka period. We only heard cicada's sounds and even people's footsteps. But Horyunij is not only a temple, but also a religious corporation. My husband told me that he had overheard monks discussing the policy on the labor dispute for the year, complaining that their salaries were too low. Material desires exist everywhere.

We found an oasis nearby, Kitakomichi, a Japanese restaurant run by a nice older woman. We had set lunch, took rest and revived and, when coming out of the place, found a baby lizard and took another photo. Can you find it?

法隆寺で撮りました。夢殿に向かう道で、蝉の声と人の足音しか聞こえません。ぼーっとしていたら、数年前、二人の僧侶がその年の賃上げ闘争について議論していたことを夫が話してくれました。寺は宗教法人でもあります。

すぐ近くに北小路という茶屋があり、そこで名物の定食をいただき、息をつきました。店を出たところで小さなトカゲを見つけてもう一枚撮りました。どこにいるか分かりますか？

Don't Promote Me! 昇進はまっぴら

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

I found an article about working women, "I don't want to be promoted! (only in Japanese)." Some may find it strange, thinking that everyone should want to be promoted. The article mentions the following four reasons why they don't want to be promoted:

Japanese Caste System 想像力欠如と差別

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

"Race doesn't matter any more." This is a myth mentioned by a sociologist Jay Gabler in his book Sociology For Dummies. He says in the book that although amazing achievements have been made by civil rights activists and others, race still matters. The same is true of buraku min, i.e., an outcaste group at the bottom of the Japanese social order, and that the cause is ignorance and a lack of imagination.

Mom of Sachiko, a friend of mine, is in her 70s. She despises buraku min people particularly Korean buraku min women because, according to her, their way of sitting on a floor, tatehiza, i.e., sitting with one knee up, is inappropriate, rude and disgusting. I'm interested in how this view would change if this snobby woman learned that tatehiza sitting used to be a formal way of sitting for samurai.

Another example, although not directly about buraku min, is one of my former co-workers asking me if I knew which class a newly joining Indian executive belongs to. She is much younger than I am, but very interested in the caste system. I'm pretty sure that her attitude toward Japanese outcaste buraku min people is also very derogatory.

Someone discriminating against others doesn’t imagine that they may also be discriminated against at any time or place for an unforeseeable reason. Such lack of imagination and ignorance causes discrimination and the saddest thing is that we usually can't imagine how we are ignorant....

Sociology for Dummiesを読んでいたら「『人種差別はもうない』というのは嘘だ」という一節があった。著者のJay Gablerによると、社会学的にはまだまだ取組みが必要な問題だとのこと。これって部落問題にも当てはまると思う。そしてその原因は、無知と想像力の欠如にあると思う。例えば…

幸子さんの70代のお母様。部落民、特に部落出身の韓国女性にひどく差別的なのだが、その理由が立て膝。行儀が悪くて卑しいとひどくご立腹。でも立て膝って元々侍の座り方。そのこと知ったら、この俗物お母様の態度がどう変わるかには興味津々です。

もう一つは直接部落の話ではないのだが、昔の同僚の話。インド人役員が着任すると知って「カーストのどの階級か知ってる？」と聞いてきた。日本の部落民にどういう態度を取るかは推して知るべしだろう。

人を差別する人って、いつかどこかで自分も、思いもかけない理由で差別されるかもしれないってことを想像できていないと思う。そして幸子さんのママの場合は「無知」。ただ、自分が無知だってこと、いつか差別されるかもしれないってことにはなかなか気づけないんですよね。気を付けます｡｡｡

Don't Flash. Flush! トイレは光らせるのではなく流してください

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

This is a to-do / not-to-do list for users of a ladies' room of a building in Tokyo.

1. Please do not flash anything except the attached papers.
2. Please do not flash a large amount of paper at a time.
3. Please push the flush handle firmly to the end.
4. Please make sure a toilet after the use of bidet function.
5. No smoking in the toilet.
6. Please contact to service center when you drop something on the toilet.

I'm sure that although some parts are unclear and grammatically incorrect (e.g, not "flash," but "flush" and not "the attached paper," but "toilet paper"), overall you understand what the facility manager wants to say. No. 4 is a little difficult to understand and the original Japanese sentence doesn't say anything about what we have to or may not do either. But my interpretation is that you have to check if the toilet seat is clean in particular after you use the bidet and if it’s dirty (you know why), you have to wipe it clean.

As a translator, I don't want to say bad things about translation done by others. I know that my translation isn't perfect... But I found this so hilarious, so wanted to share it with you! I hope these will be corrected before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. If you find any funny translations, please let me know!

トイレで面白い張り紙を見つけた。英語、これでいいのかな、という感じです。まず、flashとflush、綴りは似ているが、「（トイレットペーパーを）流す」意味ならflush。それと、4番の「ウォッシュレット使用後は、便座を確認しましょう」は何を確認するの。日本語でも何言ってるかよくわからないから、英語ではますます分からない｡｡｡｡「ウォッシュレット使用後は拭いてきれいにしましょう」という意味かしら。日本語の「確認」て本当に便利な言葉ですね。オリンピックまでには訂正、お願いします！

Arm's Length Principle For Art エグザイルと是枝監督

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

Have you ever heard of "Exile"? Exile is a Japanese pop music group organized in 1999. The number of its members was three or four in the beginning, but has increased since then and now it consists of 19 male singers and dancers. (Please go to this website for details, though only in Japanese.)

I liked this group because of its openness and energy, which is understandable considering the background of the original leader Hiro, who had been once a very famous dancer, lost everything after the burst of the bubble economy, but returned to the entertainment industry not only as the leader of Exile, but as the founder of the talent agency of the group.

But I have been feeling something strange about this group recently, like I felt something wrong with a male-dominated company I used to work for, i.e., a sense of suffocation, closedness, rigidity or hierarchy, particularly since they sang for the 20th anniversary of the Emperor Akihito's accession to the throne. I'm not saying that it's wrong for them to sing for the anniversary, but the group members are no longer "exiles," but seem to have close relations with those who would do anything to keep the status quo.

Mr. Hirokazu Koreeda, the director of Palme D'Or wining "Shoplifters," refused an invitation from the Ministry of Culture to celebrate the award winning. Art, whether songs or films, should keep an arm's length distance from politics because once it loses such distance and receives any financial or reputational benefit from political or any powerful circle, it's no longer art. The arm's length principle is important not only for business but also for art.

エグザイル変わったな、と思い始めたのはいつ頃からだろうか。人数が増えたのはいい。雰囲気だ。以前は、ヒロの経歴とも相まって自由なエネルギーを感じていたが、今は息苦しさ、閉鎖性、序列しか感じない。天皇の即位20周年の式典で歌ったのもダメとは言わないが、少なくとも彼らはもうエグザイル、亡命者ではない。現状を維持しようと躍起になっている人の仲間にしか見えない。

万引き家族の是枝裕和、文科省からの祝意を辞退したとのこと。いいね！芸術は権力とは距離を置くべき。何かしらの見返りをもらってモノ申せなくなった瞬間、それはもう芸術ではなくなると思う。「関係者だからといってエコひいきしてはダメ」という「独立企業原則」　今、盛んに税務の世界で言われているが、芸術の世界にも当てはまることだと思う。

The Good Daughter 大塚家具の行く末

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

I wonder why they quit jobs to go back to their parents' businesses. I'm talking about Takako Matsudaira, one of the characters of "Hageraka (Vulture)," a TBS's TV drama, and Kumiko Otsuka, the president of Otsuka Kagu, a Japanese furniture company in real world. Takako, a daughter of the owner of a luxurious hotel, came back to rebuild the hotel on the verge of bankruptcy, while Kumiko, coming back to her father's company, taking over the business after a battle against him and currently considering selling it after failing to rebuild it.

Don't Judge by Names トムは英語話しません

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

I watched a sociology lecture by Professor Harvey Molotch at NYU on YouTube. During the lecture, he talked about names, saying that assimilation was one of the exogenous factors of naming children....  It was difficult, but very interesting, reminding me of something happening to Sachiko, a friend of mine when she was working for an American company. 

When starting to work at the company, Sachiko was surprised that there were so many Japanese Americans working there, i.e., almost all the names on the intranet were a combination of "an English first name" plus "a Japanese last name," such as Tom Tanaka. This meant that most employees were Japanese Americans and that her translation should be perfect because it would be under strict scrutiny by them, i.e., bilinguals.

One day, she was told to join a meeting to translate for Mr. Tom Tanaka. Before the meeting started, she went to his office and asked him what she had to do, i.e., whether she had to simultaneously translate or translate certain parts upon his request. She said, "Would you like me to translate simultaneously or should I translate when you need me to do?" Tom gave her a big smile and said, "Boku, eigo zenzen hanasenai kara (I don't speak English at all)."

The American company had acquired many Japanese businesses and as a result had many Japanese employees who don't speak English at all. Communication between English and non-English speakers was a big problem and one of the company policies to solve it was that every employee had English first names whether they speak English or not. Don't judge only by names.

NYUの社会学の講義を YouTube で視聴した。子供の名前をつける時の外的要因には「同化」があるということで、アジア系アメリカ人はWASPの名前を付けるらしい。聞いていて幸子さんの話を思い出した。幸子さん、昔アメリカの会社で通訳をしていたのだが、入社してすぐ、社員のほとんどが日系アメリカ人で驚いたという。名前が日系の名前（例えばトム田中）なのだ。バイリンガルの日系アメリカ人の前で通訳するわけだから求められる質が半端ない。とても緊張したらしい。

ある日、外見は全く日本人のトムのために通訳するように言われたので、同時通訳してほしいか、それとも必要なところだけ通訳してほしいか英語で聞いたら、笑いながら日本語で「僕、英語全然話せないから」と言われた。

何でも、そのアメリカ企業、日本の会社をたくさん買収していて英語を話せない人がたくさんいるので、コミュニケーション改善のために、英語が話せるかどうかに関わらず、全員に「英語名」を付けるように指示したのこと。名前だけで人を決めつけるのはやめましょう、という話でした。