Make Him A Man! 男にしてやってください？

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

Local elections are currently going on across Japan. The elections are held once in four years to elect prefectural governors and municipal mayors as well as assembly members of local governments whose terms expire during a certain period of time.

One thing has been bugging me, though. Some candidates and their supporters are heard shouting during the campaign, "Make me a man (男にしてください)" or "Make him a man (男にしてやってください)."

These phrases are very common in Japan, but not about LGBT or any other gender issue. They just ask voters to vote for the candidate (definitely a man!) so that he will be elected and become a "man." They are often used to seek support for not only elections, but also for big stuff, e.g., asking for money to launch a business. But the main thing is that without the support, that person can't be a "MAN."

Wow! If they aren't men now, what are they.....?

During this campaign period, I heard a male candidate from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan begging for support for him to be a MAN, which makes me worry about his and his party's intelligence level and Japan's future......

統一地方選挙です。「男にしてやってください」、まだ使われているんですね。ダメって分かりそうなものなのに｡｡｡。本人はともかく、周りも言ってあげないんですかね。あれ聞いて候補者の知的レベル、そして日本の将来を憂うのは私だけでしょうか｡｡｡

Tulips are Also in Bloom! 桜だけじゃないですよ！

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

So colorful and powerful, aren't they! People in Japan talk about only cherry blossoms from late March through early April, but don't forget that tulips are also in bloom. 

Cherry blossoms make me aware of ephemerality of life, but these tulips' bright colors gave me vitality and energy. 

銀座の道路脇にチューリップを見つけました。あまりの鮮やかさにしばし見とれてしまいました。最近弱っているのでエネルギーもらいました！

A Tip on Translation - Add Value! 翻訳のこつ - 付加価値

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

I'm writing this post to keep a record of my translation experience. Please read the following two sentences: 

(1) I will email you about the following, which you already know:
(2) I am writing to you to make you aware of the following just in case there is any misunderstanding: 

These two sentences were translated from the following same Japanese text:
既にご理解のこととは存じますが以下についてメールいたします。

(1) is Google Translate's translation, while (2) is mine. This is the beginning of a  business email. Which would you choose? 

When asked by someone to translate business emails written in Japanese into English, I try to interpret the source text and convert it to something equivalent in English. I don't do word-for-word translation. Only few, who are Japanese and fluently speak English and can do translation themselves, but ask me to translate for them, appreciate this my small "effort." I always want to add value to my translation. That's the only way for me to survive.     

先日ちょっと考えさせられた翻訳があったのでご紹介します。以下の文章の訳を頼まれた時です。

既にご理解のこととは存じますが以下についてメールいたします。

(1) I will email you about the following, which you already know:
(2) I am writing to you to make you aware of the following just in case there is any misunderstanding: 

メールの冒頭部分です。(1)はGoogle 翻訳、(2)が私の訳。まあ意味分かるからどっちでもいいし、どちらがいいかはユーザーが決めるわけですが、この機械翻訳の時代、ビジネス文書の翻訳をする際には、何かしらの付加価値を提供したいと日々努力しております。AIにできないことしないとね！

Don’t Use Reiwa to Enhance "Nationalism" 変なことに令和を使わないでください

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

How many Japanese care about the change of the era name from Heisei to Reiwa? I, who’ve been living in Japan since I was born, don’t give a damn about it and if it matters in any way to me, who’s working as a translator and interpreter for so long, that’s only because it makes it further complicated to convert the Japanese year to the Gregorian one. As I wrote in another post, interpreters have to convert the Japanese year to the Gregorian year in a second by adding/subtracting certain figures to/from the Japanese year in the original text.

However, another thing has been bugging me. What was prime minister Abe trying to achieve by saying that Reiwa isn't from Chinese literature but Japan's oldest collection of poetry? Did he want to to make further complicated the already strained Japan and China's relationship? Non-Japanese readers may not know this, but these two Chinese characters (i.e., 令和) are so general and common in Japan that if Abe hadn't mentioned it, few would have noticed or care about whether the term is from China or Japan. 

It's a fact that Japanese culture is based on and deeply intertwined with Chinese and Korean cultures, so using the change of the era to enhance the so-called "nationalism" by emphasizing that the name of the new period isn't sourced from China is outrageously stupid.

令和なんですけど、何でいちいち中国からではなく日本の万葉集から取ったなんて言う必要があるんだろう。言われない限り誰も気が付かないでしょ｡｡。先日、韓国の空港で官僚が酔っぱらって暴れたことは記憶に新しいですが、国益へのダメージはそれよりひどい気がします。何が言いたいの、安倍さん？

Japan's Immigration Law Revised 入管法改正施行

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

According to an article of the Kyoto Shimbun newspaper website, foreigners working in Kyoto have doubled for the last five years. This coincides with what has happened to Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine whose visitors have also doubled during the same period, resulting in the disappearance of food stands around the shrine.

The same has been taking place in Tokyo, too. People speaking English, Chinese, Korean, French, Spanish, Russian, etc., are seen everyday not only in the central Tokyo, but also in my neighborhood stations and convenience stores.

I don't know how long and far this goes on with still 15 months to go before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, but can say one thing for sure. If these people are attracted to Japan for our omotenashi, i.e., hospitality, they're wrong. Hospitality isn't free of charge. You can get omotenashi as long as you are an outsider with money and for a short period of time, but if you want to be inside, you have to be very careful because you need to learn about Japan's immigration law, which has just been amended on April 1, 2019.

The revised law has expanded opportunities for foreigners to come and work in Japan, but only in 14 types of industries, such as nursing care, construction, restaurant and hotel, so-called 3Ks, kitsui (slave-like), kitanai (dirty) and kiken (dangerous) and requires immigrants to pass language and vocational exams.

Becoming an "insider" in Japan is extremely difficult.....

2019年4月1日、改正入管法が施行されました。人手不足の現場で働いてもらおうという気持ちはわかりますが、今のままだと治安が悪化するのは明らかでしょう。試験に合格するだけでも大変なのに（語学と技能）、いざ就職したらきついは、差別受けるはでは、気持ちがすさむのは当たり前だと思います。欧米で頻発しているテロ事件（というか無差別殺人）は既に日本でも珍しくはありませんが、もっと増えていくと思います。

「おもてなし」という耳触りのよい言葉が独り歩きしてますが、お金持ってる外人（特に英語を話す白人）に対してだけな気がします。真の意味で「自分と異なる人を受け入れる」ことの意味を考える時ではないでしょうか。