Solution for Loneliness: Get Off Train One Stop Before Destination 孤独対策 一駅歩きます！

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

A book I've been reading recently* says that uncertainty avoidance is different from risk avoidance. It goes on to say, "Anxiety ..... has no object. Uncertainty has no probability attached to it." 
* Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind by Geert Hofstede, Gert Jan Hofstede and Michael Minkov

Today, I would like to talk about loneliness from this uncertainty-anxiety perspective because I want to reduce my loneliness. 

First, I want to attach a probability to uncertainty about my loneliness as it's easier. The chance that I will end up living by myself is statistically 100% because my husband is five year older than I am and males' life expectancy is shorter than females' one in Japan. It's almost for sure that I'll live not necessarily lonely, but alone for the last ten years of my life.    

The next step is to identify what I'm so anxious about. Eating alone? Having no walking buddy? Having no one to talk to? Having no one to kiss? Having no one I drink with? Or dying alone?  

Now I realize that I'm scared of having no one understanding or caring for me. Of course, after my husband dies, I'll still have friends who care about me, but they wouldn't understand or care about me as my husband does. At this point, I again realize that it's understandable that they wouldn't understand me as deeply as my husband does because I'm not open to them and don't spend much time with them.  

The thing is that I have no energy left for others physically or mentally after using it for myself and husband. But I also know that I will end up lonely if I don't change and that it's too late to start building or deepening friendship after my husband dies. Real friendship takes time. So, what should I do to spend more time and energy for my friends before it's too late? 

The answer is simple. I need to be physically and mentally stronger to be more active and open, and listen to and accept others and for that, I have to eat, walk and laugh more. I'm going to get off the train one stop before the destination from today!

今読んでいる本に「不確実を回避することとリスクを回避することは違う」とありました。そして「不安とは何が不安か分からないこと、不確実とはそれが起きる可能性が分からないことをいう」とありました。ナルジマ風に言いますと、不安の根源を数値化、具体化できたら、もうそれは不安ではなく不確実なことになって対処しやすくなる、と言ったような感じでしょうか。
* Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind by Geert Hofstede, Gert Jan Hofstede and Michael Minkov

ということで今日のお題は「どうしたら孤独を減らせるか」です。

まず最初に「不確実の数値化」から。うちの旦那は5歳上です。平均寿命からすると、私の晩年10年ほどはほぼ確実に一人暮らしということになります。

次は「私は何を恐れているのか」という問題です。一人の食事？ 一緒に歩く人がいないこと？ 話し相手がいないこと？一緒に飲む人がいないこと？一人で死ぬこと？

ここまで書いて分かりました。自分を分かってくれる人、構ってくれる人がいなくなるのが怖いんです。旦那が死んだって友達はいる。だけど、旦那ぐらい自分を構ってくれるような人はいないし、旦那が死んでから友達を作ろうとしたって遅すぎでしょ。そもそも私、他人にオープンではありません｡｡｡

でも、私がもっとオープンになって、時間とエネルギーを他人に向けたら解決するってことも分かりました。今すぐはちょっと無理かも。自分と旦那で精いっぱい。でもここでまた開眼。もっと強くならなければいけないんですね、私。心も体も！ というわけで、もっと食べて、歩いて、笑います。早速、今日から一駅歩きます！

Whose Work Do We Read, Author or Translator? - A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro and Under the Midnight Sun by Keigo Higashino カズオ＝イシグロと東野圭吾

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

Fans of mystery books always look for good mystery books. If you are interested in not necessarily murder mystery books, but mystery books with a literary bent, I recommend A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro because it contains a mystery. 

I wrote a post about the mystery about a year ago, asking the reader if my understanding is correct. Basically (spoiler alert: don't read this post if you haven't read the book and plan to read it), the story was about two pairs of mother and daughter and one mother (i.e., the protagonist) looks back on her life and starts to talk about a sad story of her own. The mystery is whether these two mothers are the same person because at one point while reading this book in English, you would find the two pairs almost completely overlapping.

And the problem or reason I wrote about this book one year ago is that you wouldn't be able to see that mystery if you read this book in Japanese due to a linguistic difference between English and Japanese. Japanese speakers usually omit the subject if they think that it's self-evident and this often causes a problem in translation as follows:

'"In any case," I went on, "if you don't like it over there, we can always come back.... (underlined by the writer of this blog)"' - A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro

The problem is that the underlined part is translated into Japanese that "行ってみて嫌だったら、帰ってくればいいでしょ," which can be re-translated into English that:
 ".... if (no subject) don't like it over there, (no subject) can always come back."  

The Japanese sentence has no subjects, so those reading this novel in Japanese generally assume that both subjects are the same, i.e., you or we, and in any case, they would be deprived of a chance to find this subtle change in the subject from "you" to "we" and to suspect (or realize) that the two mothers are the same single person. (For more details, please read this post.) 

I have recently received a comment and found that the commenter, who is Japanese and read this book both in English and Japanese, felt the same way. She also gave me a very interesting link to another blog on which people discuss the generally the same issue, i.e., whether the two pairs of mother and daughter are the same.

Personally I believe that Etsuko is Sachiko and I wouldn't have enjoyed this novel if I had read it in Japanese because I love mysteries. But I also know that without the knowledge the novel is still enjoyable, so the most important issue here is not which interpretation is correct (i.e., whether Etsuko and Sachiko are the same person or not), but that Japanese readers are deprived of the opportunity to enjoy this mystery.

As a translator, I understand the difficulty of translation and have no intention of criticizing the Japanese translation. So, I want to talk about another interesting thing related to translation.

I've read several novels by Keigo Higashino, a Japanese very famous and popular mystery writer, but I read them all in English. It's only because the author’s work isn’t available in digital format. I bought Journey Under the Midnight Sun, Malice, Salvation of a Saint and enjoyed all of them in English. But this contradicts my belief, "Direct communication is better than indirect one." So, one day I decided to read his another book in Japanese in paper form and went to a book store.

But I bought none because I felt embarrassed when reading the beginning of his another novel in the store. I didn't or still don't know why. Then, I realized that maybe part of the joy of reading the three books came from the translation? I went home and found they were all translated by the same translator, Mr. Alexander O. Smith. Thank you Mr. Smith for your translations and for making me realize that translation is very important. I'm gonna keep working hard to be a translator like you....

イシグロカズオ氏の「遠い山並みの光」について以前書いた記事に、verde arbolさんという方からコメントをいただきました。私が思っていたこと（悦子と佐知子は同一人物）をverde arbolさんもお感じになられていたようで、問題意識を共有できてとてもうれしく感じました。ブログってこういうところに書く喜びがあるんですね。

他の記事にも書いておりますが、私は翻訳を生業としております。ただ、文芸ではなく、もっとお固い、解釈の余地が少ない分野でお仕事しています。とはいえ、日本語と英語の行き来には日々考えさせられることが多く、やりがい、そして広がりを感じます。そうです。英語が少しでもできるようになると世界が広がります。私がこのブログを英語と日本語の両方で書いているのも世界を広げたいからです。いつか、このブログが日本語と英語の両方が行きかう場になればいいなと願っています。

そこで今日は翻訳ネタをもう一つ。実は私はミステリーが好きで、そういう意味でもイシグロ氏の「遠い山並みの光」はとても楽しめたのですが、ある書評で東野圭吾氏の「白夜行」がやはり殺人トリックよりも人の心に焦点を当てた良質のミステリーであることを知り、読もうとしたのですが、なんと、氏の本は日本語電子版がない。そこで自宅ペーパーレス化を推進する私としては仕方なく翻訳電子版を買いました。いや、面白かった。最後の方なんか、一気読みでした。その後も2冊続けて東野氏の英語電子版を楽しみました。

ところが、私の信条に「コミュニケーションは間接ではなく直接の方がいい」というのもあり、「やはり、日本語で読もう！」とある日、本屋に立ち寄り、東野氏の別の本を一冊手に取り、開いて、でも戻してしまいました。冒頭の日本語が恥ずかしく感じられて、読めなくなってしまったのです。（決して東野氏を批判しているものではありません！）その時思ったんです。もしかして私は東野氏とその翻訳者の共同作品を楽しんでいたのでは、と。家に帰って確認したら、読んだ3冊は3冊ともAlexander O. Smith氏の訳でした。Smithさん、ありがとう。翻訳の大切さを改めて認識しました。私ももっと頑張ってあなたのような翻訳者になります！

Having Career Decreases Woman's Marriage Chances in Japan? 働く日本女性は結婚できない？

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

The book I've been reading recently answered my long-term question, "Does having careers reduce women's marriage chances"? The answer is "Yes" here in Japan.

Bedridden Elderly Worth More Than Those With Dementia in Japan 認知症と寝たきり、どっちがいい？

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

A TV program I watched a few weeks ago showed a couple, a husband and a wife in their 90s, both suffering from dementia, expelled from one facility to another every one to three months. The reason is that their level of nursing care requirements, designated by the authorities, is relatively low, i.e., Level 2 on a scale from 1 to 5, because they are physically okay. In Japan, elderly who are physically fine, but mentally not (such as the couple) are considered to need less care requirements, tend to be categorized as a lower care requirements level and as a result get less care benefits even though they actually need more help, i.e., often going missing and caregivers having to find them even if it's midnight. Care homes, mostly privately run, don't want to accept such elderly people because of less profitability. It's easy to understand why physically fine elderly with dementia, such as the couple, aren't so popular.

A Person isn't a Dividual, But an Individual 個人、分人どっちでもいいと思いますが

英語の後に日本語が続きます。

Have you ever heard of the term of "dividual (bunjin)"? This is a term coined and used by Keiichiro Hirano in his book, What am I? - From individual to dividual (Watashi towa nanika - kojin kara bunjin e), to propose a new concept that a person isn't an "in-dividual," but consists of multiple "dividuals," interacting with other people through each of these dividuals. Hirano is an awardee of the Akutagawa Prize, i.e., Japan's most  prestigious literary prize.

I'm not against this idea, finding it useful, as he said, to use this dividual mechanism, i.e., interacting with others through not the entirety, but any single dividual of us, to overcome social, racial, economic or other divisions.

But I wondered at the same time what was so important about the idea because it's inward. By reading this book, we can understand how our mind works or how we make one dividual come to terms with another when they confront each other, but can't find any tips on how to come to terms with, or make ourselves understood by, other people. Should't we Japanese learn not inter-divisional, but interpersonal communication skills, i.e., how to assert ourselves or confront others, should we?

We are very good at inter-divisional communication. As Mr. Hirano said, we have multiple dividuals, communicating and arguing with each other, but such communication never goes beyond outside of self. Think about a very unique attitude among Japanese people, sontaku (i.e., performing pre-emptive acts to ingratiate themselves to their superiors), done by MOF officials to ingratiate Prime Minister Abe. Sontaku occurs when you aren't sure about what you are expected to do because the other is unclear about it. The best and easiest solution is to just ask. However, instead, if you don't ask because you are afraid of making them uncomfortable, sontaku starts, i.e., your "dividuals" begin inter-divisional discussion to decide what to do, but being unable to do so because of insufficient information, keep debating between themselves without asking the other party for the necessary information and this goes on and on. The problem is once sontaku starts, there is no end. Your dividuals keep endlessly arguing about what is right or wrong to no end...

Hirano's dividual theory may help us understand why sontaku occurs, but not how to prevent it because after all, there is only one "indivisible you." Whether you have multiple dividuals or how to integrate them doesn't matter. What matters is to learn interpersonal, i.e., outward, skills, such as how to assert yourself, accept the responsibility for what your (or your dividuals') words and actions and, if necessary, make adjustments to you (or them) to build real you. You don't "find," but "build" real you as you change through such interpersonal interactions. So, to me, Mr. Hirano's concept of dividuals, a solution to overcome divisions without interpersonal interactions, sounds bogus, like trying to be a sex guru by masturbating without having real sex.

Being inward isn't bad, but for Japanese people, who tend to be introverted, looking at things from only an inward perspective doesn't work in particular when it comes to people. It only shows clean, beautiful and easy answers, but they aren't real or don't work and sometimes dangerous because people believing such dream-like solutions to be workable would be disillusioned to see "real" world, inefficient and disorganized, and may turn around and reject those who make them realize such an ugly "reality."

平野啓一郎氏の「私とは何か　個人から分人へ」を読み終えた。人は分けられないもの（individual）ではなく、分けられるもの（dividual）の集合体であり、現代の分断を克服するために役立つ概念だと説いている。その考察に何ら反対するわけではないのだけど、あまり意味がないというか、何かが欠けているというか、個人が分けられる、分けられない、なんてどうでもよく、問題はどうやって他人とぶつかり合いながら、自分のことを分かってもらうようにすることではないだろうか、と思ってしまった。

日本人は心の中で葛藤するのがとっても得意。平野氏風に言うと、「分人同士」が交流しているとでもいうのだろうか。例えば「忖度」。あなたの中の分人たちが相手の考えていることをいろいろ推測するからこんなことになってしまう。さくっと聞けばいいのにね。

平野氏の分人説だと、分人同士が対立して個人の中で葛藤が始まるところまでは分かるのだが、最後は結局分人ではなく、分人の集合体である「あなた」なのだから、分人が何人いようがそれを統合できようができまいが、どうでもいいように思えるのだ。それより、相手にどう主張し、ぶつかり、しかし言葉と行動に責任を持ち、調整しながら「自分を作っていく」ことの方がもっと大切なのではないか。「自分」は「見つける」ものではなく、人との交流の中で「作る」ものなのだから、人との交流や衝突なしに悩みや分断を克服するなんてできないのではなかろうか。

日本人はよく内向きだと言われる。でも内向きで得られるのはきれいごとで受け入れやすい空想の現実だけ。こんなに人がいっぱいいるのに相手とのやり取りなしの現実なんてありえない。それにきれいごとしか見てないひとってやばいかも。だって現実の醜さに幻滅した人って、一転して他人を拒否して、敵意むき出しになるでしょ。すみません、平野さん。面白かったのですが、同じエネルギーを「分人間」ではなく「個人間」の問題解決に使ってほしかったです。

Spencer or Reid? スペンサーとリード、どう違うの？

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

What is different between when I am called Kei and when being called Narujima at work? I've been working with two Americans for the last three months and one of them first called me "Kei," then starting to call me "Narujima-san" and now again "Kei."

I like watching Criminal Minds, but always wonder the same thing. Why do BAU members usually call Derek Morgan and Spencer Reid "Morgan" and "Reid" while sometimes "Derek" and "Spencer"? Is there any difference between these two ways of calling coworkers?

Can anyone explain the difference or why my coworker has been changing how he calls me?

クリミナルマインドが好きでよく見ているのですが、一つ分からないことがあって｡｡｡ どうして「モーガン」も「リード」も普通は「モーガン」、「リード」なのに、たま～に「デレク」、「スペンサー」と呼ばれるのでしょう。実は私、今2人のアメリカ人と仕事しているのですが、その内一人が、最初、「けい」って呼んでいたのに、しばらくしたら「なるじまさん」って呼び始め、今また「けい」に戻りました。一体どういうことなんでしょう。誰か教えてください！

An Easy Question - BTS, Stop It やめてください、BTS

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

My mom and grandma are A-bomb victims. Grandma was in her early 20s and my mom two when the bomb was dropped in Hiroshima. Grandma lost her sister. I have accepted it as a fact without deeply thinking about it. It has had no serious effect on my life or so I believe.

Language Changes - Cooking At Home or Book Scanning? 「自炊」の意味を知りました

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

Do you know what "jisui (自炊)" means? If you answer that it means cooking at home, you are correct, but in half because this term now has another meaning, "scanning books." The second meaning originates from "jibun de (de-ta wo) suiageru (absorb data oneself)." I learned this usage while reading a book written by a Japanese author in her 30s.

Languages change and the usage of terms changes over time. I knew it, but the discovery of this new usage amazed me since the main character of this story, a woman in her 20s, uses this second meaning as if it were common. I also felt a little sad because something was happening without my knowledge, making me realize that I get older, which I also knew.

I don't know why only this term is so intriguing. Is this because it's not a new word, but a new usage of an existing word? I don't know. Do you have any such words in your language?

島本理生さんの「夏の裁断」を読んでいて、「自炊」が本のスキャンを意味することを初めて知りました。「自分でデータを吸い上げる」から「自炊」に転じたんですね。言葉が変わることは知っていたのですが、これには驚きました。もともと知っている言葉の新しい用法だったからでしょうか。新鮮でした。

If You're Interested in Horror Drama, Watch Shitamachi Rocket 下町ロケットの秘密

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

Have you ever watched or heard about Shitamachi Rocket (Old Town Rocket)? This is a TV program aired by Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc. (so-called TBS or channel 6 in Tokyo) on Sunday evening. The protagonist is Kohei Tsukuda, the president of a small precision machinery manufacturer in Ota-ward, Tokyo. He used to work as an engineer at Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, but left there to succeed his father's business and now provides valves, a part of rockets, to a large rocket manufacturer.

This drama is about people working at this small factory. But it's also about manufacturing and engineering, M&As and patent infringements as well as family and friends. It's very popular and moving. However, watching this drama make me feel strange. It's like watching Leni Riefenstahl's films. They are beautiful and moving, but unreal.

Jessica in Japanese "Suits" 鈴木保奈美さんでは Suits は無理かと｡｡｡

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

Do you know that Suits has been adapted and is on air in Japan? This "Japanese Suits" has drawn attention because of not only the original US version being very popular in Japan, but also a completely unrelated reason. Two of the main characters, Harvey and Jessica, are portrayed by a Japanese actor and actress who played the main characters in a hit TV drama 30 years ago.

I enjoyed watching US Suits and so, as a great fan of the legal drama, want to say out loud that the adaptation of Suits for Japanese audience is impossible!

Harvey, portrayed by Yuji Oda, who played one of the two main characters in the old Japanese love story, is bearable, but Jessica played by Honami Suzuki, who played his girlfriend, is terrible. The issue is not the actress but the fact that Japanese women like Jessica, those who are beautiful, ambitious, strong-willed, but viciously manipulate people if necessary, may work at BDSM clubs, but otherwise can never climb the career ladder in Japan. Assertive girls, like Jessica, are molded by their parents or teachers into "good mother figure" shapes or crushed later on by their male or even female supervisors because here in Japan, women achieving higher positions mostly get them by being "kawaii," i.e., working hard and loyally for powerful male supervisors. You can see now why so many Japanese women in their 40s and older talk with a high-pitched voice, like teenage girls.

I can't help but find Japanese Jessica, the managing partner of a top law firm in Tokyo speaking in a cute voice, absolutely bogus. Of course, some women with power don't speak like teenagers, but sadly they are mostly daughters of powerful fathers, such as Makiko Tanaka, who is a politician but better known as the daughter of Kakuei Tanaka, one of the most powerful post-war prime ministers; Sawako Agawa, a TV celebrity who is a daughter of a famous author and currently a hanger-on of Takeshi Kitano; or Kumiko Otsuka, the president of Otsuka Furniture company, a daughter of the founder of the company.

Where are self-made women in Japan, like Jessica? 

フジテレビが日本版「Suits」をえらく番宣している。日本のドラマにはほとんど興味がないのだが、Suitsを楽しく視聴していた一ファンとして、少し心配だ。だって、織田裕二のハービー役はまだ許せたとてしても、鈴木保奈美のジェシカ役はないんじゃない？あんなかわいらしい声で、人をばっさばっさと切り倒していく法律事務所のトップ役なんて無理でしょ。というよりその前に、ジェシカみたいな女の人、日本にはいないでしょ。だって日本の女性管理職ってほとんど直属の男上司の腰巾着だから。

というわけで私は、古くは田中真紀子さん、そして作家の阿川弘之氏の娘で今はたけしの腰巾着と化している阿川佐和子さん、そして大塚久美子さんも尊敬できないのです。みんなお父さんが偉い人だけだもんね。というより、日本では女性は、お父さんが偉くないと出世できないのでしょうか。自力で頑張る女性、尊敬しています。

Jumpei Was Rescued. Aren't We Happy? 素直に喜べませんかね？

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

I'm glad about the return of Mr. Jumpei Yasuda, a freelance journalist in captivity in the Middle East for 40 months. But I've been feeling something wrong with people's comments on his return.

They say, "He was responsible." Yes, he is, but for what and so what? He made a decision to go there and was held as a hostage for more than three years. There is no doubt that he's responsible for all that happened to him. But what I don't understand is that nobody says nothing further. Should he apologize, be punished or repay the ransom?

As far as I know, only Takeshi Kitano insinuated that he should pay back the ransom to the payer (by the way we don't who paid it), saying that Jumpei was like a person missing on a mountain and being helped by a rescue team and that therefore he has to pay the rescue cost.

I'm saying this because discussing whether or not Jumpei shouldn't have gone there in the first place is meaningless. We have no right to stop Jumpei or any others going anywhere no matter why, i.e., even if they go to war zones not to report what is happening there, but to become famous for money. What we need to do right now is rule making. The Japanese government, fortunately or unfortunately, has been saying that they would never negotiate with or pay ransoms to terrorist groups. So, if journalists go to prohibited countries or regions, they may get scoops or nothing or may be killed and that's it. Period. Kenji Goto, another freelance journalist, was killed, which was the risk he must have been aware of. This time, luckily, Jumpei was rescued. So, why can't we be just be happy for him?

We need to determine rules. Whether Jumpei will go again to Syria despite the Japanese government's repeated warnings is none of our business. Also, whether he may be killed is his business and his reason for going, i.e., for money or to find the truth as a journalist, doesn’t matter either. A vulgar surgeon helping a lot of patients is much better than gracious surgeons who botch operations.     

I find it worthwhile for journalists to cover war zones to report what is really happening. And as long as we benefit from their coverage, we should stop criticizing those risking their lives and focus on making rules for their future work.

安田純平さんの生還が報道されているが、その論調に少々違和感を感じてます。やたら「自己責任」て言うでしょ。うん、そうだけど何か？と聞きたいのです。自己責任だから国民に謝れってこと、罰を受けるべきだってこと、それとも身代金を返済しろとかってこと？今まではっきり言ったのは北野武さんぐらいでしょうか。安田氏を山の遭難者に例え、山で遭難して救助された人は費用を負担すると言って、暗に安田氏に身代金を負担するように言ってました。

でもね、行くなという権利は我々にはないし、行ってもやめないだろうし、議論すべきはそういうことではない気がするのです。ルールを作るだけじゃないんですかね。幸か不幸か、日本政府は、「テロ組織とは交渉しないし、身代金も払わない」と言ってるのだから、それでいいんじゃないですかね。警告を無視していって後藤健二さんのように殺されてしまうこともあるわけです。それも自己責任。今回は運よく帰れたのだから、素直に喜んであげればいいのでは、というのが私の意見です。それと、真実を報道したいという気持ちで行こうが、有名になりたいという気持ちで行こうが、そんなこともどうでもいいわけです。我々は、自発的に命を懸ける彼らの報道によって、自分では知ることのできない世界の実情を知ることができているわけですから、そこには感謝しつつ、でもこれ以上のことはできませんよ、でいいんじゃないんですかね。そういう人もいるってことでいいんじゃないですかね。トレラント（tolerant）の気持ち、違いは違いでいいじゃないか、ということでいいと思いますが、いかがでしょう？