Jonathan's Japan Journal (ジョナサンの日本日記)

愛するSharp PW-7000の電子辞書が故障して使えなくなった。日本人の知り合いからいただいた辞書で、日本滞在のお土産としても持っている。まあ十年前のモデルだから、しょうがないじゃん。どう見てもとても役立つ辞書だったので、同じような形をしたPW-M800をeBayで買うことにした。含まれる辞書は、基本的なのが同じで、それもカタカナ辞書・四字熟語辞典・日経パソコン用語事典なども入ってて、画面も大きくて、届く日が楽しみだ！

My precious Sharp PW-7000 electronic dictionary—a gift from a Japanese acquaintance and also a pretty big souvenir of my time in Japan—is no longer working. Well, it is a ten-year-old model, after all. So I purchased for myself a Sharp PW-M800, that model's descendant, it seems. Along with all of the dictionaries my old one included, I get a katakana dictionary, a four-character expression dictionary, a business dictionary and more, including a nice big, fat screen. Looking forward to it.

Labels: english, 日本語

僕はこの間『鬼嫁日記』というテレビドラマを見終わった。見た目がとてもバカバカしいけど、まあバカバカしくないとも言えないけど･･･僕が見たら意外と面白かった！きっと見なくていいもんだろうと最初に決め付けたのに、すっかり好きになっちゃったね。なぜかというと、・・・まあ、優れた作品とは全然言い切れないけど、なんか･･･とても笑えた。（第2シーズンは面白くないというのを耳にしたけど。）

So recently I finished watching a Japanese drama called "Oniyome Nikki," which is apparently called "Diary of Life with a Devil of a Wife" in English. It's a really silly comedy that, by all rights, should be unwatchably stupid, but ... it's not. It's surprisingly entertaining. In fact, it's become one of my favorite comedy dramas. There's just something about the writing, like they took the silly setting—a man and his trials with his "evil" wife—and got pretty good writers for it. Or something like that. Whatever the case, it was pretty funny. (I hear the second season is weaker, though.)

Labels: english, 日本語

I was thinking about taking the Japanese Language Proficiency Test here in America this year. However, in doing a bit of searching at the Japan Foundation's website—they administer the test—it turns out that the test is not even being held anywhere around here. The closest testing site is in Arkansas, which is a nine-hour drive from here. Arkansas, people. Which puts this test pretty solidly in "maybe next year" territory.

年末に能力試験一級に挑戦して受けようと思ってたんだけど、アメリカの試験場に関する情報を、試験を行うジャパンファウンデーションという施設のウェブサイトで見つけ出そうとしたら、ヒューストンどころか、アメリカのこの地方にさえも試験場がないらしい。一番近いのは944キロを離れているアーカンソー州にあるらしくて、車で9時間もかかるんだ！試験を受けるにはどうしてそのチンケな州まで行かなければならないんだ！っていうわけで、来年にしようかと思っている。今、特にあの資格をとる必要もないし。受けなくて、日本語習得を続けるつもりだ。

Labels: english, 日本語

自転車が買いたくなった。生活にあまり役立たないかもしれないけど、運動の道具として使えばそれでいいと思う。ここはヒューストン郊外なので、車があまり走らない道もあって、道はすべて平らだし、気楽に自転車を乗り回すのができそうだ。ただ暑さにやられちゃわないようにしないとダメだ。水もiPodも持って乗りたいなぁ！でも、まずは自転車を買うことだ。前に持っていた自転車はマウンテンバイクで重かったけど、今回もっと軽くて小さいやつが欲しい。あれでこの辺を走破する。いつ買うかは別のことだけど。

So I want a bike. It can't really be very useful in my day-to-day life, but it would be fun and good exercise to ride around out here while jamming to some music (sometimes), I think. Not sure when I'll buy it, though.

Labels: english, 日本語

ご無沙汰です。このブログを最初に作ってから、今月が一番記事の少ない一ヶ月だろうね。職場で一日中パソコンのモニターを見つめているので、帰ってからもパソコンに触れる気にあまりならないもんだ。しかし、まさか更新頻度がこんなに低くなるとはね。いかんな。なので、頻度をアップしたいよ。短い記事でいい、ということでね。

Well, this has turned out to be the slowest month ever on my blog (probably). I just get home from work and don't really feel like sitting in front of another computer, y' know? But I can do better than this. I'll try to do more frequent short blasts as I feel like it.

Labels: english, 日本語

Yeah, I still like go. I just don't play it anymore. I played a round of 9x9 go with a certain website the other day and managed to win. But I played with my old rival Lee online the other day, and, due to a pretty stupid mistake at the opening, I lost. That's my second in a row to him. Tsk. There's a go club out here that meets weekly that I'll be checking out soon.

囲碁の話がこのブログからなくなったが、囲碁好きじゃなくなったわけではない。たまにはパソコンでやっていて、この間あるウェブサイトの囲碁アプレットと対局して勝った。（右の画像）その反面、この間囲碁ライバルのリーと久しぶりの対局して、最初に馬鹿なミスをしたせいで負けちゃった。もうリーの二連勝だ。これ以上はさせるもんかよ！ここのヒューストンに囲碁倶楽部があって、参加することにした。どうなんだろうな。（毎週日曜のNHK囲碁番組って懐かしいな。）

Labels: english, 日本語

The other day, I was out shopping with Elddonnemar when, in the midst of a conversation, she asks me what a word is that refers to someone that doesn't like to spend money, even when perhaps they should. The only thing that popped into my mind was けち (kechi). The internal dialogue went something like this:

"けち. No, that's Japanese. [Dr. Hibbert–like chuckle] Hmmm ... けち? Japanese. けち? No! Maybeee けshutupgetoutofmyhead! ... Ah, 'stingy.' Yes, that'll do."

Kind of.

This sort of thing happens not that infrequently. Bilingualism Sure Is Fun™!

Labels: english

荒井由美の「雨の街を」という曲を紹介しようと思って。面白くて不思議な雰囲気を作る曲じゃない？（この『忘れもの』というのも気に入ったんだが。）

I'm quite fond of this song. Great atmosphere. It's Yuki Arai's "Ame no machi wo," and through it, I've come to know and like her works—at least the ones I've heard.

Labels: english, ♫, 日本語

こんな写真が好きな僕にとって佐藤信太郎さんの「非常階段からの眺め」という写真シリーズが素晴らしい。東京の朝の撮影からとっても綺麗なもんができたね。それも日本のその姿が懐かしくて感動した訳でもある。未明の景色イイっすなあ！

Shintaro Sato's Twilight Zone is an awesome series of photographs of Tokyo taken between nighttime and morning time. I enjoy photos like this a lot.　They also really remind me of my time in Japan.

Labels: english, 日本語

職場の同僚に初めて会った時に、思わず「宜しくお願いします」を言い出しそうになった僕である。それが丁寧さをやや欠いた言い方なのを別にして「よろしく」という思いは英語で自然によく表現できないので、「よろしく」の代わりに「I look forward to working with you」（一緒に仕事をするのを楽しみにしている）を言うことにした。日本語が話したくても通じる訳のない時には、心の奥がほんの少し痛んでしまうのだ。とにかく、二日目も良かったよ。仕事は順調！

When I met everyone at my job, I kept wanting to say "yoroshiku onegai shimasu" to them. Along with not being polite enough, they, of course, do not speak Japanese. So I settled for just telling everyone that I was looking forward to working with them. Which just isn't the same. But yoroshiku doesn't translate very well, from what I've seen.

Labels: english, 日本語

This video of two Japanese acrobats was supposedly shot in 1904 by Thomas Edison (according to Japan Probe). I found their act pretty impressive.

二人の日本人の曲芸師のパフォーマンスが映っているこのビデオは、Japan Probeによればエジソンに映したそうだ。二人は本当にお上手だと思う。



いつだって忘れない。エジソンは偉い人。そんなの常識～♪

Labels: english, 日本語

I've gotten into the habit of putting my iPod on shuffle with the result that I'm listening to many of my 6,000 tracks of audio that I rarely hear or, in some cases, have never heard. I've been listening to my iPod throughout the evening while working with Debian and, frankly, I've been quite pleased with what I've been listening to. I really like my taste in music. (Heh heh.) I have a bunch of Japanese education tracks too, so during the music, I get some Japanese listening practice too.

Labels: english

I installed Debian (a Linux distribution) on my laptop a couple of weeks ago with the goal of getting to know how Linux works and how to administer it. I installed Ubuntu (another, very popular, distribution) a couple of times in the past, but back then, I was trying it out out of curiosity and as even a possible replacement (or at least complement) for my Windows XP installation and I eventually uninstalled each time. However, I'm keeping Debian, which is a distribution more geared for serious study (I suppose you can say), to get some much-needed practice and experience with Linux. I'm still new to Linux and I have a lot to learn (and I get incredibly frustrated at times when I can't get things working); but it is interesting and kind of fun. Plus, it's something that I need to do to stay ahead of the curve for my upcoming MIS studies at school. I've also found someone to tutor me a bit in Linux networking for a couple of months, which helps—a sort of internship, you could say. That's nice.

Labels: english

かなり待たされたり心配されたりしたけど、僕が岡崎から船便で送った二箱目が昨日の午後にやっと届いた。それも、一箱目と違って無事に届いた。本当に安心した！YAMASAで使った教科書とか日本で買ったCDとかフィルムカメラもちゃんと入っていた！（今日、岩崎宏美と久保田としのぶのCDを両親のステレオで聞いていて気持ちよかった。）

でも、残念なことに、一箱目の問題で何が無くなったのかは明らかになった。いただいた「Flowers for Algernon」も、一冊の囲碁の本も、「忍たま乱太郎」の第一巻と第四巻も、焼いたCD-RとDVD-Rの何枚も･･･全部無くなったんだ。（というか、盗まれたと言ったほうが・・・。）中身はまるで85%くらいが岡崎から届いたようだ。さあ、15%くらいの物が無くなったのを残念でならないと思いつつ、それ以上無くなった物がなかったのがとても嬉しい。

これでこの面倒な国際お引越しが完了した。それに、二年間の岡崎滞在も本当に終わった、って実感もする。

My second box from Okazaki arrived today. Fortunately, unlike the first one, this one arrived in perfect condition (outside of some broken CD jewel cases). Also, I now pretty much know what I'm missing from the other box: a bilingual copy of Flowers for Algernon (a gift from Bikenglish), one of my go books, two of my Nintama Rantarou volumes, and most of my CD-Rs and DVD-Rs. I lost about 15% of my stuff but, unpleasant as it is, it could have been much worse. This also marks the complete end of my move from Okazaki ...

（申し訳ありません、Bikenglishさん。〈泣〉）

Labels: english, 日本語

皆さんのおかげで当ブログのアクセス回数はようやく五万ヒットを超えました！ありがとうございます！これからも宜しくお願いします。（終わってませんから、このブログ！）

I've surpassed 50,000 hits on this blog! Thanks for your support over the two-plus years, folks. (Though I ain't done yet!)

m(_ _)m

Labels: english, 日本語

I saw Iron Man a few nights ago with Elddonnemar and Kunan. And let me tell you: it was good. It was truly surprisingly solid. I believe it to be the best movie based on a comic book superhero that I've ever seen (or possibly ever will see). Pretty much everything in it was spot on. Well done. Here's a sequel (coming in 2010) that I'm looking forward to.

この間、KunanとElddonnemarと一緒に『Iron Man』という映画を見に行った。Iron Manというのは、パワードアーマーを着けて悪の勢力を打ち負かす、アメリカの漫画のスーパーヒーローの一人。僕は子供時代にそういう漫画（主に『X-Men』）を読んでいたものだけど、『Iron Man』は少ししか読んだことがない。っていっても、最近の映画はすごくいいよ。最初のシーンから最後のシーンまで引き続けておく映画だと思う。普段、こういうスーパーヒーロー映画はこんなに面白くないけど、今回は映画化大成功だぞ。見るが良い！

Labels: english, 日本語

For the last few months comedian Atsumu Watanabe, who is known by the stage name Sekai No Nabeatsu, has been getting a lot of air time on Japanese TV. Almost all of his performances have relied on his ability to act wacky while counting.—via Japan Probe

Out of masochistic curiosity, I watched parts of a couple of the videos posted at Japan Probe and was pretty disgusted with the sheer stupidity of his act and the popularity of it. Seriously, as much of a one-trick pony as he is (or, apparently, was, from what I've heard), Yoshio Kojima is five times better than this guy. Kojima's act was stupid, yeah, but in a much more entertaining and generally less insulting way. This is just way too ludicrous.

Labels: english

Tonight I saw a couple of enjoyable first-season episodes of A Different World. I'm talking about the days when Denise and Walter (Sinbad) were around. It really took me back, including making me recall my childhood crush on Denise Huxtable. :-P

Labels: english

ギャグマンガ日和って知ってる？このアニメシリーズをYouTubeで初めて僕は知ったんだけど、面白いと思うよ。皆さんの好みに合うかどうかはちょっとあれだけど、一本のビデオが下に用意してあるので、もし興味があれば見てごらん。（英語の字幕がついてるからいい勉強になれるし。）

Gyagu Manga Biyori has recently been subtitled, and I'd recommend that those of you who like this sort of thing check it out. It's certainly interesting. I bring you proof, in the form of the video below.



ララララ　ララララァ～～♪
ララララ　ララララァ～～♪

Labels: english, 日本語

Japanese: 手塚さんが『ゼルダ』のタイトルに関わったのはすごく久しぶりですし、岩田さんから何を訊かれても僕は黙って、隣に座っていればいいかなあって思って来たんですが（笑）。

English: Until now, it had been a long time since Mr. Tezuka has had anything to do with Zelda, and I thought it would just be better if he were here too, since I might not be able to answer all of your questions. (laughs)

---

I take issue with this translation and posit that the speaker is actually saying something closer to this: "It has been a long time since Mr. Tezuka has had anything to do with Zelda, and I thought that if he'd be here, maybe I could [or, it'd be nice if I could] just sit beside him quietly and let him handle all of your questions."

The point that I'm making here is that I believe that there is no "might not be able to answer" in the speaker's original Japanese comments and I don't find sufficient cause to add it. So am I wrong or right? Opinions? I'm just curious.

Another, more factual, error was just pointed out to me: the English version says that The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time was "the first 3D game for Nintendo 64" whereas the Japanese article makes it quite clear that it was the Zelda series' first 3D game.

Labels: english, 日本語