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Saddled with the burden of being in a

relatively peaceful, law-abiding country, the Japanese j ust don't have the
crime and violence that US newscasters can count on to spice up the
evening report. They make up for the
lack of mayhem by paying more
attention to political and economic
news-and depend on opinionated
anchors to add the necessary spark.
Japane e television boasts a
ctiverse field of option; whi le cable
TV, satellite broadcasting, and HDTV
are still small, they are making steady
inroads. There are over 19,000 private
stations owned by 12 1 broadcasting
companies sending out TV news and
other offerings to some 125 million
viewers. Of tho e viewers, 98.9 percent own color TV sets, 35 million of
which are officially hooked up to the
quasi-governmental network Nippon
Hoso Kyokai (NHK), which broadcasts nationwide. Twenty-eight percent also have satellite broadcast
receivers-the beuer to view CNN
with-and about 75 percent of the
population can tape TV news broadcast.-; on their VCRs (known here as
VTRs) for later viewing.
Foreign news programs are available by either cable or satellite in the

fonn of BBC World and CNN


International. Neither, alas, is pennittcd 24-hour broadca.-;ting yet, except
at major hotel and luxury apartment
buildings in Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, and
Kyoto, though change is reportedly in
the works now that NHK has given up
on its idea for a Global News Network
with an Asian perspective to rival
CNN.
The basic TV lineup con ist.-; of
five major commercial televi ion networks, plus NHK. "Start the day with
NHK" could be their slogan: NHK's
is the first news broadcast in the morning (from as early as 5:00 AM on
orne days), though not always the last
at night. Before ending the day with a
rendition of the national anthem,
NHK will have brought you as many
as 21 news shows (each lasting from
5- 30 minutes, scheduled back to back
at peak hours) throughout the day.
Like the national newspapers,
Japan's TV stations have fairly
distinct political personalities. There
is enough diversity among the stations, however, to forestall charges of
an ovemll "media bias." NHK, for
example, is finnly on the side of the
conservative establishment, while the

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RESPEG ED
TBS NEWSMAN
CHIKUSHI TETSUYA
WITH CO-ANCHOR
HAMAOAKEMI
ON THE SET OF
"NEWS 23."

Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) takes a studied, middle-ofthe-road approach. TV Asahi, like its siste r new paper. tends
to be more liberal. The others fa ll in along the spectrum.
The process of gathering news, like many other activities in
Japan, depends largely on connections. News reporters (ac.X.
kisha), whether prim or broadcast, have been characterized by
some Western journa li sts as mere lap dogs due to their
restrained coverage of politicians. The proble m is that the Japanese government is the main source for political and economic
news: reporters who dare to offend find themselves cut off.
Several years ago Ozawa lc hiro, now c hair of the Shinshinto
political party, completely shut o ut a reporter's organization
when that reporter angered him for " no t re porting the truth."
They found the mselves banned from a ll of O..:awa's press
conferences- temporari ly.
Governmental news has traditiona lly been parceled out to
reporters belonging to the "kisha c lubs" connected to each
government ministry. This isn' t the only source, though. A
savvy journalist develops a relationship with certain politicians.
following them everywhere in hopes of joining an impromptu
press conference or catching o ff-the-record remarks.
Therefore, whether the news source is officia l or unofficial.
reporters are almost completely beholden to the good graces
of the politic ians they cover. The result is often reporters who
are so closely tied to their sources that they find it difficult to
ask frank questions at press conferences.
Nonetheless, according to Nikkei Weekly's Katsumata Michio,
some of the more ambitious and idealistic younger journalists
are training themselves in more confrontational investigative
reporting techniques, which are not necessarily taught in school
or on the job.
T he format of the Japanese TV news program differs little
from the pattero seen in the US : there is usually a main
newscaster (::.. .:1. - :J. .:\'- '\' :J. 7 -, nyi'isukyasutii. sometimes
shortened to /..:yasutii; or "announcer"- both terms have made
0

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it into Japanese) who leads with the ropp11 ny/7.1'11 ( 1- "J 7'::.. .:1. ;;r. . main stories), surrounded by j unior co-anchors. reporters.
and gue~t experts brought in to pontiticate on the day's stories.
In-depth business information, including detailed coverage
of specific companies, is a central feature of Japanese TV news.
Michael Palcnno, an English-language news producer at a TBS
subs idiary, describes Japanese ne ws shows as having much
more relaxed pacing than in the US. resulting in time for longer
stories. Six or eight minutes spent o n one story is not unusual.
"There is also less division between feature stories and breaking news," says Palermo. "The news/commentary line is less
firm ly drawn."
Japan's many mo rning news programs have the ir own
bouncy, re lentless ly c heerful sty le, which o n some shows
is compo unded by a pack o f reporters chatting together on
the set.
One interesting AM-news segment is a review of top news
tories from the earl y editions o f the leading newspapers. a
feature called clu'Jkan yomi-kurabe (<i!lftl i!Xh !t ~ . reading and
comparing the morning papers). Also seen regularly o n the AM
news arc greetings and weather reports from correspondents
in the regional bureaus. Perhaps wanting to make the most of
their moments on national T V, the regional reporters are prone
to what veteran American journalist Linda Ellerbee calls "riding
the e lephant,'' or engaging in wi ld stunts. NHK often intersperses little travelogues between main news sequences in the
morning.
Since there's no t much p romotion for J apan 's TV
news programs, few anchors become household names--quite
unlike their American counterparts. The ide ntity of ordinary
reporters, too, is far less emphasized : they don' t sign off with
their names, although the name will appear on screen.
Even so, more and more ancho rs are gaining distinction
from the rest of the pa:::k. Japanese newscasters o ften express
their own opinions about the issues, either in a separate

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14 Mangajin

"commentary" piece or as an aside while reading the news.


Although this practice has been called into question by the
Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper- which prefers that " the newscaster should never state any personal biases or opinions"it definitely gives individual announcers the o pportunity to
distinguish themselves.
One such announcer is TBS's C hikushi Tetsuya, who could
be called " the Dan Rather of Japan." The highly-respected
C hikush i, a veteran of the le ft-leaning newspaper Asahi
Shimbun, is known for his outspoken nightly commentary on
controversial issues, includ ing his own station's repo rting
of the Aum Shinrikyo cult (over which he nearly resigned).
The usual routine o n his show, " News 23," is for the female
co-anchor to read stOries, the n turn
to C hikushi for his own authoritative
commentary.
The TV Asahi "NewsStation" showcases splashy newscaster Kume Hiroshi,
arguably the most popular anchor in Japan, if not the most respected. T.R. Reid,
former Tokyo bureau chief for The
Washington Post, praises Kume for
dwelling o n a story on air for as long as
it takes him to understand it; presumably the viewing public has caught on
by that time, too. The flow of funds
between banks, corporations, politicians,
a nd yakuza gangste rs is confus ing
indeed, and Kume is not above using
dolls and play money to help e lucidate
the money trail.
Kume's politics are very much antiestablis hment. What sets him apart,
however, are silly interviews and antics
on his show, for which he has been
critic ized. TV media personality Beat
Takeshi recently complained , " Kume
Hiroshi .. . has changed a news program into a variety show program. He
is on the side of the establishment to the
bo ne, but he prete nds to be an antiestablishment figure on te levision. That's
the cleverest approach for a newscaster."
How about anchorwomen? One of
Re id's Post articles that appeared shortly
after Connie Chung was fired from CBS
in early 1995 suggested that perhaps
Connie sho uld consider a move to
Japan, where female newscasters have
been remarkably successful in the past
few years. Until recently, three of the top
five news shows had female anchors.
Significant among these women is
Sakurai Yoshiko, who beat out several
male anchors for the top spot on NTV

several years ago. Sakurai made q uite an impression on


viewers by conducting on-air interviews in fluent English and
Chinese. In the aftermath of the Tokyo subway gassing of 1995,
she earned a great deal of respect for refusing to let any members of the Aum Shinrikyo appear on her show unless cult
leader Asahara Shoko himself did, in contrast to the parade of
Aum-ites elsewhere.
Another notable female an nouncer is TV Tokyo's anchor for
the II PM "World Business Satellite." Nonaka Tomoyo is, in
Reid's words, " the queen of her show": professional, sharp,
confident, fully in control. Like most news anchors, she came
from a journalism background, but hers spans both the US
(journalism school) and Japan (newspaper reporter). She is

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IE t' It odoke

Mangajin 15

~c.

three hff1f(Gf1 by SHINICHI YI1ND


firM translation from Japanese:
New Lanchester Strategy Vol. 1
Lanchester's equations of combat, strategy
model, principle of concentration, tactics,
strategy and application to marketing
174pp. 5 ch. ISBN 1-57321-000-5 $17.95
New Lanchester Strategy Vol. 2
Sales and Marketing for the Weak
Tactics and strategy for market entry, local
battles, single and close combat, concentration
and diversionary tactics. Case studies in retail,
restaurant and manufacturing industry.
170 pp. 6 ch. ISBN 1-57321-004-8 $17.95
New Lanchester Strategy Vol. 3
Sales and Marketing for the Strong
Defense of existinQ market position,
response to competition, stochastic widearea and remote battles for market share.
178 pp. 6 ch. ISBN 1-57321-005-6 $17.95

assisted by younger male co-anchors and reporters and converses confidently with
guest commentators.
Ando Yilko of Fuji TV started as a newsroom nobody, but worked her way up
through persistence and a powerful presence. She took over the anchor role on
"News Japan" at II PM from a male newscaster, Kimura Taro, who continues in
the elder statesman role of commentator.
Their gains notwithstanding, the female anchors did not even figure in the recent
Yomiuri Shimbun media poll. The top five news anchors were, in descending order,
Kume Hiroshi, Chikushi Tetsuya, Tawara Soichiro, Kimura Taro, and Sekiguchi
Hiroshi. Connie Chung may still have better options at home.
It may be a sign of the maturing of media in Japan that the influence of the
media itself is becoming more of a topic of public debate. A recent Yomiuri Shimbun
poll showed viewers are questioning the influence of the TV media on politics
and the tum of public events. Indeed, a TV Asahi executive once claimed, "It was
televis ion that created the non-LOP government." At a recent international
symposium on TV coverage of the 50th anniversary of the end of World War IT,
criticism was voiced at the failure of the Japanese news programs to " present
their audience with concrete examples indicating that Japan was the aggressor in
the Pacific War." Tt was decided that, since the media can shape mankind's
values, they "should do their best to contribute to the promotion of universal
ethics for the bene fit of mankind," reported the Daily Yomiuri. It remains to be
seen how these lofty goals will be accommodated in the changing TV news
environment.

SET OF THREE VOLUMES ONLY MMQ

Calll-800-247-6553,
or fax PO to: 408-732-7723
http://www.lanchester.com

J eanmarie Todd watches the 6:00AM NHK news in her cozy apartment in Tokyo.
tl If~ ~_m ~ nebarizuyosa - notwithsLanding = - !.: b 1!' 1!' t? I? i ' ~
mo kakawarazu ethics = 1~ J!l!. rinri I I1l: f!/l\ d/Jtoku
_

persistence=

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16 Mangajin

"""'sEntertainment

10

Laura Kriska finds


that bigger is better
in Japan's theme
parks of the '90s.

Tourists searching for the essence of Japan may follow guidebook directions to Shinto shrines
and Zen gardens, but guidebooks won't lead to some of the new, offbeat destinations that are
having increasing success luring in the Japanese. Places with names like U-Zone, Wild Blue .
Scagaia, and Joypolis are surfacing all over the country. These new entertainment centers are
so popular that Seagaia and Joypolis each had more visitors in one mo nth than Mt. Fuji had
all year long! What do these places have to offer that the traditional spots do n' t?

Seagaia, a resort complex in Kyushu's Miyazaki prefecture, is home to Ocean Do me,


a giant indoor ocean capable of accommodating 10,000 visitors at once. Ocean Dome was
created e ntirely out of synthetic materials, including a beach made out of white astroturf and
pebble-sized piece of white marble. Electronically created waves are gener..tted every IS minutes,
and , when the weather is nice, the dome's roof opens on the half-ho ur to a llow in real breezes
and natural sunshine. This " paradise of everlasting summer" is maintained through strict
temperature contro ls- air at 30C (86F) and water at 28C (82F).
The central featu re of the football-stadium-sized dome is the ocean, called Great Bank,
which is the size of s ix Olympic swimming pools. Here the world's largest wave-making
system generates waves large enoug h for surfing. Every few hours, surfers in neon-yellow
wetsuits perform a show against a sky-blue backdrop.
As if Grear Bank weren' t e nough, the ocean is bordered on each end by an e ntertainment area. One is
called the Bali Hai Zone, featuring water rides surrounding a volcano {Mt. Bali Hai) that rumbles a nd spews
smoke several times a day. On the other e nd is Lovers'
Hil l, wit h amuse m e n t rid es in c lu ding a
futuristic underwmer SFX simulation ride called Adventure Theater. Visito rs can also enjoy dai ly performances
by flamboyant, multinational entertainers who sing and
dance wearing fruit-colored Caribbean costumes. Don't
care to get wet? T he resort's 17 resta urants and 19 shops
provide p lenty of diversion for water-shy visitors.
The first question most people ask when they see
Ocean Dome, located within walking distance from the
Miyazaki coastline. is: Why would anyone build an
indoor ocean right on the beach? The simple answer is
that the real beach isn' t as friendly as it looks. A strong
undertow combined with dangerous sea li fe, a nnual
typhoons, and very hot summers led developers to build
Life Is sweet under ocean Dome !shown here exposed to Mother Nature!.
their year-round. temperature-contro lled, insect-free,
sanitized version of a n ocean.
The word "Seagaia" is a combination of the Eng lish word "sea" and the Greek word gaia
(meaning " land"). T he development of this resort occurred as part of an ominous-sounding
project called Human Gree n Plan that, ironically, endeavors to create an environment where
"men and women of all ages from all over the world can meet with each other. be exposed to
different cultures, and come into contact with Mother Nature."
Judging from attendance records since Ocean Do me's opening in 1993, however, the

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SOMangajin

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wonderlands
development's real success has been in gathering hundreds of thou ands of people from all over
Japan to be exposed to outrageous prices w ithout ever coming in contact with M other ature.
A one-day adult pass costs 4,200 (around $40); rental fees, amusement rides, and food are extra. Everything from swimsuits ( women:
I ,800 per day) to lounge chairs (600 for two hours on A Deck or
2,000 for a four-person table on B Deck) arc available for rent. (You
can bring your own swimsuit, of course, but that's about it.) Attraction fees average 600 per ride, and food prices average three times
the going rate on the outside.
Oceun Dome is spotless, some might say almost terile. From its
chlorinated water to the strictly patrolled shower rooms. visitors need
not worry about bugs, trash, or dangerous tides. For parents of young
children. the best feature of Ocean Dome is the corps of lifeguards
and staff that swarms over the beach and wuter, life preservers in hand.
Although the bathing suits worn by the male lifeguards look as though
they were purchased in the little boys' department (it is said that the
skimpy suits allow for faster reaction time in the case of an emergency), the number of guards will put even a nonswimmer at ease.
While it may be true that the real beach immediately adjacent to A flashv entrance sets the mood at Jovpol/s.
Ocean Dome is dangerous, there is a lovely. clean, public beach just
15 minutes south by car. The fine, dark sand at A oshima Beach docs leave a dirty residue on feet
and towels, and there are no hair dryer available in the public rest room. But if you can manage
the unorchestrated nature of Nature, where sunshine, ocean waves, und breezes do not follow a
schedule, Aoshima is a lovely, free alternative.
" . . . an attempt
In short, if you want to go to a beach, go to Aoshima, but if you want to have one of the most
to combine the
interesting swimming pool experiences of your life (und you've got plenty of cash), go to Seagaia's
convenience of
Ocean Dome.

Joypolis. an unusual but accurate term. is the name of gamemaker Segas new attempt
to combine the convenience of urban game center s with the excitement o f full -serv ice
theme parks like Disney land. Of the three Scga theme parks in Japan ( Yokohama, Osaka, and
Tokyo), the newest and biggest is in the Tokyo Decks development across the Rainbow Bridge
from Shinbashi.
Tokyo Joypolis is an original, four-story theme " park" with II main attractions, a Sega game
arena, a Funteractive Square, and a cafe with an outdoor deck overlooking Tokyo Bay. The main
auractions include both rides and virtual reality experiences. earl y all are interactive in some
way, meaning the actions of the player affect the experience. Unlike being passively strapped
into a roller coaster and going for a ride, the games at Joypolis demand a player's attention and
reward participation.
Visitors enter Joypolis through a vault-like door. Each level i s visible from the first floordark interiors marked with purple neon signs decorating the balconies with short messages (in
English) like " State of the Art." " Stimulating." and " Total Entertainment." Low, pulsating music
plays in the background. punctuated by ringing bells from the game area and real -life screaming
from unidentifiable locations.
The central attraction of the building i s the Time Fall ride- an adventure in suspense. Eight

urban game centers


with the excitement
of full-service theme
parks like
Disneyland."

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Mangajin 51

people sit in an elevator-like chamber, wearing headphones.


As the chamber starts climbing, a menacing narrative about a
plot to sabotage the elevator begins in Japanese. The effects
are so well coordinated that even a non-Japanese speaker will
sense the increasing tension. The c limac tic 13-meter fall,
magnified through clever use of sound and light, will leave
you breathless.
One of the most thrilling attractio ns is Half Pipe Canyon,
a U-shaped half pipe that simulates the experience of skateor snow-boarding. The ride consists of four oversized boards
that swing on tracks like a pendulum. Two players stand face
to face, each in a full-body harness, with their feet positioned
on the oversized board. The board starts to swing automatically, slowly at tirst, but increasing its arc and speed with
each swing. All four boards swing at the same time but at
differe nt intervals.
Each board has a foot pane l that a player activates by pushing down when the board is at the lowest point in the arc.
Pushing this panel causes the entire board, players and all, to
spin 360 degrees while the board continues to swing like a
pendulum at 36km an hour. The result is complete and total
exhilaration. Players control how frequently they spin, but to
encourage it, there is a competition betwee n the four boards.
The number of spins is auto matically recorded and, for anyone not too disoriented to liste n, the winner is announced at
the end of each ride.
pendulum

=~~ ~ =f-Juriko exhi laration =~1:1)~ ~ ~<'C'I'~ t, siJkai

110

Half Pipe Canyon will leave you trembling with adrenalinno roller coaster can compare with the rush of this intense ride.
Only if you've parachuted out of an airplane or bun gee-jumped
off a bridge will you have some idea of what to expect.
The entrance fee for Joypolis is 500 (about $5) and each
attraction is about 700- reasonable, especially considering
that while you're there you'll get a glimpse of Tokyo's Beautiful People. You'll also get to sec what those Beautiful People
do on a date. Although Sega traditionally caters to a teenage
audience, the majority of visitors are in fash io nably dressed
pairs between the ages of 20 and 25. Going to Joypolis on a
date is not only cheaper than dinner and a movie, it counterbalances the worst part of this theme park- lines. Long lines.
The average waiting time is an hour, but lines for the more
popular rides ofte n exceed two hours. This drawback,
however, fai ls to discourage the hand-holding couples, who
seem happy to have more time to stand together in the dark.
It's not exactly clear why places like Seagaia's Ocean Dome
and Joypolis are increasing in popularity. Perhaps places like
these fu lfill a growing de mand for interactive entertainment
by a generation raised on video games and computers. Jf you
visit these places, you may not be able to identify the essence
of Japan, but you' ll certainly have a lot of fun.

lAura Kriska's book, An Accidental Office Lady, will be published this summer by Charles E. Tuttle Publishing.

kimoclzi drawback

=';c,;r. ketten I -~ .~ lUI/lien

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I
Delving into the
world of manga

~O OK REVIEW

reviewed

by lan Baldwin

by Frederik l. Schodt. Stone


Bridge Press. 1996. 360 pages. $16.95 (paperback)

DREAMLAND jAPAN: WRITINGS ON MODERN MANGA,

COMo

UNORGROIJND jAPAN,

edited by Kevin Quigley. Blast Books, 1996. 221

pages. $14.95 (paperback)

I was at a party about a month ago. chauing with the host.


when I mentioned I was working on a review of two books
about Japanese comics.
"Oh. yeah.'' he said. "I 've heard that comics are really
big over there...
'Ye. .'' I told him. "you might say that."
Of course. for a seven-billion-dollar-a-year industry. the
term "gargantuan is probably more appropriate than ''big.''
Immeasurably larger than the economic size of the industry,
however. is the innuence of manga as a cultural force-one
that has grown large enough to make its presence known
outside Japan. Though most Americans know nothing of
Japane c media and even fewer know that manga are one of
the most pervasive (and proletarian) forms of media in Japan.
my host's comment shows that the message of manga as popculture centerpiece is gelling through, if only slowly. And if
you had to credit just one person for Americans' increasing
understanding of manga-and through manga an increasing
understanding of Japanese pop culture- it would probably be
Frederik Schodt.
Schodt's first book on this subject was Manga! Manga!
The World of Japanese Comics, which. as the first Englishlanguage work to examine the raison d'etre of Japanese comics.
many American readers' first introduction to the subject. In
short, an in tant cia sic.
Dreamland Japan: Writings 011 Modem Ma11ga i Schodt' s
second survey of the manga scene. but it is not an update of
Manga! Manga! Schodt. sounding like a man beseiged by eager
fans, takes pains to point out that Dreamland Japan is more

r;un-=a

J:; erabu I

54 Mangajin

.iPl ll ~ !/) t.. uabi arsumeru

of a sequel- while Ma11ga.' Manga! delved into the historical


foundati on of Japanese comics. Dreamland Japan is a snapshot
of the world of manga today. For anyone with more than a
passing interest in modern manga. Schodt' new book i s
interesting, sometimes fascinating reading that reaffirms how
wonderfully unique manga insights on Japanese society can
be. And I promise even the most diligent readers of Ma11gajin
will pick up something they didn't know.
Though there's a ton of information (some of it recycled
from Schodt' s earlier writi ngs) packed into the book. it i s
clearly authored for a wide audience. The first chapter.
surprisingly brief for the amount of ground covered. begins
with a concise history of manga, then goes on to explain why
comics (something largely regarded in America as strictly
juvenile) are a national addiction among all age and gender
groups in Japan. This initial approach. combined with Schodt's
lucid writing style. makes Dreamland Japan instantly
accessible to readers with no previous knowledge of manga.
That's a good thing. because the first few chapters are a
better study of today's Japan than many of the more seriou s
titles currently on bookstore shelves. With an eye on the broad
audience he's seeking, Schodt straightaway tackles common
American reaction s to rnanga ("Aren't they full of sex and
violence?" and " Why do the characters have such big eyes?"
are the most typical). From there he touches upon several
aspects of the current manga scene, like the jam-packed
conventions devoted to manga dojinshi (lui A ~~: . fanzines) and
the related phenomenon of otaku ( :t 7 7 , ob. essive fans).
Probably the most entertaining section of Dreamland
Japan. though. is the chapter titled "Artists and Their Work."
Here. Schodt examine a limited but wide-ranging selection
of manga artists, culled from those who produce the most
original, disturbing, or simply outrageous works today. From

_ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ __ __ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ __ __ J

--------------------------ON THE

BOOKSHELF

Old Ways to Fold New Paper, by Leza Lowitz. Berkeley, CA: Wandering Mind Books, 1996. 98 pages. $10 (paperback)

flashes of memory concerning the lives of female friends


and relatives."

Poems, mostly inspired by Japan (but some from her visits


to other countries), by a woman who Jjved in Tokyo between
1990 and 1994.
In hiroshima
a watch crumpled like
paper. Agonies unspeakable
And yet,
you (a Japanese) take my
(American) hand.
How is it possible?
That warmth/here in the
reserve of dead Swiss?

Undesigning the Bath, by Leonard Koren. Berkeley, CA:


Stone Bridge Press, /996. 108 pages, $16.95 (paperback)
Inspired by the tale of a very wealthy man who announces
that he will invest a fortune in building "the greatest bathroom
in the world," architect and bath dev01ee Koren sets about
designing his own idea of the perfect bath. Contending that
industrial designers sacrifice the ideals of bathing in their
quest for simplicity and cost containment, he "undesigns"
his bath with a photographic exploration of the many kinds
of facilities that exist in Japan, Turkey, and other countries.

Rider, by Marian Frances Wolbers. New York: St. Martin 's


Press, /996. 192 pages, $21.95 (hardcover)
A novel about today's Japanese woman. From the book
jacket: " Mai has retreated from her marriage and career to
ride the Tokyo subway system. Her wry, anthropological
notes about the ways in which women are ignored or abused
within the high-tech microcosm of trains and indoor malls
reflect the myriad social pressures experienced by Asian
women in general. Mai's subway data mix with poignant
huge serialized hits like Kawaguchi Kaiji's submarine epic
Chinmoku no Kantai to government-produced educational
comics about the legal system, Schodt's selections, and his
commentaries on them, have much to say about Japanese
attitudes towards work, money, sex, religion, politics, and
world events.
While I enjoyed Dreamland Japan overall, one reservation
I have is the book's length. Obviously, putting more information
into a book makes it more attractive to those who are interested
in the subject, but to more casual readers, it can be dauntingand Dreamland Japan's 360 pages are a hefty load. Thankfully,
each chapter is broken up into small pieces, which makes the
book easy to pick through.
Another problem is timeliness. Virtually all nonfiction
works are in some way out of date when they' re published,
given the long time it takes to write, edit, and produce a book.
But I suspect that this is true more of Dreamland Japan than
most. When Schodt writes about the strange role AUM Comic
played in the bizarre machinations of the AUM Shinriky6 cult,
it is set inexorably within the context of recent events. In
particular, a tribute to the revered manga artist Tezuka Osamu
discusses the controversy that erupted in 1994 over whether
Disney Studios had appropriated his manga (and TV cartoon)
Kimba, the White Lion for its animated feature The Lion King.
The several pages Schodt spends documenting the controversy

The Unicode Standard, Version 2.0, by The Unicode


Consortium. Reading, MA : Addison-Wesley Developers
Press. 1996. $59 (paperback with CD-ROM)
Unicode is a character set that enables software to be used
all over the world, despite language and "alphabet"
differences. For Japanese, as an example, a four-character
code is assigned to each kanji and kana character. This book
provides codes for many languages (including Japanese) and
symbols. It is especially useful to software desig ners
and computer programmers who are working in a multilingual
environment.
is an admirable effort and, I'm afraid, something that's going
to make Dreamland Japan seem more and more dated the older
it gets. But this is certainly no reason to skip Dreamland Japan.
In fact, for anyone who wants an in-depth yet comfortably
readable look at the current state of manga in Japan and the
rest of the world, Dreamland Japan is highly recommended.
One of the best things about Dreamland is that it covers the
non-mainstream band of the manga spectrum admirably. In fact,
Schodt spends the same number of pages examining Garo,
Japan's premiere alternative manga monthly, as he does on
newsstand giants such as Big Comic and Shonen Jump.
In a country where editors often pressure artists to conform
to timeworn artistic styles and storylines, Garo, and its
pioneering editor Nagai Katsuichi, are an exceptionaJ story.
The artists featured in Garo produce avant-garde works a
world-if not a universe-apart from the pedestrian fare read
by salarymen on the train. While Dreamland Japan provides
a erviceable introduction to Japan's alternative comics scene,
readers who are enticed into wanting a closer look should pick
up Comics Underground Japan, an anthology of translated
works from Garo and other magazines.
Flipping through Comics Underground Japan, my first
indication that I had landed on a strange new continent of the
(continued on page 84)

be daunting= 1:> [;. lf?;l)>1:t)., ojige-zukaseru I(}).. i 1:t).. lrirumaseru hefty= lf!:t.; v' omotai I ;t;' ') .:x. - 1.. (J)~)., IJoryiimuno aru obsessive
= it\'!l!l!: (J) kado no I II): ~ '? ;/)> tt t.; toritsukareta pedestrian = ~ ~ ~ t.; ~ (J) arikitari no I ~ I) h. tt t.; arifurew be enticed= ~!'Ji: ~ tt).. yiiwaku
sareru I ~ ltJ> h. .0 hikaruu

Mangajin 55

COMPUTER CORNER

ing-lt-with-y0 u
Some words of wisdom from a seasoned
computer-toting traveler

by Eril< Kassebaum

oving is one of li fe 's most stressful experiences.


Oftentimes it's the little things which are the most
aggravating. Things like not having the right electrical adapter or being chastised for putting ones tra h i n the wrong
color bag have a way of accelerating that first fall down the
''W-curve of sojourner adjustment. When computers are introduced into the equation. it's possible to go from "honeymoon
to "hell'' in an afternoon.

Where to Buy Yo ur Computer


Whether you should buy a computer here or in Japan is a
difficult question these days since computer prices in Japan are
much more reasonable than they were j ust a few years ago. On
lightly older systems. it"s often possible to find deals that are
very altractive- provided you can use a Japanese-language
operating system.
Unless you need a really powerful desktop system. you should
consider buying a laptop computer before going to Japan. If
you buy a laptop. don't ship it-carry it with you on the plane.
PCMCIA (PC card) modems range in price from $100 to $250.
so buy one when you get the laptop. Many new laptops have
built-in CD-ROM players. If you get a set of powered spc:lkers,
you'll be able to use your laptop as a stereo. Don't skimp on
RAM- if you plan to usc Windows 95 or a Macintosh sy~tcm.
make sure your computer has at least 16 megabytes of RA M .
The computer should h:.~ve a warranty specifically stating
that your machine is eligible for worldwide service. Most computer makers will not service your equipment unless you have
such a warranty. A lways check the fine print before you buy.
Shipping a desktop system to Japan is an expensive and risky
proposition. I f you decide to do so. keep in mind that shipping
your desktop system out of Japan will cost more than a one-way
ticket back to wherever you came from. For those of you who
do decide to ship desktop systems to Japan. think about the
possibility of making the trip "one way" (i.e., sell it in Japan).

Pho ne and Electric Lines


Electrical current in the western half of Japan i almost the arne
as in the US ( I 00 volts AC at 60 H z): i n the eastern half it is not
( I 00 volts AC a1 50 H z). (The US standard i II 0 volts AC at 60
Hz.) The split in current is east/west with the dividing line along
56 Mangajin

the traditional boundary between the Kanto and K ansai regions.


If your computer or electrical device docs not have a uni versal
power adapter and you live in the east. you will need to buy one.
M acintosh computers do have univer al power adapters-all
you' ll have to do is lind a wall socket.
Tip: Don't forget to ground your surge suppressor.
Speaking of wall sockets. you won't lind too many in your
home or office. so take a pair of good multiple-outlet surge suppressors. Grounded three-prong wall sockets are nonexistent,
so bring a few grounded three-prong-to-two-prong electrical
adapters. By the way. most computers in Japan are not protected
from electrical surges and are hooked up to stacks of plug
extenders which are so overloaded that they actually radiate heat.
Avoid these "electrical octopuses...
Standard Arneric:ln-market analog modems work just line
with Japanese phone lines. American-market ISDN modems
( l SD terminal adapters) are generally not compatible wi th
Japanese ISDN lines. Many areas of Japan do not support "Tone
Dial" so you might have to set your modem software to " Pulse
Dial. Japanese phones use standard RJ-1 1 jack . so you won' t
need any special adapters.

Advice for Road W arriors


If you' re on the road in Japan and need to go online. look for
a gray l SD pay phone. They have modern jacks for both
standard analog and ISDN lines. Use the analog port.
If you're at an office or school and need to get onl ine. look
for the office fax machi ne. In general. most fax machines in
Japan use regular analog phone lines.
Beware of phones that are connected to switchboards: digital
phone lines can kill your modem and computer. L ook for the
fax machine and usc its line.

Choosing an Ope rating System


For those who need to work in both English and Japanese. the
consensus of opinion is that the Macintosh operating system
(OS) offers the best multilingual support. If you buy a Macintosh
and wish to process Japanese text. you can either install KanjiTalk
(the Japanese version of the Macintosh OS) on your computer
or you can install Apple's Japanese Language Kit (JL K).
Maintaining a multiple-language system on a W I TEL

computer is more complicated. I f you have an English version


o f Windows 3.1/95. you can buy kits which provide some of
the functionality of JLK. The integration is not as tight. and
reliability w ith respect to the use of Japanese-language
Windows applications is spotty at best. The si tuation would be
very different if Microso ft had decided to enable support for the
processing of double-byte scripts such as Japanese.
If you want to stick wi th a WINTEL -type platform and are
comfortable using a Japanese OS. then m y advice is to buy the
Japanese version of Windows 95. Ironically, English-language
Windows 95 software programs run well on the Japanese
version o f Windows 95.
Consider these three points if you are goi ng to install a Japanese OS on your computer:
I. Macintosh computers are the same wherever you go-aside
from the keyboard. the primary difference between a Japanese-market M acintosh and an American-market M acintosh
is the OS. You can convert a Japanese Maci ntosh into an English-language M acintosh by simply installing the English
version of the M ac OS.
2. WINT EL hardware in Japan can be very different from that
found at home. At present you need to be aware of the fact
that Japanese-market NEC machines usc a proprietary version of Windows. and that if you are going to install a
Japane eversion of Windows 3. 1 or Windows 95 on a computer you've brought from America, you'll need to make sure
that you buy the version designed for IBM PC/ AT computers.
3. Before you switch operating systems. decide whether or not
you want to have a dual-boot system.

Wi th a dual -boot system you create two separate operating


systems and choose which you want to run during startup. On a
Mucintosh this i s relatively easy to accomplish. On WINTEL
systems your best bet is to purchase a program called System
Commander (http://www.v-com.com). System Commander lets
WINTEL users decide at startup which OS they want to use.

Printers and Pe riphe rals


Printer and peripheral support for bilingual computers can be a
nightmare if you don' t have a M acintosh. On the W INTEL side.
most printer and peripheral problems relate to the availability
of software driver which work in mixed-language environments.
It is not reasonable to expect that a Japanese-market printer
will work reliabl y with a WINTEL computer runnin g an
English version of Windows 3. 1/95. I f you are running the Japanese version of Windows 3.1/95 then you should probably buy
your printer in Japan. People do manage to make these things
work, but it's rarely 'plug and play."
Peripher als (printers, scanners, monitors, etc.) are available
in Japan at prices which are fairl y competitive with those in the
United States. Remember. before you go out and buy this type
of equipment. you should think about what you will do with it
when it's time for you to leave Japan.

Choosing an Internet Se rvice Provider


Internet Maga::ine i s one of the better Japanese Internet magazines available. This magazine is worth buying even if you have
difficulty reading Japanese. If you are unsure as to where to
( comintted on page 40)

~""' to Exchange LeHers with Japanese Friends? 0

ALC Press is looking for people of all nationalities who woulclle to exchange
letten(in English)with Japanese. In Japan there are lots of people, ~ '--~.~wo-e-.........
young ancl olcl, who want to correspond with overseas friencls.
ALe eon~~!~

2 54-12 Eifuku. Suginemi-ku Tokyo 168 Japan

Tokyo-based publisher, ALC help of the information you have preferred that you write in EngPress, Inc. have launched the provided. The Japanese pen- lish, but Japanese is acceptable
ALC Correspondence Club - a pals will then write to you. It is as well.
penpal introduction service - in
order to promote international
ALC Correspondence Club
:
exchange and friendship among
individuals in Japan and other
Registration Form
:I
countries. If you are interested
I
in participating in this exciting
NaiM:
Sex:
OMalo/
OFHIIIIe
program, please complete this
form and mail it to our headquarters in Tokyo.
You will become a member of
Postal Code:
Counlitl
the ALC Correspondence Club
upon our receipt of your regisMarital Status: OMarried/ OSingle
Age:
tration form. Registration is
free, and valid for six months.
Occupation:
Nationality:
During the six-month registration period, we will match you
Hobbles/ lntorosts:

----------------------------------~-

with Japanese penpals with the

-------------~~- --------------------We're waiting


to hear from you!

vocabulary summary
From Kaji R y_iisuke no Gi, ~- 17
tSlli-ni
tsutomeru
osaraba suru
kima((e iru
fHi~
koenkai
21C$
honbu
IW#X
kaisan
tsugi-tsugi to
~~7~-t
sugata o kesu
iJR~
habatsu
JJJ~
ugoki
:i:>-t-1?<
osoraku
Ufjl,;,
nigiru
u- J:.-::> Lt.: t_, hyotto shitara
9 ;;;j
hatsugen
J-.-'FTJ.>
nyiishu suru
~2~
kisha
3? t.: I)
atari
~:!JDi"J.>
sanka suru
it ~ll-r
kogidasu
~
minato
~5t
to bun
~~I)
miokuri
it IF
renchii
~~
tasii
plfQ
mochiron
-L,I'ic
shinpai
~5t
yabun
JfH!f:
yifken
tsukiai
-::>~3?"'
}JIJhl.>
waka reru
j!f
kyodo
!:l:.tr
umu
~,IE
issoku
senkyo
T-f~
f urin
~lf/189'i"
chim ei-teki 1za
yoso
~*
1iiJ$
nanitozo
naisho de
1*1*~-rfJV;~.
Janomi
~r
saishi
.::'"#~-r--r
go-zonji desu
tJJiit
baai
[5j~CT)
doto no
~
tsum.i
15-lf7,;,
tsugeru
:t31iv'
o-tagai
~q.*
shorai
tl:\'"(*7,;,
detekuru
J,qf-r 7,;,
biko suru
.ilU'i!Af4
sanfujin-ka
;JvtlJ-'F
kogitte
~~ffl
hiyo
if.P;>j:?
makana u
1383
jiy ii
;fti~IJ
kenri
~J.,
saguru

-::> "' 1:
ltMJJ.>
;;t-fj-7;\"tJ.>
i*i-::>'t"v'l.>

*4c

m"l>.

:iR*

at long last/finally
wo rk [as an employee]
say goodbye
has been decided/set
electio n committee
headquarters
dissolution
one after another
disappear
faction
movements
pro bably
grasp/ ho ld (v.)
may possibly be
statement
obtain
re porter
approximate time
participate
row out
ha rbor/port
quite a while
send/see off [on a trip]
group o f people
large number
of course
worry/concern
late at night
item/matter of bus iness
relationship
part/separate/break up (v.)
home town/district
produce/give birth to
talented pe rson/prodigy
election
adultery
fatal/mortal
e leme nt
please/kindly
in secrecy
request (11.)
wife & child
know
situation
equal
guilt
tell/ inform
each other
future
e me rge/come out
follow/tail
obstetrics de pt./c linic
[bank] check
costs (n.)
pay/finance (v.)
freedom
right/authority
probe/investigate

From Manga Shorts, ~- 38


:L7J/

rJJi% .z J.>
1l!ti" 7,;,
5\:;{t CT)
~

iffi

~IF
~~
~W<<

tiiihJ.>
-t-7::>-t-7::>
ITIJ~

7k!R

eakon
machigaeru
zangyo suru
sendai no
rei
mago
tochii
engi
nozoku
y ureru
sorosoro
kiken
mizumushi

air conditioning
err/make a mjstake
work late
previous generation
spirit/ghost
grandchild
middle
luck
leave out/omit
rock/sway
soon/by and by
dangerous
athlete's foot

From Akuma no Shushi,


~1ft

a kuma
~
71<
kin
fili(J.>
yaburu
~J.,~~
osoru-beki
~Jff.
saiyaku
w7J:Ilt1lt
okuman choja
5f:/J:li:i" J.>
kansei suru
i ~L<
masashiku
~,f!!CT)
kyiikyoku no
:t.7 !:::"
kabi
Jt!'ic-t J.>
shihai suru
j!-fg
meishin
ue
~ilf1lt
gizensha
;n{z;.:r
idensh.i
tf(
dojo
n~;4
h.iryo
ntF-1-tJ.>
seiiku suru
;J, 3(
komugi
L f.p '->
shikamo
;til[~
shokubutsu
*!IJ"jj
saikin
~5t
yobun
1"}!:1:.-tJ.>
saisei suru
;R;:Jtensai
WF~~
sosho
ff-~
jidan
lililJ'G
sai-yiisen
ubau
:?
Am
hitogara
l~f<li:CTJ~h'i "' etai no shirenai
JtiJ'g
jogen
'fmi:!
rinri
il!!.1J
chiryoku
T-=ECTJ
fumo no
taishita
*Lt.:

mu

~-

From Mammoth-like Ojosama,


!f.~
~ll:~
;t ~ ffi S!:iJ

:'l;l;rj.

fJJ-l.,1\r

sassoku
denkiya
shiishoku katsudo
igai to
shoshinsha

65

devil
prohibition
tear/break ( v.)
fearsome/frightful
calamity
millionaire
complete (v.)
definitely
ultimate
mold/milde w (n.)
rule/take over
superstitjon
hunger/starvation
hypocrite
genes
soil
fertilizer
grow
wheat
moreover
plant (n.)
bacteria
nutrients
resuscitate/regenerate
genius
lawsuit
out-of-court settlement
highest priority
steal (v.)
personality
mysterious
advice/counsel
ethics
[soil] fertility
in ferti Ie/barren
admirable/amazing

~-

82

promptly
appliance store
job search
surprisingly
beginner

The Vocabulary Summary is taken from material appearing in this issue of Mangajin. It's not always possible to give the complete
range of meanings for a word in this limited space, so our "definitions" are based on the usage of the word in a particular story.

Mangajin 93

Kaji Ryfisuke no Gi

Kaji Ryusuke's Agenda (Part 3)


by

,E

Hirokane Kenshi

Hirokane Kenshi is known for his complex dramas and forays into the
depths of the human psyche. Utilizing a realistic drawing style in which
Japanese characters actually look Japanese (no blonde hair or huge Di neyesque eyes), Hirokane has enjoyed great popularity since the debut of his
first serialized manga in 1974. Stories emerge from settings ranging from
boardrooms to bedrooms to newsrooms, and though some of his best-known
manga-Ningen Kosaten and Last News- were written by other authors and
drawn by Hirokane, Kaji Rytlsuke no Gi is solely Hirokane's work. Kaji has
been serialized in MR. Magajin since 1991.
Kaji Ryusuke, the 39-year-old second son of a powerful politician, is from
Kagoshima on the island of Kyushu. In the first two episodes presented in

Mangajin, we saw Ryusuke persuaded to give up his success ful business


career in Tokyo to take up politics in his hometown. Now he is determined
to be elected to represent K agoshima in the Diet, but only if it is on his own
terms: he has his own agenda. focusing on national policy instead of the
standard pork-barrel fare.

lchinoseki Ayumi is a former coworker of Ryusuke's. She is al so his


lover and has recently revealed that
she is pregnant. In the last episode,
Ryusuke called on Ayumi to let her
know that he would be returning to
K agoshima (and to his wife and son).
But he assured Ayumi that she would
still be a part of his life.

Chapter 8: Now, the Launch


On paper: Taishoku-negai ("Request for
Resignation").

Yamamoto Makio is the head of


Ryusuke's election committee in
Kagoshima. It was Yamamoto's mi sion to convince Ryusuke to take up
politics, and having completed that
task, it seems he is now 11ying to put
Ryusuke's personal life in order.

In this episode, the last of the excerpts presented in Mangajin, Ryusuke meets again with his
friends lJmori and Kurachi, the chief of the Dainichi newspaper's political desk and an officer for
the Foreign Minister, respectively.

0 llorokane Kcn,ho. All right' rc''""'d. FoN publi'hed on Japan in 1992 by Kodansha. To~)O. Engli>h tran,lation nght' arranged through Kodan>ha.

Mangajin 17

!Jn ;t; ili 11" (J) ~~~

18 Mangajin

Kaji Ryusuke no Gi

~: 11--~

Gaimu-sM

MiDistry of Foreign Alrairs


-shii is a suffix used in tbe names of government ministries; gaimu = " foreign/external affairs,'' so Gaimu-sM = "Ministry of Foreign Affairs" (equivalent to the US State Department).

Sign : ~;f.~
Kissa-shitsu

Tea Room
kissa refers to the drinking of tea, and -shitsu is a suffi x meaning 'room": kissa-shitsu =''tea room/coffee shop."

Omori: -f-)
SO

iJ'o "?lt'l:

11fli)f.;

iJ'o

lea. Tsui-ni yameUJ ka.

tbat way (?)

finally

quit

(?)

"Is that so? You finally did quit, did you?"


"Abaa. so you ftnally took the plunge." (PL2)
sii ka is used to acknowledge that one has heard and understood what the other person has said, like " Is that so?/1 ~
Abaa."
tsui-ni ="at long last/finally," implying " after much effort/many hardships," or "after much anticipation/waiting."
)VJIMUl is tbe plain/abrupt past form of yameru ("stop/quit"), which when written with this kanji specifically means
"quit wort/resign from office."

Kaji: -)!v,
Urz,

ats

"'-::>LJ::''v'

kirziJ

ippai

"t'
de

uh-huh yesterday full/end of day (scope)

I61f:

f}J'>t.:.

;tL~~Rii:

jfirokurzerz tsutometa Maruko Bussan to


16 yrs

worked

(co. name)

;;f-lj-7;-{l.J.:.o
osaraba shita.

with paned/said goodbye

"Uh-huh. As of the end of the day yesterday, I said goodbye to Maruko Products, where l worked for 16 years."
''Ub-huh. Yesterday m arked the end o f 16 ears a t Maruko." (PL2)
ippai (daldesu) means " is full." but - ippai de after a time word referring to a day/week/month/year makes an expression
for "as of the end of [the specified day/weeklmonlhlyear]." De often marks a n amoun! or scope; in this use it in effect
marks the specified 'full day/week/month/year'' as the scope in time.
rswomera is the plain/abrupt past form of the verb tswomeru, whjch means "work [as an employee]";jtlrokunen tsutometa
is a complete thought/sentence("! I) worked [there) 16 years") modifying MarukiJ Bussarz ("Maruko Products").
osaraba shira is the plain/abrupt past form of osaraba suru, which means "say goodbye (to)" or "part/break off
relations (with)."

Mangajin 19

Q_Q

'
...

20 Mangajin

JIHI:!. .Q

Kuracbi: <:,
De,

1:

li

Kagoshima 11i

wa

and so

(place)

(PL2)

''So when wiU

de is a coiJoquial short form of sore de, literally "with that," used as a conjunction to mean "and then/and so."
Kagoshima is the name of t11e southernmost prefecture in Kyushu as well as of its capital city.
asking a questio n with a question word plus da or 11 da is restricted mostly to males in informal situations; depending oo
the tone o f voice, it can sound very rough, but there s no feeling of roughness here.

Kaji: lq B
Ashita

tJ C:>

rr <a

kara

iku.

t., li I? <
Shibaraku

li 1~-::> -r.::. :h.A-o


wa modotte koren.

tomorrow from wi ll go quite a while at least

can ' t retum

"Tomorrow. I won ' t be able to return to Tok o for uite a while." (PL2)
shibaraku refers to an indefinite period of time. rang ing from a moment" to a while/a long time," depending o n the
context. Wa after a word indicating an amount usually carries the e mphatic meaning o f 'at least [that amount)"; with
shibaraku it gives the feeling of quite a while."
modoue is the -te form of modoru ("return"; "co me/go back" ), and koren is a contraction of korenai ("can' t come"), the
negative form of koreru. which is wide ly used as the potential ("can/be able to") form of kuru ("come"; tlle more proper
potential form is korareru). Using a forn1 of kuru after modotte clarifies that he means 'come bac k" instead of "go
back" -in this case meaning "come back here to Tokyo."
(, ~'

<:

Kurachi: Jl!,I:!.Q
Mu/W

:A-7:/ .::t. -Jv li

IJ)

de no

sukejiiru

over there/that end at of/for


~:

schedule

wa

~-j

~i -:;, "(v>.Q

IJ) iJ'?

mo

kimatte iru

no kn?

as for already has been decided (explan.-?)

''Has our schedule at that end alread been set?'' (PL2)


1~~~
J3 ,l:[f Jlili.I 7 7 7 *t-!5 1: 1 i.J>-lt"( J;.Q o
Koenlwi

oyobi Nishikie Kurabu honbu 11i makasete aru.

e lection committee and

(name)

club

HQ

to

have e ntrusted

"I've left that u to m election committee and the Nishik.ie Club." (PL2)
:A?':J;~.-Jv li
r.J-:;,[., t) ?1 -::>"t"v>-r.to-t- C:>< ~.Q ~ ...,.
~
f.lv' <C:>'-'' t!.01o
Sukejiiru
wa
bisshiri
umatte ite
osoraku nem hima mo nai kurai
daro.
schedule

as for tightly/closely is filled-and

probably sleep free time even not have extent is probably

" I imagine my schedule wiU be so am- acked I'll hardl have time to slee ." (PL2)
muko means "over there/the other side/the other end'': the artist chooses to use the kanji for ''Kagoshima" to make clear
exactly where he means by mu/W (though in this case context makes it pretty clear anyway). De marks mu/W as the
place where an action takes place (or in this case all the actions implied by sukejiiru, "schedule"), and no makes that
combination a modifier: muko cle no sukejiiru = "schedule at that end.''
kimatte iru ("has been decided/set") is from kima m ("be decided/be determined").
kOen means "support/bac king; and -kni refers to an "association/society/committee": in spons, a kOenkai is a "fan
club"; in politics. it's essentially an "election committee" (though during the official e lection period, k.Oenkai activities
are restricted and a separate 'campaign headquarters" must take over).
oyobi is a somewhat formal "and/as well as/together with," more likely to be seen in writing than heard in conversation.
makasete is the -te form o f maknseru ("leave/entrust to"), and am after the -te form of a verb implies the action "bas
been done .''
bisshiri (''tightly/closely'') is an adverb for describing how much something is fLIIed/packed, and umatte ite is the -te
form of umatte iru ("is filled"), from umaru ("become filled"), so bisshiri umatte ite ="is jam-packed, and .. ."
kurai indicates an approximate degree/extent; - kurai darli here is literally like "the situation will probably be such
that -."

Omori: MltX
Kaisan

li

'-''-?

wa

itsu

to

~ A--c>'-''.Q?

fimde iru?

dissolution as for when (quote) arc expecting/predicting

" When do you ex ect the Diet to be dissolved ?" (PL2)


kaisan here refers to a dissolutio n of the House of Representatives in order to hold a general election.
f unde iru is from f umu ("estimate/project/predict").
~:

~il';rt5i:

IJ)

~~

Minsei-tli no j ingasa

ftlJl

"IJf

daigishi

ga

*4 c

J31!1.A t) L. "(11>-Q -/J>C:J


tsugi-tsugi to o-kuni-iri shite iru lwra

iti '-''
chikai

to

.\!', -j f.to
omou na.

(party name) of rank-and-file representatives (subj.) one after anOiher are returning home because/so is near/sooo(quoce) think (coiL)

"The rank-and-file Diet members of the Democratic Harmon P


have been returoin to their
districts one after the other, so I think we're getting pretty close." (PL2)
the suffix -to denotes a "[political) party," and Minsei-to is the abbreviated name of Minshu Seiwa-to, the " Democratic Harmony Party" (or " DHP"}-a fictitious pany modeled on the real-life Jiyii Minshu-to ("Liberal Democratic Party," or "IDP").
kuni can mean ' 'country/ nation" and refer to the whole of Japan, but it's also used to refer to one's native place--wbcre
one was born and raised-within Japan. 0 -kwu-iri shite in1 is from o-kuni iri suru, a somewhat archaic term meaning
"enter one 's home territory/province" -+ 'go home/return to one's district.''
chikai ="near/close," in this case meaning " near in time."

Mangajin 2 1

1.JO ii:i l!i 1'1" (!) Ul Kaji Ryusuke no Gi


----------------------------

22 Mangajin

1 .,

(J)
if;f{fE*'g
b J:j.!. < iJ' C,
~ t:- i~ l -c ~
1j: o
So
ieba
uchi
no
seimu jikan
rruJ hayaku lwra
sugata o keshitem
na.
that way if say foreign ministry of parliamentary vice min. also early from has disappeared from sight (colloq.)

Kurachi: i"-?

13" i li

~~11

''Come to think of i our

liamen

vice minister has been kee in himself out of si t from ea

on."

(PL2)

Kurachj:

li
in~~
t!.-? t:: 1j: o
Kare wa
Seichi-kai daua na.
be
as for (name)-association was right?

"He belon

to the Seichikw ri ht?" (PL2)

ieba is a conditional " iP' form of iu ("say"), so sii ieba is literally, "if you say that"; its idiomatic equivalents include
"now that you say thai/now that you mention it" as well as "incidentally/come to think of illthat reminds me."
uchi is used to refer to one's own workplace, and no is possessive, so uclri 110 ="our"; providing the kanji for Gaimushii clarifies/reminds us of specifically where uchi is in Kurachi's case.
hayaA11 is a noun form of hayai ("quick/early'').
sugata refers to a person's "figure/appearance," and keshitem is a contraction of lreshite im, from kesu ("erase/wipe
away/extinguish"); sugata o kesu is an expression for "disappear."

Omori: i" -? ,

O:.lflfJ. ~

frJJAi:

(J)

i* ffjJ t.!.

in ~orne parties the secretary-general is


called slrokiclrO instead o f kanjichii.
Suzuka is secretary-general of the
Minsei-to.

J: o

So.
Su:uka Kanjicho no habatsu da yo.
right/yes (name) sec.-gen. "s faction is (emph.)

' 'That's ri ht. Secretar.Y:General Suzuka's faction." (PL2)


Omori: A,@

(J)

t'J~

m~~

(J)

lai~

tJf "'-I;,I!A-

~1J'-?f..:. o

Konlwi IW ugoki
wa Seichi-kai no jingasa
ga ichiban hayakatta.
this time of movements as for (name)-assoc. 's rank-and-file (subj.) first/most was quick/early

''In the recent Ourr of activi

the rank-and-me members of the Seichikai were the first to move."

(PL2)

i3i"t?<

Mitt~

(J)

Osoraku

kaisan-ji

110

::\'--\< .A"T 1" / 7'";!{kyasut!11gu bodo

~II:

wa

Suzuka

konkai basically means "this time/occasion," but like kondo, its idiomatic meaning as a modifier can range from "tbe
recent" to "the present/current" to "the upcoming."
ugoki is the noun form of ugoku ("move"), so it literally means movements''--here referring to the flurry of electionoriented activity they have observed.
ichiban (lit., "number llfirst'') before an adjective means "most," and hayakatta is the plain/abrupt past form of the adjective hayai ("quick/early")
ichiban hayakatta ="was/were the earliest" or 'was/were first.''
kyasuti11gu biido (or more properly kyasutingu boto) is from the English 'casting vote"-the deciding vote that the presiding officer casts to break a tie. In Japanese usage, it can refer to any vote that controls the outcome.
nigiue iru is from 11igiru ("grasp/squeeze in one's list").

Kaji:

u-.;. -? t l

t:: C,

Hyouo shitara
may possibly be

1 ci (f) 7"--;! t:- .A~ L.. t..:. C. 1r?


Okubo hatsugen 110 tepu o 11yiislw shita to ka ?
(name) Matcment of tape (obj.) obtained or something

:k~ ill:

"Could it be that he's oUen hold of a ta e of the Okubo statement?" (PL2)


hyouo shitara (or hyouo sum to) is used to introduce guesses/conjecture~ with the feeling of: "it just might possibly be
that .. :or could it possibly be that ...?"
11yiislm shita is the plain/abrupt past form of nyilshu suru ("obtain").
as seen in our first episode (Ma11gaji11 No. 59), Suzuka has indeed acquired a tape o f Minister of Education Okubo's
imprudem remark about American agricultural products being cheap because slavery is still practiced in the South.

c.

.:c.

.\!1.-? o ~/JU~ (J) ui:!it tPI? i"tt.C,llt'


t:- llll1t't:: .:ctJf~~ A.-t!.o
Osoraku so da to omou. Suzuka-ban 110 kisha lwra
sore rashii
koto o kiita koto ga aru n da.
probably that way is (quote) think (name)-watcb of reporter from something like that thing (obj.) heard
once did (e"flan.)

Omori: Joi-1?< +-? t!.

"I think ou' re robabl ri ht. I once heard somethin like that from a re

rter coveri

Suzuka.'

(PL2)
rashii implies an element of inference or conjecture based on something seen or heard; sore ra.rhii koto ="something that
seems to be that" or "something Like that." The implication is that the reporter didn't say Suzuka had the tape in so many
words. but did say something suggesting that was the case.
kiita is the plain/abrupt past form of kiku ("hear"). and koto ga aru after the past form o f a verb implies "[1/someooe)
once [did the action)"- "I once heard from a reporter''- "a reporter once said."
1J ) 1 .l.J.rJ.J I.:
rR~Ilii:
li JIJII.tlXT ~
~o
Jkkagetsu inai ni Shiigiin
wa kaisan suru na.
I month
within House of Rep. as for will dissolve (colloq.)

Omori: -

"I'd say_the House will dissolve within a month_," (PL2)

a word indicating a timcspan followed by inai


means 'within [that amount of time].''
Slul!liin =House of Reprcsentatives"-the lower
house of Japan's legislature. the National Diet.

;,_

(continued on next page)

Mangajin 23

------------------- 1JO Its l!i 11" ([) ~~~ Kaji Ryiisuke no G~i---~-------

/\~'.rtt

/' 'IJ ? A
/\ tt ..:; l
~'

'b <
fJ. 11

-11
J
lVI

24 Mangajin

"'

(''Ontinucdfrom prc"ious pllgt)

Kuradti: t

"'?.:: t

To

iu koto

Mit% il' '?

li,
wa,

P..J.JI'll:

408

kaisan kara yonji'inichi inai ni

(quote) say thing as for dissolution from

40 days

~;!tf!

sosenkyo

~ l-~ltttl!~

'? ~~~' bit t!. t,)'?,

o shinakereba naranai wakL da


must do

within general election (obj.)

lcara,

situation is because/so

"That means since a eneral election must be held within 40 da s of the dissolu
to iu koto W{l at the beginning of a sentence refers back to what has just been said like ''Which is to say/Which means/
That means ..."
so- is a prefiX that implies everyone/everything/the totality is included in the event/action/item; sosenlcyo refers to all of
the seats in the House being contested at the same time _. ''general election."
shinakereba naranai is a "must/have to" form of suru ("do"), which here is actually completing the verb senkyo (o) suru
("do/have/bold an election").
- wake da = "the situation is that - "; - wake da kara = "because the situation is that -."lbe sentence continues to
the next frame.

Kurachi: 11om, i:>i..t t,)f ~''( 7 V ~

:lkEBiif

-:::>lt-r

*'->

1:

(J)

li

A,~

(J)

tt "~Jt.:.t)

t,)?

llklri
lca?
(name)
you (subj.) gold badge (obj.) anachlwear-and (place)
to come (nom.) as for this year of end approx. time (7)
"Kaji, as for your coming to Nagata-cbo wearing a gold badge, will it be about the end of this year?"

Kaji,

omae ga

kin-bajji

Nagata-chO ni kuru

tsukete

no

wa kotoshi no kure

''you may be coming back to Nagata-cho wearing a gold badge by around the end of tbe year. KaJL"
(PL2)
Kurachl: ~/v"(,

~??i<
so umaJ.:u

Nante,

li "'il'~"' -/J>t.;.? " " "

wa

ikanai

kana? Ha ha ha

(quote) that muchfso weiVeasily as for won't go perhaps

(laugh)

" . . . but then again, maybe it won't go quite that easily, huh? Ha ha ba." (PL2)
omae is used mostly by men with their peers and subordinates. Among friends and family it generally carries a feeling of
familiarity-though it can also sound quite rough depending on tone of voice. When used with people other than acquaintances it feels quite rough.
kin = "gold," and hajji is from tbe English "badge"; kin-bajji here refers to a special lapel pin Diet members wear.
tsukete is the -te fonn of tst1keru ("attach," or when speaking of things attached to one's person, "wear"). 1be -te form
here is being used to make a modifier for the next mentioned action. Nagata-chO ni kuru ("will come to Nagata-cbO").
Nagata-cho is the district in Tokyo, southwest of the Imperial Palace, where the National Diet Building, Prime Minister' s
Residence, Diet members' offices. party headquarters. e tc. are located.
no is a nominalizer that makes the preceding complete thought/sentence (omae ga kin-bajji o tsukete Nagata-cM ni kuru
="you will come to Nagata-cho wearing a gold badge") act as a single noun, and wa marks that noun as the topic of the
sentence: as for your coming to Nagata-cho wearing a gold badge..."
atari is a lso used to refer to a general geographical area ("vicinity"), but here it indicates a general time frame.
nante is a colloquial quotative form implying that what precedes it is somehow unwonhy/ridiculous/silly. When it's at
the beginning of a sentence like this it implies the speaker is just kidding/not serious in what he has just said, or that he
thinks he may have spoken too boldl y/optimistically/wishfully.
sii here is a colloquial equivalent of sonna-ni (''that much"). Umaku (wa) ikanai is the negative form of umaku iku ("goes
weWgoes as desired"), and sonna-ni umaku iku ="goes that weLVgoes that easily." lnsening wa adds emphasis.

~i:

i,

~@

li 151JOT.0 t!lt

~o

Ma,

konkai

wa sankll suru dake

sa.

( inte rj.) this time as for participate

o nly (colloq.-is)

as for this time, it's o nly to partic ipa te."


''Well, this time I'm in it just for the experience." (PL2)

" W e ll

Kaji:

<

1.: t.P it!'!~ IH l- t.: Aft f!_o ~ -IJ' G iJ! "- ~.0 bIt 1.: 'b "'iJ' Iv o
Tonikaku kogidashira fime da. lma kara minato e modoru wake ni mo ikon.
at any rate

rowed out

boat

is now from harbor to

return

can' t very well

"At any rate, I've already rowed m boat out to sea. I can:...'t::...v..:...e:::.:r:..z_w
=
el:.:.l...,,'-=-'='-=:-&:.~'-=:.=:
ma is a soft/gentle/agreeable-sounding interjection that adapts to fit its context: "weiVyou know/reaUy/1 mean/let's see."
sa gives assert ive emphasis at the end of a sentence in informal speech, usually taking the place of da/desu ("is/are");
this use is mostly masculine.
kogidashita is the past form of kogidasu, which can mean either "row out" or " begin rowing," here perhaps a little of both.
- wake ni wa/mo ikanai (here shorte ned to ikon) is an expression like"- is out of the question" or "can' t very well - ."

Sound FX:

ff"f- "r

Gacha ("rattle" of p icking up phone handset)

lchinoseki: lili',

- / DG . . .

Hai,

lchinoseki .. .

yes/hello

(name)

hai, literally "yes," is often used as a "hello" when answering


the phone.
she would normally complete ber sentence by saying
lchinoseki desu ga, but she recognizes Kaji 's voice and
stops short.

''HeUo this is lchinos-" (PL3)

8:]

Ichinoseki: ~ !

1Jn?fi ~ lv?

A!
Kaji-san?
(interj.) (name-hon.)

" Oh Kaii-san?" (PL3)

a! e xpresses sudden recognition.


in spite of being on intimate terms, she addresses him by his surname, with the polite
suffix -san . Tho ugh we ofte n think o f -san as equi valent to " Mr./Ms.," calling him
Kaji-san here doesn' t sound anywhere ncar as stiff as calling him "Mr. Kaji" would.
Mangajin 25

1[;,~ ~

!t?~

ftiiJJ
!A!.EI

1:' It ft .IJ Q)

"?

-r
<

tt

26 Mangajin

c .:t

t:t
~'

1:

~
"?

~: ~B

Asllita

q"J

no

asa

1:

~'?o

~73'

~;t~"'

Kagoshima ni

tatsu.

TObun

aenai

I!U'e..cb

tomorrow of morning

.\!1.-? Itt

to omou

udo

jf;~

'"c.- ~ -? "C<tto

genld

de

to will depart quite a while cannot meet (quote) think but/so good beahh in

(place)

' 'I leave for


oshima tomorrow morning. I doubt I'D be able to see you for quJte a
ood care of ourself." (PL2)

yatte laue.

pe-e do

wbile.10 Dke

when tats11 is written E?, it means "depart [on a trip)." This is non-standard kanji usage, but the association with the
compound /.lH~ (slluppatsu, ''depart'') helps clarify the meaning, since the standard JL? (tatsu) bas so many other possible
meanings.
tobun refers to an indefinite period of time: "a while/quite a while."
aenai is the negative form of aeru ("can meet/see' '), which is the potential ("can/be able to") form of au ("meet").
kedo is most often thought of as equivalent to "but," but what it basicaJJy does is mark the preceding as background for
understanding the following, so in some contellts it's closer to English "and," "so," or nothing at all.
genki de yatte is the -te form of genki de yaru, literally "do in good health" but essentially meaning "be in good bealtb.,. KMn
after the -te form of a verb makes an informaVabrupt request or gentle command, "[do it], please /[do it], will you?" so gerrki
de yatte kure ="(please) be in good health'' - "(please) tate care of yourself." Requesting/commanding with -te kure is
masculine; females would add an honorific o- to make it -te o-kure, or use just the -te form by itself.

Krui:

-?!v,
Un,

J!jifJ

1.::
ni

miokuri

!1

;l?:lj:ll''t"<i'Lo

wa

konaide kure.

yeaWuh-huh send off (purpose) as for please don't come

" Yeah._ I'd rather ou didn' t come to see me off." (PL2)


~U
q) ~rp -?
!U~:;t q) J!rp
tJt
~ll
Y!~IJ

1:

Kaisha 110 renchii ya Mi11sei-to 110 renchii ga

ni

tasii

miokuri

*.o
kum

n'l? o
kara.

company of people and (pan y name) of people (subj.) large number send off (purpose) will come because/so

" Because people from the company and people from the DHP will come in large numbers to see me off."
"There'll be a lot of people there from the office and from the DHP to see me ofT." (PL2)
miokuri is the noun form of the ve rb miokum. which means to "see/send [someone] off' when he/she is going on a trip.
Ni marks miokuri as the purpose of going or coming some where.
kotwide is a negative -re form of kuru (''come" ): kure after a negative -re form of a verb implies "please don' t [do it],"
so ko110ide kure = "plea~e don' t come."
renchii is an informal word for re ferring to a group/bunch of people.
ya is used 10 connect items in a list, implying that the lisl is not complete and funher items could be added.

Ichinoseki:

'*.;,.

Tokidoki

1\tM

clenwa

T ~ "'
kudasai

flo
ne.

occasionally telephone/call please give me (colloq.)

"Call me now and then OK?" (PL3)


o, to mark denwa as the direct object of kudasai {"please give me"). has been omitted. In most contexts di!nwa o
kudasai means ''please give me a call" rather than "please give me a phone."

Kaji: o/J~

t' .0

Mocl1iron suru
of course

t b

~o

i:> ~ i.P

(!)

sa.

Onaka

no koclomo no koto mo

will do (emph.) stomach/womb in

-1-fft

q)::.

child

about

LAiU!

Lo

t.:. ~ lj:!

shi11pai cia

shi.

Ja 11a!

also am worried/concerned (reason) well then/goodbye

"Of course I will do that. Since I' ll be concerned, too, about the child in your stomach. Well then."
" Of course IJI call. I ' U be thinking about the child you' re carry_!ng, too. WeU b e then." (PL2)
o11alw. esscnlia ll y meaning "abdomen: is the general term used to re fer to "sto mach/intestines/ute rus," each of which
also has a more lechnical name.
- 110 koto is literally "things of/about - " - "about - ." Mo implies the i1em it marks is in addition 10 something else
- "too/also." so kodomo no koto mo = ''about the child, too." That is, he'll be thinking not only about her, but also
aboul I heir chi ld.
shinpai suru typically means " worry/fret," and shinpai cia = "am/is/are worried." but in some cases the meanings are
closer to ''think/care about" and "am/is/are tninking about."
shi marks the preceding as a cause/reason for something-usually one of several reasons; as here, the olher reason(s)
are often left unstated. In this case. shi essentially works together with mo to imply that his thoughts about the child are
his second reason for calling-the unstated first reason being that he' ll be thinking of Ichinoseki herself.
jii (a con1rac1ion of dewa) is literally " in that case/then," but it serves idioma1ically as a casuaVinformal "goodbye." For
thi s u~e. i1's o flen followed by a ne or na.

Sound FX: 1J 7- "'


Kaclw

Click (sound of hanging up phone at other end)

Mangajin 27

28 Mangajin

IT]

~ FX: 7'Jv Jv Jv Jv Jv
Purururururu

(beep/ring of intercom)

12:]

Ichinoseki: lilt'?!
Hai?!

"Yes?!" (PL3)
hai is the standard response when someone is trying to get your anent ion, whether in direct speech, through an intercom,
knocking on the door, etc.

(!I

Jdllnosekf:

t'-; ~tl

-r:-ttJ>?

Dochira-sanuJ desu ka?


which-(hoo.)
is it?

"Who is it?" (PlA)


X_IUIUUIIotO: ~J)i:>.ffLit' IJ iTo

ntJ'C&.\

fl.,

(/) tJum

~~

Watashi, Kagoshima no Kaji Sensei


Ume

(place)

Ill:<$:

1~~~

(/)

k.Oenkai

no

of (name) (title) election committee of

Ef'J

1..- iT

1Jfo

l's
dochira is literally "which direction/side, but just as koch ira ("this direction/side") and sochira (''your direction/side") can
be polite words for referring to people ("1/melwelus" and "you," respectively). dochira can be used as a polite interrogative
pronoun for people, " who?" (i.e., it's like donata, the polite equivalent of dare, "who?"). 1be honorific -sanuJ or no Ieala
is usually appended in such cases.
yabun refers roughly to the time after dark but before the typical bedtime.
osore-irimasu is the polite form o f the PIA verb osore-iru. which can express either gratitude ("thank you/you' re very
kind/I' m much obliged") or apology (''I'm sorry/1 beg your pardon") depending on the context. Here it is the latter.
wa, to lllllrl:: watashi ("lime") as the topic, has been omiued.
sensei, most familiar as the word for "teacher,'' is used as a term of address for a variety of people considered worthy of
respect, including doctors, writers. and poJjticians.
-chO is a suffix meaning "head/chiefneader," and kaiclw is the standard title for the head of any body/organization whose
name ends in -kai: "chairman/director/president."
yatte iru is from yaru ("do"); kaichO o yatte iro is literally am doing/serving as the chairman" - "am the bead/chairman."
Kagoshima no Kaji Sensei lcOenkai no kaiclw o yaue iru is a complete thought/sentence ("[I] am the chairman of Mr. Kaji's
election committee in Kagoshima") modifyi ng Yamamoto, his name.
- to moshimasu is a standard pattern for introducing oneself very politely. Moshimasu is the polite form of mosu, a
PtA humble verb equivalent to iu ("say/be called"). A humble verb shows respect for the listener or the person being
discussed by humbling rhe speaker or the person doing the action.

Sound FX: 7!1- "r


Gacha

(rattle of door latch as she opens door)

[!]

Nameplate: - .I llG
Jchinoseki
lcbinoseki

lcblnoseki:

c'? "'?
Doiu

.::"'.lfl#
go-yokefl

"(" 1..-.t. ? iJ'?


deshO

what kind of (hon.)-business might be

ka?
(?)

" What kind of business might it be?"


"What can I do for you?" (PL3-4)

Yamamoto: 1Joml!il:1t-ttA..

.t:>-::>~<b"'

~tt -:>-ri't

~o

Kaji Ryiisuke-san to
o-tsukiai
nasattemasu
ne.
(narne-hoo.)
with (boo.)-relationship are doing/having (colloq.)
''I believe you are carrying on a relationship witb J(aji Ryiisuke.'' (PlA)
yiiken refers to a particular item/matter of business, not to business in genera.!.
deshO ka? literally malc:es a conjectural question ("might it be?/is it perhaps?"), but it's often used merely as a way of
adding a touch of politeness; it sounds a little less direct, and therefore more polite, than desu ka? ("is it?").
tsuk.iai refers to a " relationship/association of some kind, ranging from a business relationship to a general social relationship to a romantic one. 0-tsuikai nasattemasu is a contraction of o-tsukiai nasane imasu, which is a poJjte, PtA
hono rific equivalent of tsukiatte iru ("are socializing/carrying on a relationship"), from the verb tsukiau ("sociaHze/have
a relationship"). To marks the person that the relationship is "with.''
ne shows that he expects his listener to conftrm/agree with his statement, like the English tag questions, "right?/isn't it?/
weren' t you?/1 believe?"

Mangajin 29

tJo ;t; IIi! 1l' (}) ll Kaji Ryiisuke no Gi

T h -t-

~ '/) q)

~'

., ill.
-r~

30 Mangajin

rar ~

$ $

[!]

~To l)ljh "'(

Yamamoto: ;J31fiv'
Onegai

T ~ "'o

desu. Wakarete kudasai.

(hon.)-request

is

separate

please

"I beg you. Please break up with him." (PL3)


onegai means "request" and adding desu makes it like "this is my request/this is what I ask." The expression can essentially be considered a polite and formal "please," so its meaning overlaps with the meaning of kudasai. The o- is actually
an honorific prefix, but it is always used when making a request like this, even in informal speech.
wakarete is the -te form of wakarem ("part/separate/break up"); kudasai after the -te form of a verb makes a polite request,
"please [do the action]."

[I)

Yamamoto: tJDffi~:f)-~/v

1:1.

.::n

iJ'C:> B:;f;:.

~
tame

(J)

Kaji Ryt7suke-san wa kore kara Nihon no


(name-hon.)

as for this

from

Japan

1: fiJJ~t>"'(~ t;,;b/j:(Jtl!!lj: ~ 1-ltlvo


ni hataraite morawanakereba narimasen.

's sake/good for

must have him work

"As for Kaji Ryusuke, from now on we must have him work for the good of Japan."
''From this time forward, we need Kaji Ryiisuke to dedicate himself to serving his countrY-' (PL3)
f:itiJ~

(J)

~1vt..:

:i!JE

~-to

Waga

kyodo

no

unda

issoku

desu.

our

hometown/district (subj.) produced talented person/prodigy is

" He is an exceptional talent produced by our home district."


"He is a man without eer in our district." (PL3)
.:: n iJ' t:. ~$ 1: -? -? -c Ill Ara1 1: c-? -c lf'i~ (J) ffi-=F
Kore kara sen/..-yo ni

this

utte den.t

ningen ni tofte

from election in take offensive person

3&~1Jij:

chimei-teki na
fatal/mona!

71-T :A

~~

mainasu

yoso

for

furin no aite

iJt "'
ga

iru

c "'-? .:: c

to

iu

koto

1:1.
wa

adultery of panner (subj.) exists (quote) say thing/fact as for

l'To
d~su.

minus/negative element

as

"For a man who is about to take the offensive in an election, the fact that he has a mistress is a potentially
fatal element."
"For a ma n who is about to make his olitical debut havin a mistress could be a lethal handica ."
(PL3)

Yamamoto: fJIJ.$
Nanitozo

-t-(J)ill

sonohen

biJ'-? "'( T ~ " ' o


wakatte kudasai.

please/kindly that area/circumstance (obj.) understand

please

"Please understand the gravity of the situation." (PL3-4)


kore kara is literally "from this,' meaning "from this time forward/starting now"; in some contexts kore kara plus a
verb becomes an expression for "be about to do the action" (literally, "will/is going to do the action from this time").
no tame ni often means "for the purpose of," but here it means "for the good/benefit of."
hataraite is the -te form of the verb hataraku ("work/labor"), and morawanakereba narimasen is the PL3 form of
morawanakereba naranai, a "must/have to" form of morau ("receive"); a form of morau after the -te form of another
verb implies having someone e lse do the action.
waga comes from the classical wa ("lime") + ga (equivalent to modem no), which makes it essentially the same as watashi
no ("my'"). But waga can be either singular or plural, "my" or "our." It has a somewhat "literary"/formal feeling.
kyodo refers to one's " native place" or "hometown/district/prefecture."
undo is the plain/abrupt past form of umu ("bear/give birth to/produce"); waga kyodo no unda is a complete thought/
sentence ("our native district bore [him]") modifying issoku ("talented person"). In a modifying sentence, the subject is
often marked wit.h no instead of ga.
ut/e deru ="stand forward/take the offensive"; it's used to mean "make one's debut" in a particular world (political/
literary/academic/etc.) as well as to speak of entering a particular political race-here both meanings apply. Kore kora
senkyo ni 1ttte dent is a complete thought/sentence ("[hel is about to make his political debut/run in an election") modifying ningen ("person").
furin literally means "immorality," and one of its most common uses is to speak of adulterous affairs.
aite basically means "counterpart" (generally for animate things only) and can be used to refer to persons ranging from a
"companion/mate/partner' to a "rival/opponent/enemy";furin no aite ="partner in adultery," or from a male perspective,
"mistress."
- to iu koto wa after a complete embedded sentence is like "as for the fact that - , [it is ...]" __,. "the fact that - is ...";
the embedded sentence here isforin no aite go iru ("[he] has a mistress")__,. "the fact that he has a mistress is ... "
mainasu is from the English '"minus"; mainasu yoso = "minus element/negative element"--+ "drawback/disadvantage/
handicap."
nanitozo by itself can be equivalent to " please," but, like dozo, when it's combined with the polite request form, -te
kudasai ("please [do the action]"), it serves merely as emphasis.
sonohen is litera lly "that area.' often referring to the geographical area near some specific point: "the vicinity." But
here it is being used more abstractly, to refer to "that circumstance."
wakatte is the -te form of wakaru ("come to understand"), and kudasai makes a polite request: wakatte kudasai =
" please understand."

Mangajin 31

hll ;i; IIi 1l' (J) m Kaji Ryusuke no

.: L-

; 'b

';t

i"L-

L-

"( .0 "' .. fp

.0

fJ
~

"'II

32 Mangajin

!MINI*-f
;;.,.i*Att
1: (J) 1:

;t <

f,t

1*1 0

{,~fJ.."t:'t)
j) A, '/J{

fJ "(

L-

"'

T
!

G
::..._i_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

:1:'
~

fJ..

IT]

lcbinoseki:

-c: b ,

~ . ..

Denw, watashi .. .

''But I . .."

Yamamoto: -t"h l;;l: in)dJ iTo


Sore wa wakarimasu.

2$:-A

1: P'JW"t:

Hom1in

ni naisho de

that as for understand the person himself to

fl4Jf*O) ;>j: "'

unrelated

tanomi

< J.>

kuru

(subj.) request (purpose) come

Ume

c'-?

;>j:!v"l

in secrecy

~=
ni

iiJJ.

;fl.
fJf
kankei no nai watashi ga

kankei no nai is a complete thought/sentence ("'has no relationship/connection") modifying watashi ("Vme") --+ kankei
no nai watashi ="I who am an outsider/a third party."
tanomi is the noun fonn of ranomu ("request"), and ni marks
it as the purpose of kum ("come"): tanomi ni kuru = "come
to ask/request."
nanre can be considered a colloquial equivalent of nado, or
of an entire phrase like nado to iu korolmono wa (literally.
"a thing/place/person/action that is something like - ).
It's often used to imply the preceding is ""ridiculous/inappropriate/unthj nkable."
do - re mo, with a verb filling in the bla nk, makes the expression, "no matter how [one does the action]." Kangaete is
the -te fonn of kangaeru ("think about"), so do kangaete mo
="no matter how one thinks about it/looks at it."
shika nai after a verb implies that doing that action is the
only optio n: " have no choice but to/must (do the action)."

~X.

-rt

H1H... v'o

nallte
do kangaete mo okashii.
a thing like how even if think is Strange

''I know. No matter how you look at i it's odd


for a stran er like me to come to ou in secret
and ask a thing like this." (PL2)

.:.-? To

Yamamoto: l-fJ'l-,
Shikashi,
but

kO

l-fJ' ;>j:v' !!

suru shika nail

this way

do

must

''But I had no other choice!" (PL2)

@]

Yuaamoto: il:l./'~:
Tashilea-ni

.:. n l;;l:

B= A

(J)

lwre wa

o-futari

no nwndai desu.

r..,ll

"t'To

certainly/IISSIUedly this as for (hon.)-2 persons 's problem

is

"'t's true tbat tbls is a matter for tbe two of you." (PL3-4)
l,fJ> \...., ~ f.t f~(J) 1i 1: b fi!J b ~fJt f.t v' fJ' C ~ X. f! of oJ "t' {> ;>j: v' 0
Shilcashi, anoia no ho ni mo nani nw hi ga nai lea
but

to

ieba

so denw nai.

side on also there's II()( any fault (?) (qu01e) if say/ask not necessarily so

your

"But if one asks whether there is not any fault on your side, it's not necessarily so."
"But you're not necessarily wltbout fault, eitbe!!'' (PL3)
tashilea ni - da/desu means "It is certainly/assuredly _ .. or " it is true/indeed the case that -."
futari ="two persons/a couple'"; he uses the honorific pre(ix o- because his listener is one of the two people he ' s referring to,
so o-futari is effectively like saying "you two/the two of you."
nani nw followed by a negative means " not anything"; nani mo nai = "there is not anything/there is nothing." When one
wishes to be more specific about what there is nothing of, the specific word is inserted in the middle: uani mo hi ga noi =
"there is not any fault/error/blame."
anaiiJ no hO ni nw nani mo hi ga nai lea is a complete embedded question, " is there no fault on your side, too?"
ieba is a conditional ("if/when") form of iu ("say," but here meaning "ask''); to marks what is asked: " if you ask 'Is there
no fault on your side?"'"

8J Yamamoto:

:IJOi5 ~ lv 1: li

~.:r

7Jr

~ oo

.7r: (J)

.:.

.::rHo-r:-t

J:

ho

Kaji-san

saishi

ga

aru.

Sono

koto

go-wnj i de.w

yo

ne.

ni wa

(name-hon.) to as for wife&child (subj.) exists/has

that thing/fact (obj.) (hon.)know (cmph.) (colloq.)

"Mr. Kaj! has a wife and child. I believe ou' re a ware of that." (PL4)
normally, iru is used to speak of the existence/presence of people or other animate beings. but sometimes aru is used
with kinship tenns.
go-zonji daldesu is a PL4 honorific equivalent of shitte iru ("know").

0
0

lcbinoseki:

e is a less fonnal 'yes'' than hai, but it' s still

X. X. . . .

E . ..
''Yes ." (PL3)

Yamamoto: " '"'


li

quite polite.

"t:Ti.P?! 'l'fffi
desu ka? Furin

good/O K
? ~ ~...,

is it?

-r "' J.>

tsukiatle iru

...,-r:
tte

*l!t

(J)

l;;l:

ffi"F

(J)

1J 1:

110

wa

aite

110

ho ni katei

1Jf

~o

(J)

~ ..., "(

ga

ant

no

shiue

adultery (quote) (nom.) as for partne r of side on family (subj.)

tli*

!;;l:

baai

wa sono

-f(J)

2$:-A
honnin

1.: b

lliJ~(J)

cxist~as

1Jr ~ o

ni mo dora no rsumi ga

carrying on relationship situation as for that person herself in also

equal

(nom.) (obj.) know-and

aru

(J)"t:T

J:!

desu

yo!

110

guilt (subj.) exists (ex plan.) (emph.)

" You see if ou carr on an adulterous affair knowing that your partner is married, you yourself bear
e ual uilt." (PL3)
ii desu ka is literally the question " is it good/OK?," but it's sometimes used idiomatically when beginning an explanation

(like " You see, ...") or an admonition (like "are you listening to me?'" or "now listen here' ").
rte here is a colloquial equivalent of to itt; -to iu no wa after a noun is literally as for what is called - ."'which is often j ust
a fancy way of marking the topic ("as for - ").
no is a nominalizer that makes a complete thought/sentence, aire no ho ni katei ga aru ("the partner has a family") act as
a single noun. 0 then marks that noun as the object o f shiue.
shitte is the -te form of shiru ("know"); the -te form is be ing used to indicate the manner o f the next mentioned actio n,
tsukiatte iru ("is carrying on a relatio nship," from tsukiau, "socialize/have a re lationship with")~ "carry on a relationship
knowing [the partner has a family)."
(continued on next page)

Mangajin 33

.IJD 1-8 l!lfl' (J)

"'f

--

~.1)

'-


(J)

?f;t

"'( t:.

._

1:

1:

Jj\

\ ' t:t 1? 1l
"'(

Kaji Ryiisuke no Gi

~ .f ~

~ fp tt (J)
"?

~lt

li.

.m

iri

t:. t>

t;>

l L .if.
If .1)
0

1:

34 Mangajin

t)

-t

~ (continued from previous page)

from aite no to tsukiatte iru is a a complete thought/sentence ("[the person] is carrying on a relationship knowing that her
partner has a family") modifying baai ("situation"). Wathen marks baai as a topic ("as for -"}-in this case a second topic
that serves to narrow down the main topic: "[As for adultery], as for in a situation where the person is carrying on ... [that
person, too, has equal guilt]."

12]

Yamamoto: 4- ~; it!. 11< ~"'o ~t.tt.:.Q)


/ma nora mada osokunoi.
now if it is still

Anota no kuchi

not too late

your

iJ'; 1JomttA- 1: ~Utt

i!i'lf"C "fttv'!!

kara Kaji-san ni wakare

tsugete kudasai!!

moutMips from (name-boo.) to separation (obj .) teiVmfonn

please

''H you do it now. it's not too late. Please let Mr. Kaii hear from your own Ups that you want to break
UP with him." (PL3)
-ttt tJf
.i31iv' Q) ~* 1:c-::>"Cb "'"' .:c t.tA-"t''t tJ; !
Sore ga

o-klgai

no shOrai ni totte ma

that (subj.) (bon.)-each other 's future

for

ii

koto no n desu kara!

jjoodlbest thing (is-explan.) because

"Because that is what is best for each other's future, too."


''That's what's best for both of you in the long run." (PL3)

osokunoi is the negative form of osoi ("late," or "too late").


wakare is the noun form o f wakareru ("[something] divides/parts/separates"); tsugete is the -te fonn of tsugeru ("tell/
inform/announce"), and kudasai makes it a polite request, so wakare o tsugete kudasai = "please announce your parting"-. "please say goodbye," or in this case, ' 'please tell [him] you want to break up."
- ni totte = "for - ; and - ni lotte mo = "for - , too."
ii ="good/fine," but ii koto here implies not only " a good thing" but "the best thing."

4- t.t; ill<t.t"'

[!]Yamamoto: -tttl:,
Sore ni,

ima nora

osolamai

c "'? Q)

li ~~t.:.Q)

.i3~#

to

wa anoia no

o-karadQ.

iu

no

besides that now if it is is not too late (quote) say (nom.) as for

~ .Z

-c

Q) .:

Q>.:c ~
no koto

your (hoo.)-body/health about (obj.)

"t' b ~ .o A- "t'To

kangaete no koto demo aru n desu.


thinking

of thing

is also

(explao.)

"Besides that, as for my saying 'If it is now, it's not too late,' it is also something that comes from thinking
about your physical condition."
"Also, when I say it's not too late if you do it now, I'm thinking about your present physical condition,
too." (PL3-4)
he uses w iu no wa here to quote what be said previously and make it into his new topic.
kangaete is the -te form of kangaeru ("think''); - no koto o kangaeru = "think about -."lbe -te form of a verb followed
by no koto daldesu implies "it is a thing that comes from [doing the action]."
demo aru is de aru (a more formal/literary equiv. of desu, "is/are") with mo inserted for the meaning of''too(also" ... "is also."

IT] Yamamoto:

~tL
't"T t;r, fl,
tt ~t:tt::. ~= ~.}.)-)
Shitsurei desu ga, watashi wa anata ni
aiJ
rude

is

but

lime

~ T:t f::.

tl'. "C *f::.


dete kita

as for you

f&

>d:'

"?"'

tsui

emerged/came out

you

omotte,

apiito

no mae de anata o

with will meet (quote) thinking apartment in front of

cmata no a to

Q)

c .1!;1.-::>"C 71'\- 1- Q)liiJ't" ~t.tt::. >d:'


to

f.}:-::>"Cit'"C,
matte ite,

you (obj.)was waiting for-and

Jf:~T

L. "C L. ;b> ' L. f::. o


bikiJ shite shimaimashita.

of after (obj.) carelessly followed/tailed-(undesirable)

"I must be2 vour pardon but I was waitin2 for vou in front of vour apartment intendin2 to speak
with you, and when you came out I instinctively followed you." (PL3)
shitsurei is a noun for "rudeness," so shitsurei desu ga is literally "it is a rudeness, but ..."The expression is essentially
an apology for having done, or being about to do, something rude: "excuse me, but ..."
aiJ is the the volitional ("let's/l shall") form of au ("meet"), and omotte is the -te form of omou ("think"); a volitional form
followed by to omou expresses intent, so aiJ to omotte ="I intended to meet/I planned to meet [y u], and ... " The -te form
is being used to indicate the purpose of the next mentioned action, matte ite.
matte ite is the -te form of matte iru ("am/is/are waiting"), from matsu ("wait"). This -te form merely indicates that the
preceding took place before the following .
dete kita ("came out") modifies anata ("you") --+ "you who came out"; no makes this a modifier for ato ("after/behind").
tsui implies doing an action "carelessly/without really thinking/automatically/instinctively"; he's trying to imply that he
found out about her physical condition by accident.
bikiJ shire is the -te form of bikiJ suru ("follow/tail"), and shimaimashita is the PL3 past form of shimau, which after the -te
form of a verb often implies the action was undesirable/inappropriate: dete kita anata no ato o tsui bikiJ shite shimaimashita
= "I instinctively followed after you who came out."

[!)

Yamamoto: ~t.tt::.
Anota
you

Q)

:fi'tJ>ttf.:. ilffl' li

~ ..A#o

no

ikareta basho wa

sanfujin-ka.

(subj .)

went

111!-tt A-

Q)

Ryiisuke-san no

place as for obstetrics deptlclinic (name-bon.)

.i3T-tt Aokosan

"t'T Q.?
desu

's (hoo.)-child-(bon.) is

ne?
(colloq.)

"The place you went was an obstetrics clinic. It' s Mr. K!Ui' s chUd, isn' t it?'' (PLA)
~: -EB

- da

~F.;!

San'in

(name) obstetrics clinic

- da Obstetrics
ikareta is the past form of ikareru, a PL4 honorific equivalent of iku ("go"); anata no ikareta is a complete thought/
sentence ("you went [there]") modifying basho ('place") __."the place you went."
(continued on next page)
Mangajin 35

bO Iii l!i: 11' fJ)

36 Mangajin

Ul

Kaji Ryusuke no Gi

(continuedfrom previ011S page)

8]

Yamamoto:.:..: I: 'J'IjJ=f. -!Jf ~~~To ~ /jf.:. 1: ~L ~ Ifo


Kolw ni kogiue ga
here

at

arimasu.

Anata ni

check (subj.) exists/have

you

to

g1ve

1: f;'f-?"'(~~Lf.:. o

1$

sash~geru

tame ni motte kimashita.


purpose fo r

brought

"I have a check here. I brought it to give to you." (PL3-4)


sashiageru is a PL4 honorific equivalent of agertr ("give [to you]").
anata ni sashiageru is a complete thought/sentence ("[I] will give [it] to you") modifying tame ("purpose"); anata ni
sashiageru tame ni ="for the purpose of giving it to you."
motte is the -te form of motsu ("hold/carry") and kimashita is the PL3 past form of kuru ("come"), so motte kimashita =
"carried and came" -+ "brought."
~

.:n -e

Wffl, -tq)-ftl! 11

q)

~il'~-?-rr~"'o

Shochi

no hiyo, sonoto wa lwre de ntllkanatte kudasai.


dispolitioo of costs
etc. as for tiUs with pay/finance
please

"Please use it to cover the costs of disposibon and such."


"PieMe ~~~elt to take care of ' tblnp.."' (PL3)
~= ~.~,~=F

ill!.

fllfi

:tli!i

(partly bidden) Kogitte GinlcO 1/cebulcuro Shiten


cbec:k
(name) bl!lk ~ (place) branch

____

.__

IT)

Check - Bank Ikebukuro Bnmcb

shochi refers 10 actions/measures taken lo deal with/take care of/resolve a problem - "disposition."
makantute is the -te fonn of fMkanau ("paylfinance/cover lhe COSI"), and kudasai makes it a polite request.

Jddno-lrf:

7Lil t: ~ f.tll> b,

Jiidan ja nai

-t lvf.t

wa,

sonna

.: t!! ~ b-?
lwto!!

t ~tr ~ "' t

Umii to unuunai to

fl.

El Ell "e L .1: II

q)

watashi no

jiyU

desho!!

is not (fem. colloq.) that kind of thin~


wbccher give birth or not Ume
's freedom is surely
"Where do you get off, suaestiDg a ~ D.ke that! It's my own free cboke whether I

joke

DOt." (PL2-3)

JthhiG8eld: "~Jt.tt:. 11

-~

wa

ittai

Anato
you

t'-) "' -? :fl~tJ -!Jf "IJ-?-r fl.


q) -:1711'>~- tdO iu
lcenri ga
atte watoshi no pura_ibashii o

as for (emph.) what kind of right (subj.) having

lime

's

have the baby or

.o

lv"t'Til'?!

saguru

n desulca?!

(obj .) probefmvestigate (explao.-?)

pnvacy

..As for you, with what kind of right is it that you probe my privacy?''
"What rl&bt do you have to 10 diaio& Into my private life?!" (PL3)
jQdlmja nai is literally " il is 1101 a joke," and it's an expression for dismissing whatlhe other person has said as ridiculous/
out of lhe question/outrageous. Idiomatically it corresponds to expressions like, "No way/Forget ii/You've gOI to be kidding!Xou're out of your mindflbis is DO laughing matter/You can't be serious/Mind your own business!"
wrr6 ta and unuunai to come from lhe verb umu ("bear/give binh"); lhe -o to - mai to (for some verbs, - yii to - mai to)
pattern means "wbether one does lhe action or DOl" - "whether I give birth or not/whether I have lhe baby or 1101."
jiyU ="freedom" and watoshi no jiyii = "my freedom" - " my own free choice."
desho (or deshO) literally expresses a conjecture ("il is probably/surely [my free choice]"), butlhe conjecture here is strictly
rhetorical. Her sentence is acnaally a very strong assertion, and feels more like: " It's my free choice, and you know it!"
inai is an emphasizer for question words: "(What) in the world?/(How) on eartb?/(Where) lhe blazesr
atte is lhe -te form of aru ("exists/have"); ittai diJ iu lcenri ga atte = "having wbal kind of right" - "with what kind of righl"

Ichinoseki: .:.tt li

.fl.

Kore wa wataslzi
this

as for

1/me

r..,m "t'T

'IWA

q)

lwjin

no mandai desu

individual 's problem

trG

fl.

q)

~.t\1,

"t'

i*V>o

:b!!

kara

watashi

110

ishi

de

kimenr

wa!!

is because/so Vme

's

mind using will decide (fern. colloq.)

"This is my individual problem, so I will decide using my own mind."

"This is a urel

rsonal matter so I'll make u m own mind." (PL2-3)

watashi no mondai ="my problem"; watashi kojin no mandai = "my individual/personal problem"
"a purely personal
mauer."
ishi is a noun for " intention/intent/mind/wish," and de marks it as the means of an action: wataslzi no ishi de kimeru ="I
will decide according to my own wishes/using my own mind."

[!)

lddlaeld: ~HL

LiT!

Shilsurei shimosu!

rudeness

wiU do

"Excuse me!" (PL3)


shitsurei is literally "rudeness/bad manners," and shimasu is lhe PL3 fonn of suru ("do"), so the expression essentially
means"' will do/commit a rudeness." Shitsurei shimasu is normally a polite way to take one' s leave, like saying excuse
me" when talting one's leave in English, but in this case it's quite clear lhat her tone is no longer polite. Note that becauae
of !heir social relationship (she is female, he is older. and they are not well acquainted) she continues to use many PLJ
forms even when she has become angry and is DO longer coocemed about being polite.

Mangajin 37

Sawayaka Sanda J(~sb~l


Mr. Fresh
~4~rru
Thunder

Boss:

4-8

*"'

Kyo mo atsui

~0

na.

::r.. 7

";:1'./

Ealwn

todal also is bot (coUoq.)

a.c.

1tlt"C <tt !
tsukete kurel

tum on-(request)

''It s bot again today. Tum on the air conditioner,

fL~:-

will you?'' (PL2)


Worker: l:h!
Hail
yes

''Yes sir!" (PL3)

11

Sound FX: ~ 'J


Pi!

Dlt (effect of pushing button on controUer)


atSIIi. when written with the kanji 1.->, refers to "bot weather."
eokon is an abbreviated form of eakondisslwnii, the full k.atakana rendering
of the English "air conditioner."
tsukete is the -te form of tsukeru ("tum on"): kure after the -te form of a verb
makes an infonnaVabrupt request or gentle command, "(do it), please /(do it),
will your' Requesting/commanding with -te kure is masculine.

*-

Sound FX: -::!


Go
Vrrrrrrr (sound of blower coming on)

Sound FX: ,'( 1


Pal (effect of sudden change/transformation)

Sound FX: ;t; c


Boro (effect of tattered/ragged appearance)
!l

.:::

Worker: 7 v?!

00

Are?!

.2

(inlerj.)

~c

"What the ?'' (PL2)


Worker: 11' - , -fiiJ
.t, .::.tt- ?

lyii,
nani
yo,
korl?
(exclam.) what (is-emph.) this

"'b, no-o. What is this?'' (PL2)


Boss: I.2J t) ;>) ;t
~
IQJil.i t.: f.l: 0
Kiriklle
o mochigaeta na.
switch/switching (obj.) made mistake (coUoq.)

"You switched it to the WroDK position, dkln' t you?''


(PL2)
boro = "rag," and boroboro refers to the condition of being badly worn
out and in disrepair: "ragged/tanered/crumbling." Using boro as an FX
word expresses the fact that they're now dressed in tattered rags.
an? is an inteljection of surprise/bewildennent/confusion: " Huh?/What?/
What's that'r'
iyll is an inteljectionlexclamation that expresses one s distaste or disgust.
a question word plus yo can make an informal question in colloquial
speech: /core (wa) nani yo= "what is this?" (the syntax is invened).
kirikoe is the noun form of the verb kirikaeru ("switch/change"); the noun
can refer either to the physical switch or to the act of switching.
mochigaeta is the plain/abrupt past form of fTUJchigaeru ("err/make a
mistake") Kiriklle o fTUJchigaeru ="err in switching" ..... "switch to wrong
setting/position."

Worker: .:t ? ?!

~~?!!

A!
" What?! Oh, no!"
!?

e?! expresses surprise; fi! expresses dismay.

[!]

Controller: ~ll?
ReibO

Coolloe

Bill?

ttll ?

DanbO

BinbO

Heating Pove

the gag is based solely on the fact that binbO ("poverty'') ends with the same
sound as reibli ("cooling/air conditioning") and danbi5 ("heating"). Using
all kanji would weaken the parallel because, though the sound is the same,
the kanji for -bli are different (~J.IIi!n, and
respectively).

1tz.

38 Mangajin

Sawayaka Sanda
Mr. Fresh
Thunder

OL: 7 7 ,
Ara,

~~?

zangyo?

(interj.) working late

"Oh, you're working late?" (PL2)


Newcomer: ;{_ ;{_, It -::> .: ?
-lriJ' ~ -t- -J
"t'o

by ft~~~'L'

E,

keklW

yes

kakariso

de.

quite a bit seems wiU take/require because

"Yeah, it looks like it's going to take quite a while

!!l.b" (PL2)
ara is a feminine interjection showing surprise, "oh!loh?/oh my!lhey!"
zangyo (literally. "remairung work") implies working late in order to finish
a job that didn' t get done during regular work hours.
kakariso is from kakaru ("[something] takes/requires," here implying
''takes/requires time"); the -so (da/desu) ending of a verb implies "it
seems/looks/feels like [the action wiU occur)." KekkiJ kakant ="takes/will
take quite a bit of time."

OL:
Koko

1~~ L.. "t" .0

:!'J.,

- A "t'

ll-0

(f)

J: o

ne,

hi1ori de zangyo shileru 10 deru

no

yo.

here (colloq.) by oneself whe n working late appears (expl.) (emph.)

" At this place, whe n yo u' re working late, [he/it] appears,


you kno w."

" When ou' re workin late all alone he appears


ou know ... " (PL2)
Newcomer : ;{_X. ~ ? ~~-c <t! ~ ~_,, J: o

E- ?

Yamete kudasai

what

stop/quit

yo.
please (emph.)

"Wha-a-at? Oh ,J!_Iease don' t do that." (PL3)


zangyo shileru is a contraction of ztm gyiJ shire iru ("is/are working late"),
from the verb, za11gyo suru (''work late"). To after a non-past verb can
make a conditional "if/when" meaning.
deru ("comes out/appears") here and in the next panel impl ies "a ghost
appears''-or at least that's the natural conclusion for us and the salaryman
to draw from the way the OL says it. But since a double meaning is
intended, we can' t say that in our final translation.

J: o
Homo ni dem
really

no

yo.

appears (explan.) (emph.)

Jt;ft (/)

u~

Sendai no shachiJ
previous

(/)

110

co. pres. ' s

.t3+JJ:~

(/) .. .

okiisama no .. .
mother

's

''He really appears. The former president's


mother's
"
Newcomer: tL -::> ,
Rei-

rei

"t'T i.l'?!
desu ka?l

(stammer) spirillghost

is it?

"G- ghost?" (PL3)


sendai, literally "previous generation" is used for speaking of the last, and
now deceased, proprietor/master/head of household. In this case it refers to
the former shachii ("company president").
rei= "souVspirit," especially of the dead, so it's often equivalent to "gbost."

O L: :j';f,
Mago

f./{!
gal

grandchild (subj.)
"~randson!"

Shacho:

~Gf.h

Yil.

(PL2)

;~~

f./>Q?

zangyo ka ne ?

(greeting) working late

(?)

" Hi there working late, are you?" (PL2)

Newcomer :

~....
lma

(f)
110

11:-R C '<' 1j: "' -c T i.P !!


shacho ja nai desu ka! I

now of co. pres.

is it not?

" It's our current president!" (PL3)


asking with ka ne is mostly reserved for superiors talking to subordinates.

ja nai desu ka literally asks "is it not?/was it not?'- but it's a rhetorical
question that actually makes a fairly strong assertion.

Mangajin 39

~ ~~
1!!.w. 4

Computer Corner

The 4 -Panel World Plan

(comilluedfrrmr (Xrge 57)

start your search for an Internet service provider (ISP), check


out the maps in the back of each issue. In addition to the maps,
there are chans with contact, service. and contract information
about Japanese l SPs.
One of the neat features of Japanese computer magazines is
that they often come with CD-ROMs full of useful programs.
Though the indices are in Japanese. most of the programs are in
English. In addition to freeware, shareware, and demo programs,
you' ll find system and application updates.
Be prepared to spend a lot of money to use the Internet in
Japan. Generally, your ISP will charge you from 2.000 to 3.000
yen per month for an unlimited amount of connect time. Many
ISPs now offer the option of buy ing a year of service for
between 20,000 and 25,000. Thus far, the charges arc close to
what you'd pay in the United States for a good ISP. The hidden
charge has to do with what you will pay NTT for time spent
online-there is no such thing as a free local call in Japan.
When you shop for an ISP, remember that geographic proximity to your connection point is more important than the
monthly ISP charges. Recently TT created Terehodai. a series
of discount plans for computer users. The monthly fee for
Terehodai ranges from I ,800 to 3,600, depending upon the
distance between your phone and the ISP you are dialing into.
A s a subscriber you will be able to access your ISP for as many
hours as you want, provided they are between II PM and 8 AM.
Basically. Terehodai is a flat-rate plan w hich allows otaku
(computer geeks) to surf the Internet while everyone else is
asleep. There are Terehlidai plans for ISDN users. but they are
more expensive.

by

=
c:
'"

Q.

Be Prepared!
If you are going to buy a computer and take it with you to Japan.
make sure that everything works before you get on the plane.
Assume that you will be the new computer guru and buy a few
books relating to the Internet and the programs that you plan to
use the most. Sign up for n subscription to your favorite
computer magazine. Locate FAQs relating to the programs you
own. Also. make sure your Internet software works before you
go to Japan.

Erik Kassebaum is a11 amhropologist a11d WWW de1eloper who


lives in Northern California (http://rpllet.net/-erikkassl).

40 Mangajin

::J ? {l:gfiOO

:0
::>

Q.

21.l.J :::J /'') .I J(; / I Hatakeyama Konzern

:: Q)

~ Jv

t.t lv-IJ'?

desu, slwcho-satr. ko11o

biru

t~atlka?

"t'T, Uiit ~ lv ,

Agent: t 1
Do
what/how
Ag~nt:

is

co. pres.-(hon.)

this

building a thing/place like

''What do _ou think, sir? How about this building?" (PL3)


I:' t': t::. !i-IJ' ~ I:'
i t.! t- ::1 Q) ~d b .A -::>"( i-ttlv

J: o

Dekita

yo.

bakari de

mada doka 110 kaisha

mo

haittemasen

is-and stilVyet where of company even not entered/moved in (emph.)

completed just

"It's ' ust been com leted and no other com

has moved in eL" (PL3)

do desu ? asks ''how is it?" in the sense of "what do you think of it?"; coming from a salesperson/agent it essentially
asks whether the listener is interested in purchasing/renting.
nanka is a colloquial nado ("something/someone/someplace like"), here essentially functioning to mark the topic, like
wa ("as for"). The syntax is inverted; normal order would be korw biru narlka do desu? (''as for this building, what do
you think?/how about it?'}
dekita is the plain/abrupt past form of dekiru ("be completed"), and bakari after a past verb means the action occurred
''just now/very recently.''
haittemasen is a contraction of lwifle irnase11, the PL3 negative form of lwitte iru ("has entered/moved in"), from hairu
(''enter/move in").

Shacho: ifJ(!) i1f'i1

-/){

A11o tochii

ga

that

~:h."( 7.l

Q)

hanareteru 110

fPJ f.t(!)-IJ'P?

fj:

wa 11a11 11a 110 kane?

middle (subj.) is separated pan as for what

(explan.-?)

" As for that part where Lhe middle is separated, what's the e xplanation for that?"
" What's with that a in the middle?" (PL2)
hanareteru is a contractio n of hanarete iru ("is separate d"). from hanareru
("separate/become separated").
huh?/what?
110 here is like "pan."' and it's modified by the complete thought/sentence tochii
ga hanareteru ("the middle is separated") - " the pan where the middle is
" What?" (PL2-3)
separated"; ano ("that") modifies the combination, making it "that pan where
the middle is separated," and wa marks the who le thing as the topic: "as for that pan where the middle is separated."
no ka 11e (after a verb) or na no ka ne (after a noun or question word) asks for an explanation. Asking a question with ka 11e
is mostly reserved fo r persons whose social status is higher than the liste ner.

' ?
Agent: A..

Agent: ilr.>ilr.>, ilr.>:tt. "t'T -IJ'?


A,
are desu ka?
(intelj.)

is it?

that

''Oh, that?" (PL2)


Agent: ;:Q) ~Jv Q) ;f--tKono biru
this

no

building o f

o11li
owner

iJ<

~~a-iJ'?v '"C"

41!11

ga

engi o katsuide

yonkai

ao

~ v 't.:

lv"t'T o

llOZOita n desu.

(subj.) acted on SUf.C:rslition-(reason) 4th floor (obj.) omitted (explan.)

''The owner of the buildin .


Sound FX: ~ ..:z. '7 '7 '7

rstitious so be left out the 4th ftoor." (PL3)

Byiiii

(effect of strong, howling wind)


onli is from the English "owner."
engi o katsuide is the -te form of engi o katsugu, which means to do certain things in order to gain good luck and avoid
other things in order to escape bad luck - "be superstitious/act according to superstition." The -te form is being used to
indicate the reason for the next mentioned action, nozoita.
four is considered an unlucky number in Japan because one of its pronunciations is slzi, a homonym for "death."
nozoita is the plain/abrupt past form of nozoku ("leave out/omit"); n desu shows he's offering an explanation.

Shacho:

:k'i:~

Daijobu

f.,:Q)-IJ'P? t.fi:tl "(' ~t to


na no ka ne? Yureteru kedo.

all right/safe (cxplan.- ?)

is swaying (reason)

"Are ou sure it's safe? I can see it swa)'in~"


(PL2)

Sound FX:

e ..:z. 7 7 7

Byiiii

(effect of stro ng, howling wind)

Sound FX:

~- ~ ~-

Yiira

t:>

yiira

(effect of wavering/swaying)

A ent: i~~ -nr"'"'


Engi ga ii

fJ'~

kara

Jc:J:x "t'T J: o

daijob11

is auspicious because/so all right/safe

desu

yo.

is

(emph.}

" Because it's auspicious, it's safe."

" It's an aus icious desi n so ou needn' t worry."


(PL3)

daijobu means "all right/OK" in the sense of "safe and


secure/no cause for concern"; daijobu daldesu (yo) is
often used to reassure the liste ner, like "don' t worry."
yureteru is a contraction of yurete iru ("is rocking/
swaying"), from yureru ("rock/sway").
the syntax is inven ed ; normal order would be yureteru
kedo, daijobu na no ka ne? Kedo is most familiar as a
word for "but,'' but its actual function is to mark the preceding as background information for what follows; in
this case it essentially marks yureteru as the reason why
he asks whether it's safe.
yura yura represents rocking or swaying gently; elongating it to yiira yiira suggests the rocking/swaying has
a particularly large motion.
engi ga ii is an expression for " is auspicious/a sign of
good luck." The opposite is engi ga warui, "is inauspicious/bad luc k." The agent would have him believe that
avoiding the bad luck number four compensates for any
accompanying loss in structural integrity.

Mangajin 41

~~~

OJ

tit~

4 :::J ~H::~tiliD
The 4 -Panel World Plan
by

& tlJ ::J /

") I Jl- /

Sound FX:

.A+~
Sucha

(effect of finnly adjusting glasses)


Salaa_man: /.... -;; , i- ~ i- ~ t!. ~ o
Mu!,

sorosoro

na.

da

(interj.) soon/by and by is (colloq.)

I Hatakeyama Konzern

''Mmm it's about time, I guess." (PL2)


sorosoro literally means 'slowly/gradually/by and by,'" but sorosoro da/
desu is frequently used to mean "it's about time/it's getting to be time [for
something]."'
na is used as a kind of self-check/confirmation when speaking/thinking to
oneself: "that seems to be the case, doesn ' t it?"; "yes, it really is so, isn' t
it?"; "that's the way it is, I guess."

Sound FX: 7 / ..;


Tan!

(effect of bouncing on diving board)

[f)

Announcer: (:_(}::_;.;.

~"llt

Tobikomi josha
diving

~i)"("""f~\..'o

li

wa yamere kudasai.

boarding as for stop/quit

please

"Please stop diving-style boarding.'


' 'Please refrain from d.ivin onto the train at the
last second." (PL3)

t ""(" ~

m:~

"t"i"

Toremo

kiken

desu.

very/highly dangerous

is

" It is extremely dangerous." (PL3)

Sound FX: Jv Jv Jv Jv Jv Jv Jv
Ru ru nt ru ru ru ru

Rri-i-i-innn (sound of bell warning that train is


about to depart)
Sound FX: r 11 -:~
Dokil!

Wham! (sound of man bouncing off of train platfonn)


SaJar man: if? -j '? I
Au!

"Oofl"
Commuters: b if? ? !
Wii!
(exclam.)

"Yikes!" (PL2)
robikomi is the noun form of tobikomu ("dive into"): tobikomi is the word
used for "diving" as done from a springboard or platform into a pool.
josha is a noun referring to '"boarding/getting onto/gelling into'' a train/
bus/car. Tobikomijosha refers to diving/leaping onto a train at the last
second, as the doors are closing.
yaml!te is the-re form of yameru (''stop/quit"). and kudasai makes a potite
request.
robikomijoslw wa o-yame kudasai, or some similar phrase. is frequently
announced at many stations during the crowded rush hour.

42 Mangajin

Yunbo: fJ'~ "1:3> ~A-,


K6chan.

[ ..Pivtf<lv

~ A-1J'

~ trlt

J: ? o

1UJ1IkJJ
stUrUii
y6.
somebowlkiDd of am cold/chilly (empb.)

mom

"Mom, I feel kind of cold." (PL2)

Nmtmm-1-

Mother: .f-~?

SiJ yii

Yunbo-kun by Saibara Rieko

~ 1;1:
L.i>* 1: Ji!. t- -:::>lj""( .:'~A-o
tolci wa shiomiZM ni ashi o ISUete flOI'GII.

!hat kind of time as for salt watea- in feet (obj.) cry ..tiDa
"At times Uke that you should try .,.~r~nr yoar feet
in salt water." (PL2)
k4chan is an informal equivalent of o1t:asan ("mocber").
flllllka is a contraction of nan, literally "something," but often uscd lithe

beginning of a senlenee as a "softener," like "somehow/vagueJylkmd of - ...


yo is an infonnaJ particle for emphasis; when spoken with a plaintive/

whiney/put upon tone, it gets eJongared to yo.


-f- ~ ? is a variant spelling of -f 1 ~' 1 (so iu, "that kind or'); s6 U. toll
"that kind of time" - "at times like that/when you feel that waylwben that
happens."
tsukete is the -te fonn of tsulceru, here meaning "soakfliDIJiei'SC in," and
go ran after the te fonn of a verb is a light command meaning "do the
action/try doing the action."

.c

..

[I)

Sound FX: r.J-?

~.c

Piiu
(effect of chil Udraft)

co
:::>

piiu, a non-standard "sound" effect, is very close to


effect for a wind or draft.

-5

"0

a:,

"t:
"
!!!

.c

co

c
c

.9

"\/- _

~c

_,

Sound FX:

'(f-

U-~P 1

(pyii), the

-1

Piiu

(effect of chiWdraft)

Yunbo: tJ'- "1:3> ~A-, 7~d:l A,Jj: "' J: -? o


Kiichan,

mom

naonnai

yo.

not gel bener (emph.)

" Mom, it's not getting better." (PL2)

~
c;,

Mother:

c
w
0
>-

-t-n,

Sore, mizumushi no

sorry

-"'

.::

*!R

::::~A- o

Gomen.

(J)

i:li

t.}j:o,>

t!-:d:.o

o-ma]mal

daua.

that athlete s foot for incantation/remedy

was

"Sorry. That was the remedy for athlete's foot."


(PL2)

.B0

.c

naonnai is a contraction of naoranai, the negative form of naoru ("become


better/be cured").
gomen, from the honorific prefix go- and menjiru ("exempt/excuse"), is
an informal word for apologizing/begging pardon. A more formal version
is gomen nasai.
majinai literally means "spell/incantation/magical formula," but here it
refers to a "folk remedy." The honorific prefix o- is almost always used
with majinai even in informal speech, especially among female speakers.
datta is the past form of da ("is/are").

<I)

...

>-

.J::J

=
..c
Q.

..:.;

=
.,
"
~

:0
:::>

Q.

c
u:
.,;

l;l

!!

~'

!!!
.c

co

<0

...
r:
.J::J
"'
;;
-"'

02
V'l

IQI

Mangajin 43

Yunbo-kun
by Saibara Rieko

..

Cll

~
f-

~
:1

"0

~
~

'C:

.2

;:;;

-.;;
c

.c

.!a

co

lfi
0

.80
.c

Cll

>.

.0

~
.E
c

"
.......

c.

.E

.c

.!a

:0
:1
c.

i'!

u:

..;
"i:

.'!l

.c

04)

c:

<

0
-"

02"
~
.0

...
Cll

Ci;!)

44 Mangajin

[)

:t31!~~A-,

19>A-Il

It ?

ObocluJn.

Yunbo

iru?

aunt/auntie

(name) exists/is present

Yokota:

(imerj.)

"Uh-ob." (PL2)

"Obadum, Is Yunbo here?" (PL2)

Yuabo's Mother: !3(

Oku de

Q "(
neteru

Sound FX:

J:o

back 11 is sleeping (emph.)

"He's asleep In the back room." (PL2)

question particle ko simply by raising the intonation on the


fiDal syllable.
ob refers to the "back/depths/inner reaches" of a confined
space. Yunbo's mother here is either at the front door or in a
room relatively near the front door, and obi can apply to
ay room "farther back" in the house.
neteru is a contraction of nete iru ("is sleeping"), from nern
<"so to sleep").

Yokota: !:311>, 19> A-llo !:3 ~ 1:>


Oi,

Yunbo.

(interj.) (name)

Okiro

li 1! / :J. ~"' tl .i o
Yolwto-kun
wa sensu wand r!Z.
(sumame-fam.) as for sense is bad (colloq.)

"Yokota-kun, your [aesthetic] sense is


bad, isn' t it'T'
''You don' t have much or an aesthetic
sense, do you, Yokota?" (PL2)
Yokota:

~-:>?

E!?
huh?/wbat?

"Huh?" (PL2)

wake up (emph.)

ze.

' 'He Yunbo. Wake u


(PL2)

<-

Kii
(the breathing of someone sleeping
soundly/peacefully)
oi is a relatively rough way of getting someone's attention
or of trying to wake him up: "hey!/yo!"
okiro is the abrupt command form of okiru ("wake up").
yo is often used to emphasize requests or commands; with
commands it carries a strong, demanding tone.
asobO is the volitional ("let'sll shall") form of asobu ("play").
ze is a very rough, masculine particle for emphasis.

SoudFX:

Mother: ttHE <lv

J: o

let's play (emph.)

SoundFX:

a indicates the speaker has suddenly noticed/recognized/


realized something, like "Oh!"-or, when it's something
bad/undesirable, "Ob no!/Uh-oh." Yokota is worried he's
going to get in trouble for what he's done.

yo.

a;.f ll? -tfo


Asobi'J

<-

Kt7
(the breathing of someone sleeping
soundly/peacefu lly)

yo.

oboclaan is a less formal obosan (lit., "aunt/auntie"), which


can be used to refer to any woman past her mid-twenties or
so. autdren refer to their playmates' mothers as obasan or
oboclaan.
in colloquial speech, questions can be asked without the

a;o

A.

-kun is a more familiar equivalent of -san (..Mr./Ms."); in a


corporate setting, a superior may use it to address or refer to
subordinates o f either sex, but with children it's limited to
addressing and referring to males.
sensu is from the English 'sense"; the Japanese word refers to
a person' s sense of beauty, style, aesthetic taste, etc., not to
matters of common sense. Sensu (ga) ii (lit., " sense is goocf')
means a person has "good taste/aesthetic sensibility," while
sensu (ga) warui (lit., "sense is bad") means the person "bas
no taste/lacks aesthetic sensibility."
nl with a long vowel expresses the speaker's impression
strongly: "it really is so, isn't itT'

Mother: 1; C:> ,
Hora,

-.. -.., .:. -? ~? J.>-? 1.:

T 1.1 C.

kolw,

suruto

ko ytlfii ni

look/see this place in this way/manner

if do

" Look, this spot here, if you do it this way,


ii'VIt>\,> 0

<-

kawaii.

(the breathing of someone sleeping


soundly/peacefully)

it's cute."
" See if ou do like this here it makes
him reall cute." (PL2)

is cute

Kil

Yokota:

?-

A-o

On.
(interj.)

"Mmm." (PL2)
hora is used to call a person's attention to something, like
"herellooklseelwatch."
.::? ~? is a variant spelling of .::?"'? ("this kind or'),
andfii refers to a "manner/style," so ko yiifii ni is Literally,
" in this kind of manner/style"
" this way."
to after a non-pa~t verb can make a conditional " if/when"
meaning, so suru to = " if [you] do," and ki'J yiifii ni suru to
="if you do fit] this way."

Mangajin 45

~American ComlcsW////////////////////////////////////////////////~
YOU'VE BEEN RI\N()Q'\LY

DILBERT; ~ ,..- ~AI

Tt\15 15 HOW THE

SELECTE 0 TO HAVE
LUNCM WlTM /\ ::lENIOR
EXECUTIVE Of THE
COM PI\NY.

EXECUTlVE-5

~W

l COULD .sQU~M

TMT THEY ARE

YOU LIKE A DUG ~

1\EGULI\R PEOPLE >


iTUST LIKE. YOU AND
ME.

Hf\ HA HA

HA HA

\..

HAl

Dilben reprintedltranslaled by pennission of Uniled Media. New York.

[I]

Boa: "You've been randomly selected to have lunch with a senior executive of the company,"
'/ -1(J) t&
C (J)
!iJ: (J) ~jt ~: ~f'F~ :fllllli -e ~ 1Jf iJIIfttf.:o
Uclti

no jiiyoku to

no

hiru no koislwku ni musakui chiishutsu de lcimi ga

our company 's executive with that is midday of

you've

=you have.

., . ~~<

for

random

sampling

1:

C. ?~<

....'..

1'1;1

c.,. . ~

erabarel4

by you (subj.) were choeen

r... clt'-:Jl.t::~t-~.QJ
t .,<
a senior executive of the company r.: Q)~tfQ)-~ ..... t>ilflQ)-~/? ~Q)-~j
o"'
cQ)1:.8 ..
t- ~ t.,, a senior executive li-t Q) IF -r- ~ l:.Al Q)~ t- ~ -to

havelunchwith ...

meal

~~.~~ <~

t ~<

Ci ~ <t.<~

t <t<
An executive li~~

uch/llterally means "within/Inside," but in many cases It's used to mean "our house/shop/company.- Uchl no
means "of/belonging to our house/shop/company.

[I]

Boss: "T his is how the executives show that they are regular people. just like you and me."
1Jf, 11!~9: ~ tt ~ fl.. t ~b I? (t "' ~biD OJ A rlf! t!. t "'-? .::. t ~ ~-tt ~,

.: n

Kore ga,

this

jiiyaku mo kimi ya watashi to kawaranai

(subj.) executive also you and

11!~9:
jiiyaku

Ume

not differ from

regular

to

iu

human is/are (quote) say

koto

thing (obj.)

miseru,
show

VIE (J) ~ t'J 1i (t lv t!. o


-ryii no yarikata na 11 da.

executive style that is method

(explan.-is)
l.tl

This is how the executives show that ... thatl-.:J. T


4

futsii no ningen da

UiU-\

~-t!-.0/J#d.:J

f.("( ~ .:'

1')1.L

1t?

L ~ ~<

li show Q) I'J9g! c >j: J., ~ fo.hYrlo f.::. tt.ilr, illJltt..: i? 7'Jf ... ~

- to kawaranai is an expression meaning "is no different from - ."


-ryiJ is a suffix for indicating a "schooVstyle/system" of doing something, so juyaku-ryu no= "the executive's style/
way of (doing something)."

[!] Namdlon:

At lunch

-e

~jt
Chiisholal de
lunch

81

Executive: 1could squash you like a bug! Ha ha ha ha ha hal"


~ 't.t lv -t', .!R It I? #. t.: li' 1: V' tJ. 1J "?~"it './ t!
Kimi nanzo. mushilcera

you

as for

worm/bug

mitai ni

hineritsubuseru

like

squash

squash r~l'?~T/'~~~~v.:,::-t.o J
.....,&14

bug -~1::

trt..

f!RJ

n do

-i'!

1\J\J\1'1'1'!

zo!

Ha ha ha ha ha hal

(explan.) (emph.)

Oaugh)

nanzo here can be considered a colloquial equivalent of wa ("as for"); this use often carries a belltUing or even
contemptuous tone, so kimi nanzo is like saying As for the likes of you.

46 Mangajin

'@ ~ American Comics'/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


/////////~

DtL6ERT 15 Ct105EN TO HAVE


LUNC~ WITH 1\N EXECUTIVE.

011, SURE1 [ MAKE


A LITTLE MORE MONE'r',
AND 1 HAVE 1\ NICE
OFFICE ...

l LJANT YOU TO
KNOW lliAT I'M

AND Of COURSE ,
[ ' M MUCH 1 MUCN

5MARTER. .

JU5T 1\ NORMAL

j/

GUY ..

___)

(I

R
Oilben reprintcdllmnslated by pennission of United Media, New York.

OJ Narration:

Dilbert js chosen to have lunch with an executive.

71

Jvl{-

Dirubato

11H~ (J) !i/.:(J)


jiiyaku no hiru no

li
wa

(name)

~f;t
lwishoku

~lfht..: a
ni erabareta.

ffi.f. ':
aite

as fo r eJlecutivc 's lunchtime dine together panner for

Executive: ul want you to know that I'm just a normal guy ..."
fl.
t ~:@(!) .A.F~ t.! tv'? .::.t
Watashi mo futsii no ningen diz
to
iu koto
o

a-

Ume

also

regular

I want you to know that ... that.l-.:1. T IJ: know

' ( "'C' ~-=

\'-.. r.tA.

"tn

want to have understand


,!.Jo

J:

(ellplan.)

r... t- t:tl: bil'-? "t' t

Q) EII.J~fP:: ~ 7.> ~ ;!iiljpo

JJ,t:.:.

auy D!It~JJ."t'- ~1: r~/.1Jv'-::>/~-::>J

by

I"J\. l. ~"':)

rt.: t!.Q) J o

I'm = I amo just

.:. ~ =Cl l ?lflv

~ 1: t:riJ~?-rt;v'f..:v'lvt.! ...
kimi ni
wakotte moraitai
n diz .

human islam (quote) say thing/fact (obj.) you


\. ~

was chosen

l.fb"'

i:> "' t.: v'J o


t..~t-~r

t:\.

t.:t!.L, 11if'l:hN1~.!::'"t' guys cv'?~1H:IJ:-:9:t11:t.tVC t

1~JliT oO o

0 Executive: "Oh. sure. I make a little more money. and I have a nice office ..."

-t- '?

Sorya

i ih li'ru,H: ,

that is
It '

well

v'

(/) 'i -? tJ{ *lfn

fl.

mli wshika ni, watashi no ho


ccnainly

:;j 7 1 :A

Ume

b 1\1.! ?

~ide

"(

ofuisu

mo tsulwtteru ro. . .

good/nice

office

also
..hA.t

am using

wa

chotto

(bubj.)

~alary

as for

a lillie

t~

sure :J:~,;51:' , Jt~c1J 7.> Hi lfi.~"t' Jll It>"( ,


~IJ

'0.

~v' l ,
oi
shi,
larger is-and

(emph.)

/4~<

"J

/.ryiiryo

1.> J: .. .

ii

""\ ~ ~ h

';t i? J: ?

ga

fJ ~ -\

f 'b

\J..

""Jit

~ 7:J lvj Q);"(j,P...f;:l.: 1\1! -J o

makemoney f-;J}: t-~ ("/*2iHt- ~J.> J o


sorya is a contraction of sore wa.
is a sofVgentle/agreeable-sounding interjection that adapts to fit its context "well/you know/really/1 mean/
let's see."

ma

@]Executive: "And of course. I'm much, much smarter."


-ftt~:

b i?7.Jiv, fl.

~i-?

-/){

Sore ni

mochiron, watashi no ho

ga

also

of course

Ume

js"
smart IJ:;if{:~~IJ:3:1:
"'(~ ~.:-

(/)
's

-r-?
t
z.iino

side (subj.) much more

j(iJfv'v' ljhc' Q 0
atama ga ii keredo
sman

"'"' .. '
rj{tJtv'v'J C.v>?:6:'*1:fflv''-> o

but

ne.
(colloq.)

, ,~t

atama ga ii, literally "[one's] head is good," is an expression that means "smart/sharp/intelligent."
keredo is a colloquial contraction of keredomo ("but"). Here it is merely serving to soften the end of the sentence
(though this executive seems only slightly more concerned about diplomacy than the one on the facing page).

Mangajin 47

Humorous Haiku

SENRYU

Poems submitted by our readers


Illustrations by Anthony Owsley
}Jij ht.: 0)
Wakareta no

iEOO:v ~ t
Shojiki iu to

wt? ht-:0)
Furareta no.

I broke up with him;


If I tell the honest truth,
he broke up with me.

wakareta is the past form of wakareru


("break up/part company").
shojiki iu means "speak ho nest ly/
speak the truth"; to after a non-past
verb can make a conditional "if/when"
meaning. so shojiki iu to= "if I speak/
te ll the truth.''
furore/a is the past form of furareru
("be dumped/jilted").
in both cases. no is explanato ry,
indicating that the poet is making an
explanation.

by /IQ)Ji\ ( Taka no Tsume, "Hawk Talons")


Kanagawa, Japan

as in the US, the winning team of the


Japan Baseball Series holds a
celebration party, where inevitably.
beer (or other alcoholic beverage) is
poured over teammates' heads. This
year, the Orix Blue Wave from Kobe
won the championship.
doshaburi refers to a "driving downpour"; adding no makes it a modifier
for biiru (from the English " beer")
"beer that is a driving downpour" "a driving downpour of beer."
ganbaua is the plain/abrupt past form
o f ganbaru ("stri ve hard/do one's
best").

t~L~~ ~

0)

Doshaburi no

t:'- Jv iJ~ ~ h L v'


Biiru ga ureshii

17LMJ~
ShukushO-kai

Rejoicing In
a driving downpour of beer:
VIctory party
by '/J'/.., If. -:> t.:. A (Ganbatta Hito,
"Tried-hard Person"), Kobe, Japan

1L~tiE
Bukkyo-to

1 7''0) B t! ~t ~i
lbu no hi dake wa

1) 7-.1-~
Kurisuchan

Nation of Buddhistsonce a year on Christmas Eve,


becoming Christians

Bukkyii means "Buddhism," and the


s uffix -to denotes "cohorts/group
member<,," so bukkyiJto = "Buddhist
believer(s)." In this case the pen name
s uggests it s hould be take n as a
communal reference
" nation of
Buddhists."
/bu is from the English word "eve," and
is only used to refer to Christmas Eve.
Kurisuclwn is from the English word
"Christian."
although the majority of Japanese are
no t Christian , they have adopted
C hristma s a s a holiday to be
cele brated with great comme rcial
indulgence.

by ~Jil!~v' B 4'A (Girigatai Nihonjin,


"Faithful Japanese"). Tokyo, Japan

W e'll send you a M angajin T-shirt if we publis h you.r senryii. Send to Senryu, M angajin. Inc .. PO Box 77 188, Atlanta. GA 30357- 11 88
(or to senryu@ mangajin.co m). All Japanese s ubmissions will be translated into Eng lish and vice versa.
~~;j-Q)JI I~P a- .toi! 1J v't.:. t.: v> t.:.)JI: liitAT ~ 'I' y a-i1HiH. ~ t' o ~9i:li Senryo. Mangajin. Inc., PO Box 77118. Atlanta. GA 30357- 1188
C~ t.:li111-T ;t- J!.-"f senryu@mangajin.com)o t.d.>, B :ifi:UH: .t o~.fj;l(;t:,9i;~IH:, :~mH: t .Qtl:fali B 4'ml.:~11!lt-E"t'"G;'P. L. i i"o

Mangajin 63

o ~\\et

2.eto

by ltliJ !ll~.:Xe~ 1Okazaki Jiro

The Devil's Seeds, Part 1-

Subtract the dark, Cold War Era edge from the Twilight Zone, add a '90s Japanese backdrop-plus too much KooiAid before bedtime-and you have a typical short manga "episode'' of Okazaki Jiro's After Zero. Like any bizarre
dream, the plotlines are often less than watertight, but distinctive artwork and fantastic stories make After Zero a
timeless classic. Debuting in 1990 in the weekly magazine Big Comic, the After Zero stories are now published as
independent volumes of collected shorts by Shogakukan. "The Devil's Seeds" is the fourth After Zero episode to appear in Mangajin (issues 22, 30-32. 41-43).

Umezawa is a greedy man with big ideas. His key to fame and
fortune lies in an ancient seed recently unearthed in an archeolog ical expedition. Legend has it that the seed produces a robust
grain that can grow in any soil. Unfortunately, Umezawa lacks
the brains to unlock the seed's potential.

~.:
A- ~ '

t~ '?

'If 11
0

At first, he tries to exploit the genius


of an idealistic young biochemist,
Konoue. Already wary of the seeds'
purported curse, Ko noue is turned off
by Umezawas self-serving scheme.

=f

Almost 20 years later. Umezawa is the president of a


large chemical company. He has finall y found the genius
who can make his dream a reality:
the young and lovely Dr. Kamimura.

The broody Kuze, high-level executive and moral conscience o f the c hemical company, steps aside to allow
Dr. Kamimura to head the company's most important
project: cultivating the miracle seeds they call MR-99.

{) Oka1..aki Jiro. All rights reserved. First published in Japan m 1990 by Shogakukan. Tokyo. English translation rights arranged through Shogakukan.

Mangajin 65

7' 7 ~ -

66 Mangajin

0 After Zero

Title:

!!~11(

Q)

f!UT-

Akuma

110

Shushi

's

seeds

devil

The Devil's Seeds


between two nouns makes the first into a modifier for the second in a wide variety of ways. one of which is to make
the first no un into a possessive noun, so a kuma no = "the devil's - ."
shushi is a more academic/technical-sounding word for rane ("seed'' ).

CD Inscription:

110

fiiJ At

.:: Q)

Nanpito mo

lwno

{I
lane

a-

oort.

1: til L. "( l:l: ~ I? ilo

lwkugai

ni dashite wa naranu.

everyooelno one this/these seeds (obj.) outside of the country to must not .akeJiet out

No one must take these seeds outside the country.


These seeds must not be permitted to leave our borders.

00

Q)

Kuni no

tami

Q) ~ 1.:

'ff! -)

no tame ni tsukau

country of people/populace

for

use

-"{ L.

beshi.
should/must

They must be used only for the people of this country.


t L. ;:Q) #
a- I\ttLI!, ~ ,-.;:, ~ ~}[ 'IJ~
Moshi lwno
if

kin

J.OtL

~~7:>? o

yabureba, osoru-beki saiyaku ga otozureru


de ari5.
this prohibition (obj.) if tear/break fearso me calamity (subj.) will visit probably/surely

U anyone vaolates this prohibition, a fearsome calamity shall befall the land.
7 ~ 3 '11 x
,.)(
J: I)
Aslwlca
(name)

-o

hibun

yori

king epi.aphlstooe inscription from

From an inscri tion in Kin Asoka's tomb


nanpito is a literary/archaic equivalent for dare ("who"); nanpito mo in an affirmative sentence means "everyone," and
in a negative sentence, "not anyone/no one."
kono can mean e ither "this" or "these" depending on the context.
kokugai literally means "outside of the country," and ni marks it as a destination.
naranu is a literary negative fo rm equivalent to naranai, so dashite wa naranu is equivalent to dashite wa naranai, a
"must not'' form o f dasu ("take/let/put out").
110 tame ni is literally "for the purpose/sake/benefit of' -+ "for."
beshi after the plain, non-past form of a verb can variously mean ''can/should/must." Beshi is a holdover from classical
Japanese, and although its modifying form beki is still very common, the dictionary form beshi is now relatively limited
and sounds archaic; it's usually replaced by beki do/desu at the end of sentences today. One place beshi cootinues to be
seen is on public signs giving instructions of one lcind or another.
moshi typically works together with a conditional form later in the sentence to give the meaning of "if'; ~ba is a
conditional ("if/when'') form of yaburu ('lear," or in the case of a rule/law/prohibition, "break/violate").
osoru-beki combines an archaic form of the verb osoreru (" fear") with beki ("should/must" ), making a modifier that
literally means "should be feared/is to be feared" - "fearsome/frightful." Osoru-beki saiyaku ="fearsome calamity."
ototMreru literally means ' visit"-+ saiyaku ga otowreru = "calamity will visit/befall [us/the country)."
de ari5 is the conjectural form of de aru, which is a more literary/formal equivalent of da/desu, so it's essentially equivalent
to dar01deshi5 ("is probably/surely").
-iJ denotes a king, and Asholca-i5 ="King Asoka," ooe of the greatest rulers of ancient India, who reigned from around
273-232 BCE and unified most o f the country for the first time.
yori sounds more formal/literary than kara ("fro m").

Mangajin 67

7' 7 9 -

0 After Zero

t '' 11. if t,
~A,~.t

ft

~*lc

fJ

"?

;.:~~~
-:> tii=l~

Jt

of

L.

"'(

7J

t:
!!

1~~-:>

,- * t:.

L' L' U:
1.>

1)

"'(

h
7)

!!

tr
!!

68 Mangajin

OJ

~ K7c
Sen-kyiihyaku-nanajiisan -nen Ke-dai

1!'-~$

Narntloa: 1973
1973

Rigaku-bu

!t1t~-f:

~?eli

Seikogaku Kenkyii-shitsu

year K univ. science faculty biochemistry

1973, K University, FacuJty of Sciences Biochemist De


Umezawa: 13M li '~ t.J t.=!!
~<
-ffi t.: c.dt1v J: ! !
Omae wa

you

baJc.a da!!

Mattaku

shinjiraren

yo!!

as for fooVadiOI are completely/utterly cannot believe (emph.)

"You're a fool! I really can't believe ou!!" (PLl)


o
o
o

o
o

tbe suffix -nen is used both when counting years and when designating a calendar year.
-dtJi is short for daigaku ("college/university").
-bv in a corporate setting is usually translated "department," but in an academic setting it generally refers to a "faculty/
college" within a larger university- rigaku-bu ="faculty of sciences."
kenlcya refers to scientific or academic research, and -shirsu designates a "room/office," so ken/cyfi-siUtsuliterally means
"research room/office." As a generic term. it can refer simply to a college professor's personal office, or in tbe sciences, his lab;
but when preceded by the name of a discipline or specialization, it can refer to various-sized sulHmits within a department
omae is an informal to rough. masculine word for "you."
shinjiraren is a contraction of shinjirarenai. the negative form of shinjirareru ("can believe"), from shinjiru ("believe").
;1. J 7J
Ameriko

Umezawa: 7

Yi -r J.J..-?!!

mire miro.'.'

America/US (obj.) look-and-sec

" ust take a look at America!" (PL2)


Umezawa: 'i?.t ? C "<~f.t ~?e ~ Lt..: q:if
Chouo

mashi na kenkyii

a little

better

*'!f.

fi, J.J..Ivf.t
~
shita gakusha wa, mimw daigaku o

research (obj.) did

scholar as for everyone

univ.

1-r

I:::V::f-.AW.

1: .A?-r.O o

dere

bijinesu-kai

ni

hailleru.

(obj.) leave-and business world into have entered

"An scholar who has done halfwa decent research has left academia and entered the business world."
(PL2)
~{t)j ~# t..:!!
Soshite okuman chi5ja da!!

Umezawa: -f L -r
and

millionaire(s) is/are

"And the 're millionaires!!" (PL2)


mite is the -te form of miru (''see/look at"), and miro is the abrupt command form of the same verb. A form of miru after
the -te form of a verb implies "do the action and see what happens/see what you find out/see what the situation is."
mashi is a noun for the quality of being " re latively better/ pre ferable." and mashi na is its fom1 for modify ing nouns. The
word typically implies "better/pre ferable" among less than ideal choices, so chouo mashi na kenkyii has the feeling of
"halfway decent research" (rather than suggesting truly superio r research).
shita is the plain/abrupt past form of suru ("do"), and chotro mashi na kenkyll o shita is a complete thought/sentence
("[he) did half-way decent research'') modifying gakusha ("scholar").
dete is the -re form o f dent (''exit/e merge from"): daigaku o deru often means "graduate from college/university," but in
this context it means "leave college/university employment.''
haiueru is a contraction of lraille iru (''has/have entered"), from lwiru ("enter" ).

Umezawa: .it tr!!

ill1:!!

Tanomu!! Konoue!.'
astlrequest

(name)

"I'm begging you, Konoue11" (PL2)


~

Umezawa: MR-99

Enw-ifru /cyiijiilcyii o

:it$:~-\!'7.>

1:1;1:,

c? L-r'b

lwnsei saseru

ni wa,

dO shire mo omae no awmo

13WJ(l)

(seed vlriety name) (obj.) bring to completion in order to no mauer what

2fi

tJt
ga

1H'~

hitsuyiJ
your head/brains (subj.) necessary

t.tlvt.!.o
no n da.
(islare~xplan.)

''In order to complete the develo.P.ment of MR-99, I absolutel must have our ex rtise!" (PL2)
o
o

when tanomu is addressed directly at the listener, it means " I request this of you'': if it is a foUow-up to a request already
made, it's like "please/1 beg you/1 implore you."
ktursei saseru is the causative form of kansei suru ("be completed"), so it means "cause [it] to be compleled" -+ "bring to
completion."
- ni wa after a verb is essentially equivalent to - tame ni wa. "for the purpose of[doing the actionYm Cl~Mto (do lhe action]."
QIQmQ is literally "bcad"-bere referring to Koooue's lrnowledge and insight .... "brains/expertise."

Umezawa: -: v''?
Koitsu

tJf

5C!iX:t'ttf.f,

ga

kansei sureba,

i ~ L < ~:9!(1)
{if[-=f t f.t .0 f"ft..:o
masashiku kyii/..:yokuno shushi to naru lwzu da.

this one/thing (subj.) if/when is completed definite ly

ultimate

seed

become

sho uld

"If we com Jete this without a doubt it will become the ultimate seed." (PL2)
kaitsu is a contraction of kono yatsu ("this guy/fellow/thi ng" ); when used to refer to a person, it can range from mild to
very rough, but when referring to things it's merely informal.
kansei sureba is a conditional ("if/whe n'') form of kansei suru " if it is brought to completion."
- to naru means "become - " or "will become - ."
hazu is a noun referring to " normal expectations"-the way something should/ought to be; hazu da/desu after a verb
means that that action "can be e xpected to occur" "should/ought to occur."

Mangajin 69

7' 7 11

0 After Zero

:t"tltM

.:

til~
9f.

,-A

ft(7)

Iii ...
L.'l(7)

1S+

li"
~~

t> ?

- {>

v.W.R

:.

t.: <7> I

X <7>

x_iMff
ftC. --:>

tJ~

~ "99

"1:-.:J-~

A.

-t~-c

? "'(

t:.

li1J

.Q

~'

t::

!!

&..

:t t::.
: v 't
~ li
'*~~
~ ii
~' j;J.
A J:. ~0
t::. ':

c
~

70 Mangajin

r(

~'
~'

~
0

fJ

Umezawa: ::.1v ~

"11 ~~It'

Konna

kabi-kiLSai

*-?:-

11-r,

~ lviJ'

daigaku

nanlw

dele,

this kind of smells of mold university the likes of leave-and

"Leaving behind the like of this musty university,"


MR-99
~ i~ -:> ""f , t!!:W. (J) .fi-T ~~
Emu-iim kyiijiikyii o tsulwlle selwi no shushi sangyo
(seed variety)

(obj.)

using

world

's

seed

:tvt.:"t:>"t'"

ore-taclzi de shihai suru n da!/

~~T~

lvt.:!!

industry (obj.) we/us together rule/take over (explan.)

" we will use MR-99 to take over the world's seed industry!"
" We'D leave tbis musty university and use MR-99 to take over tbe world's seed indus

!" (PL2)

kabi = " mold," and the suffix -kusai means "smells/reeks/stinks of - ,"so kabi-kusai = "smells moldy/musty."
nanka is a coUoquialnado ("something Idee"), here essentially equivalent to wa ("as for"), but with a feeling of belittling/
making light of what comes before it: "as for the likes of this musty university."
tsulultt is the -te form of tsulwu ("use"): the -te form is here indicating the manner/means of the next mentioned action:
how or with what they will take over the seed industry.
ore is an informal to rough. masculine word for "Ume." and adding the suffix -taclai makes it plural, " we/us.'' De gives
it the feeling of "just the two of us together."

Konoue:

f~rl,

::. 1.- ' "?

!i

Umewll"a,

koitsu

11a

(name)

"!I!:J;f (J) Hf-T" ~ AJ.!.


"'Akwna no Shushi " na 11 da

this one/thing as for devil

seed

ze is a rough, masculine panicle for

1fo
:;e.

emphasis; with the explanatory 11a n


da here it gives the feeling of a strong
reminder.

(is-explan.) (cmph.)

"Umezawa, these are ' the Devil's Seeds ' ou know." (PL2)
Kiinoue: ::. (J) .fl-T

(J)

A -:> -r 1.-' f.:

fa\.

haille ita

doki

Kono shushi no

fJf ~ 0 t .: o

tt X

1::
ni

meibun

ga

ana.

seeds (subj.) were contained earthen vessel on inscription (subj .) exisled

these

"The eartben vessel that contained tbese seeds bore an inscription." (PL2)
r1iifA~
::. U> tl ~
OO;t
1:: ll L: t .li ~ I? ~ o J
"Nanpito mo kono tune

kokugai

ni dashite wa ntJranu."

everyooefno one these seeds (obj.) outside of the country to

'" These seeds must not be

must not take/let out

rmitted to leave our borders."'

haitte ita is the past form of lwitte im ("is in/is contained in"); kono shushi no haitte ita is a complete thought/sentence
("these seeds were contained in [it]") modifying doki (''earthen vessel"). The subject is often marked with no instead of
gain modifying sentences.
alta is the plain/abrupt past form of am ("exists"); ga marks meibun ("inscription") as the subject of alliJ. and 11i marks
doki as the place of existence, so dold ni meibun ga alta = an inscription existed on the earthen vessel"- "the earthen
vessel bore an inscription."

Umezawa:

;\"/J ~ . . .

H ~liT,
Baka na ... Omae,

foolish/crazy

you

-f lv~

~{g

sonna

meishin

-c

t: ~ (/)fJ'?
o shinjiteru no ka?

~ {g

that kind of superstition (obj.) believe

(explan.- ?)

"This is crazy. You really believe a superstition like that?" (PL2)


baka na as a modifier means "idiotic/foolish/crazy": as an exclamatio n it's like "This is crazy!ffhat can' t be!ffhat' s
impossible!"
shinjiteru is a contraction o f shinj ite iru. fro m shinjiru ("believe'').
asking a question with no ka? is masculine and can sound very abrupt/rough.

Konoue:

/j: ,
ffH';o
v li
Dakedo na, Umezowa. Ore wa

1.- ' li'~o t= lt (::

liya.
no

but

(colloq.) (name)

~{J

W. . .tJ:

meishin

ijo ni

1:: ,OOP;f::

~~_.,

kane 11i /..y omi

nai

lvt!.o
n da.

Vme as for superstition more than money in interest not have (explan.)

"No. But you see, Umezawa As for me, even more than the superstition, I lack interest in money."
"Not reaU Bu ou see Umezawa. I have even less interest in mone than in tbe so rstition." (PL2)
iiya is a variation of iya, which is an informal "no": a regular iya can feel quite abrupt, but iiya has a "softer" feeling,
something like "not really."
na. like ne, can be used in the middle of a sentence as a kind of verbal pause. It can be like English you know/you see/
I mean."
kyiJmi = "interest" ; kyomi (ga) aru = " have an interest [in - ]," and kyiimi (ga) nai ="have no interest [in - ]."

nt

Ore ga
I

<

!i, ::.U> :it!1.!;~ fJ'i? fill~ ~ ~ T /J~ ~ :1t~.O


::. t f!.lj" f.!. o
wa, kono clrikyii kara ue
o rrakusu lriJiro o kangaertt
koto dake da.
(subj.) interest have what a' for this can h from hunger (obj.) eliminate method (obj.) think about thing/action only is

Konoue: ;tv

!J!JPA;:

~ ~ U)

kyiJmi am no

"The onl thin I have an interest in is thinkin about how to eliminate hun er from this earth." (PL2)

iflbl:

~/v""(

ShiJbai

rrante

t'-?"t'"'blt'v' lvf.!.o
do demo ii

11 da.

trade/business the likes o f is unimponant (explan.)

"I couldn' t care less about business." (PL2)


no here is like the pronoun 'what"; it's be ing modified by the complete thought/sentence ore ga kyomi aru (" I have an
interest in [it]") - "what I have an inte rest in." Combining this with koto dake da ("is the only thing") makes it "the
(continued on next page)

Mangajin 71

7'7~ - 0

72 Mangajin

After zero

[](continuedfrom pre1io11< pag~)

only thing I have an interest in is . .."


kono cllikyt7 kara ue o nakusu is a complete thought/sentence ("eliminate hunger from this earth") modifying Iloilo
("method") "a method to eliminate hunger from this earth"
"how to eliminate hunger from this earth." In tum,
kono chik)t7 kttra ue o nakusu hiihii o kangaeru is a complete thought/sentence ("think about how to eliminate hunger
from this eanh") modifying koto (lit.. "thing," but here essentially meaning "act'')
''the act of thinking about ..."
nante can be considered a colloquial equivalent of nado, or of an entire phrase like nado to iu kotolmono wa (literally,
"a thing/place/person/action that is something Like - "). It's often used to imply the preceding is ridiculousltriviaV
unimponant.
do demo ii is an idiomatic expression for "is unimponant/doesn't matter/doesn't make any difference," or more subjectively. "I don't care/1 can take it or leave it."

Umezawa:

Rn..t .. .
Ko1wue .. .

" Koooue .."


Umezawa: i-ll) 1::

II'>!!
Konoue me!!

(name) (derog.)

"Konoue that rat!" (PL I)


-me after a word referring to a person is a derogatory suflix showing contempt/derision/anger toward that person.

Umezawa:

~ (!) {1;)~~ tJr!!


Ano gizensha gaff

th:lt

an exclamation consisting of a subject plus


ga expresses very strong feeling about that
subject, whether of joy/delight, concern/
alarm, anger/rage, or contempt/disdain. The
context must be your guide as to exactly
what the feeling is.
kabushiki means "stock." and -gaisha is from
kaisha (''company/corporation'': in combinations, k changes tog for euphony) _. '1oint
stock company"
"Corp./Inc."

hypocrite (subj.)

"The damn h

rite!" (PLl)

:!f, Jft:fj{

Narration: 1991

Sen-kyiihyaku-kyt7jiiichi -nen. Tokyo


year (place)

1991

1991 Tok o
1t~
~~~t
Umezawa Kagaku Kabushiki-gaisha

Sign: t4ii;

(name)

chemistry joint stock company

Umezawa Chemical Co

ration

Executive: MR-99 ...


Emu-lint kyt7jfikyt7 . .. betsu 110 110
(!>ced variety)

"Akuma 110 Sl111shi."

other name (obj.)

devil

's

seed

" MR-99 a.k.a. ' the Devil' s Seed."' (PL2)


Executive: 201Fr11i,

K:k

(!)

JYI5$

liJf3l:~

t~r,

Nijiinen-mae, Ki!-dai 110 Kokogaku Kenkyii-shitsu ga,


20 years ago

K univ. of/at archeology

dept.

7 7/

:tJ I

Ashoka-o

1J' c.y

ftllt.~

JUill.J~

110 iseki kara

giizen

hakkutsu shita

(!)

(subj.) King A:.oka

iff~

ruins from by chance excavated/dug up

"Twenty years ago, the Archeology Department at K University happened to dig it up from the ruins of
King Asoka"

[see next J!anel]


-mae after a time word means "[that much time] ago."
giizen is a noun referring to a "chance occurrence," but it's a lso quite commonly used as an adverb (i.e.. as an equivalent
for giizen11i) meaning ''by chance/by accident/by coincidence."
hakkwsu shita i~ the plain/abrupt past form of hakkutsu suru ("excavate/dig up").
the entire second line is a complete thought/sentence modifying tsubo ("vesseVpot") in the next frame.
(!)
rjJ il' C;,
ISubo rw naka kara

Executive: :; ;f,

siitsubu.

vessel of inside from several grains

"several grains [emerged/came out] from inside a vessel."

''Twent ears a o several rains were found inside a vessel tbat the Archeology Department at K
ned to di u from the ruins of Kin Asoka." (PL2)
Universit ha
Executive: i*:ff:
Hozon

~f.i!

t~r

)Otat

ga

:ilf.z;-r

>a:-

~~t.:

node, idenshi

kanzen 11a

J:.-IJ'=>f~ (!)\!,

yokaua

preservation condition (subj.) was good because genes (obj.) complete/perfect

" Because the seeds were weU- reserved it was

-r:

~t}iliT .::.ct~rili* ,

karachi t!e toridasu


form

extract

kato ga deki,
were able to-and

sible to extract genes in com Jete fo

and .''

(PL2)
st7- is a prefix meaning "several." and tsllbu ="grain,'" so siitsubu ="several grains'': something like dete kita
("emerged/came out/appeared") is understood after siitsubu.
yokatta is the plain/abrupt past form of the adjective iilyoi ("good/fine'').
/Qridasu =''take out/extract," and koto ga deki is a continuing form of kato ga dekim, which afte r a plain, non-past verb
makes a potential ("can/be able to") form: toridasu koto ga deki = "is/was able to extract, and .. :

Mangajin 73

7' 7 :$1 -

:3>~

~ ~

t1

.ft t:. b

tf Ci> ~

iil"
.- tJ'
if
"f

-t
II

0 After Zero

Executive:

~ l "'(
soshite
and

~(!) llf~-r ~
sono idenshi o

-::>H:,
tsui-ni,

finally/ultimately !hose

~:
ni

l6:11
kinshu

#tl t.,,
isholal shi,

genes (obj.) close varieties to transplant/graft-and

~Jl
~1!-o .::.t 1: .lit~lt.: (J)"t"To
holsugen saseru lcoto ni seikD shito no desu.
expression cause

lhing in

succeeded (explan.)

"now, ftnally, we have succeeded In lntrodudnl those genes Into modem varieties ud maid tbeiD
viable." (PL3)
Ellecutive:

~tL

~"'( ~~t.:JT)~iJ'If

it!!

1111#

1:-t,

Sore mo subete anoia no okoge desu, Kamimuro HoluJse!!


that also all
thanks to you
is
(name)
Dr.

"And it is all thanks to you. Dr. Kamimura!" (PL3)


tsui-ni ="at long last/finally," implying "after much effort/many hanlships." or "after much anticipationlwaitiDg."
isholal shi is the stem form of isholat sum ("transplant/graft'' ); the stem form is being used as a cootinuing form: "tnasplantlgraft, and .. :
luJtsugen here implies idenshi horsugen ("gene expression"); its verb form is luJtsugen suru, which can mean either
"reveaUrnanifest/express" or 'be revealed/mani fested/expressed," and hotsugett soseru is the causative form of the verb:
cause to be manifested/expressed."
seikO shiro is the plain/abrupt past form of seikD suru ("succeed"); - ni sei/c4 suru ="succeed inial - ." Koto is literally
"thing," but here refers to an action, so - koro ni seikiJ shiro is literally "succeed in/at [the described action]."
anota ="you," and - no okage da/desu means "owes to/is thanks to -,"so anota no oluJge desu ="is thanks to you.'"

Executive: MR- 99 . . .
Emu-iin1 kyiijiikyii. . .
(seed variety)

t: lv ~ .tft

I: t

donna

demo

dojo

~*!- ~ l I: lilt 1fT o 1Hl:o


hiryo nashi de seiiku suru komugi.

what kind of soil even if it is fenilizcr without

grows

wheat

"MR-99-wbeat that will grow in any kind of soil without fertilizer." (PL2)
1: ~1=111;1: 191 <, L.. f.P t
IDH
(!)
{if(~
0) J: -? 1:
Executive: ~:ll
Kai!So

,;

hijo ni

tsuyoku, shilwmo

mamelw

no shokubwsu no yo ni

dryness/drought in extremely strong-and moreover legume/pulse family of

t;,(J)
.f!U.Y:
mizukora no konrya
own

*Ill~

-/J{

gr#.

m'IJ:Et... , -ftl

saikin

ga

chisso

kotei shi, sore

root nodule bacteria (subj.) nitrogen (obj.) fixes-and

plant

like

lt57- cl"t" lit1f-to

1J'~o

yobun to shite seiiku suru komugi.

that (obj.) nutrie nt

as

grows

wheat

"Wheat that is very strong against dryness, and moreover, like plants in the legume fami ly, has bacteria in
its own root nodules that fix nitrogen, and grows with that as its nutrient."

"Wheat that stands up extreme! well to drou ht conditions and on to of tha like lants of the le ume
rows b metabolizing nitrogen that has been fixed by bacteria in its own root nodules." (PL2)
famil
donna - demo= "no matter what kind of - it is," and " - nashi de= 'without - "; donna dojo demo hiryo nashi de seiiku
suru is a complete tho ught/sentence ("[it! grows in any kind of soil without fertilizer") modifying komugi. The "sentence"
is actually only a modified noun-a sentence fragment.
rsuyoku here is equivalent to tsuyokure, the-re form of the adjective tsuyoi ("is strong"); it's being used as a continuing
form: " is strong, and . .."
mameka ="legume family." and mameka no shokubutsu ="leguminous plant/legume."
kotei shi is the stem form of korei suru ("fix," here referring to the process of nitrogen fixation"); the stem is being
used as a continuing form: "fixes [nitrogen] and ..." This "sentence," too, is merely an elaborately modified noun.
~

Executive: MR-99

fl}~tlHf(:o

(!)

ilal:.

if t!lt t.: t '

wa Konoue Halwse dake da to,


(obj.) can resuscitate/regenerate one/person as for (name)
Dr.
only is (quote)

Emu-iiru kyiijiikyii o
(seed variety)

soisei dekiru

no

"As for the one who can reproduce MR-99. it is only Dr. Konoue,"
.fffit
ttl~
li !>-? l ~-?"'(It> i lt.: 7Jf,
Um~o SluJcho wa
osshane imashito
ga,
(name)

co. pres as for

was saying

butland/so

"President Umezawa was saying, but ..."


"President Umezawa was sayin& that no one but Dr .r-oooue could reproduce MR-99, so "
saisei dekiru is the potential ("can/be able to") form of soisei suru ("resuscitate/regenerate/reproduce'"); dekiru replaces
suru to malce the potential form of suru verbs. No here is like the pronoun "one," referring to a "person"; ~'""-6nl
kyiijiikyii o saisei dekiru is a complete thought/sentence ("[he] can reproduce MR-99") modifying this pronoun. and wa
marks it as the topic ("as for'')-+ "as for the one/person who can reproduce MR-99."
ossluJne imashita is the past form of osslratte imasu, from the PIA honorific verb ossluJru ("say").

Executive: i

~iJ'

masalw
hardly/never

~t:t.t~

.&tlo

lie'

(!)

:R.J"

1J{

anara lwdo

no

tensai

ga arawareru

you

li!!

to
wa!.'
ex tent that is genius (subj.) will appear (quote) as for

" I never imagined that a genius like ou wou~ear!" (Pl3-4)


masako emphasizes statements of incredulity/disbelief. Something like omowanakotta ("didn ' t think") is implied after
the quotati ve - to wa, making it like " I hardly thought/1 never imag ined - ."
X !Jodo no Y means "a Y that is to the extent of X." so anata hodo no rensai ="a genius that is to the extent of you"
''a genius of your caliber/a genius like you."

Mangajin 75

7' 7 9 -

0 After Zero

"'\ m-t

iik:SK

lli tt t .f
L- I,\~ {>

?j. -?~t

i:>F./J*
' 1Ji

5F ;g
~ :~ .:.
1Ji (.: LI,\

t:.

t7)

VF

*
t;~

I?

!_;

ft

1Ji Yl

n~

, 1iJf R

t.:'K~

t:.

_t

t7)

I
99

!i

m-A
....
I'll .=. -, ~
~ ;r.t
~

'in

*!!:!

*X~~ t~

tt -: n 7>
--c$r:;..
~

I.\ ,q
~ ~

'/)t

)..

'

"\~

~'tlt -t
~

i!~

/.._t7)

c~

-g ~

~ ~

c7).f.
ii ,1

1-

G.fAM

tl. t7) it R
1>1l!!.$t l

t) 1: 99
~?Jar

1t

'l

A-1-L
L
o L'

fJ~

~'

76 Mangajin

-c

t7) ,:

,,
,_ ....
r"~

!B~
~.,.

..J.

oif:
~

11.-

Kuze: llnJ:.

iJ' .. .

Konoue Hakase Jw .. .
(name)

Dr.

('1)

"Dr. Kiinoue, hunh . ." (PL2)


Kuze: ~b~ b
MR-99
li fft~

19:

:sf~ Q) '-'' -::> ~"'a-,

iJt

Somosomo Emu-iiru kyiijiikyii wa Umezawa Sllacllii ga kenkyii no


to begin with

''To
Kuze:

(seed variety)

as for (name)

K* tJ'~ iitih.I:IH.. t.: Q)f!.o


o, Ke-dai Jwra nusumidashito no da.

issai

co. pres.(subj.)research of

entirety (obj.) K uoiv. from stole out/away (explan.)

n with Preside nt Umezawa stole all the research on MR-99 from K Universit " (PL2)
'IJf ~.:. L.t.; lllf~ 'b *!!iii,
ff- ~
1: 1it:>;(l~t't.: 'IJf .. .

K*

Kl-dai ga

okoshita

sosllli mo kekkyoku,

jidan

ni

ochitsuita

ga .. .

K univ. (subj .) brought/filed lawsuit also in the end out-of-court settlement in culminated/ended

''The lawsuit rtled b K Universi

but

ended in an out-of-court settlement, but . . . (PL2)

issai is more commonly seen as a strong emphasizer for negatives ("entirely/absolutely [not/none]"). but here it's a noun
meaning ..entirety"; kenkyii no issai =''the entirety of the research.''
nusumidashita is the plain/abrupt past form of nusumidasu, from nusumu (..steal") and das11 ("take out").
okoshita is the plain/abrupt past form of okosu (lit., "raise," but when speaking of lawsuits, "bring/file"); Ke-dai ga
okoshita is a complete thought/sentence ("K University filed [it]") modifying soshO ("lawsuit").
ochitsuita is the plain/abrupt past form of ochitsuku, which can mean ..conclude/end/cu]mjnate [in]."

Kuze:

-fQ)~ ,

.sono sai,

shachii wa Konoue Hakase ni taishite

on that occasion co. pres. a~ for (name)

Dr.

against

aranu

hibo

chiisho

shi,

unfounded s lander/defamation slander/defamation (obj.) did-and

"at that time President Umezawa made unfounded slanderous and defamatory statements a ainst
Dr. Konoue, a nd ...
.i:>tJ'If-c'"
t~}.
li K*
tJ'~ ill.v'/ H ~ tt"t"L.i:d.: o
okage de

wa Ke-dai kara

oi-dasarete shimal/a.

thanks to that the doctor as for K univ. from

hakase

was driven out-(rcgret)

''thanks to that Dr. Konoue was driven out of K University." (PL2)


Kuze: il? ttll c'
Q) ~~ .e;
iJt, /f li
..!!.i tt-r,
Are hodo

no gakuslw ga. ima

that extenllcalibcr of

wa megumarez.u.

scholar (subj.) now as for is unblessed-and

*HI -'< c

c "' 7 o

=:ii!E

*?

-c'"

3rd-rate

univ.

at in straitened manner research (obj.) is continuing (quote) say

sanryii daigaku de

lwsoboso to

:sf)E

kenkyt7

a- ~tt"t"v'l.>

o tsuzukete iru

to

iu.

"The sa this brilliant scholar has now been reduced to carrying on his research with mjnimal
resources a t a third-ra te univers ity," (PL.2)
hibo and chiisho are synonyms, both meaning "slander/de famation": both are suru verbs. Shi is the stem form of suru,
here acting as a continuing form: "did/made [slanderous/de famatory statements I and .. .''
okage de ("owing to that/thanks to that"') is a form of the - no olwge daldesu expression seen above, but "'thanks to
that'' in this case is a statement of blame rather than credit.
oidasarete is the -te fonn of oidasareru (" be driven out'"). passive form of oidasu ('"drive out" ): shimatla after the -te
form of a verb implies the action was undesirablc/regreuablc.

[II

Kuze:

rn,M

.:C 7 Jv Q)
f!. o
li ~;$
moraru no mandai da.
wa kigyo
this one/thing o.s for corporate morals/ethics of issue/problem is

::. "'""?

Koitsu

"Cor
Kuze:

flj~

Rieki

rate ethics are at issue here." (PL2)


Q)!i
1j:~ =F~
a- i!li'lv
rw tame
nara shudan 0
era ban

Erofits for the purpose of if it is

~ i!.t ~ lvo
Kuze-san.

Hal?

" Yes?" (PL3)


Ita!? is a somewhat stanled but fo rmal yes?/what?"

Kamimura: 4-8 iJ' ~

.f;1.
iJt
:st~0036Si)
Q)
Kyo kara watashi ga Kenkyii Kaihatsu-bu no
(subj.)

MR-99
aEmu-iiru kyt1jt7kyii o
(seed variety)

li ...
wa ...

Kuze: li -::> ?

"Mr. Kuze." (PL3)

today from

Q)

no

for the sake of rofit is ..."

(n;une-hon.)

[!]

iu

means (obj.) not select (quote) say thing/attitude as for

'The attitude that

GJ Kamimura:

c a7
to

eraban is a contraction of
erabanai ("not select"), negative of erabu (''select"), but in
this case erabanoi means "not
be selective/picky": shudan o
erabanai = ..not be selective
about means/methods" - ''be
willing to do anything."

R&D Dept.

iift
sat-yusen

~~

bucho

to

"'?
iu

.:. c
koto

of dept. head (quote) say thing/situation

-r--t

1Jt,

desu ga,
is

but

$lj{
L. ""( -t Q)fl!l. 1: 7 "J -T L. ""( v' l.> ~
li if:> IJ i -t:t lv -nro
jikii to shite sono hoka ni tatchi shite iru hima wa arimasen ga.

(obj.) highest priority item

as

other things on

touching

time as for

not have

but

"Beginning today, I am head of the R&D Department, but with MR-99 being the highest priority Item,
I won't have time to deal with an else." (PL3)
tatchi is from the English 'touch"; tatchi slrite iru is from the verb tatchi suru ("touch," or by extension. "meddle with/
take a hand in").
ga ("but") can be thought of as implying something like " but is that lilcely to be a problem?'' She's really just telling him the
way things will be, but implying that she 's inte!"Csted in his response "softens'' the message.
Mangajin 77

7' 7 ? - 0 After Zero

~!

~I>
tJ '

l86

t:. t:. ~

(/) IJ IJ>
"[(;,

-t.:1..
0

' {>

t) ! A
! -r ..f

l:

~tt7:>

T7

Tjj(J)
e t)

IJ"t.t

fiiJ .: fA

{> (/) IJ~

~t1)~
c:~u
~

t:. (:

f;t(/)}..

\. ' :r.

-=>

.At:.

"[~(/)

T ~ l.t
J:

78 Mangajin

l.t '

t)

.At
'
~'/
-r

l.t

-=>A

c -=>

IA'I"

-t~
e

"LA. (J)

99

tJ~~ ~

]{X

l .:t,

t.lfL

cc

(/)(/)'"[

tJ> (/)

-=>l:-A

l' ~

-rM

~~u

fLIWl\.'

M 11 :

'

ftl1.

~~
-=> 'tit
-r~

i,'

'

$_

o-

-t~

tJ>

Kuze:

"'~,

(>1?0/v

/yo,

mochiron sono hoka no koihotsu

ml~

-fc7)-fjgc7)

(interj.) of course

other

fl.

li, .::ni"t'

)iJ!IJ

wa. kore made

-diiri

~t) L~

1Jf

warashi ga

development as for until now the srune as

IJ iTo

torishikirimasu.

(subj.) will manage/supervise

' 'That' ll be fine. I will of course continue to handle aU other deveJo ment ro'ects as I have before." (PL3)
Kuze: c
;J-:> "( (> , fi c lv C' c7) A. ~ 7 7 li
MR-99
c7)
~ .fl
"t'T tro
To

iue mo,

hotondo no

sutaffu

most of

staff

(quote) even if say

wa Emu-iiru kyiijakyii no
as for

(seed variety)

yam

desu go.

of/for necessary pernonnel is/are but

"Not that that means much, since most of the staff are assigned to MR-99." (PL3)
iya is an informal "no: here implying "No, it won't be a problem'' (answering her implied question) .... 'That'll be fine."
torishikirimasu is the PL3 form of torishikiru ("manage/run/be in charge of').
itte mo is a conditional "even if' form of iu ("say"). To itte mo often introduces a qualifying statement that sheds different
light on what one has just said.

Kuze: ;t;h,
Mii,

fflH~
fill1&:: c7) #. 1.:1;t k~b L"'"t"TiJt
bucho hosa no watashi ni wa f usawashii desu ga

(interj.) dept. head asst. (=)

lime

for

is suited/befits

bo

mii is a "warm-up" or pause word


that adapts to fit its context: " I
mean/you know/really/anyway/of
course."

ne.

but (colloq.)

"Anyway, it is suited to r who am the assistant department head."


"Anyway, it befits my role as assistant department head." (PL3)

@]

Kamimura: ~t!!:~lv,

~-:>"(.fd~ !T 1Jf,
itte okimasu ga,

-tl

Kuze-san,

hitokoto

(name-hon.) one word/thing

will say now

but

''Mr. Kuze there's one thin I'd like to make clear from the be
Kamimura: fl..
1Jt .:. c7) ~t 1.: A :>f.:. c7) l:i, fPJ (> ~ t.f. t.:. c7) :f-.A
watashi ga k01w kaisha
I

ni hailla

IW

." (PL3)
~

wa, nanimo anara no poswo

(subj.) 1his company into entered (nom.) as for [not] at all

your

13 t:. ~ t.f. "' lv "t"T .t o


ubau tame ja nai 11 desu yo.

post/job (obj.) steal purpose

is not

(explan.)(emph.)

"As for my entering this company, it is not at all for the purpose of stealing your job."
''I didn't 'oin this com an because I wanted to take awa our 'ob." (PL3)
itte is the te fonn of iu ("say"). and okimasu is the PL3 form of oku, which after the te form of a verb implies the action is
done now/ahead of time in preparation for some future need; here the feeHng is that she wants to head off any later misun
derstanding by making one thing clear now/up front/at the beginning.
haitta is the plain/abrupt past form of IUJiru (here meaning "enter/join [a company]"). No is a nominalizer that makes the
complete/thought sentence Watashi ga kono kaisiUJ 11i haitta ("l joined this company") act as a single noun, and wa ("as
for") marks that noun as the topic
as for my joining this company:
nanimo combines with a negative later in the semence to mean "not anything/in no way/not at all.''
tame ja nai is the the negative form of tame do/desu, which after a verb (or complete sentence) means ''in order to [do the
actionJ/for the purpose of [doing the action]."
ki ,; itta is the plain/abrupt past
form of ki ni iru ("like/be
pleased with").
1J< ~U.:}v:>f.:. iJ'i? .:.-t- ~-?"( :JlU.:. c7)"t"To . yarre kira is the plain/abrupt past
Shacho no
hirogara
ga ki ni itta kara koso yatte kita no desu.
form of yatte kuru. where kuru
co. pre~. s character/personality (subj.)
liked
because {emph.)
came
{explan.)
="come": yatte kuru typically
r came here because I liked the president's c haracter.''
implies coming over consider" 1 joined because I was drawn to the president's personality." (PL3)
able distance or through special
e ffort/circumstances.

FX: .::. ..; !


Ni! (effect of a grin)
Kamimura : Uti c7)
AM

Kuze: ~

li

Rui

wa tomo

ll'}<,s.;
yobu

~H
'tc~
ka. Kamimura Joshi

iJ'o

kind/type as for friend (obj.) calls/attracts (?)

''Like are drawn to like I su

fl. c7)
watashi no

Kuze: (>-?,
Mo,

now/any more lime

(name)

(>

~1$.c7)mnlv

.A!It t!.o

mo etai IW shiren jinbutsu da.

(title) too/also mysterious

personage is

. Ms. Kamimura is a m sterious one too." (PL2)

lli'J H
jogen

t.f.
nado

li1t b

lltl"'-r <nlvo

darema

kiite Jmren.

's advice/counsel something like [notl anyone/no one won't listen-(to me)

''No one's interested in m o lnions an more.'' (PL2)


rui wa tomo o yobu (Lit., "those of a kind attract friends/like kind") is one of several similar expressions essentially
equivalent to "birds of a feather flock together."
joshi can be used as a title of respect for any woman, but tends to be used moslly for politicians, scholars, writers, and other
intellectual types.
kiite is the te form of kiku ("listen to"), and kure11 is a contraction of kurenai, negative of kurem. which after the -te
fom1 of a verb implies ''[do the action] to/for me.''

K uze: 7 7 .. .
Ft7 ... (sigh)
c7) f!-=f iJ'o
Akuma no shushi ka.

Kuze: !!Jl
devil

's

seeds

('?)

"The Devil's Seeds hunh . . ." (PL2)

the question panicle ka is often used rhetorically


when contemplating something to oneself, with
lhe feeling of .. _, hunh?/is it?"
(continued 011 next poge)

Mangajin 79

7 7 $1 -

80 Mangajin

0 After Zero

(cominu~d from previous page)

Book:

-il~=f

f'lf'F

--

ldenshi

Sosa

gene

1~~

to Rinri

manipulation and ethics

il&..t

.Z

Konoue

Kazuyuki

(surname) (given name)

The Ethics of Gene Mani ulation Konoue Kazu uki


Narration: 1992
Sen-kyl711yaku-kyiijiini -nen,
1992

Tai

year Thailand

1992 Thailand
Umezawa: t"I~C:> l-v'
Subarashii

lilt*

t.:!!

seika

daff

wooderfuVspectacular results/fruits is

"The results are spectacular!" (PL2)


seika refers to the 'results/accomplishments/fruits" of an endeavor.

Umezawa: T A

r it!!

Tesuto

-chi

1:

~lvf.!.

ni

eranda

wa.

kyassaba

test

lands/plot for/as selected this place as for

':!

.z
lraenakaua

..$:
kusa ippon

1: 1j: 1.1' -:d.=

grass I count

didn't grow

.ll!!h

>;:-

clriryoku

li, :f"" ;;-It I< l"


koko

PJj1j: lv f!.
rokoro nan da

cassava

de

IV.>i \,\'::>

<L- -c'

suirsukushire,

by/with fertility (obj.) suck up/absorb completely-and

-t'"!!
<.Off

place (is-explan.) (cmph.)

' 'This place we selected as our test..Q!Qlilad been com


not a blade of grass rew here.'' (PL2)

letel~eted

of its fertility J!y_cassava, and

eranda is the plain/abrupt past form of erabu (""select/choose"), and ni mark~ reslllo-chi as the purpose for which the
place was chosen. Tesuro-chi ni eranda is a complete thought/sentence ("[wei chose lit] for/as a test plot") modifying
koko ("here/this place"), and wa marks koko as the topic: as for this place that we chose for our test plot...."
sui- is the stem of the verb suu ("suck in/suck up/absorb''), and -rsukushire is the-re form of -tsukusu, a verb suffix
meaning "I do] fully/complete ly/exhaustively/down to the last bit."
;;t>: -Iron (pronounced -bon or -ppon after certain numbers) is the counter suffix for long. slender things, including blades
of grass; kusa ippon ="one blade of grass."
Jraenakaua is the past form of haenai, the negative form of haeru ("[a plant] comes up/grows''). Kusa ippon lraenakaua
is a complete thought/sentence ('' not one blade of grass grew [thereI") modifying tokoro ("place").
cassava is grown for its tuberous roots. which are used for food. Its power to draw nutrients from the soil is strong. making
it easy to cultivate.

Umezawa: .:./vlj:

::f:Q)

Konna

fumo no

.It!! 1:

MR- 99

li

JVlll:

tochi ni Emu-iiru ky17jiikyii wa migoro ni

this kind of infenilelbarreo land o n

(seed variety)

>;:-

-?Itt.:!!

mi

rsuketa!!

as for splendidly fruit/grain (obj.) attached/bore

''Even on this infertile land., the MR-99 has roduced s lendid beads of grain." (PL2)
migoto comes from miru ("see") and koto ("thing''; k changes to g for euphony), implying "something to see"; migoto ni =
"in a manner that is something to see''__. "beautifully/brilliantly/masterfully/splendidly."
mi might be described as the " bearing part" of plants- i.e., "seeds/grains/nutslberries/fruirs''- and tsukera is the plain/
abrupt past form of rsukeru ("attach." or when speaking of mi, "bear").

GJ

Kamimura: i.H6-c" t -J .::."~"'iT, .fii*


Omedero gozaimasu,
congratulations

U!*o

Umezawa Shaclro.
(name)

co. pres.

"Con ratulations, sir." (PL3-4)


Umezawa: ;(!
li ~ <
k L- f.=
"{:1t
Kimi wa marraku
you

raislrira

f.!.

J: o

gakuslra da

yo.

as for indeed admirable/amazing scholar arc (emph.)

omedero go::aimasu is a congratulatory phrase/greeting


used for a wide variety of joyful/auspicious occasions.
marraku (lit., "completely/entirely") here is used like
"indeed/truly" to emphasize raishira.
raishira bas ically means "considerable/quite some,"
and it implies admiration, wonder, or even amazement
at the thi ng or person modified.

" You a re a trul amazing scholar." (PL2)


[}] Kamlmura: .:. h

~~ (J) ~ {> .
slracho 1w yume mo ...

1:

Kore de
this

with co. preslyou 's dream

Japanese speakers often refer to their listeners


by name or title when an English speaker
would say "you.'' and no makes a possessive,
so slraclrii no here is like 'your."

also

" With this, your dream, too [can be attained]."

"Now you can attain your dream." (PL3 implied)


Umezawa: -f-?
So
that way

f.!.!!
MR- 99
l" flt-W- (J) Hi+ ill~
daff Emu-liru Jcytlj17ky17 de sekai no slwshi sangyo
is

(seed name)

wi th world

's

seed

t
o

Jti\CT J.:,
shilrai suru

Q)f.!.!!
no da!f

industry (obj.) will rule/take over (explan.)

"That's right! With MR-99 I'll rule the world's seed industry!" (PL2)

Mangajin 81

Ojiisama:

-? -? t.:- ! !

:::n, -t:

~ -? t.:

~~!

Yattii!!

Tsui-ni

katta

zo!!

did

finally

bought (emph.)

' 'I did it! I finally bought one!" (PL2)

Mammoth-like Ojosama!!
by 1\'iil ED ti Jv I Okada Garu

yaua is the plain/abrupt past form of yaru ("do"); it's used as an exclamation of joy, like "1/he did it!" or "All right!/Yeah!/Hooray!"
tsui-ni ="at long last/finally."
zo is a rough/masculine particle for emphasis, but female speakers can use
it for special effect in informal siruations (e.g., talking to kids or among
close friends) or when speaking to themselves.

Qjsam a: -) tL l v' 1j
Ureshii

-? t.:

C, -) tL l v' 1j!
tiara ureshii na!

na

am happy (colloq.) (quote) am happy (colloq.)

"I'm

ha

SOOO

~y_,

ohhh so happy!" (PL2)

Sound FX: -) v'- lv


Uiin

Rrreee (whir/whine of computer)


Ojosama: -"..H e,
( interj.)

..
1:l

-"'

..c

00

'?'

1j

.,

.A .,.

:::l

-5
"0

01)

"~
l!l

..c

00

;:

7 A tJ'o

iJt

ga

mausu ka.

this (subj.) mouse

(?)

" Hmm, so this is a mouse, is it?" (PL2)

..c

~"

.: tL
kore

ip '-

In

/lara is a contraction of 10 itlara, a conditional ("if/when") form of the


quotative to iu ("say"). The pattern X tiara X essentially says " when l say
X, I really mean X" and serves as a very e mphatic way to express a view
or feeling. The colloquial particle na here also adds e mphasis.
ka literally makes the second line a question ("Is this a mouse?"), but the
question form is often used rhetorically when observing/confirming something for oneself. with the fee ling of "So this is - , is it?/1 guess/it seems."
Yoshi!!

~c
-~

Co
c

>.

-"'

{?.

'"

-55

"

-"'

;"

u.
>.

-"'

-a
0\
0\

.:

0.

.:
"2
..c

.!!!

::0
:::l

0.

.. .

ness and "


yoshi is an interjection that signals the speaker is ready to/about to begin
an action.

w
0

.!f!~

sassoku . . .

all right then/in that case promptly

Ja,

"All right then, I will immediately ..."


" All right, then, I think I ' D get right down to busi-

..c

t: ~ ,

Ojiisama: J: l !!

o osama:

7 A 1: ~WJ

mausu

ni namae

mouse

to

demo

tsukeru ka.

name or something attach

(?)

"Shall I name the mouse or something?"


" name the mouse." (PL2)
X.- t ,
X.- t, 7 ;; ;:\'- - 7 7 A, ;J :r_ 1)- ,

e to,

E to,

urn/let's see urn/let's see

Makkii Mausu,

Jerii,

(name)

(name)

"Urn let's see Mack Mouse J erry_,__,__,"


-)-lv , 7-.::L-*, -7-.::L-JlJJ . . .
Dn,

Chiita,

Chiisuke .. .

hmm

(name)

(name)

" Hmm, Chuta, Chiisuke . . ."


Narration: !>It'!!
Oi.'!

ii: -J

t! 0!

Chigau

daro!

hey is different/wrong probably/surely

Hey! You know that's not what it's about!" (PL2)


namae o tsukeru = "attach/g ive [something] a name" - " name [some-

.,i':.

thing]." Demo literally means "or something/someone/someplace,'' but


here it's best thought of merely as a "softener."
the question indicated by ka is again purely rhetorical; a rhetorical question
typically assumes an affirmative answer, and in this case it's essentially like
saying "Will Ushall I -? Yes, I think I shall - " - "I think I'll - ."
e to and an both imply an effort to think of something: " uhh/umllet's see."
chii is the sound a mouse-the live kind- makes, and -ta and -suke are
common endings for boys' names.
daro (or darif) makes a conjecture ("surely/probably - "), but, especially
when the last vowel is short, it can have the feeling o f "you surely know
that - " or " you know very well that - ."

-ci
.,

"'~

l!l

..c

00

;:

<
~

"
"

"0

.:.:

82 Mangajin

Magazine: 1~Jf
Gaishi

-kei

i1i

~U

1Jt

kigyo

siisha

ga

foreign capital affiliated enterprises several companies (subj.)

1: J: ~m
ni yoru satyo

Internet

on relies hiring (obj.) implemented

1 ;; ? -

Mammoth-like Ojosama!!
by fll'iiiE 7l Jv I Okada Garu
~ 1'
~/

~$7

.F I

1cf:f.
~

'Y

Di t:

~ -{
:;...-

He,

* jf

*'
Ii

(interj.)

I ti'
1

(?)

Qjosama : J: 0 L.. '~'<I?!!


Yosshli!!

;fl.
b tlf546 c i' 1.:> n' - !
Watashi mo hajimeru to suru kli!

all right

"All ri ht then. Let's et ri ht to it!" (PL2)

Ol)

-g

Ol)

.=
Ol)

c::
c
.2

c fb.

.0 'MS

'lp~

1 .0

[I)

"'

!::

Co
c

UJ

>.

""'
{!.

..

.=

:!J

.&>

"'>.

Ll.

.&>

~
.:

Q.

.:

"0

"

.=
.~

::0

"'Q.

i?!

Li:

'3
~
~

!:!
.=
Cl)
~

'C::

<
2

begin

shall I do?

Gli (sound of automatic door motor)

StoreKee r : "';-? l...~ll'iit- o


lrasshaimasi.
welcome/come in

" Come rl ht in!" (PL4)

.=

also

Sound FX: 1f- -:;

;;

.~

yosshli is a spirited variation of yoshi, an interjection used when the


speaker is ready to/about to begin an action.
to suru ka after a plain. non-past verb is like a rhetorical question, "shall
Uwe [do the action]?" An affirmative answer is assumed.

-.;

"'

ka.

internet

"'

"'
~

lntlinetto

"'
Ll.
"'
.=

0
0

~.bi
jisshi

sii- is a prefix meaning "several." and -sha refers to kaisha ("company").


so siisha = "several companies."
- ni yoru means "that relies on -"; l11tlinetto ni yom saiyo= " hiring that
relies on the Internet" ..... " hiring via the Internet."
saiyi5 refers to the ''use'employment'' of something for a particular pwpose,
or of a person for a job ...... "hlring:'1be verb form is saiyi5 suru (''use/hire").
jisshi here impliesjisshi suru ("implement [a plan/system/policy]").

.&>

"0

~
o

"H.mm, internet, bunh?" (PL2)

.;
.=

0"

"

Several finns affiliated with foreign capital are implementing hiring via the Internet
Forei Finns 1m lement Hirin via Internet
O 'iisama: ......__, 1' / ? - _:f, :; 1- -IJ' o

"'" I ~91-

:r- :;1

lntiinetto

O'iisama:

i;(J)- ...

Ano . ..

''Umm, excuse me, but

"

ani5 is a hesiwlion word similar to "uhh/um." It's often used to get


someone's attention, essentially Like "Excuse me."

Ojosama: 1' / ? - ;f, ;~ 1lnrlineuo


Internet

~ "'o

lwdasai.
please give me

" I'd like an internet


Arrow: J: < hn' -? 't'~"'
Yoku
well

lease." (PL3)

wakauenai
not under<aand

Doesn' t have a clue

rugn: 7 vI!
Terebi

Televisions

Arrow: fiT
Machi

(J)

fiT~~~

no

denkiya-san

lv

town/neighborhood of elec. appliance shop(hon.)

Owner of the local aQ(!Iiance store


Store Keeper: J;t?
Ha?

" Huh?" (PL3)


yoku is the adverb 'we ll," or when modifying a negative, " not very well";
wakauenai is a comraction of wakaue inai ("don't/doesn't understand"),
so yokuwakauenai is literally ''doesn't understand very well"-usually a
euphemism for "doesn't understand at all"
''doesn't have a clue."
when written ili, maclri tends to refer to streets/districts/quarters!
neighborhoods within a larger town or city rather than to an entire town.
the suffix -yo can refer either 10 the shop itself or to the person who owns/
runs it: especially in the Iauer case. -san is often added.
Mangajin 83

Book Review
(continued from page 55)

world of manga was a panel in which General Douglas


MacArthur, kneeling and bound but s till wearing his
sunglasses, has his head taken off in a clean slice by a Japanese
Imperial Army officer. The scene- hardly the most graphic
in this particular story-<:omes from ''Planet of the Jap," which
describes an alternate reality in which Japan and Germany
win World War II. The artist, Maruo Suehiro, draws in a
photorealistic style, a perfect
medium for his disturbing, often
startlingly exp licit images.
("Maruo draws nightmares,"
Schodt writes in Dreamland.)
But " Planet of the Jap" is not
the only disquieting manga in
Comics Underground Japan ,
and it is certainly not the most
bizarre. The collection ranges all
over the map, both in subject
matter and a rtistic style, with
manga that d a rkly satirize
everything from high-school
cliques to sadistic bosses. Many
of the works take J apanese
societal norms and exaggerate them to absurdity, or play them
out against a richly surreal backdrop (the best example of this
is Muddy Wehara's "Bigger and Better," which has salarymen
slaying monsters and riding about on the backs of giant turtles).
As hard as I've tried
to convince myself that
there is a unifying theme
shared by these disparate
alternative manga, I can
find none. I've come to
be lieve that the on ly
common creative thread
a mong them is simply
that of being completely
unlike any other manga
be in g publis hed today, which is probably
what ma kes them so
refreshing. If manga is
Japan's ongoing national
dialogue, then Comics
Underg round Japan
performs an essential service by amplifying the offbeat voices
of dissent.

Mammoth-like Ojosama!!
by !Ril IIl il Jt..- I Okada Garu

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Ian Baldwin is a freelance writer based in New York City.


disquieting = '!'t\il t.: fuon na s lay
~ ;t t.: samazama na

= fiT korosu disparate =

t:

;t

~
"
"
0""'"
0

"0

iQ)

84 Mangajin

0.

o~:

1 ;.,~ -~ '/
/nt6netto-yii

t-JJJ 1:
ni

:::1;., ~ ; 1 - ~lconpyiitii

Internet-purpose

for

computer

n '? t.:
lwtta

'll'~
kora

!3ii

-t? 1:. -t!."''o

o-kone

chiJdai.

bought because (hoo.)-money please give me

bou&ht a computer to use tbe Internet, so I need some money."


0......: aamlb
1." ft?
Q)o
"I

(PL2)

ShiisholallwtsudO de tsuk.au no.


in will use (explao.)

job search

"I'm going to use it in my job search." (PL2)


Mother: L. J:.? fJf~lt' btl.o
SM ga nai
wane.

<

~?
lkura?

"''

can't be helped (fern. colloq.) bow much

"You're hopeless. How much do you need?" (PL2)


the suffix -yo means "purpose,'' and --yo ni ="for the purpose of - /ro use with - ."
k.ana is the plain/abrupt past form of kou ("buy"); o, to mark konpyiitii as the direct object of this verb, has been omitted,
as it often is in coUoquial speech.
chOdai is an informal "(please) give me/let me have."
shiislwku is a noun for "getting a regular/permanent job'' and kotsudo refers to activity" that is directed toward a specific
purpose, so shiishoku kotsudo ="job search."
shlf ga nai is an expression for "there's no help for it/it can't be he lped." Sometimes it's used to express exasperation
with one's listener: "there's no help for you/you're impossible/you' re hopeless."

Q 'osama: ; 7 1Sofuto

'b ?;><: s7JJII


;Jjlo
mo fukumele goman-en hodo.

software also including

50.000

approx.

"lncludin the software around 50 000." (PL2)


Mother: ~ ~ -

*"''

:fr.9U:

Ara,

1g01

to

yasui

Q)

tl.o

no

ne.

(interj.) surprising ly cheap/inexpensive (explan.)(colloq.)

"Oh, it's surprisingly cheap, isn' t it?"

"Wow, that's really cheap." (PL2)


~:

*11
Kazoku

"f
de

fl~
1JJ.(.,~JJI
tsukaeru shoshinsha-yo

(J)

1w

sofwo is short for ; 7 ~ ? .:r. 7 sofw o uea. the kalakana rendering of the English word. "software."
f ukumete is the -te form o f f ukumeru ("include").
hodo after a number literally implies that the number
is an approximation, but it's also used as a "softener"
in many cases when there's nothing really approximate about the figure.
ara is a feminine interjection showing surprise.
''Oh!/Oh?/Oh my!!Hey!"

f!.'IJ~... lililio
da kara... lw ha ha.

family (scope) cao use beginner-purpose (mod.) is because

(laugh)

'"That's because it's a model for novices, that the whole family can use. Ha ha ha.'' (PL2)
Mother: C~~,
-i?J:.-?C ~t?-tt<: .t o
Jli,

chotto

then/in that case a little

yarasete

yo.

let me do (emph.)

"Then let me try it out a little." (PL2)


tsukoeru is the potential ("can/be able to'') form of lsukau ("use"); de marks kazoku ("family") as the scope/range of
those who can use it.
kozoku de tsukoeru is a complete thought/sentence ("the whole family can use it") modifying shoshinsha-yo IW.
shoshinslu:l-yo no here implies shoshinsha-yo no konpyl1tii= "a computer for beginners/novices." No is used to modify
one noun with another (the first modifies the second), but sometimes the noun being modified can be left understood
and not explicitly stated.
yarasete is the -te form of yaraseru. the causative ("make/let") form of the verb yam ("do"); the -te form of a verb is
often used to make an informal request.

Mother: ::. n 1."

:<$:~ ~:

Kore de homo,;
this

with

really

1 /

~- ;f, y
f11tiinello

Internet

1- 1Jt
ga

i!l!~
tsukaeru

Q)?

no?

(subj.) can usc (explan.-?)

"Can ou reall use the Internet with this?" (PL2)


Mother : .:f- ;- 1-' li e:::. "- fi? t.:. Q)
fJ' ~ o
Kiibodo
keyboard

11a

doko e

as for where to

iua

110

kana?

went (explan.) I "'onder

" I wonder where it mig ht be that Lhe keyboard went?"


" Where's the ke board?" (PL2)
t!. ~<f.>o
O 'osama: ~tl;t? ~
Are?

Hen
da 110.
(interj.) strange/odd is (colloq.)

" Hmm? That's stran e." (PL2)


asking a question with no is very common in informal speech. especially among female speakers and children.
ilia is the plain/abrupt past form of iku ("go'').
with a question word, 110 ko IW ? asks a question like "I wonder who/what/where it might be that - ,'' which is often just
a "softer"/more polite way of asking ''Who/what/where is - ?"
are? (or are?) is an interjection of surprise/bewilderment when someth ing is not as expected. She apparently had not
noticed the lack of a keyboard until her mother asked abou t it- or (more likely) she is merely pretending that is the case.
the elongated nii adds emphasis, showing quite strong feeling about 1hc observation.

Mangajin 85

pop japanese

Slang Archaeologist
Lately I've been working on what I
selling these off for almost nothcall "A Colloquial History of the
ing so they could eat. Minshuka
Postwar Era," although a history o f
(!It; ft, "democratization") was
colloquialisms is what it is . The
the ne w creed for a population
living in barakku (1~7 'J 7, "barbu zzwords for a g iven year say
everything about that time. They also
rac ks," i.e., makeshift shacks and
g ive you loads to talk about w ith
temporary shelters).
people who used the m when they
1946 was a year when many a
were hot.
gentleman was accused of senpan
(~~[!., "war crimes") and many a
Here are the entries for 1945 and
1946, the first two years in the surlady accused of being a panpan
vey. Look for samples from other
(I ~/ ~ ~ /, a " pompom" girl, from
decades in column to come- a nd
the English phrase for cheerleaders a nd s trippers who s hake
please let me know if you catch mistakes. Japan, Japanese, and Japanese
po mpoms for the ir audiences; the
connotation in Japanese was "prosspeakers have mutated so radically in
titute"). An onrii (:t / 1) - ,
a half-century that even native speakers confess to dire uncertainty about
"only") was a woman who reserved her favors for a particular
their own interpretations.
1945 will be remembered- by
G l , who may or may not have
returned the courtesy. "A, sii," that
those who survived it- as the year
when the aerial bombardment of
sagacious-sounding expression
mainland Japan's urban centers by
which, if it means anything, means
biikii ( B0, "bastards in B-29s")
almost
the same thing in English
William Marsh
ki lied nearly I 00,000 people in a
and Japanese (Ahhh ... is that
single night a nd eventually le ft 13
so?), became a staple of commumillion homeless. Japan's leaders respo nded to the hopeless
nication between the occupiers and the occupants of Japan, as
situation with fanatical slogans like lcllioku gyokusai (- mE
did contentious discussions regarding the individual who, once
rF, " let 100 million jewels shatter,'" that is, die honorably), a locally revered as a god, had renounced his own divinity and
become a ningen-tennii (A. [U] -R!:l), or human emperor. Barreference to their plan to defend the homeland by turning the
entire populatio n (the n roughly I00 million) into a suicide
room debates on this subject might have been feistier had
alcohol more potable than the ho me-brew d regs known as
force. Men known as nikudan (lkJ~iji. "bombs of flesh") would
paddle o ut to approaching ships in barrels attached to torpekasutori (faiR ~) ) been available. Besides the nasty beverages
does; children and mothers would charge tanks with bamboo
and the blasted landscape, the ubiquity of furiiji (i~~~~). vaspears. A second slogan of that time, Shinslriifwnetsu (fll!tli
grant children who were the sole survivors of bombed homes,
If' iii., the " land of the gods" [Japan] will not disappear), now added to the melancholy. No program commanded as muc h
seems prophetic: in 1996, a large number of Japanese high
attention as the tazunebilo no j ikan (~tl A Q) ~ PJJ, "missingschool students expressed the view that success in rebuilding
person hour") o n the radio, via which survivors of (or returnees to) bombed areas tried to discover whether other members
its economy and explo iting its relationship with the United
States meant Japan had won World War n . Be that as it may,
of the household might still be out there somewhere, alive. As
the pika-don (I! tJ r' /' "fl ash thud," the description given
a hedge against despair and destitution, the rara-busshi ( 7 7
~it. handouts from the Licensed Agencies for Relief of Asia,
by survivors of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima) was
soon followed by formal surrender. W ith the country's infraor LARA) played a role. Meanwhile, the she ll-shocked resistructure in ruins and agricultura l and other production disdents of Japan began to hear talk of tetsu no kiiten (~Q) tJ rupted, a yamiiclli (fHI rti, " black market") flourished and people
7 / ), the Iro n Curtain. Slang imports from the Western side
learned the art of kaidashi (!'!III L.., " foraging for food"). As
thereof for 1946 included kamu kamu, eburibodei ("Come,
the Shi11chiigu11 (illi.lttW:, "Occupation forces") took up posicome, everybody," the phrase used by James Harris, a poputions, the time had come for the nation's citizens to express
lar Japanese-British teacher of English, to introduce his radio
ichioku sii-za11ge (- {t!f.tii:Ufii, "the collective penitence of 100
how), and llabalraba-"hubba, hubba," that rah-rah chant then
million") and cope with their kyodatsu jiitai (~l!litl(!.\!1, prosmuc h beloved by army rats from the USA.
tration/collapse/desponde ncy). Even the once-mighty were reduced to takenoko-seikatsu (r(l) (-tf:.$, " bamboo-shoot livWillia m Marsh (marshbil@gol.com) is a freelance writer based
ing"), stripping off layer upon layer of expensive clothes and
in Tolryo.

by

92 Mangajin

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