According to the Japan Times, only 5% of the debris in the Tohoku region from last year’s tsunami has actually been disposed of (generally meaning incineration). Apparently even debris outside the Fukushima area has a radiation stigma attached to it. The junk’s in the way of reconstruction – literally. Details here.

何か（なにか）

This follows up my post on itsudemo, where I explained why this should be read as “anytime” (as in, “at any time”) from a few points of view. You’ll see why below. It was inspired by a little slice of anime.

The girl in this anime (Persona 4, incidentally), a cute 9 year old named Nanako, received a notice/survey from her school. The school was holding an open classroom for parents to come see how their children are being educated, anytime between 1pm and 5pm on the indicated day. This was a big deal to Nanako, because she felt like her father was becoming an increasingly remote part of her life. It wasn’t so simple; her father was a police detective who couldn’t let go of Nanako’s mother’s having been killed by a hit and run driver who remained at large, a cold case with little prospect of resolution.

Of course, what wasn’t good was the father becoming ever more remote. There’s something of a family crisis and finally, her father, who was the one in the wrong here, signed the form as above.

So, Nanako reads the form…

Nanako: “I tsu de mo…. nani ka.” 

Being this cute is criminal. Your dad's gonna arrest you, Nanako.

So yes, she sounds as cute as she looks saying this. But, this brings up the crux of the matter: that’s not actually what the pen writing in black in the first image says. It actually says, “itsudemo kanou”, that is, 可能 (かのう), composed of “can” and “ability”. It’s usually read as “possible” or “feasible”.

In other words, her father was conveying that he could make it to the open classroom “anytime”. In other words, he wouldn’t allow work to drown out his relationship with his daughter any further.

Why didn’t Nanako read it that way? Ah, well that’s because the kanji was above her reading level. So she used nanika (何か、なにか) instead.

The kanji used in “nanika” (and there’s only one) is the kanji used for “what” types of questions. The “ka” is the “question” particle that every young Padawan learning Japanese has drilled into his/ her head from the earliest stages; the particle acts as a question mark in grammar.

The problem is, this isn’t grammar; it’s vocabulary. Here, I’ll show you a subtly different use.

In the above example, the “ka” in “nanika” represents uncertainty. In other words, it’s not a simple “What?” question; it’s expressing a thought more like, “What is this…?”. In other words, “nanika” expresses that the speaker doesn’t know what the “what” actually is.

Therefore, nanika = “something”, as in, “something or other”. 

 Let’s go back to Nanako.

Nanako: “I tsu de mo… something.” 

That’s what it means. Of course, it just happens to sound ten times cuter in Japanese with Nanako saying “nanika” instead… because it’s adorable that she can’t actually read it yet; it underlines how young she is.

Father: “It means, I can go anytime.” 

I’m paraphrasing; I don’t have the episode handy, but he explains what it means in language she can understand. This is followed by the happy Nanako celebrating and being glad she can be seen with her father in front of other students and their parents and not feel left out anymore.

That’s one case solved, at least. – J

Itsu demo (いつでも）

The Japanese word “itsu demo” (いつでも) has two very distinct parts. Itsu (何時、いつ) is represented by kanji that literally read, “what time”. Dictionaries say “demo” means but or however, but that is not how it is applied here. Its true secrets lie deeper.

In truth, “demo” here is used like regardless, and in the following manner:

Itsu demo = regardless of when

A dictionary will give various and contradictory meanings for “itsudemo” because the usage changes with the context of the sentence. Think of it like one root and many branches. It’s easier than just deciding Japanese is an alien language hailing from Mars, which is what a lot of people do.

When “Demo” Is “Good” 

Let’s try “demo” in another context: ima demo, which combines “ima” (“now”) with “demo”, and ii, which is a small word used for “good”. Combine them and we get:

ima demo ii (今でもいい).

Ignoring the “why” for the moment, this means: now is good. 

Example: ”When can I see you? We need to talk about the Ferrari.” “Now’s good.”

So our structure is like this:

[Question about time] -> “ima demo ii”

OK, so what about our main topic? It’s simple:

“When can I see you? We need to talk about the Ferrari.” “Anytime’s good.”

[Question about time] -> ”itsu demo ii”

This is what I would call the normal usage.

Another “Itsudemo” 

Let’s imagine an executive from corporate headquarters is visiting a small manufacturing plant owned by the same company. In particular, he is concerned about a particular assembly line that has been having numerous and costly stoppages.

Executive: “What’s going on with that assembly line?”

Worker: “Oh, it’s the paint machine. It’s always breaking down, but they say there’s no budget for a new one.”

Executive: “I’ll be the judge of that. These stoppages are costing us a lot of money!”

Now, the worker isn’t using the word always in the sense of “constantly”. He’s using it to express a high frequency. If he said “constantly”, it might mean within five minutes of every start. If he said “regularly”, it might mean every two days. “Always” probably means something more random than that.

Let’s see one way this could appear in Japanese. (I’m not a native speaker, so this is for an example only.)

ペイントマシーンがいつでも壊せる. (Paint machine ga itsudemo kowaseru.)

Grammatical differences aside, what we can understand is that the paint machine is prone to break down anytime while it is in use.

In other words, even if a “translation” would turn “itsudemo” into “always”, the Japanese meaning never changed at all.

Constantly Prepared

Without bothering with full bilingual examples, when police talk about being constantly prepared to serve the public, they use “itsudemo” too. You may be doing a double take. How can “itsudemo” not be “constantly” in the last example, but it is here?

The only problem is looking at it from a narrow English point of view. Anytime can mean “five weeks from now” or “five seconds from now”. The police are trying to express that if you are in trouble five seconds from now, they’ll be ready to help. That’s the public posture.

That’s all for today. I’ll be citing “itsudemo” in posts in the near future. You’ll see how it’s a very useful thing to know by heart.

いつでもコッメントしてよね。(itsudemo comment shite yo ne. = Comment anytime!) – J

Nagaimo

The nagaimo (長芋、ながいも), or Dioscorea opposita, is also known as the Chinese yam or Korean yam. The first kanji is “long”; the second is best read as “yam”. Yams long predated potatoes in Japanese cuisine.

The defining feature of the nagaimo is that, unlike other yams, it’s safe to eat nagaimo raw. That means you can grate nagaimo and use it in food almost instantly. Note that whole tubers are soaked in a vinegar-water solution to neutralize an irritant in the outer skin.

Uses 

• In grated form, it is called tororo.
• Used as a topping for tororo udon.
• Used for “authentic” okonomiyaki (home made style pancakes).

Benefits

• Low in calories
• High in protein
• High in potassium and many other nutrients

Note that high heat cooking will lower the nutritional value.

Recipes

Recipes aren’t my forte, so try this site for a few recipe tips.  - J

This is too high profile to not post about, so I wanted to pass on that the Emperor of Japan had successful heart bypass surgery in response to a diagnosis of angina. Long story short, it’s a lot better for him that he had this done now than court greater difficulties later. Details can be read at the Japan Times. Original report from the Kyodo news agency. – J

Hilda, Tales of Rebirth

The Situations

This is an exchange between different characters of the Japan-produced video game, Tales of Rebirth, which sadly never made it to America. These are loose translations I am providing to illustrate the situations, both involving a newly joined party member, Hilda.

First, she is approached by Annie, a teenage healer whose father was a nationally famous doctor.

Annie, Tales of Rebirth, wielding staff

Annie, conversation

Annie: Pardon me, Hilda… how old are you?

Hilda: …Why do you ask?

Annie: I’m sorry if I was impolite…! I was just… curious.

Hilda: I’m 21.

Annie: My, such an adult…

Hilda: And how old are you?

Annie: I am 15.

Hilda: My, still a child.

[Annie makes understated, disagreeable expression]

-

Next, she is approached by Mao (which is, I am told, Chinese for ‘cat’, but Japanese is my third language, not Chinese!). Mao looks and sounds quite a bit younger and is what you might call an androgynous boy full of life.

Mao, Tales of Rebirth

Mao: Um… Hilda, how old are you?

[Hilda makes an unpleasant expression and sound.]

Mao: Did I… say something bad?

Hilda: It is thoroughly bad manners to ask a woman’s age, boy.

Mao: H… hey! Don’t talk to me like I’m a child!

Hilda: That you’re upset only proves that you are one.

-

What Just Happened

We have just seen a variety of Japanese (and non-Japanese) social values in action.

• An assumed respect for elders
• An assumed need to preserve politeness
• Girls/women can discuss age with other girls/women
• Boys cannot discuss age with girls/women without being rude
• A child always betrays himself by behaving as one
• A mature teenager resents being seen as a mere child
• An immature teenager resents it too, but with less just cause

Of course,  we should not simply ignore the fact Hilda is being mean to both teenagers. She joined the party with no intention of getting touchy-feely with anyone and made no secret of the fact. She has a very troubled background, which I won’t go into great depth here except to say that she is mixed-race in a world with two main races, humans being one. This is an unusual, mature, and deep subject for an RPG to address, and Tales of Rebirth does a marvelous job of it.

So, in spite of these circumstances, Annie’s instinct is to look up to Hilde as a more mature female and someone poised and confident. It is expected that children want to grow up, and that is why they look up to elders.

Mao, on the other hand, hasn’t given two thoughts about “growing up” and is asking what he thinks is an innocent question, but which is contrary to gentlemanly manners – at minimum, in both Japan and in countries of European culture.

Conclusion

We have just seen two examples of how Japanese social interactions happen, both in the setting of social expectations and measuring actual interactions by how they depart from expectations.

In other words, since Annie behaved in line with social expectations for someone of her type, Hilda was being gratuitously mean to her.  On the other hand, Mao was engaging in what society regards as bad manners, so Hilda had every social right to give him the verbal smackdown she did; he was in the wrong.

In two short skits, we have learned a great deal about all three characters and where their relationships, such as they are, begin from. – J

Two schoolgirls talking about Sean Penn.

Schoolgirl #1: “Sean Penn is so cool!”

Schoolgirl #2: “He sure is!”

Two Japanese schoolgirls talking about Sean Penn.

Schoolgirl #1: “Sean Penn wa kakkou ii yo ne!”

Schoolgirl #2: “Deshou!”

What Just Happened

• We just saw “deshou” (でしょう) used as an interjection.
• Interjections include “Oh!” “Alas!” and “Oy vey!”

Where This Came From

• “Sou desu” (そうです) conveys “That’s right.” with an air of finality.
• “Sou desu yo” (そうですよ) conveys “That’s right!” with emphasis.
• “Sou deshou” (そうでしょう) conveys “I’m sure that’s right.”

Therefore, “deshou” is an expression of agreement with another person. 

Deshou Is Subjective

English

Schoolgirl #1: “You really aced that test, didn’t you?”

Schoolgirl #2: “I did, didn’t I?”

Japanese

Schoolgirl #1: “Ano tesuto, daiseikou da yo ne?”

Schoolgirl #2: “Deshou?”

In this case, “deshou?” is used to answer a question with a statement/ question: I agree with that statement, don’t you? 

Translation Note

Because English favors the active voice, a translation would probably read like this instead:

Schoolgirl #1: ”You really aced that test, huh?”

Schoolgirl #2: “Totally.”

Remember, the “deshou” expresses that Schoolgirl #2 has no doubt, in her own mind, that she did indeed ace that test. Her subjective opinion is strong. This is what should be remembered when converting “deshou” into English. – J

桜と花見

The blog Surviving In Japan has posted a very interesting and potentially useful forecast for cherry blossom (sakura, 桜、さくら) blooming in Japan for 2012, divided by region and location. Watching blooming blossoms is known as hanami (花見、はなみ), or simply “flower viewing” (flower + view).

If you’re visiting Japan in early 2012, you might want to take a look! Excellent work at Surviving In Japan to make this forecast easy on the eyes. – J

Food Fight!

Summary: Tasty, but pack your suspension of disbelief and a thick skin with your lunch box.

Ben-Tou ostensibly refers to bentou lunch boxes, a staple in Japan with an incredible amount of variety. The title’s style of display makes it sound like sentou, i.e. “combat”, and this may be intentional; I’ll never know because the title’s in katakana, not kanji. (^^;)

Ben-Tou is about a hidden world of food fights: hungry “wolves” (okami) who battle for dibs on half-price tasty bentou boxes at stores and restaurants of various kinds. These battles have highly evolved customs, with the most notorious of combatants being known by noms-de-guerre. The main character picks up the “second name” of hentai, which is partly his own fault, and partly just bad karma and things inflicted by his friends and acquaintances.

So is it good? Yes, actually, it’s very enjoyable. The show stays true to itself until the very end, never lets up in animation quality or characterization, and has an overall strength to it. I must mention some important caveats, however.

This is a show that requires a thick skin for two things: violence and fetishes. In particular, this show is written by people who worship dominant female figures of various sorts and revel in showing them in what can only be described as sexual teases. The teases go far beyond any ecchi content actually shown, but nonetheless, mature viewers are recommended. (As in, don’t be too immature when you watch this stuff in spite of its absolute hilarity.)

On that note, this show’s very funny. You must have a thick skin and not worry too much about pesky details (like, where are the cops!?) in order to ride the wave and appreciate that this show is very funny and highly entertaining. Of course there will be tropes of various kinds, but it’s in the quality of the presentation that these things must be measured. Ben-Tou excels in presentation and deserves credit for that.

It wounds me to have to slap a rating to this, because it’s not for everyone but is great for those who can appreciate it, but I enjoyed it 8.0/10 because the “human spirit” and sincerity to oneself themes, hot girls and overall humor didn’t get stale. So get your Ben-Tou when it’s hot and appreciate it before it’s all gone. – J

Just A Few Thoughts

I was reading up on Japanese Idols, which, believe it or not, isn’t something I normally get into whatsoever. I’ve been focused on other areas and, well, I avoid anything that smacks of obsession like some people have. All things in moderation. Anyway, I had a few thoughts.

The role of the classical idol singer was to present an idealized feminine image, both in a carefully scripted private life and an equally carefully scripted public life. Honestly, the more I read that section, I was thinking back to geisha (who I’ve written about). In other words, you’re being presented with a beautiful girl who you’ll never have for yourself; she’s a fantasy (from your perspective), you know it’s a fantasy (barring serious mental illness), and that’s really OK with you. You’d rather have an element of fantasy in your life than not.

Of course, culture has rapidly evolved since the 70′s (when the idol phenomenon began). What people view as “ideal” has changed a lot and, more to the point, it’s not all one thing. That’s where you have new genres that have sprouted up, with things like rock music and even rap taking important places in music culture.

We shouldn’t look far past the word itself. An idol is something to be put on a pedestal and idolized. It’s not “reality”; it’s art. So long as people accept it as such and ride with it, we’re doing fine. Over that line and we have problems.

Like I put in the title, these are general thoughts. If I have something to say about a specific idol sometime, I’ll let you know, but I’m not the kind of guy who’s an online stalker wannabe, so I’m not a details guy in this area. – J

P.S. I scaled my blogging way back because I was experimenting with writing fiction. While my skill is far from “bad”, there’s still no realistic way I have the time and support network to make money at it, either, so I’m shelving it once again. Expect more blog posts as inspiration and need strikes. My fingers want to write, though. – J