桜前線　（さくらぜんせん)

“Sakura” (cherry blossom) is a word many people know well. Sakura viewing is “hanami” (花見、はなみ), or lit. flower viewing. Outside of a weather context, “zensen” (前線、ぜんせん) would mean “front” in the sense of WWII’s Eastern Front or Western Front in Europe, but here it means weather front. 

The reason for using “zensen” here is because cherry blossoms do not bloom across the entire country at the same time. The “cherry blossom front” moves northward over time as warmer weather hits different parts of Japan. That’s why the information follows normal weather reports during early spring.

I learned the term from this site but you can find a 2012 sakura front prediction (i.e. a schedule) at this link here. I would care to point out that if you’re looking for Japanese tutoring, you can always just ask me, too. Not for absolute free, mind you, but Skype lessons mean instant feedback and help. – J

You Don’t See This Every Day

Actually, this is a crossover with Nobunaga’s Ambition, a venerable wargame series out of Japan, but that’s niche stuff. The kind of niche I’m into, mind you. The people are similar, though: it’ll be Oda Nobunaga, Akechi Mitsuhide, Oichi, Takeda Shingen… with pokemon. Holy cow. 

Anyway, it’s a crossover I never expected to see. The famous generals, along with Oichi who never took a battlefield in her not-so-charmed life in real life (I think), will be shown in a more anime-like vibe as shown in the picture above. For a much larger one, you’ll need to go to the Japanese website. Apparently Oichi will be the first personage figured in a series of short manga stories that will run six volumes long. That’ll be a webcomic starting on the 16th of this month (March) according to what I read on that site.

I’ve played Pokemon games in the ancient past, but I’d long lost track of the franchise. (I also never came close to finishing the first.) Tossing in famous warlords is a new spin on this and might make it very amusing indeed. I might even want to play such a thing. Time will tell, but this is one of those crazy things you don’t see every day. – J

“Mushiro” is one of those words that isn’t in everyone’s speaking style, but it’s really good to know what it means and how it’s used. The English output differs because different words fit different sentence situations. The word itself demonstrates the better option among two or more.

Picking Shoe Color

Japanese

その服には青よりむしろ茶の靴が似合う. (sono fuku ni wa aoi yori mushiro cha no kutsu ga niau.)

English

Brown shoes are a better fit for these clothes than blue ones.

The Words Being Used

sono = this

fuku = clothes (general)

ni wa = defining what precedes as the topic and what follows as relating to the topic

aoi = blue

yori = what follows is “more than” what precedes

mushiro = defines what follows as the better option, the higher preference

cha = “tea color”, a lighter brown like a lot of leather clothing

no = connects the preceding with the following

kutsu = shoes

ga = defines the subject of the verb that follows

niau = verb; to suit, to match

You Should’ve Done It Yourself

Japanese

彼に頼むくらいなら、むしろ自分でやったほうがいい (kare ni tanomu kurai nara, mushiro jubun de yatta hou ga ii)

English

If you could ask him to do it, you ought to have done it yourself.

The Words Being Used

kare = him

ni = the following applies to the preceding

tanomu = verb; to request, to ask someone to do X

kurai = degree

nara = if

mushiro = the better option

jibun = yourself, oneself

de = “by” in this case; indicates the means of doing something

yatta = verb; past tense of ‘yaru’, a general verb for “to do”

hou = direction; think of options as arranged in a circle around you

ga ii = declaring that the preceding “is good”

Expanding On These Sentences

Here’s how the structure works:

The first option discussed  -> The better, higher option

There’s other instances this could crop up, too.

“We could go to the baseball game, or rather, the mall.”

Perhaps you see the problem here? A lot of people would never use “or rather”. That’s the same in Japanese as it is in English. In the first place, the “or” would be indispensable if using “rather” in this location. If not “or”, it’d have to be more like this:

“We could go to the baseball game, but I’d rather go to the mall instead.”

This is why you can’t just blindly translate from dictionaries. The context is dictating the grammar. Indeed, the grammar is dictating the vocabulary in turn. My advice for dealing with “mushiro” is to focus on what it means, rather than what it says. If I’m just skimming Japanese text, I don’t need to worry about translating; I just accept “mushiro” is stating a preference and move on. It’s only if I have to turn it into English that I have to fiddle around.

I reiterate: the real issue is not drowning in the grammar when someone else uses the word. Learners probably shouldn’t try to use it themselves until they’ve heard it used in context at least a good hundred times. Even then, using it properly would not work in all settings. It’s still really good to know what it means and not trip all over it. – J

I haven’t done one of these in a while because it’s hard to get used to the “train of consciousness” type of writing. In fact, I won’t really do that. I’ll break this up into little sections and make it easier to read that way.

Mouretsu Uchuu Kaizoku (Bodacious Space Pirates)

I still find this to be a really good show. The best part is very much the interaction between girls, and now there’s a princess who looks like Sailor Moon wearing a middle school fuku to attract attention. She’s quite adorable, really. Being a crazy-good hacker adds to her charm, but she really wasn’t prepared to be borrowing Captain Marika’s pirate outfit (with a pleated skirt) in Episode 9.

Anyway, this show has teased certain things but we know that things will get a lot more “serious” in episodes to come. The pace is rather Goldilocks: not too frantic and not too slow. Of course some may disagree on that. The show also has a memory, like about Chiaki’s weakness for parfaits. (Then again, why would any self-respecting girl resist…?)

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai

I made a little review of this on this blog, but just to reiterate: I liked this show more than I expected, but actually, what drew me in was a really zany Monster Hunter spoof, since I have played many of those games. As usual, I’m not quite the game fanatic some of my friends are, but still, it was interesting. Anyway, the show rose above cheap comedy and became more complex comedy with a lot of laughs, cheap and otherwise. It’s hard for me to watch a show about ordinary people in comedies, somehow. This bunch of weirdos makes it somehow pleasantly tolerable.

Food and Fashion

I’ve been expanding my reading material lately. One is a food blog called Just Hungry; the other is a fashion site called Tokyo Fashion. Both are about Japan’s food and fashion, of course. I have to say, my hardest translation jobs – at least, before finding broader, more thorough Japanese sources – were always: a) food; b) songs; c) songs about food, in ascending order of gratuitous work. (Mahoromatic manga, I mean you.)

Petty Japan Politician Griping

There’s a lot not to like about the political situation in Japan. Recently we saw the sitting Prime Minister declare that no one bears individual responsibility for the Fukushima disaster. First, when everyone’s responsible, no one is. Second, the very idea that a single person should be a scapegoat for a powerful earthquake and subsequent tsunami is patently ridiculous. I know that’s not exactly what was being talked about, but really, it’s close enough.

I’m still not happy about finding out that all the (mostly) spent fuel rods stored in those reactor housings were there because environmentalists sabotaged every effort to find/ build a better place for them, greatly raising the possibility that if there was a disaster, it could get ridiculously out of hand.

There’s also the constant denial that they can do without any nuclear power at all and still have a reliable and functional economy. I appreciate the faith of the anti-nuclear crowd, but unless they’re willing to go back to an agrarian society with dirt-poor peasants, they need energy. Energy that doesn’t cost them internal organs would be good. This whole mess with Iran isn’t helping them at all, but if they don’t cooperate in shunning at least 20% of the oil they import from Iran, the United States has essentially promised to destroy their banks’ ability to do business with America and its ‘real’ allies. Not pleasant.

Gundam AGE

I shunned this show for a long time. Now that there’s a 2nd arc running, I can tolerate the apparently obligatory references to the first Gundam and the heretical idea that the “friend on the other side of the warring nations” would actually spare the protagonist’s life. Well, he did, or we wouldn’t have much of a show left.

Right now, this show is more than tolerable. I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth, people. I’ll see where it goes.

Aquarion EVOL

This show has to be some of the funniest stuff around right now… for a mecha show… oriented towards guys. Actually, I’m assuming it is; there’s certainly pretty boys stuck in there for show for someone. At any rate, the show isn’t afraid to get ridiculous… in a good way.

Armitage III

It’s only taken me over a decade to see this Original Video Animation (4 episodes). Well, at least the ending wasn’t complete suck. Better for the characters, but like was intended, it sure makes you wonder what side was right, whether any of the struggles really mattered… but, they mattered to the characters, so maybe that’s what counts. Anyway, not a bad show in the slightest, for as long as it lasted anyway.

Brave10

I didn’t gravitate to this right away. I watched episode 8 (or was that 7? I can’t remember) then found a little of the manga to read to understand the basics of where this all came from, then watched episode 9 where a major plot point is dropped, and no, spoiling wouldn’t be a good thing here. I half-suspected the twist but I had no idea why anyone would go that route. Guess I’ll see. This is the kind of show that could have been a lot more annoying but doesn’t really feel that way.

Unemployment Blues

I’m still stuck between jobs. Somehow I need to build contacts all over again and get some translation or tutoring work to fill a gap before my future job comes into being. It’s coming, things are just too darn slow. Establishing a company isn’t easy, apparently. I’m helping my father prepare for production where and how I can, but the gap is still really annoying for everyone involved. Even so, I love languages, so I’m going to have to do something about it. – J

Better Than I Expected

When I first started watching “Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai,” which I mentioned before in saying that “haganai” as a nickname had to do with reading “wa” as “ha” (though in this grammar role it is NEVER pronounced anything other than “wa”), I expected simple zany comedy. It became more than that.

While this certainly is a comedy, the characters are not one-dimensional, though they act like it a lot of the time. The characters are… well, the expression, “She’s a real character,” comes to mind. As in, these are oddballs. They know they’re oddballs. We know they’re oddballs. And yet somehow it works. We feel relieved of the obligation to gauge them against the actions of normal human beings, not because they shoot fireballs from their fingertips, but because their personalities vary so wildly.

At its core, this show is about a bunch of oddballs who don’t fit anywhere normal, and so, as if reeled in by force of gravity, become part of a club ostensibly about “making friends”. There’s quite a lot of comic conflict between the girls involved. One girl in particular, Sena, fits the anime fan role of a pin-up model on the Internet. But never mind that. The strength of the show is that ostensibly ordinary things go crazily, horribly wrong, but relationships still manage to deepen as the club members become a tight-knit little community.

Having said that, without spoiling, this series can’t be truly enjoyed without making it all the way to episode 12 (the final one). This episode essentially rewrites the first episode and manages to leave a good taste in the viewer’s mouth. A good ending is a truly valuable thing.

Rating: 9.5/10 for characters and situations I actually found quite funny, extremely high production values (cel/ voice/ sound), and pacing that manages to work. – J

The Japan Times has published an article regarding a post-mortem on the Japanese government’s handling of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. I have every sympathy for the people who were scrambling to resolve the problems on the ground. I have less for the political paranoia that got in the way.

Part of the problem is hard to blame on the cabinet; there have been some legendary examples of American cabinet officials being shockingly ignorant of the Presidential line of succession, even though they occupy extremely high positions in American government. So, one Japanese cabinet minister not even knowing that a particular agency existed – one that seems meant to warn the public about harmful levels of radiation – can be forgiven.

What can’t be forgiven is that then-PM Naoto Kan, who now parades as a born-again environmental crusader trying to finish off nuclear power for good (regardless of its short, medium, or long-term costs to Japanese civilization), became paranoid and came to believe that none of the information he was getting from the power company or from government agencies could be trusted. So, he started micromanaging, involving himself in the tiniest of details and creating a network of personal minions to “save the country” through his own hands, since he felt he was the only one who could be relied upon to do so.

The report apparently finds the government to have lied by telling the public there was no reason to panic when, upon the command of the cabinet, the government was preparing worst-case scenarios based on assumptions of truly horrible possibilities (no matter how remote). Apparently the government was supposed to tell the public to panic immediately.

Remember when they couldn’t get fresh water into the reactors to cool things off properly and they were going to start using seawater, but the effort didn’t start right away for some reason? Here, Kan “questioned” the effect of pouring anything but seawater, and the head of the Fukushima Daiichi (daiichi = #1) reactor prevented further catastrophe by “disregarding such concerns”.

Kan’s response is that he didn’t order anyone to not use seawater. People, people… in Japan, you don’t need to “order” someone not to do something in order to cause it not to happen. The PM’s “questioning” it was more than enough to put monkey wrenches into the gears for a while. Sounds like things didn’t get worse largely because he was told to jump in a lake on this one.

So after the Nuclear Safety Commission said a hydrogen explosion was unlikely and it happened regardless, the industry minister nudged Kan into completely disregarding what the “experts” said and tried to become a nuclear physics scientist and engineer overnight (likely while staying at a Best Western). All of a sudden, he knew better than everyone else. His decision to shut down all nuclear power was clearly part of his belief that he was saving the country. This is not to say nuclear power is ideal, but Japan has been taking it on the chin economically as a result. It wasn’t the cost-less, painless decision some portrayed it as.

Finally, what I consider his most unforgivable action is heading to Fukushima Daiichi on March 12, 2011, and inspecting the plant. As anyone even remotely connected to a military organization or anything similar will tell you, when a VIP comes to visit, everything stops. No work of any meaning gets done at all. To inflict this situation on an unfolding disaster was reckless, and we are fortunate nothing even worse happened as a result of such interference.

The whole thrust of this suggests a vast immaturity of government. I mean, I understand why this happened from the top of the elected government on down. I don’t understand how they could have allowed it to happen. It’s losing your head. It’s basically panicking. It’s a complete loss of trust in anyone who’s ever studied nuclear issues and is Japanese. They didn’t even accept American experts coming straight into the Prime Minister’s office at first. It’s not said why. Maybe Americans couldn’t be trusted either. Who knows? There is no easy solution to paranoid leadership.

So, I’m sorry to see my worst, most cynical suspicions confirmed. Pots do not boil faster because you watch them, and nuclear crises do not get solved faster because you micromanage them.

As a final note, I recently found out that the whole reason fuel rods were stacked into pools of water within the reactors’ buildings is because environmentalists successfully blocked any political approval of proper disposal of those rods for such a long time that there’s just no place to put them. There is apparently hope that this situation will shut down the entire nuclear industry there even without political dictates to shut reactors down forever. How touching. Fuel rods were the likeliest source of a truly huge disaster. – J

“Bodacious Space Pirates” 

I’m not sure whose idea it was to translate the title as “Bodacious Space Pirates,” and perhaps it’s from the Japanese studio, but that’s OK. “Mouretsu” usually stands for something more like marauding, or at least that’s what I’d use. Episode 8 just aired, and it’s a really good show.

Before getting a bit more into the meat, here’s the quick hits so far:

• Endearing characters and lots of them
• Very funny in numerous places
• Serious and deep science fiction when it wants to
• Pacing allows viewer to ease into a deep, complex world
• Excellent production values
• Intelligent writing
• Nothing ecchi; safe for sensitive viewers

That last part is important for some people so I mention it prominently. I’m really enjoying this show, though some have accused it of having a “slow” pace to start. I address that a bit below.

Plot & Premise

This show has received such hype that it has the confidence to start in a way some may call “slowly”, with the main character, Marika, discovering in the middle of Episode 1 that she is the heiress to a pirate ship captained by her father, who she knew basically nothing about. In this futuristic environment, pirate ships must still operate by a variety of public laws, and piracy is partially tolerated, but dangerous in the wrong circumstances. Only blood heirs can inherit. Marika’s new status as a potential captain, for she hasn’t decided yet, makes her a target, while her new homeroom teacher – a member of the Bentenmaru crew, who served under her father – arranges for an “education” to test her mettle and prepare her for the job.

Marika

The girl in the image at the top of this post is Chiaki, who is very good at denying her interest in seeing Marika in her outfit at a maid cafe in a part-time job. Chiaki obviously has some pirate involvement herself, but I won’t spoil exactly what. She’s capable, smart, prideful, and has a secret soft spot for Marika, in spite of Marika starting out as a girl with big, glaring holes that call into question her fitness as a potential captain.

What Marika does have is amazing decision-making capability and a massive amount of drive and effort. This is demonstrated by the end of the first arc in Episode 5, where a “school trip” in an actual spaceship (a former pirate ship converted to a training vessel) results in a cat and mouse game of electronic warfare and other festivities with a vessel trying to take their ship over. Marika leads a student counter-attack, which takes an unexpected turn as the other side, seeing their computers about to be taken over, simply turn the computers off and start taking beam gun potshots through manual, optical aiming. I won’t spoil more but, seriously, why can’t you do just that and pull the plug? People with thinking caps on wrote this script.

By the end, Marika has found her calling and agrees to push to become the full captain of the Bentenmaru. This isn’t a spoiler, since without this, there wouldn’t be much of a show left.

By episode 8, Marika has engaged in a couple of “pirate takeovers” with a really funny twist: namely, that she appears before the passengers who must surrender their valuables like a sort of rock star. (It’s a bit difficult to explain out of context, but man is it entertaining.) At the end of her second “raid”, a stowaway comes aboard: a real, live princess who becomes the engine for the plot for the foreseeable future.

In Episode 8, “The Princess and the Pirate”, our lovely princess becomes a transfer student at Marika’s high school. (That goes a way towards shutting up any notion that she was kidnapped, I imagine.) I don’t have a picture I can upload yet, but the girl has a schoolgirl look that greatly resembles Usagi from Sailor Moon except with four thin braids instead of two thicker ones, both sets dangling from twin “dango” (meatballs) in a very blond hairstyle with blue eyes, as represented. (In anime, even Japanese girls can be shown with all sorts of hair and eye mixes for differentiation; it’s useful to tell people apart, you see. Everyone just goes along with it.)

The show’s shaping up to be quite something, with a lot of characters who add to it, lots of good science fiction, and we get to feel like we’re learning about the world along with Marika. It’s a good feeling and I expect great things from the show as it continues. – J