Tristan :)
平成22年12月11日土曜日
平成22年12月9日木曜日
Deconstructing Femininity in Contemporary Japan: A Commercial
Anyone have any feelings about this commercial? I know one can only read so much into any one commercial. While I found this commercial humorous, it was a little "awkward" to watch.
See what you think、見てください！
Here are some questions:
1. Women are attractive because they have high voices?
2. Do all beautiful women have high voices? (that's a different question than the first)
3. "Attractiveness" and "Desirability" are NOT the same thing: it is possible for a woman to be attractive but not desirable?
4. The idea of a woman having a low voice is not only undesirable, but actually scary.
5. More than any essentializing views of femininity, what does the commercial say about Masculinity?
See what you think、見てください！
Here are some questions:
1. Women are attractive because they have high voices?
2. Do all beautiful women have high voices? (that's a different question than the first)
3. "Attractiveness" and "Desirability" are NOT the same thing: it is possible for a woman to be attractive but not desirable?
4. The idea of a woman having a low voice is not only undesirable, but actually scary.
5. More than any essentializing views of femininity, what does the commercial say about Masculinity?
平成22年12月6日月曜日
We study Japanese together...
But shall we contemplate the universe together?
世の中は
何にたとへん
山彦の
こたふる聲の
空しきがごと
Yo no naka wa
nani ni tatoen
yamabiko no
kotauru koe no
munashiki ga goto
The life in this world -
what is it like?
An Empty Mountain's
fleeting echo
into the empty sky it goes.
(My translation)
世の中は
何にたとへん
山彦の
こたふる聲の
空しきがごと
Yo no naka wa
nani ni tatoen
yamabiko no
kotauru koe no
munashiki ga goto
The life in this world -
what is it like?
An Empty Mountain's
fleeting echo
into the empty sky it goes.
(My translation)
平成22年12月5日日曜日
スラムダンク: Some Thoughts and A Song to Get Through Finals
I am generally not a fan of any athletic or physical activity with the exceptions of tennis, badminton, squash, elegant dances, and walking very quickly between places. I generally consider most large professional sporting events to be part and parcel of the "bread and circus" manufactured culture of power elites designed to keep citizens enmeshed in a status quo of conservatism and pop-culture. Also, I must admit I do not understand much about Japanese anime. That all being said, I have discovered this Japanese theme song from a cartoon from the early 90's called Slam Dunk スラムダンク. http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/SLAM_DUNK It's really fantastic in the way that, it gets heart pumping in a hopeful, optimistic way. The random interjections of English are also a delight. (Yume no high tension!) The feminine voice positioned against the hyper-masculine images of basketball-wielding players is a interesting, if curious, juxtaposition.
On this Sunday night of paper writing and homework, I encourage my comrades to indulge in this humorous, touching, catchy message of hope:
On this Sunday night of paper writing and homework, I encourage my comrades to indulge in this humorous, touching, catchy message of hope:
平成22年12月4日土曜日
二十ねんごのわたし
私は日本のせいかつに慣れましたから、二十ねんご日本にいます。さくら大学のれきしのせんせいです。しずかなまちにかおくがあります。わたしはきれいなおんなのひととけっこんしました。まいにちにほんごのぶんがくをよみます。いぬがにひきいます。いぬと大学へあるいて行きます。わたしの仕事はまいにちとてもいそかしいですが、いつもかぞくのじかんがあります。だいがくのプールでときどきおよぎます。
日本へ中国れきしのべんきようにきました、でもわたしは日本人が好きですから、まだ日本にいますです。日本のぶんかと日本のりようりどちらもすきです。
はるにわたしはいけばなをします、そのごつまにはなをあげます。私はいつもいいしゅじんです！
平成22年11月24日水曜日
実存的危機
夜間,世界の都市とてもきれいですね。昼間,世界の都市きれいじゃありません。どうして？わかりません。夜はとても美しく見えますね。
私はねこがにひきいます。ボストンにいます。ねこはとても黒いです。夜間から、ねこをみません。それから、わたしのねこは目に見えないです。
皆さん：
夜を知っている
僕は夜を知っているのだ。
僕は雨の中出かけ、雨の中戻って来た。
僕は町の光が届かない所まで歩いた。
僕は雨の中出かけ、雨の中戻って来た。
僕は町の光が届かない所まで歩いた。
僕はわびしい町の道を見下ろした。
僕は訳を話すのも面倒なので、目を伏せて
当番の夜警をやり過ごした。
僕は訳を話すのも面倒なので、目を伏せて
当番の夜警をやり過ごした。
一本筋向こうの住処から
突然叫び声が聞こえたので
僕は立ち止まり、足音をたてないようにした。
突然叫び声が聞こえたので
僕は立ち止まり、足音をたてないようにした。
呼び戻すとか、別れを告げるわけではない。
さらに途方もなく高い所から静かに
空に光る時計が一つ
さらに途方もなく高い所から静かに
空に光る時計が一つ
時間を間違えているとも言わなかった。
僕は夜を知っているのだ。
僕は夜を知っているのだ。
I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain -- and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.
I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.
I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,
But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
O luminary clock against the sky
Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.
私は夜が好きです。どうして？ たぶんじんせいのいぎと人生のもんだいはかくれます。
平成22年11月14日日曜日
Katakana Analysis Final Copy
I am constantly struck by the beauty and utility of the Japanese writing systems. For today's class we compiled several interesting cases of Katakana and brought them here. The first is アイヌ, the name of the ethnic group located in Hokkaido. Their name and language is written in Katakana. Yet, groups such as Korean-Japanese peoples are written in Hiragana or Kanji (ちょうせんじ 朝鮮人). Is this an historical accident or a reflection on conceptions of self and other within Japanese society? The Ryukyuan people's name is also written in Kanji and Hiragana (琉球民族). It might be possible that the Ainu were ethnically classified later than the other groups and hence had their name written in Katakana. Another important note is that the Ainu have greatly mixed with Japanese peoples and the number of native Ainu speakers is today very low (less than 1,000) - therefore "Ainu" has a somewhat abstract, academic connotation similar to "Iroquois" in English.
The second interesting set of Katakana is でんわ vs. テレビ, スパー vs. 図書館, 電報 (telegram) - they are interesting because they reflect the experience of modernization and the Industrial Revolution in Japan. These are examples of an interesting historical-linguistic phenomenon. Why did Japan adopt some western words and why did they invent some Japanese words? One possible thesis is that 19th century Post-Meiji Restoration Japan sought actively to "indigenize" new technological and "modernizing" terms. Post World War Two Japan appears to have been more inclined to absorb words directly from the West. This is very significant because the process of making words "indigenous" to a culture directly relates to how that culture relates to foreign ideas. For instance, the word "Zen" in English is originally a Japanese word deriving from the Chinese word "Chan" to denote a type of Buddhist practice. While English has "indigenized" the word (eg. "She's really zen today"), it remains to a certain extent consciously a non-English word. The word "messiah," referring to the Jewish figure appearing at the end of Apocalyptic Age according to the Bible derives from the Hebrew word מָשִׁיחַ, meaning "Anointed one" or "king." Yet unlike "Zen," few English speakers would be able to identify "messiah" as originally a foreign word. Since all language is fundamental a social construct which culturally conditions us with ideas of "gender" "normality" and the "profane," it would be interesting to study whether Japanese people also had a different relationship to words which entered the language in the Post-Meiji period and were thus written in Hiragana versus words that were adopted later, with Katakana.
I feel somewhat disheartened however to analyze katakana, because I am not very knowledgeable on Japanese history or literature, though I really wish I were. I grew up in a dual language household, speaking English and Arabic (my mother's maiden name is Mahfouz). I studied Hebrew, Latin, French, and Greek growing up from middle school to the end of high school. At college, I studied formal, Classical Arabic as well as some Biblical Hebrew as well as many years of Chinese. In the summer, I studied Manchu (満州語) and some Mongolian. Now, for the first time basically I am studying Japanese and I find it very different from all the previous languages I have studied. This is partially because so many of the languages I have studied are now extinct - they can be only studied as historical/"dead" languages. Japanese is such a special language because its writing system is designed for self-preservation: emotions experienced internally can be expressed differently in written form - which adds a new layer of meaning to language. Furthermore, katakana serves to differentiate between indigenously Japanese words and foreign loan words. Unfortunately, for languages such as English - we have so many loan words that bear no trace to their origins. This gives me a profound respect and love of Japanese - whose writing system is conscious of the reality of the spoken language to a much higher degree than most Western or Middle Eastern languages are.
As to why textbooks explain katakana in different ways, I think it is simply because the concept is so abstract and ambiguous and the kana has so many different utilities. I conceive of it like this, how could you explain to a person who never learned how to read and write any letters or numbers why we have different systems of writing to express the same thing: "one, two, three" "1,2,3" "I,II,III". All three of those systems are used in the English language. Why? Historical accident and cultural "irrationality" - English speakers and westerners in general tend to believe that Roman numerals "I,II,III" are more civilized and professional than the Arabic numerals. Hence, on monuments we use Roman Numerals "Built in XDCIII" even though it would be much easier to write "Built in 18..." The answers as to "why" is kind of like "why do we still tie our shoes with laces even though we now have velcro, zippers, and various other improved technologies?" The bottom line is that human beings have emotional relationships with the languages they speak and the languages they write. Conservatives who seek to avoid change or reform of any writing system act as such because they are in touch with the human emotional need and desire for meaning in life. Language gives people meaning and is one of the greatest sources of meaning in our life - languages are conscious of this : the Christian conception of the deity proclaims him to be "the logos" - the word (Greek: logos λόγος). The Chinese word for culture is "wenhua" 文化, "wen" meaning "writing" and "hua" meaning transformation or change - "culture" is fundamentally defined as being "transformed through the human activity of writing." The Arabic word for "literature" adab (أدب) is the same word for "politeness." When you say in Arabic, "that person has adab", you're saying that person is polite, refined but also literally, that person is "literature." Once you get into the psychology, the emotion, the "religion" that is human language, understanding what "Katakana" is - with all of its ambiguities and shades of meaning - becomes possible. The Japanese today use katakana to express cases of onomatopoeia, emphasis, loanwords, among others things because of a combination of historical accidents and trends, culturally elite tastes, culturally conservative forces, and to differentiate"self" and "other" on the linguistic level. Why does it exist? The same reason Roman Numerals are imprinted on the Supreme Court building - this is, after all a very human language.
Citations:
Japanese Wikipedia was used for the "Ainu" and "television" examples.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%82%A4%E3%83%8C
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%86%E3%83%AC%E3%83%93
Ainu Museum Japan:
http://www.ainu-museum.or.jp/
Information for terms such as "Library" was found on the website of the National Diet Library:
http://www.ndl.go.jp/
国立国会図書館
The second interesting set of Katakana is でんわ vs. テレビ, スパー vs. 図書館, 電報 (telegram) - they are interesting because they reflect the experience of modernization and the Industrial Revolution in Japan. These are examples of an interesting historical-linguistic phenomenon. Why did Japan adopt some western words and why did they invent some Japanese words? One possible thesis is that 19th century Post-Meiji Restoration Japan sought actively to "indigenize" new technological and "modernizing" terms. Post World War Two Japan appears to have been more inclined to absorb words directly from the West. This is very significant because the process of making words "indigenous" to a culture directly relates to how that culture relates to foreign ideas. For instance, the word "Zen" in English is originally a Japanese word deriving from the Chinese word "Chan" to denote a type of Buddhist practice. While English has "indigenized" the word (eg. "She's really zen today"), it remains to a certain extent consciously a non-English word. The word "messiah," referring to the Jewish figure appearing at the end of Apocalyptic Age according to the Bible derives from the Hebrew word מָשִׁיחַ, meaning "Anointed one" or "king." Yet unlike "Zen," few English speakers would be able to identify "messiah" as originally a foreign word. Since all language is fundamental a social construct which culturally conditions us with ideas of "gender" "normality" and the "profane," it would be interesting to study whether Japanese people also had a different relationship to words which entered the language in the Post-Meiji period and were thus written in Hiragana versus words that were adopted later, with Katakana.
I feel somewhat disheartened however to analyze katakana, because I am not very knowledgeable on Japanese history or literature, though I really wish I were. I grew up in a dual language household, speaking English and Arabic (my mother's maiden name is Mahfouz). I studied Hebrew, Latin, French, and Greek growing up from middle school to the end of high school. At college, I studied formal, Classical Arabic as well as some Biblical Hebrew as well as many years of Chinese. In the summer, I studied Manchu (満州語) and some Mongolian. Now, for the first time basically I am studying Japanese and I find it very different from all the previous languages I have studied. This is partially because so many of the languages I have studied are now extinct - they can be only studied as historical/"dead" languages. Japanese is such a special language because its writing system is designed for self-preservation: emotions experienced internally can be expressed differently in written form - which adds a new layer of meaning to language. Furthermore, katakana serves to differentiate between indigenously Japanese words and foreign loan words. Unfortunately, for languages such as English - we have so many loan words that bear no trace to their origins. This gives me a profound respect and love of Japanese - whose writing system is conscious of the reality of the spoken language to a much higher degree than most Western or Middle Eastern languages are.
As to why textbooks explain katakana in different ways, I think it is simply because the concept is so abstract and ambiguous and the kana has so many different utilities. I conceive of it like this, how could you explain to a person who never learned how to read and write any letters or numbers why we have different systems of writing to express the same thing: "one, two, three" "1,2,3" "I,II,III". All three of those systems are used in the English language. Why? Historical accident and cultural "irrationality" - English speakers and westerners in general tend to believe that Roman numerals "I,II,III" are more civilized and professional than the Arabic numerals. Hence, on monuments we use Roman Numerals "Built in XDCIII" even though it would be much easier to write "Built in 18..." The answers as to "why" is kind of like "why do we still tie our shoes with laces even though we now have velcro, zippers, and various other improved technologies?" The bottom line is that human beings have emotional relationships with the languages they speak and the languages they write. Conservatives who seek to avoid change or reform of any writing system act as such because they are in touch with the human emotional need and desire for meaning in life. Language gives people meaning and is one of the greatest sources of meaning in our life - languages are conscious of this : the Christian conception of the deity proclaims him to be "the logos" - the word (Greek: logos λόγος). The Chinese word for culture is "wenhua" 文化, "wen" meaning "writing" and "hua" meaning transformation or change - "culture" is fundamentally defined as being "transformed through the human activity of writing." The Arabic word for "literature" adab (أدب) is the same word for "politeness." When you say in Arabic, "that person has adab", you're saying that person is polite, refined but also literally, that person is "literature." Once you get into the psychology, the emotion, the "religion" that is human language, understanding what "Katakana" is - with all of its ambiguities and shades of meaning - becomes possible. The Japanese today use katakana to express cases of onomatopoeia, emphasis, loanwords, among others things because of a combination of historical accidents and trends, culturally elite tastes, culturally conservative forces, and to differentiate"self" and "other" on the linguistic level. Why does it exist? The same reason Roman Numerals are imprinted on the Supreme Court building - this is, after all a very human language.
Citations:
Japanese Wikipedia was used for the "Ainu" and "television" examples.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%82%A4%E3%83%8C
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%86%E3%83%AC%E3%83%93
Ainu Museum Japan:
http://www.ainu-museum.or.jp/
Information for terms such as "Library" was found on the website of the National Diet Library:
http://www.ndl.go.jp/
国立国会図書館
平成22年11月10日水曜日
平成22年10月25日月曜日
Katakana Analysis Draft
I am constantly struck by the beauty and utility of the Japanese writing systems. For today's class we compiled several interesting cases of Katakana and brought them here. The first is アイヌ, the name of the ethnic group located in Hokkaido. Their name and language is written in Katakana. Yet, groups such as Korean-Japanese peoples are written in Hiragana or Kanji (ちょうせんじ 朝鮮人). Is this an historical accident or a reflection on conceptions of self and other within Japanese society? The Ryukyuan people's name is also written in Kanji and Hiragana (琉球民族). It might be possible that the Ainu were ethnically classified later than the other groups and hence had their name written in Katakana. Another important note is that the Ainu have greatly mixed with Japanese peoples and the number of native Ainu speakers is today very low (less than 1,000) - therefore "Ainu" has a somewhat abstract, academic connotation similar to "Iroquois" in English.
The second interesting set of Katakana is でんわ vs. テレビ, スパー vs. 図書館, 電報 (telegram) - they are interesting because they reflect the experience of modernization and the Industrial Revolution in Japan. These are examples of an interesting historical-linguistic phenomenon. Why did Japan adopt some western words and why did they invent some Japanese words. Our group thesis is that 19th century Post-Meiji Restoration Japan sought actively to "indigenize" new technological and "modernizing" terms. Post World War Two Japan appears to have been more inclined to absorb words directly from the West. This is very significant because the process of making words "indigenous" to a culture directly relates to how that culture relates to foreign ideas. For instance, the word "Zen" in English is originally a Japanese word deriving from the Chinese word "Chan" to denote a type of Buddhist practice. While English has "indigenized" the word (eg. She's really zen today"), it remains to a certain extent consciously a non-English word. The word "messiah," referring to the Jewish figure appearing at the end of Apocalyptic Age according to the Bible derives from the Hebrew word מָשִׁיחַ, meaning "Anointed one" or "king." Yet unlike "Zen," few English speakers would be able to identify "messiah" as originally a foreign word. Since all language is fundamental a social construct which culturally conditions us with ideas of "gender" "normality" and the "profane," it would be interesting to study whether Japanese people also had a different relationship to words which entered the language in the Post-Meiji period and were thus written in Hiragana versus words that were adopted later, with Katakana.
As to why textbooks explain katakana in different ways, I think it is simply because the concept is so abstract and ambiguous and the kana has so many different utilities. I conceive of it like this, how could you explain to a person who never learned how to read and write any letters or numbers why we have different systems of writing to express the same thing: "one, two, three" "1,2,3" "I,II,III". All three of those systems are used in the English language. Why? Historical accident and culturally "irrationality" - English speakers and westerners in general tend to believe that Roman numerals "I,II,III" are more civilized and professional than the Arabic numerals. Hence, on monuments we use Roman Numerals "Built in XDCIII" even though it would be much easier to write "Built in 18..." The answers as to "why" is kind of like "why do we still tie our shoes with laces even though we now have velcro, zippers, and various other improved technologies?" The bottom line is that human beings have emotional relationships with the languages they speak and the languages they write. Conservatives who seek to avoid change or reform of any writing system act as such because they are in touch with the human emotional need and desire for meaning in life. Language gives people meaning and is one of the greatest sources of meaning in our life - languages are conscious of this : the Christian conception of the deity proclaims him to be "the logos" - the word (Greek: logos λόγος). The Chinese word for culture is "wenhua" 文化, "wen" meaning "writing" and "hua" meaning transformation or change - "culture" is fundamentally defined as being "transformed through the human activity of writing." The Arabic word for "literature" adab (أدب) is the same word for "politeness." When you say in Arabic, "that person has adab", you're saying that person is polite, refined but also literally, that person is "literature." Once you get into the psychology, the emotion, the "religion" that is human language, understanding what "Katakana" is - with all of its ambiguities and shades of meaning - becomes possible. The Japanese today use katakana to express cases of onomatopoeia, emphasis, loanwords, among others things because of a combination of historical accidents and trends, culturally elite tastes, culturally conservative forces, and to differentiate"self" and "other" on the linguistic level. Why does it exist? The same reason Roman Numerals are imprinted on the Supreme Court building - this is, after all a very human language.
Citations:
Japanese Wikipedia was used for the "Ainu" and "television" examples.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%82%A4%E3%83%8C
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%86%E3%83%AC%E3%83%93
Information for terms such as "Library" was found on the website of the National Diet Library:
http://www.ndl.go.jp/
国立国会図書館
The second interesting set of Katakana is でんわ vs. テレビ, スパー vs. 図書館, 電報 (telegram) - they are interesting because they reflect the experience of modernization and the Industrial Revolution in Japan. These are examples of an interesting historical-linguistic phenomenon. Why did Japan adopt some western words and why did they invent some Japanese words. Our group thesis is that 19th century Post-Meiji Restoration Japan sought actively to "indigenize" new technological and "modernizing" terms. Post World War Two Japan appears to have been more inclined to absorb words directly from the West. This is very significant because the process of making words "indigenous" to a culture directly relates to how that culture relates to foreign ideas. For instance, the word "Zen" in English is originally a Japanese word deriving from the Chinese word "Chan" to denote a type of Buddhist practice. While English has "indigenized" the word (eg. She's really zen today"), it remains to a certain extent consciously a non-English word. The word "messiah," referring to the Jewish figure appearing at the end of Apocalyptic Age according to the Bible derives from the Hebrew word מָשִׁיחַ, meaning "Anointed one" or "king." Yet unlike "Zen," few English speakers would be able to identify "messiah" as originally a foreign word. Since all language is fundamental a social construct which culturally conditions us with ideas of "gender" "normality" and the "profane," it would be interesting to study whether Japanese people also had a different relationship to words which entered the language in the Post-Meiji period and were thus written in Hiragana versus words that were adopted later, with Katakana.
As to why textbooks explain katakana in different ways, I think it is simply because the concept is so abstract and ambiguous and the kana has so many different utilities. I conceive of it like this, how could you explain to a person who never learned how to read and write any letters or numbers why we have different systems of writing to express the same thing: "one, two, three" "1,2,3" "I,II,III". All three of those systems are used in the English language. Why? Historical accident and culturally "irrationality" - English speakers and westerners in general tend to believe that Roman numerals "I,II,III" are more civilized and professional than the Arabic numerals. Hence, on monuments we use Roman Numerals "Built in XDCIII" even though it would be much easier to write "Built in 18..." The answers as to "why" is kind of like "why do we still tie our shoes with laces even though we now have velcro, zippers, and various other improved technologies?" The bottom line is that human beings have emotional relationships with the languages they speak and the languages they write. Conservatives who seek to avoid change or reform of any writing system act as such because they are in touch with the human emotional need and desire for meaning in life. Language gives people meaning and is one of the greatest sources of meaning in our life - languages are conscious of this : the Christian conception of the deity proclaims him to be "the logos" - the word (Greek: logos λόγος). The Chinese word for culture is "wenhua" 文化, "wen" meaning "writing" and "hua" meaning transformation or change - "culture" is fundamentally defined as being "transformed through the human activity of writing." The Arabic word for "literature" adab (أدب) is the same word for "politeness." When you say in Arabic, "that person has adab", you're saying that person is polite, refined but also literally, that person is "literature." Once you get into the psychology, the emotion, the "religion" that is human language, understanding what "Katakana" is - with all of its ambiguities and shades of meaning - becomes possible. The Japanese today use katakana to express cases of onomatopoeia, emphasis, loanwords, among others things because of a combination of historical accidents and trends, culturally elite tastes, culturally conservative forces, and to differentiate"self" and "other" on the linguistic level. Why does it exist? The same reason Roman Numerals are imprinted on the Supreme Court building - this is, after all a very human language.
Citations:
Japanese Wikipedia was used for the "Ainu" and "television" examples.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%82%A4%E3%83%8C
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%86%E3%83%AC%E3%83%93
Information for terms such as "Library" was found on the website of the National Diet Library:
http://www.ndl.go.jp/
国立国会図書館
平成22年10月24日日曜日
平成22年10月23日土曜日
An old song that I share with love :)
Over a decade ago, when I was in high school, my friend Daniel and I would sit in a coffeeshop in my hometown in Massachusetts and chat. We had some good times. I remembered that he was a very brilliant and creative soul and a admirer of Japan and wrote many songs. The following song, "Godzilla and King Kong" talks about two fictional characters destroyed (or attempting to destroy) New York and Tokyo. Here are the lyrics in Japanese- I hope they're correct.
The destruction of Tokyo has no "symbolic" meaning...it simply is what Godzilla does haha...
Here is the link to the recording of the song:
http://www.myspace.com/music/13349797/songs/24336164
そう、ゴジラがキングコングに言った
君と僕は仲良くなれると思うんだけど
でもキングコングは嫌みったらしくこう答えた。
僕たちが友達になれるとは思えないんだけど
だって僕は暗いところが怖いんだ。
それで最後に確かめた時には
東京は消えちゃってた。
でもニューヨークはまだ残ってる。
君のふるさとには申し訳ないけど、いつでも大歓迎さ
君がニューヨークに残ってくれるなら
そしてキングコングが言ったんだ
一緒に摩天楼に上ろうよ！
力が大きすぎるとだめなんだってことを
それはマンハッタンから東京まで行き渡っている真実。
君が学ばなければならないのは、美しさが獣を殺すってことだ
それで最後に確かめた時には
東京は消えちゃってた。
でもニューヨークはまだ残ってる。
君のふるさとには申し訳ないけど、いつでも大歓迎さ
君がニューヨークに残ってくれるなら
君が学ばなければならないのは、美しさが獣を殺すってことだ
君が学ばなければならないのは、美しさが獣を殺すってことだ
君が学ばなければならないのは、美しさが獣を殺すってことだ
君が学ばなければならないのは・・・・
The destruction of Tokyo has no "symbolic" meaning...it simply is what Godzilla does haha...
Here is the link to the recording of the song:
http://www.myspace.com/music/13349797/songs/24336164
Well Godzilla Said to King Kong,
I think that you and I will,
get along
そう、ゴジラがキングコングに言った
君と僕は仲良くなれると思うんだけど
But Kong replied, with a sarcastic remark:
I don't think that w'ell be friends
because I'm afraid of the dark
僕たちが友達になれるとは思えないんだけど
だって僕は暗いところが怖いんだ。
And last time I checked they said
Tokyo was gone
But New York City still stands
I'm sorry about your home but you'r more than welcome
to stay in the city with me
それで最後に確かめた時には
東京は消えちゃってた。
でもニューヨークはまだ残ってる。
君のふるさとには申し訳ないけど、いつでも大歓迎さ
君がニューヨークに残ってくれるなら
and Kong said why don't you and I can go and climb
a great big tower?
there's something I must tell you about having too much power...
a necessary truth that extends from Manhattan to the East
The Lesson you must learn is beauty killed the beast...
一緒に摩天楼に上ろうよ！
力が大きすぎるとだめなんだってことを
それはマンハッタンから東京まで行き渡っている真実。
君が学ばなければならないのは、美しさが獣を殺すってことだ
And last time I checked they said
Tokyo was gone
But New York City still stands
I'm sorry about your home but you'r more than welcome
to stay in the city with me
それで最後に確かめた時には
東京は消えちゃってた。
でもニューヨークはまだ残ってる。
君のふるさとには申し訳ないけど、いつでも大歓迎さ
君がニューヨークに残ってくれるなら
The lesson you must learn t'was beauty killed the beast
The lesson you must learn t'was beauty killed the beast
The lesson you must learn t'was beauty killed the beast
The lesson you must learn....
君が学ばなければならないのは、美しさが獣を殺すってことだ
君が学ばなければならないのは、美しさが獣を殺すってことだ
君が学ばなければならないのは・・・・
平成22年10月21日木曜日
大阪で迷子になった
Could the greatest tragedy of our human experience in these coming decades be that young people know nothing of the rural life of the country, or life outside of these sprawling metropolises that humans are racing to create for themselves in every corner of the world. When did we come to believe that living in an anonymous apartment building with 200 other people made one a sophisticated cosmopolitan worthy of bestowing advice upon the modern day emperors of the world...and that living in the countryside with birds chirping and trees growing and fruits waiting to be picked made one an uncivilized hick? Is the greatest trick of the 21st century a joke we're playing on ourselves: that we've led ourselves to believe that we have created a better nature out of concrete and steel? That we've created a better human by replacing the neighbor with the stranger, the life-long friend for the subway-ride morning acquaintance? That we've created powerful nations by trading black soot dug up from under the ground and exchanged it for cheap sneakers made in factories across the world by human slave laborers? Where is this progress we've been told all about? Or will the progress simply be that, when we realize that we have nothing left of our humanity after we have destroyed everything we've ever had, we've finally achieved a sort of warped "equality" in the oncoming incoherent void of meaninglessness and banality?
平成22年10月17日日曜日
I read the news today
I found this article both sad and it made me think all afternoon about Japan's future. Please find my thoughts below.
私はすべての日本人のために祈ります。日本がもっとよくなってさら
皆さんがこの困難な時を乗り越えられることを期待しています。日本語を勉強することで日米友好と両国の相互理解に貢献したいと思
私たちの心には常に希望があります。だから日本の若者たちには希望を失わないでほしいです.
How bout a poem?
If tonight, you find yourself lonely in the city of Osaka,
with no job to find and no hope to seek.
Please know that I am also here, standing in Manhattan.
Looking east or looking west,
you will find me.
Though my body's limits limit possibility,
I am now not interested in anything rational:
Thank goodness strangers never are.
平成22年10月11日月曜日
平成22年9月28日火曜日
平成22年9月20日月曜日
Why I Want to Study Japanese
I am very excited by the prospect of learning Japanese. I am a speaker of Arabic, Chinese, some Hebrew, some French, and some Uyghur. I really enjoy learning languages and I am so happy to have the opportunity to study Japanese in the next few years. For me, learning Japanese will open up a world of new academic scholarship and a new invaluable wealth of information However, besides my academic reasons for learning Japanese, I am incredibly moved to study Japanese by the profound legacy of Japanese language literature. Growing up when I was twelve, my aunt bought me a book of Japanese poetry. It included classics such as Sugawara no Michizane and Fujiwara no Kintō, as well as some modern works. Stories from the 源氏物語 have also been a major inspiration of me as I grew up.
In the future, I would also like to live in Japan for some time, so I hope Japanese could greatly help me with that.
In the future, I would also like to live in Japan for some time, so I hope Japanese could greatly help me with that.
月曜日のブログ post
おはようございます。はじめまして。私はBrownです。アメリカじんです。ボストンから来ました。私のちちはアイルランドから来ました。私のお母さんはシリアからきました。
いま、私はコロンビア大学のだいがくいんせいです。せんもんはちゅうごくのれきしです。一年生です。いま、私わ日本語をべんきょうします。まいにち日本語をべんきょうします。
どうぞよろしく。
いま、私はコロンビア大学のだいがくいんせいです。せんもんはちゅうごくのれきしです。一年生です。いま、私わ日本語をべんきょうします。まいにち日本語をべんきょうします。
どうぞよろしく。
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