In search of TATOTAN (NI)

Just so you folks know... this will not be the last time I talk about Takarazuka. There is so much to get into with that group, and I have a lot of material dealing with this cultural phenomena, so it's likely we'll be returning to it a few times.

But first, what is Takarazuka? Well, technically it's a town on the south side of Hyogo, and is about thirty minutes from Osaka by train on the Hankyu Line. It's a very pleasant, and quiet town that sort of acts as a suburban commuter city that has really beautiful walking trails. I think that if I could, I'd probably choose to live in that area in the future. It's a bit like fairyland. I love it, but that could be because it's largely empty during the day.

Really, when you mention Takarazuka, people automatically think of the theatre groupe, Takarazuka Revue, which is an all female musical theatre troupe. I'd like to go into more detail, but since this is the first of many posts, I'll save that for a bit later.

This is one of their most famous shows, The Rose of Versailles.

Today though, I want to talk about the fans, who are known for being particularly rabid and protective. There are fanclubs for the actresses, and they have very strict rules of how one is to address the objects of affection, if at all. Nothing Takarazuka related should be posted on the web unless it's a poster, and all images should be a small size so no one can redistribute. If you buy a GRAPH (a Takarazuka photobook), you better not share them with the internet or you will quickly find herself being trolled twenty-four seven. This includes posting things from the special Takarazuka cable channel on to the web.

The reason I bring up the fans is because the grammar point I wish to address is on a fan's blog.

• GRAPHを、てゆーか出版物をひろげたとたん大声を上げてしまったのは、生まれて初めてかもしれません.
• GRAPH wo, te yuuka shuppanbutsu wo hirogeta totan oki oogoe wo agede shimatta no ha, umarete hajimeta kamoshiremasen.

So, the TOTAN in TATOTAN  means "just at this moment", and it uses this kanji: 途端. The definition the dictionary gives me is "after doing something this immediately happens". Thus, I can surmise that something just barely finishes happening before something else happens. That, of course is exactly what happens.

The TA in TATOTAN is merely to indicate to you that the phrase can ONLY be used with a TA form (informal past tense) of a verb. You'll also notice that I placed NI in parenthesis. This is because, should you need to use it in an adjectival way, you need to add NI.

So then, what is this about? Here are some possible translations:

• The second I opened the GRAPH book, I let out such a loud yell that it must have seemed like I had just been born.
• I had just scarcely opened the GRAPH book before I let out such a loud yell that it must have seemed like I had just been born.

Easy, right?

I should mention that GRAPH is the name of the photobooks for each actress (please keep in mind that say actress because the term in Japanese is gender neutral, and gives me no indication of how I should refer to the male parts in English). In fact, I own one for Sei Motabu, which is weird because I've actually seen Yamato Yuuga the most, and Sena Jun is my favorite. Of course, now that Hiromu Kirya and Otozuki Kei are top stars now, they are winning my heart!

This is mine. I have translated some interviews in the book, if anyone is interested.

I'm didn't really read very far into this post except I did see that she wondered if "she had died" when she saw it, such was her elation. I think it's because the cover of this particular has two very big otokoyaku (boy parts). I'm not sure though who they are. I'm pretty bad at my names and faces when it comes to Takurazuka.

In search of TABI NI

I have in my possession one of the most wonderful books ever written. It is a children's book called Tsumiki no Ie. The first word, tsumiki, means building blocks and it's supposed to evoke an image of a house that is built of many different things put together. It's translated at The House of Small Cubes, or in French, La Maison en Petits Cubes. Since that's the translation of the creator, you can hardly argue with it.

The book is actually based on this short animation here:

As you can see, there is no surprise why this won a lot of awards. Strangely, and maybe this is because I'm so in love words I ought to just get it over with and marry them, I prefer the children's story... with... you know... words.

Unsurprisingly, that's where we are going to find our grammar point! If you chose not watch the video, I'll put the story in a nutshell. An old man's house begins to flood, and he has to build another house on the roof of his old one to stay dry. He drops his pipe and he has to go scuba diving to find it. In the children's book, it's the tools he's using to build the house though I'm exactly sure why there was a change. While he dives, you discover that this is not the first time he has built on top of his former house in an effort not to drown. As he goes through each level of his former houses, he remembers what had happened in them. The book has more detail for each level, such as a carnival, the day his daughter married, and the day they lost their family cat. Every scene, with it's simple wording, it filled with such nostalgia. I'm not ashamed to say that this book makes me cry every time I read it.

Okay... I'm a little ashamed. But not much.

But if you're wondering if the book is no good since it's based on an animation, like all of those awful Disney novels, I have to stop you! And it's all thanks to speaking French! I knew EVENTUALLY that would come in handy.  The credits at the end say that Kenya Hirata came up with the idea for the animation. When I look at the cover of my book, it says he wrote it (and it very specifically says 文). Thus, I must suspect that this was the original concept with the conceptual illustrations before it was made into a silent film, where the lack of words really brings home how alone the old man is.

For those of you who haven't peeked at the blog post's title yet today's grammar point is TABI NI. And it is found on this page:

Do you notice something... a bit odd? Like the fact that there are spaces... and no kanji? This is the typical way to write children's books. Unfair. I know, right? We at this level have to deal with kanji. But, since reading hiragana by itself is quite confusing, they added spaces in so you could know where the words were instead of trying to piece it together yourself. When you think about it that way, you start to get a little grateful for kanji.

So the sentence says:

したのいえへ　したのいえへ　
もぐっていくたびに、　
どのいえにも　どのいえにも
おもいでが    のこていました。
Shita no ie he Shita no ie hemogutteiku tabi ni,dono ie ni mo dono ie ni moomoide de ga nokoteimashita.

TABE NI means "whenever", as in "Whenever I study, I get hungry" (which is true, by the way). The translation of the book definition is "When you do something, this always happens". The way you use it is:

• Dictionary form of verb + TABI NI

or

• Noun + NO + TABI NI

Now that that's out of the way, let look at the line that has the grammar point:

もぐっていくたびに
Whenever he dove.

Easy, right? Let's add on the next bit that's important:

おもいでが のこていました。
The memories would go with him.

So, the whole page would sort of go like this:

Lower and lower. Whenever he dove to the houses below, no matter which house, no matter which house, the memories would ride with him.

Not as pretty in English, but still quite beautiful right? I'd love to translate the whole book, I really would, but something tells me that's copyright infringement. So, take what you have, and enjoy the animation, okay? Maybe, some day, you'll see this at stores with my name as translator on it. Unlikely, but a girl can hope, right?

I should also mention that I do think that this is some sort of comment on global warming, despite the fact I have no evidence my heart and my gut to back that up. Sadly, those two are not always reliable, especially one one of them (I won't name names) is hungry. It is either that, or a metaphor about rural towns where the youth all move away, leaving the towns to their ghosts. I should know... I lived in one of those. And the worst part is knowing that the places where I worked, and the people I knew, most of them are no longer there... I wonder if I don't feel a little like the old man.

In search of SAE BA

We're going to address this grammar form using my favorite singer, Miyavi (how many times have I said this in this blog?). Until I moved from Japan, I did have his complete discography, but the bastard had to keep making music after I left. What is up with that?

Anyway, Miyavi is a former visual kei singer. It's hard to say what he is now, because... he definitely has the visual element, but it's nothing like what you would see with L'arc~en~Ciel, or Gackt [except for his genderbending in Itoshii Hito]. Did I just name two old school VK bands? Yes, I did. I'm twenty-six! What do you want from me? I guess I could mention Kaya, and get some cool points. I can get even more by saying I've seen him in concert. I've also seen Gackt in concert too. Boo-yeah!

Wait.. what was I talking about? Oh yeah, Miyavi.

He was formally of Due le Quartz where he was the lead guitarist. After that, he went solo, got drugged out a lot, married, and now he has two girls. That is pretty much his life in nutshell. Okay, there is a little more, but I need to get to grammar so I'll make it quick. He is of Korean origin (which as you know tends to make you an instant pariah in Japan) and was raised by a single mother (more pariah-making circumstances). This is probably why, a.) he's better than most Japanese guitarists and b.) he has such an unusual look fashion-wise.Then, he had an injury playing soccer, and he was so bored in bed that he learned how to play the guitar and started to write music. There it is. Consider the nutshell closed.

In any case, the grammar point is going to be from one of my favorite songs from one of the most brilliantly musically satirical albums of all time, POPS.

Would you believe I can actually karaoke this song without having memorized the lyrics first? It was my proudest moment, and it was then that I knew that this reading thing, I can do it. Also, if you're wondering: yes, I do find Miyavi beyond attractive.

He is also an incredibly talented guitarist:

Okay, so where is this SAE  BA in that mess of words in Kimi ni Negai wo?

でも神様なんていない
君が星になった時そう誓ったんだ
僕には神様なんて要らない。そこに君が、君さえ居てくれれば。
Demo kamisama nantenaiKimi ga hoshi ni natta toko sou chikattanda.Boku niha kamisama nannte iranai. Soko ni kimi ga, kimi sae itekurereba.

[NANTE functions like NADO in this sentence. You can find an explanation in this blog post about NADO]

I don't really get why Miyavi uses kanji in his lyrics that aren't usually used in those contexts(居 and 要) , but there you go.

You use SAE BA to say "as long as" or "only if"

For example:

• あなたは私のこと愛さえすれば、私もあなたを愛してる。
• Anata ha watashi no koto ai sae sureba, watashi mo anata wo aishitieru.
• As long you love me, I'll love you.

• 暇さえあれば寝るよ！
• Hima sae areba neru yo!
• I'll sleep as long as I have free time.

Now making these sentences is actually kind of hard. If you want to use just a noun with something like a DESU, then you need to use AREBA for the BA form. If you need to use a verb before the BA, you use a pre-MASU form of the verb, and then use SURU for the BA so it looks like SUREBA.  Like this:

• 道が込みさえしなければ、駅までタクシーで１０分ぐらいだ。
• Michi ga komi sae shinakereba, eki made TAKUSHII de jyupun gurai da.
• As long as you don't go down that road, the station is about 10 minutes away by taxi.

Oh, I was tricksy in that, wasn't I? I put it as a negative. Well, it can be done! Now you know! Okay, so let's get back to Miyavi, mostly because he's far too pretty to be ignored.

Translation:

But things like god don't exist,
I swore that on you when you became a star.
But to me, I don't need things like god. As long as you would be here with me (for me).

I'm going to try and explain this in a little bit different way.

• WHAT + SAE + VERB + BA + WHAT HAPPENS
• YOU + SAE + BE WITH ME ....

I'm not sure if Miyavi made the last line and inverted sentence, meaning that he doesn't need a god as long his lover is with him, or if he left it as implied, unfinished sentence, though I'm relatively certain it's the former rather than the latter. But, it shows that you only really need to say half the sentence if you were, say, answering a question.

Boom: Hey, Miyavi. How long you plan on not needing a god?
Miyavi: As long as you're here with me.

I would like to point out before I go that there is something more interesting in the last lyric. He changes midform, did you see that? He was starting off as "if you are here", but he changed it to "as long as you're here" in the middle. It's a lost more powerful of a change in Japanese, because SAE is very emphatic word. I almost think it would translate as "if only you were here with me", but I'm not sure.

In search of SEI DE/ SEI DA

Today, I'm going to use Fullmetal Alchemist to help us. And so you know, yes, it is one of my favorite mangas of all time, and I'm more than a little in love with Edward. I also really want this shirt:

The basic premise of the show sort of follows an I, Robot way of a storyline. What I mean is that the entire story is set up around a law that can't be broken (for those are Asimov-challenged, I mean the 3 Laws of Robotics). This immutable truth of the law becomes just as much an antagonist as any of the villains do, which is partially why I'm so attracted to the manga. The concept is summarized at the beginning of each episode of the anime, and it becomes absolutely heartbreaking when you start realizing its implications.

Of course, once you realize which character is delivering this monologue at the beginning of each episode it becomes even more haunting.

But today, we are not going to talk about the anime. No we are not. Why? Because I only own the manga, and it's pretty different from the anime. Why is this? Well, the mangaka, Hiromu Arakawa (who I automatically like because she's from Hokkaidou), sold the rights to do an anime early on in the series, but she would not tell the animators what the plot was after the volumes that were already produced. It makes sense though. Why would read the manga if you already know how it's going to end. She was protecting her creativity and product in a very smart way. I actually wonder the same thing about animes. Since I always read manga, there seems very little point in me watching the show when it's almost the same thing (I'm looking at you, Naruto). In any case, there is the manga, which is the original story, there is the first anime, which is true to the manga for about eight episodes, and there is the second anime called Brotherhood, which follows the manga. There's also a movie that acts as a sequel to the first anime series...oh, and a series of audio dramas...but I digress.

Shall we to the grammar point?

Yet again, I'm all sorts of classy and I used my digital camera instead of walking ALL THE WAY downstairs and booting up a crappy old computer to scan this. Why don't I just put the scanner on my computer? you ask. It's just that old, I reply. Plus, there aren't any drivers for a mac.

This is the pivotal scene that puts much of the plot in motion, at least for the main characters Edward and Alphonse. They try to use alchemy to bring their mother back to life, but while they have everything that is important to making a body (salt, potassium, etc.) they don't have anything to give in exchange for a soul. Edward has lost his leg, and Al has lost his entire body in creating a monster that only sort of looks like their mother. Edward, in a last act of desperation realizes in order to save his brother's soul he has to attach it to a suit of armor.

Our grammar point in question is here:

Do you see it?

• アル。。。　オレのせいだ

SEI DA (DESU) means "fault". Anytime you want to say anything is the fault of something, you use that word. Knowing this, then, means that it is pretty easy to guess what this particular grammar point means.

• Al... It's my fault.

Though, I would probably translate this as:

• Al... It's all my fault.

From what I can tell, there isn't really way to include that "all" in a SEI DA sentence, but I find that to be more fluid than just saying "It's my fault". Oh the liberties translation can take.

Ed loses an arm attaching Al's body to the armor, and suddenly it makes a lot of sense why the series is called what it is. Those are two very metal alchemists. Almost full metal, I'd say.

But this is the most simple way to use SEI. So, it's time move on to other things that more fun to use like SEI DE.

Just knowing that SEI DE uses the TE form probably leads you to know that you can write a lot longer sentence. And... while I'm sure FMA uses it at some point in the manga, I'm not going to go searching for it. It'll just make me sad that I don't have the last five tankoubans (volumes). So, instead, I'm going to talk about something really different.

With this phrase:

•  私のせいで負けました

using this video that used it as its title.

Honestly, I wouldn't watch the video for more than ten seconds. I only used it because I want to talk about the game a little bit. I know it's a POD (Panoramic Optical Display) game, and it is just so Japanese.

So I took the following image from this link that sort of talks about the game.

That, my friends, is a video game. It also made me hella dizzy and motion sick the one and only time I played it. I'm not real certain if the above video is GUNDAM, but I'm relatively sure it is because I'm a nerd, and I recognize the alert sound from Gundam Wing.

In case your wondering, playing games in Japan is really just that awesome.

But I'm going to stop myself from talking about things like Pop'n Music, and actually get on with this incredibly long post.

•  私のせいで負けました
• Watashi no sei de makemashita.
• It's my fault we lost.

So basically it goes like this:

Who or what's fault? + What happened = SEI DE sentence.

I should probably also mention that anything can go with SEI. But here are the rules for each one:

• Verb -  appropriate tense
• I Adjective - add i
• Na adjective - add na
• Noun - add no 

Nice, right?

Boom goes to the Paint Mines!

I think I'm going to do a bit of a diary for pratice. Don't worry, I'll have a cut so I don't have to subject you to it!

ペイントマインズ

In search of WO KOMETE

So, this is going to be a needlessly long post because I want to talk about Sawada Kenji, one of the Japanese loves of my life (the others being Moriyama Mirai, and Fujii Fumiya), so hang in there with me, okay?

But first, let's talk about WO KOMETE. My textbooks has the very unhelpful definition of "feelings put in the middle". Well, that's the literal translation, in any case. I spent about one half of a lesson with my Japanese teacher when I lived in Japan trying to figure out what this means, and I'm still not feeling terribly confident, but I'm pretty sure I have the main gist of it. It basically means thats something is charged with a certain emotion or feeling.

The structure is as follows:

Noun + をこめて (+ rest of sentence)

The most typical way you'll ever see this is with 愛をこめてor こころをこめて. The former is usually translated as "with love" and the latter as "wholeheartedly", though I would probably translate that as "with all my heart".

Fortunately, for ai wo komete, I have a great example. I don't know if you are an old school anime freak, or not, but if you are you will probably recognize this:

Uh-oh. Do you hear that? It's the sound of me about to digress. Hold on to your hats!

1.  Space Battleship Yamato is a space opera that I don't think I want to delve into too deeply, largely because I've forgotten most of what I've seen from it, and the episodes I've seen were seen out of order. Now, if you want me to talk about Galaxy 999, then we don't have a problem. Of course, we're not.
Yamato is huge. I found it in my best theme songs of anime sheet music book, old men at karaoke bars are forever singing its theme song, and it has spawned movie after movie, and series after series. It is, to me, the Star Trek of the Japanese cult nerds.
What I can say about the series for certain is that it follows the lives of the people aboard the spaceship Yamato, which is on a mission to save their planet. Before the start of the series, Earth has been irradiated by an alien race. Why? Well, that's a spoiler, so  I won't say. The planet is uninhabitable, and the humans who survived by living underground will die within a year due to radiation poisoning themselves. They are outclassed by the aliens in every way, until they find blueprints for a ship and a message telling them that they can find a device that will save their planet by cleaning the radiation. They secretly build it in the remains of an old Japanese battleship (the eponymous Yamato), and set out to save the human race. That's it. 

2. The sweet voice you hear in that video above are the dulcet tones of Sawada Kenji, probably one of the most famous Japanese singers of all time. He was formerly the lead singer of The Tigers, which was sort of like The Japanese Beatles, then he went on to have a brilliant solo career full of sparkles and shiny things, become a highly regarded comedian, and act in some truly spectacular films. All in all, not bad for one life. He's also one of the few Japanese celebrities that you can watch grow old on television. Very rarely do pop stars retain their popularity for as long as he has.
The Japanese, however, tend to know him by his nickname, Julie. In the 60s, it was popular to give pop idols female European names. I have yet to figure out why this is. In any case, he was named Julie because he loves Julie Andrews. 

He also has a tendency to do this to women:

Okay, now that that's over, let's get on to the grammar!

The song is called ヤマトより愛をこめて. This should be easy enough, since I just told you what ai wo komete means in English. The translation is:

To Yamato (the spaceship), with love.

Easy? Right? You will find ai wo kometei in all sorts of songs, like in this FUJIFABRIC song that I can't embed! That's okay, I'm going to link you to the exact second he says it.

ならば愛をこめて
手紙をしたためよう 

Naraba ai wo komete   

tegami wo shitatatemeyou 

If that's so, let's write a letter
with love

Of course you can use WO KOMETE with other words. For example, take this video about the Touhoku earthquake:





This translates 祈りをこめて (inori wo komete) as "pray for Japan" and I think that's about as close as you're going to get. The idea is that the video is filled with prayers for those affected by the 2011 Touhoku Earthquake.

Lastly, I'm going steal a sentence from my textbook because I think it will also help explain the sentence:

• 母はわたしのために心をこめて、セーターを編んでくれた。
• Haha ha watashi no tame ni kokoro wo komete, SEETAA wo andekureta.
• My mother wholeheartedly knitted a sweater for me.

Aw, how sweet! The weird Japanese explanation I gave you above about putting a feeling into something really makes sense in this sentence. Here, the WO KOMETE is describing she put her heart into making the sweater for her son/daughter.

I suppose I could go on, but I think we all agree it's time to wrap this up. It's been a long post, for sure, but it was fun with Julie here, right?

I also, once upon a time, made a very stupid vlog when I still vlogged dedicated to Kenji Sawada. You can see it here.

New header, possibly?

I wonder if I could make this work. Since I only do graphic design as a passing hobby, I find it hard to spend a lot of time on it... but I think this might be nicer theme than this quasi Mr. Bubble color scheme I got going on.

You can even see the corner of my Time Stranger Kyoko manga in there.