It's only fair to show that it is not only Goshi Hosono who is utterly clueless on the topic he's talking about (see his remark on radioactivity of the disaster debris in my previous post).
Daisaku Kadokawa, Mayor of Kyoto City who is going to test burn the disaster debris in the incineration plants surrounding the city, has the English message "Welcome to Kyoto" on the Kyoto City English website. The mayor seems scatter-brained about his own city:
Hello. I am Daisaku Kadokawa, the 26th Mayor of Kyoto.
I think Kyoto is a beautiful city which is unique in many ways. Kyoto also exists in harmony with its beautiful natural surroundings. What is more, Kyoto is home to a long tradition of municipal action, as well as creative, advanced ways of thinking. Kyoto is a wonderful city. I love Kyoto.
I am going to make it my priority to create a new Kyoto by bringing together the city's municipal, cultural and creative powers with the hope of creating “Kyoto Power”. The new Kyoto I envision will be an ideal city where children always smile, young people have great dreams for the future, and where old people can live securely and comfortably.
I promise to create a better Kyoto with innovative projects based on the key words: “speed”, “power”, and “heart.” At the same time I will carefully pay attention to what is happening in real, local society. I want to share my deep feelings and hopes with Kyoto citizens so that we can cooperate as much as possible to improve the city in all kinds of ways.
Kyoto is an important city as a model, modern city of citizen autonomy. I would like to make Kyoto as attractive and unique as possible. I hope everyone will cooperate with my vision. Thank you very much.
I'm not sure what he wanted to convey. It's clearly addressed to the Kyoto City residents, but then why is that a "Welcome to Kyoto"? The residents are already in Kyoto. I showed it to people in Japan who understand English, and they all laughed. "Kyoto power" apparently is his favorite phrase that no one knows what it means.
To me, the funniest part is when he talks about "citizen autonomy" in the last paragraph. That's quite a joke, particularly when he simply ignores the citizens' protest against debris burning.
It reads to me like an English composition (actually, nothing but translation) in the middle school. Sure enough, Mr. Kadokawa was the head of the Board of Education in Kyoto City before he became the mayor. No idea who translated the sentences into English though.
Whoever did the translation, he/she at least used the spell checker.
30-Day free trial by following the link.
Tokyo Time
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](http://www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/gold/t24_au_en_usoz_2.gif)
18 comments:
Reminds me of the mayor in the movie 'jaws'.
it sounds like a West Coast City like SF or Portland, which may or may not have been innovative, but more recently sent police out in hundreds to fire tear gas canisters & rubber bullets at the lame occupiers Heads. therefore, what he is saying is you can own your own hope & dreams, we own the city, and if you don't like it, we'll send out the riot police to shoot you.
What. The. Hell.
Why is the world run by incompetent misfits like this?
Daisaku Kadokawa would fit right in with the politicians down here in Australia too .
Trained in the art of saying nothing.
It wouldn't be so bad if they weren't paid shedloads of taxpayers cash and their decisions meant nothing...and yet they are voted in because no one stands up to them.
Japan reaching the end of the line. Lets hope their finances fall apart before their policies rip the country to shreds.
Japan is ripe for revolution but without revolutionaries. Farcical country.
I hope this maddman doesn't kill all Nintendo employees in Kyoto with radiation. It would be a tragedy for gamers all around the world. What will happen to all pikmin's living in Shigeru Miyamoto's garden?
His stupidity is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt....the more he talks!
He's the Japanese version of Obama, say a lot and mean nothing! But, average people will listen to them and applaud!
The World is Fuc*ed.
I live and work in Japan and I have done a ton of translation work, and this little missive is TYPICAL of the kind of bad translation that is done here and that I have seen in spades of 26 years of being here.
Basically, they (whoever wrote this in English) translated his Japanese as exactly or literally as possible, into English, while ignoring cultural norms of the English language, idiomatic usage, etc... The translator ignored English speaking cultural context when making the translation.
Basically the stuff he said is typical in Japanese, and makes total sense in the Japanese language context and POLITICAL context of Japan.
Of course it makes no sense to English speakers and people who have no idea about the Japanese linguistic or cultural context it was taken from.
And for the record, MOST Japanese politicians ARE incompetent. They are ALL most certainly corrupt to the core, and they are simply puppets of the large Japanese corporate entities.
Reminds me of early reports of people possibly exposed to radiation reporting confused thinking [stress induced or real]
Good let him but radioactive debris. Maybe he can be replaced after a day..
My heartfelt greetings .. Japan is in trouble and it tosses up people like the the 26th Mayor of Kyoto.
The world hums and haws and does nothing to help. Twice within my living memory Japan has had to face the ultimate dragon and she will face its second coming in her inimitable style.
Arrrggh .. I feel like the Mayor of Kyoto what an awful task .. seriously what is he required to say ? I may be wrong but I always saw the Japanese as peoples with a sense of duty .. the Samurai if one likes.
The future for all of us .. Northern an Southern Hemispherse .. we will have to pay the shareholders price of further destruction of the planet and it is the Japanese people who are the spear tip of our latest global catastrophe.
Oh Lord I want the Mayor to be right .. if he can stir the strength of the people then maybe he stands a chance of rousing the Samurai from their sleep.
May God help Japan!
Ivor Hughes
New Zealand
It's not apathy or worse malice, but that life has already put its own burden on my back. When people start bandying around terms like karmic retribution, we all have to remember that all humans are in the crosshairs of nature. Who knows what will happen to me in the future, for example. We don't need to go around killing one another, there are plenty of natural ways to die, warmongering being one. Yet it seems that all evil begins and ends in the human heart, and that some stubborn weeds of hatred and evil intent never die.
The human heart is both the source of all evil and all good. Some stubborn weeds of Love never die, thank God.
Politicians get elected by 2 groups of people, those that know fuck all and those that know fuck nothing, that leaves only a few percent that actually know something, and that's why democracy fails.
What the Mayor of Kyoto City actually said (if it had been translated correctly) in the last paragraph was citizen autonotroms.
Dress up as the inimitable maiko and geisha and get out there on the front lines (even if it is only a single line)!
The world absolutely loves the geisha image. Who could deny them? "Geisha Power" could overcome "Idiot Power", including their hideous mayor.
Citizens of Kyoto have the most photogenic, world headline grabbing potential for protest against these incinerators.
In my country this kind of incomprehensible blather is the norm for politicians. No wonder we are in such a mess. If politicians in Japan normally speak in an intelligent manner the people there are lucky.
Sounds exactly like a direct translation by a native Japanese speaker, a lot of the language when translated back to japanese makes perfect sense but translation doesnt allow for contextual difference in the definitions of the words used.
Post a Comment