これにより、インターネットに接続できるようになるのはなお不明。それほど長くないはずだが、孤立化の寸前に、近況を報告しといた方がいいやろうと思ったりしているので、ここでそうします。
もっともおもしろいこととして、明日は以前と比べて大変いいところへと引っ越す。が、それは既に告げたので、次へ続く。新生活については、後日の課題！
ぼくが英語で書いた、世界自然遺産推薦地とされた小笠原諸島を巡る記事は、この前にアップされた。
それから、公に自分の拙劣な日本語を呈するのは非常に緊張することですけど、とうとうできました。とはいえ、自分の感情と考えを込めて書き綴ったわけではなく、実は他のGVの国々に関する記事を和訳しているのです。こういう作業は実際にやってみる前に思った以上にも楽しい。それゆえに、いっぱいやろうと思っている。怠っちゃダメな勉強と9月中旬頃に開始する秋学期とがあるけれど、毎回の時間が短くても、せめて週に数回程度に和訳をやりたいと思っている。
後は、いまやっている勉強ぐらいかな。主に、日本語でファイナンスの基本知識を得ようとしている。教材としては、認知度の極めて高いブリーリー氏らの「コーポレート・ファイナンス」を使っています。日本語能力試験N1の結果はまだ発表されていないけれど、落ちるとは思わないし、ファイナンスのほかに、試験向けの簿記と漢字に集中して自習をしている。11月に日本商工会議所の簿記検定3級と2級を受けるつもりで、TACのやつを用いており、それから常用漢字表に追加される字種の復習を終えたばかりで、そのうちに本格的に漢字検定2級のための勉強を始める予定です。
小規模だが、心の込められた花火大会。
あ、お盆休み。未曾有の苦痛をもたらした全身を日焼けしたことを除けば、その5連休は大変よかった。日暮れまでは汗を大量に流させられるハイキングでなければ、引越のための買い物をもたくさんしてきた。日が沈んでいった後に飲んでいたビールを燃料に、要領よくほとんどの購入はできました。
次に更新するのはいつかわからないのですけど、最近のことをここでだいたい網羅できた気がするので、また告げるべきことがあれば。
]]>As the title of this post indicates however, I didn’t just have one test. The day after the big puppy, I took the sub-level 2 of the Kanji Kentei (漢字検定：準2級) which, while (comparatively) enjoyable and short, did hit me with some rough 四字熟語. Anticipating the result next week. If it’s good, I’ll go for 2級 later this year. Update (2010/07/08): I did manage to pass! Onward and upward.
Finally, test mania ended today with N1 of the JLPT (日本語能力試験), taken on a muggy but pleasant day at the Yoshida Campus of Kyoto University, an area I always love visiting. The test was re-formatted starting this time, plus it was my first time trying level 1 (and second time ever taking the JLPT) so I wasn’t exactly certain what to expect. Fortunately, compared with the two examinations above, it was really quite reasonable, I felt. There were a few trickily-worded grammar problems, but the listening was fine and on the whole I feel like it went quite well. One girl had a meltdown at the end of the listening section and got the infamous 失格 red card, which was odd to say the least.
That’s it for long personal updates for a while, I promise the next update will involve some detailed examination or translation of a mundane topic!
夏の到来：府立植物園、ビール工場
Yesterday night someone called the police saying that two kids fell from a bridge into the Katsura River (桂川) right here in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto. Naturally, that’s a big concern, so the proper authorities rushed onto the scene and started combing the river with what really is some impressive manpower.
However, the kids have not turned up. No sign whatsoever. Moreover, there have been no schools in the area which reported kids as having not shown up for unexplained reasons. Oh, and there’s the fact that was recently unveiled that the 46 year-old man who alerted the police has a history of making false claims. Yet the search continues… come on!
One other interesting bit, which already had me suspicious last night when I heard the initial news report. The bridge the kids apparently fell from is called 羽束師橋, which has the odd reading of はづかしばし. While it’s not exactly the same reading as 恥ずかしい, it’s darn close, and I’m predicting the guy who sent in the alarm had a bit of irony on his mind in embarrassing the cops.
京都での遊び：西から北へ、山科と御所も。
I was/am listening to Morimoto Takerō’s “Standby” radio show on TBS, and their weekly weather expert guy is on. For an interesting bit of trivia, this guest assembled data looking at the correlation between the hours of sunlight on the day a new government is formed, and the duration of that prime minister’s time in office.
It was quite hilarious, and while I didn’t pencil down any numbers, almost all the long-reigning prime ministers over the past couple decades assembled their cabinet on what turned out to be a very sunny day, and the opposite was true for short-run PM’s. This trend was constant and reliable, the guest explained, up until the ascent of Asō Tarō, in which the correlation went completely the other direction… potentially even reflecting that the sunlight hours/time in office relationship had been reversed. Both the Hatoyama and Asō governments were formed on extremely sunny days (8~9 hours)!
The government of Kan Naoto was formed yesterday. Hours of sunlight? Zero.
Hmm… if the reverse-trend theory is true, he may be in office forever! If not, I’ll check back here next week.
比叡山と延暦寺
As the always-superb Mr. Cucek at Shisaku has already done a comprehensive (and timely) job of covering things, I’ll only give the briefest of summaries. According to the papers I read (just the Nikkei and Asahi evening editions), Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio has declared his intention to step down. In order to essentially rid the party of the untrustworthy image it has developed quite effectively over the past 8 months, he has also asked Democratic Part of Japan Secretary-General Ozawa Ichiro to resign, and I believe that resignation is also now official.
Interestingly, the one additional person whose leave of office Hatoyama openly sought was that of Lower House member Kobayashi Chiyomi, who was embroiled in scandals surrounding illegal funding activities, in much the same way Ozawa was, though on an entirely different scale in terms of public perception I’m sure. This request is in my mind a bit bizarre, but he couldn’t have picked a better time to do it, I guess.
I think this turn of events could be wonderful for the DPJ. Since late 2009 as public opinion polls plummeted, Japan’s political horizon found itself without a party receiving a viable amount of support. There was no way a DPJ with Hatoyama was going to move anywhere but down in the coming Upper House election. In removing himself, and Ozawa, Hatoyama has essentially changed the entire face of the party when it comes to the average onlooker. Thus essentially, the DPJ is reborn as the (all things considered) fresh face, and while I don’t expect public opinion polls to rise soon, if the new leader (expected to be Kan Naoto) selection process and the following plethora of tasks are handled smoothly, I think the DPJ will be seen in a fairly neutral, if not even good light by the population at large. Compare that to the infinitely negative public opinion which lasted up until this morning.
In addition – the photos of Ozawa and Hatoyama in the papers today were just hilarious. In some the two of them look like they’re about to lock lips, in others Hatoyama’s head looks like Kermit the frog, and others Ozawa is jutting out his chin and looking downward… I guess that isn’t unusual though.
The biggest irritant in all of this for me was the dismissal of Fukushima Mizuho from her position as Minister of Consumer Affairs. She was a well-spoken, tough lady who was doing a fine job. I understand the need to maintain a level of order among the ruling party on its key issues (ie. the Futenma base-moving hullabaloo), but if Hatoyama was going to jump ship anyways, all I can say about her removal is a heartfelt もったいない.
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10年GW：小豆島・直島
On a large number of signs as well, you’ll see 「一級河川」 or 「二級河川」. The reasoning behind this certification has baffled me for such a long time that I finally decided to look it up. It seemed both beautiful, majestic rivers and trash-laden dried-up gullies could earn the 1級 title, so I really wasn’t sure what to make of it.
Classification Overview
Let’s refer to the delightfully detailed federal law governing rivers (河川法) for Japan.
「一級河川とは」国土保全上又は国民経済上特に重要な水系で政令で指定したものに係る河川で国土交通大臣が指定したものをいう。
(Tier 1 Rivers) are bodies of water (lit. [elements of] the drainage system) which have been designated by the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism as being particularly vital to environmental conservation and/or citizens’ economic well-being. (Article 4 Section 1)
「二級河川とは」河川法第5条第1項で前条第1項の政令で指定された水系以外の水系で公共の利害に重要な関係があるものに係る河川で都道府県知事が指定したもの。
(Tier 2 rivers) are bodies of water besides the ones listed in article 4 section 1, which have been designated by the prefectural governor as being valued in the public interest. (Article 5 Section 1)
So essentially, the level of government which issued the order, and the relative importance of the body of water from an environmental perspective is what decides it.
There is one other main river classification – 「準用河川」, which I’m going to translate as “Legally Applicable River.” These are legally handled in the same way as Tier 2 rivers, except their designation is carried out at the municipal level (city/town/village leader).
Outside of these three, you have the 「普通河川」 (Standard River) label attached, and the paragraph regarding the legal authority of these rivers was just a nightmare to read, so put simply – it’s basically left up to the municipal authorities.
According to 2001 statistics (nothing appears to have changed) there are 109 designated tier 1 rivers, and via 2009 statistics (PDF) there are 2,713 tier 2 rivers. Naturally with tier 1 being far less common, there probably hasn’t been a need to gather more stats in the last ten years!
Responsible Authorities
At present, top-level authority rests with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism’s River Bureau (国土交通省河川局). From the late 1800s until the 1960s a number of different, smaller government orders slowly paved the way to the current standard-setting new Rivers Law (新河川法) which was passed in 1964. One major change from the Meiji era law (旧河川法と呼ばれるようになったらしい) was that of the implementation of the above tiered classification system, which clearly identifies that Tier 1 rivers are the responsibility of the federal government, and Tier 2 rivers are the responsibility of the prefectural government. I like that kind of clear organization of authority. There are apparently cases when responsibility is handed down to a lower level of government, but we don’t need to worry much about that here.
For people who really like to get technical, while the naming of the classification of rivers ends up as ～級河川, there is a special quantification system which is apparently utilized, where 「水系」 (drainage system) is actually utilized as a unit of measure. Thus both 「一級河川」 and 「一級水系」 are technically correct. I guess since really any river-like body of water can be referred to as 河川, the attachment of a physical unit of measure to it (even just in name) reinforces that it is an element of a larger system under the government’s all-seeing-eye of control!
Resources
The government has a great page summarizing all the tier 1 rivers and has links to the sites governing future plans for each body of water. Here’s a more eye-friendly map.
Beyond that, I can’t imagine there is anyone out there who wants to know more about rivers than I’ve written here. However I dig this style of post and will likely be doing more in the future!
鮮やかな紅葉と山頂にある小屋
It what proved to be a fitting environment for such content, I really enjoyed reading a portion of Akutagawa Ryūnosuke’s (芥川龍之介) Mikan (蜜柑) this afternoon. The weary, bitter narrator’s venomous yet humorous descriptions of the world around him seemed to meld well with the unending streams of rain pouring down the windows surrounding me. My first time reading anything by the near-mythical Akutagawa, and what a delight. Highly recommended.
Also of note, my latest article at Global Voices Japan has been published, it should provide useful general reference to anyone interested in learning more about the festivities taking place in Nara this year.
珍しい一人旅：金毘羅山
It’s my opinion that almost any bit of information can be useful in conversation, or the proper digestion of popular media. Here’s one you might see on ads for green tea around this time of year (actually a bit earlier). Today I’ve translated a section out of 「季節の節目を祝うしきたり」/「Practices of Celebrating the Change in Seasons」 focused on 「八十八夜」, which some of you may know well already. I feel like it’s quite useful having this sort of mundane knowledge stored away, because you never know when it might come up in a conversation with a farmer somewhere or something. What, you don’t visit farms? I think I’ve already said too much about my weekends.
八十八夜 ５月二日頃
Hachijū-hachiya “The 88th Night,” typically around May 2
八十八夜とは、二月上旬の立春から数えて八十八日目のことです。この日を八十八夜と呼ぶようになったのは江戸時代のことで、新暦では五月二日頃にあります。
Simply put, Hachijū-hachiya is 88 days after the start of spring in early February. On the Gregorian calendar this night lands on May 2, and the use of the term Hachijū-hachiya has been around since the Edo period.
春から夏への季節の変わり目にあたり、また「八十八」という文字を組み合わせると「米」になることもあって、この日は農村の人々にとって特別な日でした。人々は八十八夜を目安に、苗代作りや種籾おろしなどの農作業に取りかかったといいます。東北地方を中心に、八十八夜に農作を願う祈願祭や祈祷、占いなどの行事が行われてきました。現在もその風習を残す土地は少なくありません。
Considering it takes place during the transition between spring and summer, and a certain arrangement of the characters 「八十八」 combine to form 「米」 (rice), this day is seen as quite special in agricultural communities. It’s said that Hachijū-hachiya is used as a sort of temporal reference for the preparation of seed beds, the physical spreading of seeds, and other such farming tasks. Largely focused in Tōhoku (the north-eastern region of Honshū), festivals of prayer, visits to diviners, and other such events were held on Hachijū-hachiya in the hopes of bringing about a rich harvest. To this day, there are many areas which still observe such traditions.
童謡『茶摘み』に「夏も近づく八十八夜」と歌われているように、八十八夜は茶農家にとっても重要な時期です。立夏まであと数日となりながら、遅霜が降りることがあるからです。茶の新芽は霜にあたると枯れてしまうため、人々は「八十八夜の忘れ霜」などといってこの時期を警戒しました。一方、八十八夜の日に収穫された茶葉は貴重品とされ、現在でも神棚に供える風習が各地に残っています。
“As summer draws near, it’s Hachijū-hachiya,” as is sung in the children’s song “Chatsumi / Tea-leaf picking,” Hachijū-hachiya is an critical time for the growers of tea (leaves) as well. It is just a few days prior to the start of summer, and still presents the possibility of the appearance of late spring frost. Since frost will ruin damage the new buds, at this time of year tea leaf farmers are on the lookout for the “forgotten frost of Hachijū-hachiya.” That said, the leaves harvested on Hachijū-hachiya are a hot commodity, and the use of such leaves as an offering made on the small shrines in households and offices (kami-dana) is still a well-observed custom throughout Japan.
また、漁村においても、八十八夜は季節の節目として人々の生活に浸透しました。瀬戸内海地方では、八十八夜から約一ヵ月間を「魚島」「魚島時」と呼び、一年で最も多くの種類の魚を水揚げできる時期だとしていたとのことです。
Furthermore, Hachijū-hachiya has permeated the daily lives of the people living in fishing towns and villages, as an indicator of the change in season. In the Seto Inland Sea region of Japan, the 1-month period following Hachijū-hachiya is known as “Uoshima,” the period in the year when the greatest variety of fish can be hauled in.
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While I’ll still be in a haze of preparation for the next month or so, I may take some time to get a bit of writing done on here again. I’m writing a tremendous amount in Japanese at the U these days, so I wouldn’t mind bringing that online a bit since my pace has increased markedly. Maybe a bit of interesting/useful translations as well? Time will tell!
]]>This has nothing to do with finance, and is likely old news to anyone who knows their kanji, but recently I swelled with delight in learning (just via a dictionary look-up) the proper/original usage of the characters 伯 and 叔. 伯叔 is a pretty common one, generally used for one’s uncles (traditionally on the father’s side). However, both characters are used as the 「お」in 伯母/叔母（おば）and 伯父/叔父（おじ）, as in one’s aunt or uncle. What discerns the two?
If it’s the former (伯), it’s referring to your parent’s older sister or brother. If the latter (叔), your mom or dad’s younger sibling. A good clear way to differentiate it, without the hassle of two different readings. I dig it.
A psychedelic post-baseball-game parking area.
One of the things I believe a lot of people really love about studying a language is the constant, instant gratification one gets from pouring new vocabulary in and getting an opportunity to recognize and utilize that knowledge at some point in the future. Once you reach a point where constant study is no longer a necessity, does the some of the appeal wear off? That’s something I originally was concerned about in my earlier days of studying, but in fact, I’ve never been more satisfied than I am now. Reading about foreign currency markets for hours on end in Japanese doesn’t have the immediate satisfaction of churning new, practical, immediately applicable vocab/grammar into your brain, but if you adjust what you’re looking to get out of your efforts, and appreciate the deeper learning your hard work in the past has enabled you to do, it’s a feeling that’s tough to beat.
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