外国に住んで、もっとも手っ取り早くその国の言葉と国情に通じようと欲する人は、何はともあれそのテレビを見るのがよろしい。テレビの中には、ニュースあり、ドラマあり、音楽もあれば、コメディーもある、スポーシがあるかと思えば、政治的討論もあり、およそ人生の万般を居ながらにして見せてくれて、しかも金がかからない。さらに
Firstly, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all who are reading this!
~~ Chapter 1, Page 1 ~~
[Title page: A picture of a pub sign, entitled and depicting 'The Old Windmill'.]
イギリスのテレビは退屈である、と多くのイギリス駐在の日本人は言う。しかし、そんなことはない。イギリスのテレブは面白い、と私は思うのである。
そもそもイギリス （ロンドン） にはテレビ局は四つしかない。ＢＢＣか１と２と二局、ITVとチャネル４という民放が二局あるばかりだえる。しかも不思議なことに、それらの民放もどこかでＢＢＣとつながっているらしく、日本の民放どうしのような競急争 はほとんど感じられず、やっている内容も大同小異でＢＢＣと比べてもさしたる違いは無いように思われる。要するにＢＢＣと民放の違いはコマーシャルがあるかないかという程度のことに過ぎない。それでも、日本のテレビとは全く異質の世界がそこにはあり、すなわさ全く違った意味で、私はイギリスのテレビの世界をこよなく愛するのである。
私がイギリスに 住んでいたのは、一九八七年にかけてのことであるから、いまから述べる事柄は聊か旧聞に属し、現在では幾分様子が異なるかもしれない。とはいえしかし、百年や二百年という単位では、習俗も制度も、風景や家並みさえも殆ど変わらないという御国柄であるから、概ね、大した違いは無いに決まっているさ、とたかを括って、話を進 めることにする。
Most Japanese people who live in Britain say that British television is boring. However, this is untrue. I think that British television is interesting.
To begin with, Britain (London) only has four television stations. BBC channels One and Two, ITV and channel Four, of which only the latter two broadcast advertisements. Nevertheless, the wonder of it is that advertising is also somehow incorporated into the BBC; Japanese advertising [Kisou Kyuu?] is almost the same when experienced; the subject matter is essentially the same with only minor differences, and I think there is little to compare in terms of differences between the two. After all, the discrepancy in advertising for the BBC means advertisements have to be of an expected standard which must be exceeded. Nevertheless, Japanese television is a completely different world, that is, really different in meaning; I really love the world of British television greatly.
I was in Britain in 1987, and it is important to mention that my words may be somewhat out of date to the present time, and there may possibly now be differences in appearance from that which I describe. Be that as it may however, in two thousand years, the manners and customs, institutions, even the scenery of a row of houses have not changed the honour of the national character; generally, there aren’t any considerable differences or conclusions to be decided and drawn upon, in my opinion.
~~ Insert Page ~~
VOCATUS
ATQUE NON VOCATUS
DEUS ADEST
呼ばうと
呼ぶまいと
神は、ここにまします。
-The Manor 梁上の箴言-
Whether I cry out or
I don’t cry out
God is, growing here.
-The Manor Mouse-thief’s proverbs-
[Note: This poem is from a collection composed by Han Dynasty Chinese poet Chen Shi (b. 104 d. 187) (Japanese pronunciation: Chinshoku) in the 2nd century.]
~~Table of Contents~~
- Chapter 1 – 一人の男と彼の犬 / One Man and His Dog
- Chapter 2 – 庭冴ゆる月なりけりな。。。。。。 / (not sure about this one… help?!?!)
- Chapter 3 – お茶はホコリの香り / Pride in the Sweet Smell of Tea
- Chapter 4 – 勇気とは何か / What is Courage?
- Chapter 5 – ささいなる文化/ Throw-away Pop Culture
- Chapter 6 – 四季 / The Four Seasons
- Chapter 7 – ロンドンの哀しさ / London’s Sorrow
- Chapter 8 – 冬の楽しみかた / Looking Forward to Winter
- Chapter 9 – 豚の個人主義 / Pig’s Ignorance
- Chapter 10 – 甘いクリスマス 辛いクリスマス / Sweet Christmas, Spicy Christmas
- Chapter 11 – 動物たちの庭 / The Garden of Creation
- 囚われめ魂 – あとがきに代えて / The Captive Spirit – The Exchanging of the Body and Ghost (After Death)
Very interesting!
“イギリスは愉快だ”, or “Igirisu wa Yukaida” is two things; one of which is definite and the other a goal. Firstly, it is my ongoing Japanese translation project by which I hope to further my knowledge of the Japanese language and culture. Secondly, I hope it will become an interesting and insightful look at Britain through the eyes of the Japanese.
Everything began in the Autumn of 2007 when I found a rather strange little book at the bazaar and book fair at the open day of my region’s Japanese Saturday School, which was set up to continue the native education of Japanese children coming to Britain and living in our area. The cover read Britain is Pleasant (イギリスは愉快だ) by Japanese author Nozomu Hayashi (林望). The cover image itself was interesting; and you wouldn’t have to be able to understand Japanese to realise that this was a book about Britain from the Japanese perspective. An interesting topic, I thought, even if my grasp of the Japanese language isn’t exactly masterful enough (as of yet) to read it. And then I was struck by an idea. Why not translate the book, page by page?
So, I bought the book and made a promise to myself; that I would use this as a project to help myself achieve one of my life’s goals; to become fluent in another language. It’s something I really want to do. It also made a lot of sense to combine this with my great interest in both the culture of Japan and of my own country.
I make no excuses or pretences; my knowledge of Japanese is not good. However, I hope this blog will be a learning journey for myself, and that hopefully, someone out there will be interested enough to read it!
どうぞよろしく。 Please remember me kindly.
