I've been meaning to write some thoughts on my time in Hamilton/Ontario but I haven't been able to come up with a good way to write what I feel. I started writing this post right after I got back but I neglected the post for a while now. What follows is an off-the-cuff attempt to summarize my feelings. After 5 years of good times, I finally bid adieu to Hamilton. My 5 years in Hamilton, and by extension Ontario, were great and afforded me many different opportunities that I would probably not have had if I had stayed in Montreal. Living in Ontario gave me the opportunity to see just how different Quebec was to the rest of the country. While many of these differences are obvious and were not unknown to me, actually living them gave me greater perspective into the diversity of this great land we call Canada. While there are differences between all provinces I feel (perhaps incorrectly) that being in Ontario gave me greater insight into English Canada than I would've gotten if i had stayed in Montreal.

Hamilton as a city was big enough that it had all the modern amenities I needed to go about my simple life without a car, and had reliable enough transport to Toronto for everything else. McMaster University nestled in the westend of Hamilton resides in a quiet residential area of town, and has a closed campus that combined old and new. While it certainly had its issues, particularly in regards to funding the humanities and clubs like debating, given that most (if not all) Canadian universities have problems I can't really say I got a bad deal in my undergrad education. I took some interesting classes, met interesting people, and enjoyed the numerous amenities the university had to offer. I'm also quite sure that McMaster's insistance that I take the common first year Engineering course load (rather than accept my CEGEP credit), is a key factor that allowed me to switch into the Humanities. Had I stayed in Quebec, I may not have had the opportunity to reflect as much on my priorities, and I might have toughed out an Engineering degree, or have made the switch only after spoiling my transcript.

Of course, being in Ontario let me be a part of a much more diverse and complicated high school debating scene. If I had stayed in Montreal, I probably would have made more money coaching private school debaters, but I probably wouldn't have had a hand in really expanding debate to new schools. Ontario's regionally diverse of debating scene gave me insights on how to appreciate differences in styles and philosophies, and gave me insights on how to work with others with differing views in order to accomplish the goal of furthering debate in high schools. In Hamilton, I found myself coordinating a public school based debating scene that lacked a common vision. But I was close enough to Toronto that I was asked to Tab two National HS events held in Toronto during my time at Mac. Of course, being an OSDU representative took me to various parts of the province for the annual Championships (formerly the Seminar). I've been to places a regular university debater wouldn't have necessarily seen. I made a great number of friends from all parts of the province from all kinds of backgrounds with debating being the only common denominator. Also, being at Mac allowed me to bypass the competitive qualification procedures I would have faced had I attended McGill, and let me go to UBC Worlds. I am convinced that these valuable debate experiences happened because I ended up in Hamilton. I hope to take these experiences with me and apply them in Japan.

Finally, living in Hamilton meant living on my own for 5 years, not under the direct supervision of my parents. Prior to my second year, I moved into a house for the first time in my life. I cooked my own meals, did my own laundry. and otherwise made all my own life decisions. While I summarize this point in a few sentences this independence and freedom contributed to the above mentioned opportunities. So at the end of the day I have no major regrets about choosing to go to McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. That doesn't necessarily mean that I unconditionally recommend Mac to everyone, but it worked for me.

Sorry for the lack of updates, my life has become quite hectic over the last couple of weeks and I've been too busy to invest the necessary time and energy into translating stuff. In 14 days I'll be saying goodbye to Hamilton, my home for the last 5 years. 17 days later I will be waving goodbye to Canada, the country that I've called home all my life. I will be heading off to Japan, land of my ancestors, to find work and live on my own for a couple of years. While my current plan is to return to Canada in a few years, I plan on calling Japan home for a while. I will be heading back to Montreal on June 23rd, and off to Japan on July 10. Each time I will be taking less luggage with me. Right now I am in the process of whittling down my possessions to an amount that will fit into a 2009 Honda Civic. I'm getting rid of my bike, a lot of my books, old clothes, all my fancy kitchenware, and all sorts of other odds and ends that I've accumulated over the last 5 years. The next month is looking to become the beginning of a wild ride, and I hope to write a few reflective pieces as I get a chance to look back at myself. The translations will continue eventually, but I won't be sticking to a regular schedule for the time being. Cheers!

As my threats to move to Japan are finally coming to fruition (details to be released soon), I began to wonder about how much of my life I've spent in Japan. By my best estimation I've probably spent a cumulative 2.5-3 years in Japan, split up over 12-15 separate visits. The longest stay was the year I spent as 3 year old. and the shortest was probably my last brief New Year's visit of a little over 2 weeks. So I've probably spent 10% of my life physically in Japan. I'm not quite sure if this is a lot or not, but given how spread out the visits were I guess I'm surprised they added up to years (excluding the one year stay as a very young child).

This little thought exercise made me go back and track my movement over the last couple of years (2007 to 2009) to track my movement and to see what kind of utterly useless data I can come up with. Thanks to meticulous record keeping on my computer I was able to accurately retrace my movement for the years 2007-2009. I probably could've gone back further, but there was a a limit to my motivation to email dive. Over this time period, I've traveled extensively within Ontario, mainly for debating-related purposes, but for this "study" I looked at my movement across provincial and national borders only. For dates where I traveled from one location from another the destination got credit for the date. I've counted from January 1, 2007 to May 23, 2009. Now here's some data :

Total dates spent in:
Ontario: 717 days over 8 stays (82.0%)
Japan: 74 days over 2 stays (8.5%)
Quebec: 73 days over 6 stays (8.4%)
Alberta: 4 days over 1 stay (0.5%)
British Columbia: 3 days over 1 stay (0.3 %)
Nova Scotia: 3 days over 1 stay (0.3%)

Longest Stay
159 consecutive days spent in Ontario in 2008
(Will be broken by my current stay in Ontario if I stay until June 14)

Shortest Stay
2 consecutive days spent in Quebec in 2007

Most Trips Taken in a Year A trip is considered the number of times I've crossed a Provincial or National border.
10 in 2007

Least Number of Trips taken in a Year
1 in 2009 (So far)

I should note that the stay in BC is actually longer, because it straddled the 2006/2007 changeover. It's somewhat surprising that I've actually spent more time in Japan than I have in Quebec over the time span. Although the fact that I travelled around Japan and Quebec basically equals Montreal is probably what is coloring my perceptions. Another thing I remembered while going over my travels, is the fact that I've spent New Years Day in completely different places every year over this span, and never in Ontario. By my estimation, if a were to rank the top 5 places I've stayed in in my life, by the number of days spent, it would probably end up being Quebec, Ontario, Japan, New York State, and New Brunswick. It'll be interesting to see how this list wil change over my lifetime.

All this shows, is that I'll be somewhat ready to fill out a detailed background check, the kind where you have to account for every moment of your life.

My friend Michael, over at Sagas of Saga took some time out of his visit home to do a translation, so I decided to take a break from my Taro Aso fixation and jump on his bandwagon. This time the source material was a book by Canadian author Douglas Coupland. The book entitled 神は日本を憎んでる, was written by Coupland in English,translated into Japanese, and published only in Japan. So while there is an English version of 'God Hates Japan' (the title of Fred Phelps' next campaign, I'm sure), it has never been published.

In the last year of our high school lives, the three cute girls in our class found religion. This might be a odd place to start a story, but maybe it's not such an odd place to start. I'm not sure if this means anything, but the three girls, Kimiko, Kaoru, and Eriko, were among the tallest in our class. Their movement could only be described as being very graceful. It even made Ueda, the biology teacher, say that they were proof that the introduction of dairy products into the Japanese diet during WWII, lead to the improvement of the race. What a creepy fascist. Regardless, the three of them really existed. They were among the few beauties in the class. If we were to compare, we would be dandelions and grass, and the three of them were roses and peonies. They stood before us as examples of straight forward beauty.

But it was no coincidence that these girls found religion. It all started when Scott and Kirby, two Mormon missionaries, began home-staying at the house next door to Kimiko's house. She lived six houses over from my house. Kirby was like a character that appeared in American television dramas, the kind that spend all his earnings on modifying a trailer, abandoned in the middle of the California desert, into a crystal meth lab. There was something stupid and lazy about him. Not even the geeky standard-issue shirt and tie that all the Mormon missionaries wore could camouflage his naughtiness. In fact, I bet that he had a square cut before the church made him cut his hair.

( Original )

Those of you who bothered to read my last translation, may be interested in reading the "official" translation from the Prime Minister's office. This version cuts out a lot of the extraneous stuff, like the audience questions, that were found in the Japanese version.

( Japan's Future Development Strategy )

I've spent the last little while translating PM Aso's vision for the future. I still need to go back and proofread most of it but I'll post it now anyway. Since this was a speech, there are some parts that are hard to translate because I don't have the full context of the setting and the resources that Aso is refers to. Aso is also not known for his crisp use of language, so I've taken some liberties with his phrasing and wording to make a more coherent speech. While I don't necessarily believe that Aso's plans are bad, I generally don't believe they will accomplish what he believes they will. Remember, this is the same person who as finance minister said he wanted the country to be a place that "rich Jews" would want to live. He was also the foreign minister who said "Japanese are trusted [in the Middle East]. It would probably be no good to have blue eyes and blond hair. Luckily, we Japanese have yellow faces." While he doesn't make statements on that level, check out the conclusion for some interesting assertions.

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso's Speech to the Japan National Press Club
"Towards New Growth"
April 9, 2009

1. Introduction
I am Taro Aso.
Usually events like this one are held in January, but the early start of this year's Diet session, and a number of foreign visits have meant that this event has been pushed back to this time. I believe it has been about 6 months since I became Prime Minister, and I would like to thank Mr. Kageyama for setting up this event at this time. Looking back, to borrow words from Alan Greenspan, we've been hit with an economic crisis that occurs once in a hundred years. I believe that this last half-year has been about dealing with the crisis. Faced with this great crisis, both individual citizens and businesses were naturally filled with feelings of uncertainty and stagnation. On the other hand, I believe that this economic crisis, what we can call an economic emergency, has the possibility of changing the way competition occurs in the international economy and industry. In this time of global change, I believe that the countries that can change their problems into new opportunities will be able to prosper in the future. In that light, I think we ought to think of ourselves as standing at an important crossroads that occurs once every hundred years. Today, I would like to present, not immediate plans to deal with the current economic climate, but rather what kind of future Japan's economy will lead us. I have, in my own way, thought up a new growth strategy which I would like to present to you today. I view my strategy as one that will open up a new future for Japan. The goal is to identify potential industries of growth, and to realize that growth by 2020. After finalizing the details, it is my hope that we will have a final plan sometime next week. Also, the new growth frontier, what we call the future, is not limited to just Japan, but must aim to grow the economies of Asia as a whole. Today, I will also be addressing my strategies to accomplish Asia-wide growth.

2. The Future of Japan' Economy - A New Growth Strategy
First, I would like to talk about the future of Japan. In a world where even major economic powers are unable to avoid the effects of this economic correction, I think it is unrealistic to believe that Japan can return to a pattern of growth by relying on the exportation of traditional products. In order to quickly change to a new growth model, I would like to propose what I call three pillars. The three pillars are:
1. A country that will lead the world in the carbon reduction revolution.
2. A safe, energetic, healthy, and long-living society.
3. Showcasing Japan's charm.
I believe these three pillars play to Japan's strengths and unique aspects. The government must concentrate investments into these three pillars, and bring about great systemic reforms that will maximize the effects of the investments. I believe such bold government action will enable us to raise our real GDP to 120 trillion yen, and create new employment opportunities for 4 million people, by 2020. Over the next 3 years, I would like to create a total of 40 trillion yen to 60 trillion yen in demand, and employment for 1.4 million to 2 million people.

(1) A country that will lead the world in the carbon reduction revolution.
First, I will speak of the carbon reduction revolution. I believe that global warming is one of the major problems we must overcome in the 21st century. The carbon reduction revolution is about overcoming the problem with new technology and societal change. As the older people in the room no doubt understand, economic growth was something that greatly changed Japan and contributed to this country's rapid post war recovery. Do you remember the the three sacred appliances? The three sacred appliances, written in Japanese as God's appliances, were the washing machine, the television, and the refrigerator. But now, there is no child that would consider these appliances as sacred appliances. But at the time, these were indeed sacred appliances. Mr. Kageyama no doubt knows what I am talking about, because he is part of our generation. However, it cannot be argued that the greater availability of household appliances resulted in the pressure of housework being eased, and ultimately lead to happier families. The increased use of automobiles also greatly changed our lifestyles. In order to achieve this carbon reduction revolution, we must effect change on a scale equal to this great change, in all aspect of our life from our individual lifestyles to city-planning. In a low carbon 21st century society things like solar batteries, electric cars, and low energy appliances will probably become the new sacred appliances. Then, just like the post war growth period we will feel the wonder of living in a low carbon society. I believe this wonder will provide new hope for the future. According to the IEEA, Japan's energy efficiency is twice that of the United States, 1.7 times that of Europe, 8 times that of China, and 18.5 times that of Russia. These figures show that starting with our world leading energy saving technology, Japan has the knowledge base that is capable of effecting the necessary change. By 2020 I would like to double our use of renewable energy sources, and be within 20% of the world standard in that category. By 2020, I envision the carbon reduction revolution, injecting approximately 50 trillion yen into the market, and creating 1.4 million new jobs.

[(1) Plan to achieve world leading solar power]
As a first step, the project I would most like to emphasize is the plan to achieve world leading solar power. The plan aims to increase the use of solar generated power by 20 times the current levels. Solar power is beginning to see global use. Efforts over the next few years will be very important if we are to capture the title of world's best solar power producer. Now, I will explain how we can capture this title.
(1) Now, the cost of solar products is high because of low demand;
(2) demand is low due to the high cost, we must put a stop to this cycle.
Above all else, I believe there must be strong political will to stimulate demand in this industry. Therefore, I propose a new energy purchasing scheme that will require energy companies to buy solar energy produced by residencial sources at twice the current rates. This scheme, combined with subsidies from the federal and regional governments, will mean that residences with solar panels installed will see return on investment within 10 years. Also, by aggressively installing solar panels on our 36,000 public schools over the next 3 years, children will be able to grow in a green solar powered environment. Through these measures, I would like to aim to reduce the cost of solar power systems by one half over the next 3-5 years. I would like to proceed by following an ambitious vision of seeing Japanese Solar Panels on the roofs of houses and deserts worldwide.

[(2) Plan to achieve the world's fastest spread of Eco Cars]
My other plan is to achieve the world's fastest spread of Eco Cars. I would like Japan to be the first country to achieve great adoption of fully electric and hybrid cars, in other words, the full-fledged implementation of Eco Cars. In 3 years we will begin the mass production and sale of Eco Cars, and by 2020 I would like to see 1 in every 2 new cars sold to be an Eco Car. To achieve this goal, we have, beginning this month, begun to exempt Eco Cars from the motor vehicle tonnage tax and the motor vehicle excise tax. In future we would like to implement assistance schemes that will help subsidize the cost of switching to an Eco Car. Through these measures we will be able to increase annual demand for Eco Cars by approximately 1 million cars. I would like to see a day when citizens consider environmental impact when choosing a vehicle. We will also begin a project that will name 10 cities as cutting edge model cities. These cities will demonstrate the car society of the future. Using the knowledge that we acquire we would like to work with the United States, the largest automobile market in the world, to develop a world standard. Finally, we will be implementing a system that will issue Eco-points to people who purchase low energy televisions and other energy efficient appliances. The system will aid in the acquisition of 30 million energy efficient appliances.

(2) A safe, energetic, healthy, and long-living society.
The 2nd pillar of my growth strategy is developing a safe, energetic, healthy, and long-living society. Japan is aging at a rate that is unmatched in the world. As you know, however, Japan's aged citizens are highly motivated to work. This motivation is clearly illustrated by the newspaper reporter sitting in the front row. We are both aged citizens, but he is clearly motivated. Among males aged above 65, the percentage of them working is 30% in Japan, 20% in the United States, and is around 10% in Europe. Statistic show that in Japan, 80% of those who are over 60, those we call aged, over 80% express a desire to work until at least 70. If we can provide proper medical and nursing services to these citizens, we will not have a poor and depressed aged society. We should be able to create the world's most energetic aged society. By leading the world in developing a healthy long-living society, we will be able to create wide ranging demand for domestic industries. By 2020, I would like to see a new 35 trillion yen market, and the creation of 21 million jobs in these fields.

[[(1) Plan to create 300,000 nursing care jobs]]
First, we will undertake a plan to create 300,000 nursing care jobs. There are currently 13 million nursing care professionals in Japan, in 3 years, we will increase this number by 300,000. Our ultimate goal is to have 2.2 million nursing care professionals by 2020. Even now as many people are losing their jobs, the nursing care sector is in serious need of workers. Currently, the treatment of workers in the nursing care sector, is the working people. (?) Compared to the average annual wage across all sectors, their wages are lower by over 1 million yen. In addition, their prospects of significant career advancement are limited. In order to create better nursing care services, I believe we must give more hope to the job of nursing care worker. First, we must immediately change the treatment of nursing care workers in their work environment. In order to accomplish this task, we will set up a fund for nursing care. Then, within 3 years, we will use this money to supplement the wages of nursing care workers. In this way I believe we can ensure that, like company and factory workers, nursing care worker's wages and benefits will rise with seniority and work experience. Another problem we face is, outside of urban centers, there is a serious lack of nursing care facilities. Over the next 3 years, we will concentrate on building new nursing care facilities.

[[(2) Regional Health Care Revitalization Plan]]
Another priority project we must undertake is a plan to revitalize regional health care. There are currently a number of serious problems facing the regional health care system, including doctor shortages and the "bouncing around" of patients. On the other hand, there are many doctors and nurses that must work very hard without rest to meet demand. We must put an end to these situations, and rebuild the regional health care system. These problems cannot be solved by individual municipalities and hospitals. Municipalities must begin to change their way of thinking and begin building a health care model that provides a single regional health care service. To create this model, municipalities must work with their neighbors to pool the resources of its hospitals, doctors, and nursing care facilities. It is also critical to think like a potential patient when assigning roles to various facilities. For example, by creating core hubs for fields like emergency services and obstetrics, patients will no longer be "bounced around." I would like to invest significant funds in order to create this kind of streamlined regional medical and nursing care service. Specifically, I would like to see hospitals across multiple municipalities, and hospitals and doctor's offices, dividing up responsibilities amongst themselves. For places that arrange such agreements, the government would support these arrangements in the following ways:
(1) Increase the number of administrative assistants to support doctors.
(2) Provide and maintain more advanced medical equipment and IT infrastructures.
(3) Help provide the necessary bus services to allow citizens to reach medical facilities.
We will begin by choosing regions in each prefecture to implement this model. By working hard over 10 years to revitalize regional health care, it is my hope that we will have around 350 success stories within 10 years.

(3) Showcasing Japan's Charm
The 3rd pillar of my growth plan is showcasing Japan's charm. Japan has soft power that is rooted in culture and sensibilities that have been been cultivated over a long period of time. Examples include landscapes that fascinate foreign tourists, and animation and fashion that is well respected throughout the world. We will use this soft power to create a new wide ranging industry. This new industry will revitalize the regions and lead to the employment of young people.

[[(1) A shining tourist beacon]]
First, we must aim to become a shining beacon for tourists. I would like to more than double the number of annual foreign tourists to Japan to 20 million people by 2020. I believe we currently receive around 8 million visitors per year. It is believed that these visitors inject 4.3 trillion yen into our economy. Unfortunately, the fact is that Japan currently only ranks 28th in the world in the total number of foreign tourist visits. However, if we properly market our charms, and make the proper preparations, the number of foreign visitors we receive will definitely increase. As a government, we will first undertake to improve access to Japan. As many of you no doubt know, the maximum wait time for a foreigner to clear entry procedures at Narita Airport is currently 28 minutes. We will half this number to 15 minutes. We will also half the connection time from Narita Airport to Haneda Airport for access to domestic flights, from 100 minutes to around 50 minutes. I would also like to see an agressive remodeling of the townscape at tourist sites. We must create traditional townscapes that local people can feel proud about. It is possible to remake any place in Japan into a charming tourist site. Has anyone here ever been to Ohuchijuku in Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima? I guess newspaper reporters don't get out much. There's someone! Admirable. Leave it to Asahi Newspaper, they do get out. Ohuchijuku had no utility poles. After they removed all utility poles, they saw a rapid rise in tourism. With this in mind, over the next 3 years we will select 30 or so places to perform landscape construction, like removing utility poles, to create a more charming townscape.

[[(2) Transmitting Japan's Soft Power]]
Another aspect is transmitting Japan's soft power to the world. Japan has produced contents like animation and games, and fashion that has the attention of the consumers of the world. Manga (Japanese comics) are now being translated into French, and has become an international language. Among the most popular women's fashion magazines in China are magazines that originate from Japan. Is there anyone in the front row that can tell me the name of this person, based on this facial picture? The younger reporters in the back rows can all tell me. This is a picture of Ayumi Hamasaki who is known as Ayu in China. This picture is from a Chinese magazine. Who is this? Can you tell me? Have you become too old to know? This is someone named Karina. This picture is from a Taiwanese magazine. She's Japanese. This is from a Japanese maganize, but you should know this one. You don't know? If you don't know this person, you are basically claiming that you don't live in the present time. If you're an on-site reporter, it may be time to retire to the office. This is Yuri Ebihara, also known as Ebi-chan, who caused the so called Ebi-chan boom. These cover models grace the covers of magazines that Asian office ladies read. In this day and age, they have exposure and marketing power that is equal to television commercials. The somewhat old image of American models no longer exist. I would like everyone to understand this point. I believe that people whom belong to an older generation than ours, are unable to follow these trends. The so-called holy sites of animation and fashion are places like Akihabara, Harajuku, and Ura-Harajuku. These places are now the must visit locations in most Tokyo tours. You can no longer mention places like Ginza, Akasaka, and Roppongi and be considered knowledgeable. Unfortunately, this kind of soft power is not leading to overseas business. Japanese content is truly impressive, but this content is not being made into an industry. Looking at the sales figures of the Japanese content industry, only 2% of total sales came from overseas. In comparison, the American content industry makes approximately 20% of their total sales overseas, ten times Japan. Using the popularity of Japanese soft power, I would like to see the development of a industry that will account for 20-30 trillion yen of our economy, and create 500,000 new jobs by 2020. I think it is critical to open up this industry using content creators, their works, talent, the web, and the mobile phone platform. It is for this reason I believe we should create an organization that can acquire licenses for the scripts of popular creators, open open overseas markets for the production of these licenses, and to provide funding in an integrated manner.

I have given my thoughts on the 3 main pillars I believe are needed for future growth, and the specific projects we need to undertake to accomplish them. There is another important project, whose details can be found in the information packages that are now being handed out.

3. Asian Growth ~ "Growth Plan to Double the Asian Economy"
The next thing I would like to discuss is my other theme for this talk, accomplishing Asian growth. Asia is the centre for growth in the 21st century. One of Japan's great strengths lies in the fact that Japan is situated in Asia. I think it is very important in planning Japan's future growth, to get the most out of this great geographic advantage. Japan is undeniably facing a population decrease. But even compared to Europe, Asia is the market that will see the greatest growth in the future. East Asia alone boasts a population of approximately 3.5 billion, this means about half of the world's population resides in East Asia. I know Asia is hard to define, but please imagine all the eastern countries from India. It's somewhere around that, and it probably includes Pakistan. (trans note: I'm assuming that he's referring to an on-screen map.) I would like you to think of Asia as such an area. East Asia alone has a population of 3.2 billion. Its population has increased by 130 million over the last 4 years. That means over the last 4 years East Asia's population has increased by one Japan. Furthermore, Asia has seen the tremendous growth of the middle class. It is said that there is a consumer durables boom when per capita GDP is over 3000 dollars. Right now, China's per capita GDP stands at around $3000, and the average per capita GDP of ASEAN countries stands at over $2200. Japan must look beyond its borders and must look to help Asia grow as a whole. We must
(1) derive wealth from the growing Asia.
(2) Use that wealth to foster economic partnerships and encourage the exchange of human capital, and to ultimately lead to inovation and employment for Japan.
(3) I believe that it is important to use these measures to create a positive growth cycle that will lead to growth for all of Asia.
It is important to think in terms of maximizing our citizen's wealth, rather than cling to the outdated notion of maximizing our domestic production. In other words, I believe we ought to begin measuring growth in terms of Gross National Income, rather than Gross National Product (GDP). Last November, I appointed a Prime Minister's Special Envoy and I instructed him to hold discussions each Asian country being sure to listen to each country's concerns, and to develop concrete plans from those discussions. Based on the report of the special envoy, who held discussions with senior officials from each country, I would like to make the following two proposals.

(1) Strengthening Asia's Growth Potential
The first thing I propose is strengthening Asia's growth potential. I believe we can accomplish tremendous growth in the region, across numerous industries, if we can systematically streamline things like the maintenance of broadband infrastructure, industrial development, and systematic improvements. I support such projects. If you could please turn to page 5 of your information package.

[[(1) Illustrative example]]
For example, it currently takes 2 weeks to travel from Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam to Chennai in India, using the sea route through the Straits of Malacca. Now, if we could build a road from Ho Chi Minh City to the Andaman Sea, and take a sea route through Thailand, we can reach Chenmai in 10 days. This plan involves crossing a country's border which means the significant time in order to clear customs and other border crossing procedures have been included. However, using Japanese customs technology like, One Stop and Single Window, the above trip can be made in just 8 days. If we develop such routes, we can construct industrial parks and related infrastructure in the surrounding areas. In this way the Mekong region could become a great supply centre for automobile and electronic aimed at markets as far as India and the Middle East. The role the Straits of Malacca currently plays as a sea lane will be critical. By supporting growth on the coast of the Straits of Malacca, we ensure stability of the energy pipeline that connects Japan, China, and South Korea, to the Middle East. How this will contribute to great growth in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and South-East Asia as a whole is obvious. There are numerous such potential projects that can be explored.

[[(2) Formulating the Comprehensive Asian Development Plan]]
To put my thoughts in action, I believe comprehensive development plans should developed in the following areas,
a) essential road and rail infrastructure,
b) infrastructure related to power generation, and industrial parks,
c) coordinating industrial development,
d) developing financing mechanisms,
c) and improving customs and other regulations.
There are currently two institutions Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), and the Asia Development Bank (ADB). I would now like to propose using these two institutions, as well as the ASEAN offices as a base for countries to cooperatively develop a comprehensive Asian development plan. It has been predicted that over 5 years, India and the ASEAN countries will need 70 trillion yen worth of infrastructure. Of that number ,10 trillion yen have been allocated to projects in their planning stages. Japan must not simply suggest project, of course we must back them with public funds like ODA (official development assistance), but we must also aggressively mobilize private funds to these projects. In order to attract private funds for new Asian infrastructure, Japan will set up a 2 trillion yen trade insurance framework that will mainly help joint private-public initiatives. As previously announced, we would like to assist in developing Asian infrastructure through, up to 2 trillion yen of ODA and a 500 million yen a environmental support initiative from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. In order to achieve sustained growth in Asia, we must not forget to address the environment. Using Japan's superior environmental technology, new power systems, and energy efficient technology, we can develop Asia-wide environmental projects like a recycling system, and an advanced water cycle system.

(2) Increasing Intra-Asian Demand
The second thing we must accomplish is to increase demand within Asia. To go along with the stimulus provided by the investment under the wide-area development framework, it is very important that we increase consumption in Asia. In order to ensure that the Asian middle class will consume without worry, a social safety net, like social insurance, needs to be maintained. It is also important to invest in education to ensure the growth of the middle class. It is each country must tackle these problems on their own. However, I believe that all Asian countries must come together to determine a common set of best practices. I propose that ERIA should be the organization to make this policy recommendation. As you remember, in 1960, under the Ikeda cabinet, Japan undertook the Plan to Double National Income. By setting to double the national income, Japan was able to enter an age of high economic growth. Now, as there exists a middle class across all of Asia, we are entering a new age of great growth through intra-Asian demand. I believe that the framework that I have laid out today can be described as a framework to double the Asian economy. By aiming to double the Asian economy by 2020, I look forward to working with other countries and coming up with a cooperative solution while respecting each other's position. At the East Asian Leaders' Summit scheduled on April 12, I will present my plan, and i look forward to working with other countries to advance these goals.

4 Conclusion
We're approaching the end of my talk. Throughout history we've seen a successful growth model that allowed for continued economic growth collapse, and a great adjustment occurs that redefines the balance. We saw it in places like the medieval Italian city-state, 16th century Holland, and 19th century England, all of these countries at one time ruled the world economy. Why were these countries successful? And how did other country come to take their place? This is only my personal observation, but I believe one common point that exists is that they all began by excelling in manufacturing and trade, and later succumb to out-of-control financial capitalism.
The organizational power that allows for a team to work hard together to achieve great results, is what has fueled Japanese manufacturing. If we can continue this great tradition, I believe the Japanese economy has great potential. If we look at schools and families today it is said that we can see greater individualism. As a result, we get the impression that Japan's organizational strength is weakening. We must appreciate the strength of Japan's organizational strength once again. An example I use often is the railway. As you all know, the English invented the steam locomotive. But Japan has overwhelmingly become the leader of railroad networks.This is something Japan has created. If we look at Tokyo's 23 wards, 76% of commuters use the rails or the subway. Even in the most advanced foreign city, London, only 19% of commuters use the so-called metal roads. Japan's trains overwhelmingly run on time, do not break, and move with precision. Without these important components you cannot run a proper railroad network. Even though nobody says it, I believe that the major reason Japan has been able to avoid things like rush hour and atmospheric pollution lies in our railroad system. I believe that the thing that makes this possible is the Japanese people, and their organizational strength.
Therefore, instead of losing our strength, I believe we must build this growth plan on the foundation of our strength. Based on these strategic goals, I would like to make this plan a reality while gathering everyone's thoughts. Therefore, the future of Japan and Asia is bright. Through this growth strategy, I hope everyone will be able to feel the same way.

( Original )

MutantFrog Travelogue is one of my most favorite blogs. It provides a good dose of entertainment and insight into East Asian matters, and has a interesting mix of authors. The blog post that initially brought me to their blog was a post written in 1995 entitled "Is Alberto Fujimori Japanese?" It is a critical deconstruction of Fujimori's citizenship status, that sheds light on Japanese citizenship law. I've recently had a chance to get into a discussion on Japanese citizenship law, so I take this opportunity to translate the post into Japanese.

アルベルト・フジモリはなぜ日本政府に守られているのか? 彼は日本とペルーでは法律上どのような権利を保っているのか? 両国の法律では彼の国籍は何なのか? このような質問に答えるにはフジモリ氏の人生を振り返りながら各状況に適切した法律を見ていくのが最適だと思う。

「1934年: アルベルト・フジモリは熊本県出身のフジモト・ナオイチとトフジモト・フジモリ・ミツエのの子としてリマで生まれる。両親は1934にペルーに移民した。両親はリマの日本領事館に出生届を提出して日本国籍を留保した。」（英ウィキペディアから）

日本国籍法第2条第1項は生まれた子供は以下のようなとき日本国民だと認識する。

出生の時に父又は母が日本国民であるとき

ペルー憲法第52条は：

生まれのペルー人は国の領土内に生まれた者とペルー人の父又は母の元に外国で生まれ未成年中法律下で正式に登記された者である。

以上から、アルベルト・フジモリは生まれたときペルーと日本の両国の国民と見なされていたことが明らかだ。

1954年: フジモリ氏は二十歳になる。日本の国籍法第14条は

外国の国籍を有する日本国民は、外国及び日本の国籍を有することとなつた時が二十歳に達する以前であるときは二十二歳に達するまでに、その時が二十歳に達した後であるときはその時から二年以内に、いずれかの国籍を選択しなければならない。

その後フジモリ氏はペルー大統領に立候補したため、彼がペルー国籍を放棄してないのは分かる。なので彼は日本国籍を放棄したことになるのか。あいにく、答えはそう簡単ではない。

日本国籍法第15条の規定によると、二重国籍を保つ日本国民から積極的に選択をしないため国籍を奪うには、法務大臣から国籍の選択をすべきことを催告し、その催告が届けられなかった、または返事がなかった場合、催告すべき事項を官報に掲載して奪うことができる。具体的に言うと、フジモリ氏のような二重国籍を保つ日本国民は二十歳の時（日本の成年の年）日本政府が気付かない限り、自動的に日本国籍をなくすわけではない。フジモリ氏は日本が太平洋戦争を行っていた1934に生まれ、まだ日本が終戦で回復している間の1954に二十歳になったので、おそらく東京にいた法務大臣は彼のことを気付いてなであろう。この時から彼の日本国籍のステータスは多少不明確である。彼は日本国籍を放棄しなかった、また日本政府は（たぶん）選択を求めなかったので彼の日本国籍無効にはならなかったものの、日本政府はいつでも彼から選択を求められる立場にいた。

1992年: フジモリ氏はペルーの大統領に選出する。ペルー憲法第110条は大統領に選出する条件として「大統領に選出するには生粋のペルー国民であり、立候補時には35歳以上であり、選挙権を保っている者」と定義している。ペルーは米国のように国の領土内に生まれた者に自動的に国籍を与えるから、フジモリ氏はもちろん生粋のペルー国民である。

もちろん彼が大統領に選出したことは日本国籍に影響する可能性がある。日本の国籍法第16条第2項はこう述べる

法務大臣は、選択の宣言をした日本国民で外国の国籍を失つていないものが自己の志望によりその外国の公務員の職（その国の国籍を有しない者であつても就任することができる職を除く。）に就任した場合において、その就任が日本の国籍を選択した趣旨に著しく反すると認めるときは、その者に対し日本の国籍の喪失の宣告をすることができる。

他国の大統領に選出することは明らかに「日本の国籍を選択した趣旨に著しく反する」事ではあるが、項の一行目を見るとそれは直接関係ないことだ。フジモリ氏は法務大臣に選択を求められなかったため、彼の大統領選出は日本の法律上彼の国籍のステータスには影響しなかった。彼の日本国籍のステータスは日本の法務大臣がいつでも彼に選択を要求できることからある意味不明確であったが、それは大統領選出とは直接関係はない。でも何故か日本の法務大臣はフジモリ氏に選択を要求しなかった。なぜ日本政府またはペルー政府がフジモリ氏の国籍のステータスを調べなかったのは想像がつかない。でもインターネット検索で調べられる限り、彼が2000年に日本に逃げるまで問題にされてなかったようだ。

2000年11月13日：フジモリ氏はスキャンダルの中、ブルネイでの会議に主席するためペルーを出国したとされている。でも同年11月17に彼はブルネイから東京へと行く。そこから彼は辞表をファックスし、その後郵送する。日本政府は彼の日本国籍を認め、旅券も発行する。彼の二重国籍と異国の大統領であったことは問題とされない。

フジモリが亡命している間、日本政府はペルーと犯罪者引渡条約を結んでないからとして、ペルーの引き渡しの頼みを無視する。

2003年3月26日: インターポールはフジモリ氏に対して赤令状を発行する。インターポールの報道発表によると;

インターポールの加盟国は各自の国内法に基づいて赤令状の仮逮捕の理由が正当であるかを判断しなければならない。いくつかの国では赤令状に基づいて指名手配犯の仮逮捕を認めます。赤令状を法律上特別な意味のない情報だと扱っている国もあります。

加盟国は要求国のために指名手配犯を仮逮捕するかどうか決めるには、両国の間に犯罪者引渡条約が結ばれているかは重要な判断材料となります。

メディアはインターポールの赤令状が国際逮捕状であることを伝えるのはよくある誤解です。

日本は法律上ペルー政府にフジモリ氏を引き渡す義務はないものの、彼を訴追から守ろうとしたと言うことは事実といえるでしょう。普通の日本国民は送還から守られています、及び日本政府はペルーに対して条約またはインターポールをとうして日本人を引き渡す義務はない。でもフジモリ氏の日本国籍への権利は普通の日本人より弱い。52年間要求しなかったものの、法務大臣はフジモリ氏から日本国籍かペルー国籍のどちらかを選択させる権利を未だに持っている。それで、もしフジモリ氏が日本国籍を選んだ場合、法務大臣は彼が異国で異国の国籍を必要とする公選役職に勤めたとして、国籍法第16条に基づいてその日本国籍の喪失の宣告を告げることができる。

日本政府がなぜこのような強い態度をとったのかは不明確で気になる。汚職なのか？妙な人種連帯なのか？または在ペルー日本大使公邸占拠事件の時、人質の犠牲を1名に抑えたお礼なのか?

フジモリ氏がチリの拘束下にあった今、チリの日本大使は日本国民であるフジモリ氏の健康状態を確認するため個別会談を要求している。ペルーの副大統領はそれに対し「これはペルーとチリの問題で、日本には関係ない」と述べている。
ーー
( Original )

Prime Minister Aso and Akiba-Idols get friendly at "party to observe cherry blossoms"



"Hometown cherry blossoms bloom early. If we ask why. It is because they withstood the winter cold." (literal translation)

On the 18th, Prime Minister Aso hosted a "party to observe cherry blossoms" at the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden in Tokyo. The Prime Minister, in front of Yae-cherry blossoms in full bloom, greeted the crowd and presented a tanka poem he composed himself .

In pointing out cherry blossoms of his home prefecture of Fukuoka, which where the first in the country to bloom, the Prime Minister expressed his determination to escape recession. The Prime Minister explained that "the flowers of the policies drawn up during the winter period are about to bloom. I will continue to work hard to ensure that the policies will payoff in the spring."

On this day, 11,000 invited guests attended the event including representatives of the political, business, and entertainment worlds, including Akihabara-based idol group AKB48. The Prime Minister seemed to be in a good mood throughout the event as he posed for photos and shook hands. With his approval rating looking to recover, his expression seemed to show that he had regained the confidence to lead the government.

( Original )

Ever since I've returned from the OSDU Provincial Championships two weekends ago, I've sort of been in a translation funk. I got a bit busy with post-OSDU transition stuff, and doing taxes, but I really don't have a great reason why I've neglected posting for a while. I have a couple of half-done Japanese translations I just can't seem to complete. So I decided to do a French to Japanese translation in honor of my two rounds of swing French debating I did at the Championships. I've now debated in English, French, and Bilingual categories which is probably a fitting end to my debating career.

I'm not very happy with the Japanese version, so expect it to change a couple of times before this post settles.

モントリオール市長：カナディアンズはケベックの人たちに買収してほしい

アイスホッケーチーム、モントリオール・カナディアンズの現オーナーのギョージ・ジレットがチームを売るということについて、モントリオール市長ジェラルド・トランブレイは水曜日ラ・プレッス紙にカナディアンズが「ケベックの人たちのものになってほしい」という希望を述べた。

市長はカナディアンズのファンであり、市にとって欠かせない存在だと思っている。チームの売却ついて聞かれたとき市長はまずチームのプレイオフ進出を願った。

「私はカナディアンズがモントリオールに残って、ケベックの人たちの投資により彼らのものになってほしい。」とトランブレイ市長は言った。「でも一番大切なことはこのチームがモントリオールに残り、今後もナショナル・ホッケー・リーグの他チームの羨望の的であってほしい。」

( Original )

Akinori Kusuda sets 52 day record with Tokyo Marathon
"Convinced of my own strength"
Looking up at heaven with emotion and a smile -- Mr. Kusuda of Saitama

65 year old Akinori Kusuda, a former office worker from 4-chome Minami-Kubessho, Saitama City, finished the Tokyo Marathon on the 22nd to the call of "Congratulations on setting a new Guinness record." He ran 52 straight full marathons in as many days. He looked up at the sky for a while and let his emotions set in. Than with a smile, he commented that "(working this hard allowed me to be) convinced of my own strength."

What started out as a private challenge, slowly developed a ring of supporters over 52 days. Mr. Kusuda said that "while I started this challenge for myself, as it when on a strong that I could not betray my supporters grew in me." "My job was to use my muscles. "Without the support of many people who did many things for me, I would have stopped a long time ago" says Mr. Kusuda.

On the 25th day of the challenge, he felt something wrong with his left foot after the 30km mark. He felt progressively more pain, and every time he took a step he felt a sharp pain he had never experienced before. He had pulled a muscle in his left ankle, and on top of that, an infection caused his left shin to swell up so much that it was able to reflect his face. He prepared himself for the possibility that he would not be able to run the next day.

However a female trainer a fellow runner a had introduced to him told him that "while she couldn't assure him he could run for 53 days, she was sure he could run for 52 days." He took strength from her certainty. "That lady treated both my leg and my heart," he later reflected. In 10 days his pain finally subsided. The more he spoke about his pain, the more he recovered. "I never want to feel that pain again, but now that I'm better I sort of miss it."

On a fellow runner's advice, Mr. Kusuda took ice baths after his runs to recover from the fatigue. A local acupuncture clinic gave him free acupuncture treatments and use of their hyperbaric capsule for recovery. His friends from high school set up a banner of encouragement in the park.

On the 21st, he ran his last marathon at Bessho-numa Park, accompanied by 20 people. Mr. Kusuda crossed the finish line with holding his wife's hand, and was greeted by about 80 well wishers.

After setting the record, Mr. Kusuda hugged his 61 year old wife, whom always believed he could accomplish is goal, and they both acknowledged their hard work.

From Mainichi Shinbun: Regional Edition March 23, 2009 written by Kaite Yusuke

( Original )

Yet another story that would be funny if it wasn't true. I briefly thought about translating this article, but I figure there's something better out there for this week.

US Senator: AIG execs should consider suicide
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5icOs4NIy2TS5K4yNVGqPq_Twpa9w

WASHINGTON (AFP) — A prominent US Senator has suggested that top executives of the bailed-out insurer AIG ought to quit or kill themselves, which he described as the Japanese model of honorably taking responsibility.

Senator Charles Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, told a radio station in his home state of Iowa that the insurance giant's shamed leaders had stoked public anger with lavish bonuses.

"The first thing that would make me feel a little bit better towards them [is] if they would follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say I'm sorry and then either do one of two things: resign or go commit suicide," Grassley told WMT radio.

"In the case of the Japanese, they usually commit suicide before they make any apology," he said after AIG awarded some 165 million dollars in bonuses -- going largely to the same London-based traders who brought ruin to the firm.

American International Group has received 180 billion dollars in rescue funding from taxpayers, but a backlash has grown amid reports of lavish parties and, now, bonuses.

"The attitude of these corporate executives and bank executives, and most of them are in New York, that somehow they're not responsible for their company going into the tank," Grassley said.

"I suggest, you know, obviously, maybe they ought to be removed," he said.

AIG was deemed to be too big to fail, given the complex ties it built with financial institutions worldwide through so-called credit default swaps linked to the tanking property market.

I bought Michael Lewis' Moneyball right when it came out in 2003. A couple of years later my uncle gave me the Japanese version of the book, telling me how I had to read the book. Having already read the original, and not being confident in my Japanese reading ability at the time, the book lay unopened in my room for another couple of years. Having been doing translations for a few weeks I began to wonder how much stuff gets "Lost in Translation." So I decided to translate an excerpt of the Japanese translation back into English. If you compare my version with the original you'll find that the tone of the original is much looser, and the original takes more direct shots at people. Furthermore, the section on the Blue Ribbon Panel in the original is more convoluted in my version than in the original. All this just serves to remind me that there is no such thing as a perfect translation, and that details will inevitably get lost in translation.

Also, this is the first piece I translated off paper and not a digital copy which made looking things up in the dictionary slightly harder. I'll try to post scans of the Japanese pages I translated. The poorly aligned pictures of the pages are now up.

Chapter 6
The science of overcoming inequality

The difficult question Billy Beane faced was one where even figuring out the first step to the solution was hard. It was like a math problem with a cash reward. (alt: It was like trying to solve a Millenium Prize Problem.)

You have $40 million to hire 25 baseball players. On the other hand, your opponent has invested $126 million on their 25 players, and they still have $100 million left to spend. Now, how do you use your $40 million to avoid being embarrassed by your opponent. According to Billy, "There's no way we can do what the Yankees do. If we try to do the same things the Yankees do, we'll definitely lose. They have three times the money we have."

For poor teams, it's impossible to buy popular players in their prime from other teams. For these teams, it is even difficult to acquire average players. The average yearly salary for a Major Leaguer was $2.3 million. But the average yearly salary of the Athletics opening day roster was a little under $1.5 million. Without the funds, they are forced to find players with good value. They have to make due with no-name prospects, or under-valued veterans. But with the way players' salaries have risen over the last 25 years, the very idea of cheap Major Leaguers seems laughable. If the market is operating efficiently, all the good players would be bought up by the rich teams, giving the Athletics no chance to compete. In reality, however, the Athletics are competitive. How could this be?

Ironically, the Major League teams got together to tackle this very question.

The process began after the end of the 1999 season. The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) formed "An Investigative Committee on the Financial Affairs in Baseball." The committee was charged with investigating whether "current operating practices of baseball clubs, unfairly influenced the outcome of games on the field." Major League Commissioner Bud Selig chose 4 outsiders to sit on the committee, former Senator George Mitchell, Yale president Richard Levin, columnist George Will, and former Fed Chair Paul Volcker. The four were charged with compiling a report on the financial inequalities that exist in baseball.
At the time, Selig owned the notoriously poor Milwaukee Brewers. He no doubt wanted to show that the Brewer's weakness stemmed from the lack of sufficient finances, and not from general incompetence. When the committee started to lean toward the conclusion that "player's salaries should be restricted, and richer teams should subsidize poorer teams," Selig was pleased. Selig attempted to get other poor team owners onboard to support the committee's findings. However, when the four committee members objected to Selig's intervention, the owners were relegated to playing an observer role in the committee's proceedings.

Either way the result was the same. In July 2007, the committee produced a report that met Bud Selig's expectations. The report concluded that poorer teams were put into a disadvantage that was detrimental to baseball, and that steps should be taken to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor. Interestingly enough, it was conservative columnist George Will that was most vocally supported "socialism in baseball." Will supported his position with numbers. The ratio between the payrolls of the 7 richest teams and the 7 poorest teams in Major League baseball is 4:1. In pro basketball the ratio is 1.75:1, and 1.5:1 in pro football. Will contended that "in baseball success is bought. This isn't a game but a crime." If teams like the Brewers, Royals, and Devil Rays existed simply to lose to the New York Yankees, than the exodus of fans is inevitable.

At first glace these conclusions seem to make sense, but they didn't necessarily correspond to reality. Only Paul Volcker, the only committee member with a financial background, was willing to point out these discrepancies. While the three other committee members were lamenting the rich/poor divide in baseball, Volcker asked two very interesting questions.

1. If the state of poor teams in baseball was so bad, then why are there people who are willing to pay huge sums of money to own Major League teams?
2. If it is impossible for poor teams to win, then why are the Oakland Athletics, whom feature the second-lowest payroll in baseball, so successful?

The owners were not able to answer the first question. But they dragged Billy Beane in front of the committee to answer the second question. In 1998, Billy's first season as GM, the Athletics compiled a record of 74-88, next season they improved to 87-75 and narrowly missed the playoffs. There was no reason to suspect that they could not continue their improvement in 2000. Volcker suspected that there was a secret to their success. If money was the only thing that mattered to winning in baseball, the existence of this exception made no sense. How did this poor team accumulate all these wins?

With a speech written by Paul DePodesta in hand, Billy Beane headed to New York. Billy was willing to cooperate with the proceedings. If the committee found that the Athletics were being put at a disadvantage, than it would be to his advantage. The Athletics would have nothing to lose if payroll restrictions were put into effect, and if the rich Yankees were forced to subsidize the poorer teams, all the better! Billy stood in front of the committee and put the following slide on the projector.

The Movie: Major League
A movie based on the perennial cellar dwelling Cleveland Indians

Synopsis
In order to deliberately construct a losing team, the owner invites only third-rate players to spring training. The baseball officials determine that "all these players are past their peak." The fans who see the roster say they "only recognize half the names."

Our team is in a similar situation to that depicted in the movie.

( Original )

( Copies of Japanese Pages )

My good friend Michael did his own translation of this piece on his blog. Since I haven't really tackled fiction before, I decided to do my own.

ビルギーが隣にいると彼は落ち着いた。陳は眠気を追い払うため目をこすり、おちついてビルギーを見た。それから彼はまたガゼルと狼を観察するため望遠鏡を上げた。

狼と遭遇してから彼は草原の住民を理解できてきた、遊牧民は常に狼に囲まれているのだ。彼はほぼ毎晩狼の幽霊のような姿を見た、ひどく寒い冬はとくに見た。百里からでも二・三組、もしや五・六組、多くて十組のきらめく緑の目が牧草地の端から見えた。ある晩、彼はビルギーの息子の妻ガスマイと一緒に懐中電灯を使って二十五匹数えたときがあった。

遊牧民はゲリラ兵のように単純さをほしがる。冬の間はワゴンと携帯柵を半円に並べて羊の囲いを作った、風除けには大きな羊毛じゅうたんを使ったが、それでは狼は止められない。南側にある大きなすき間は犬たちと交代制で女性たちが守った。それでも時々狼舘は囲いに入り犬たちと揉めた。彼らの体がユルトの壁にあたると中の住民が起こされる。陳陣も二度そう起こされた、じゅうたんがなければ直接狼に起こされただろう。遊牧民と狼の間には羊毛じゅうたん何枚しかない時がひんぱんにある。

( Original )

It's baseball week at Kozo's translation blog! Ever wonder what kind of stories are being filed by Japanese media members that make up those ridiculous mobs that seem to follow around Japanese Major Leaguers? With the World Baseball Classic heading into round 2, my various Japanese newsfeeds are being inundated stories about Samurai Japan, as the Japanese team is referred to by the Japanese media. Stories about the dangerous and emblematic Ichiro, Fidel Castro's translated words, not mine, seem to be especially prevalent. I've translated one such story, because I doubt you'll be seeing this in the English sports press any time soon.

Glove ready! Ichiro is prepared to defend the infield.
(translated from the March 12th edition of Daily Sports)

It was reported on the 10th that Ichiro Suzuki, currently representing Japan at the World Baseball Classic, had an infielder's glove made for himself during the offseason. While he is an outfielder, Ichiro is known to show off fast and smooth defence like an infielder. It seems he's getting ready "just in case."

After the end of last season, Ichiro asked Mizuno glove-master Kosaku Kishimoto to design a glove that is shorter and has a shallower pocket than his current outfielder glove. According to an insider, Ichiro used the glove to field grounders at shortstop during his offseason training sessions in Kobe. He tested the glove's feel and practiced getting the ball out of the glove.

Ichiro decided to get an infielder's glove after he had two opportunities to play the infield last season (vs. Minnesota Aug. 16 & vs. Los Angeles Sept. 14). In both games, with the score tied in the ninth inning, the Mariners played a 5-man infield shift that put Ichiro near second base. At the time, Ichiro noted "I need an infielder's glove. Not a third baseman's glove, probably a shortstop's glove. I'll ask Mr. Kishimoto to make me one."

In a short series like the WBC where a lucky run can mean the difference between winning and going home, Ichiro seems to believe that luck favors the prepared. In a workout on February 7, Ichiro practiced throwing pitches off the mound just in case he would be needed as an emergency reliever if a game went into extra innings. It is a true professional that prepares for a 5 man infield shift, because while the chances of it being needed is small, it is not zero. At today's session of batting practice, out of the 63 balls he swung at, 11 cleared the fence. While he did foul a pitch off his right foot, things seems to be going smoothly, as he told reporters "you don't need any (comments) from me today." He is prepared to deal with any situation he may be face.

( Original )

I've been following the World Baseball Classic on television these days. I've even gotten up at 5 am a couple of times to watch the Japanese team play. I'm not the only one watching the Japanese team on TV. It seems Fidel Castro is following the WBC, and he had some things to say in his 'Reflections by Comrade Fidel' column which is syndicated in Cuban newspapers. 'Reflections by Comrade Fidel' reads like a blog and besides baseball, ole' Fidel has tons of ideas to share about all kinds of stuff (like America's 11th President). I've translated the English translation of his entry on the WBC into Japanese. Yes, I realize how ridiculous that is, but I figured translating a piece written in non-Native English would be an interesting challenge. PLUS it's the first piece that I've done written in the first person. I've also included the Spanish original for all my Spanish reading audience (all 0 of you), so you can tell me how close the Spanish translation is to the English.

フィデル・カストロの第二回ワールド・ベースボール・クラシック（WBC）についての沈思
カストロ同志の沈思

私はベースボール・クラシックの模様を国立テレビ事業を通しては意見している。

チューバの強敵、日本と韓国の試合は月曜日3月9日に行われた。日本に攻撃が二回しか残されていなかったときは、韓国が1-0とリードしていた。

その回、先頭打者が三振したあと、前3打席ヒットなしだった危険で象徴的なイチローがヒットを打った。

日本のコーチは、疑いもなく一流の、第二打者にバントを命じた。結果として日本は相手に二つ目のアウトを与えた。

私はこの行為は、我がチームにとって、どう考えても間違いだと確信を持っている。

日本のチームは優秀で技能が優れたチームだ。私は我がチームのWBC優勝はこのチームを破って飾りたい。

ただし、もし私が日曜日3月8日の昼に見たキューバ対南アフリカ戦での我がチームの不注意が続けばそこまでたどりつけないだろう。

オリベラとパレは共に一塁で牽制され、ミチェル・エンリケスは無理に二塁へ進もうとして相手にアウトを与えてしまった。彼の過ちはコーチの走塁戦略が積極過ぎたせいかもしれない。

我がチームが放った六本の本塁打はWBC記録であって、このような間違えがなければ、7回でコールド勝ちでき、キューバのスポーツに十分に値する名誉を捧げただろう。

私がこのような批判をするのは間違えを犯した三人は優れた選手であるからだ。彼らは自分が犯した間違えに対して驚異的な恥を感じているが、それでも自分に自信をもっているはずだ。

彼らはこの国際競技でスポーツの純粋さを代表してることを知っている。私は自分の意見を感心と共に正直に表明する必要がある。

フィデル・カストロ・ルス
2009年3月９日

( The English Translation )( The Original )

Suicides (in Japan) remained above 30,000 last year. Number increased by 86 people to 1726 in Hokkaido.

It was reported on the 5th that the number of suicides committed nationally last year will be above 30,000 people, making the number consistant with the previous year. The number was derived by Kyodo News by compiling provisional numbers provided by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and the Prefectural Police Departments. The National Police Agency's total suicide numbers have remained above 30,000 people since 1998. The lastest numbers will make it 11 straight years that the number of suicides committed nationally has been above 30,000 people.

While the effects of the recession that began last fall cannot be seen in the numbers, officials believe that the numbers will rise because "it can take a number of months before the lives of the unemployed become difficult." in 2007 the government laid out an "Outline of Comprehensive Anti-Suicide Measures," which aimed to lower the suicide rate (suicides per 100,000 people per year) by over 20% in 10 years. The government will likely will be forced to further strengthen its measures in order to meet that goal.

On the same day, the National Police Agency announced that 2645 people committed suicide in January. This marks the first time the National Police Agency has announced monthly statistics on suicide. The National Police Agency hopes that the increased availability of suicide statistics, in accordance with the ”Outline," will help plan suicide prevention measures. Compared to the previous January, the number of suicides rose by 340 people, according to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's population movement statistics.

According to the numbers compiled by Kyodo News, there were approximately 32,000 suicides last year. The official number, to be announced by the National Police Agency, is expected to be slightly higher. In the end, it is expected to be similar to the previous year's number at approximately 33,000 suicides.

According to the regional numbers, suicides in Hokkaido increased by 86 people for a total of 1726 suicides. Suicides in Nagano prefecture also increased by over 80 people. On the other hand, suicides decreased by approximately 120 people in Hyogo Prefecture, and over 100 people in Ibaragi Prefecture.

( Original )

A profile of the university "the other Kozo Ota" founded. I even share the same kanji characters as Mr. Ota. Coincidentally a friend of mine TXTed me a picture of her history textbook that features Mr. Ota.

昭和16年に亜細亜大学の現在地に興亜専門学校が設立された。興亜専門学校は綱領として、教師と生徒の間に精神的な近さを深める教育を行う場として設立された。生徒が皆学部別（満蒙支科、南方科、内地科）で寮に分かれるという制度は、当時はとても珍しかった。同年に、アジア各国へ貢献するため財団法人興亜協会が創設された。（同年に大東亜共栄圏を建設するため財団法人興亜協会が創設された。）

第二次世界大戦後の昭和20年に、興亜専門学校から日本経済専門学校へと改称され、太田耕造が学長に任命され、新たなスタートを切った。昭和25年に日本の学制改革に従って日本経済専門学校は改組され、日本経済短期大学になった。戦後は、日本とアジア各国との関係はほぼなかった。従って、アジア各国との関係を再開させるため昭和29年に学内に留学生部が設立された。そのため日本経済短期大学は戦後、日本で始めて多くの留学生を受け入れた短期大学となった。

昭和30年に商学部、一学部の亜細亜大学が開設された。その後の拡大と改組のため亜細亜大学は現在、経営学部、経済学部、法学部と国際関係学部の四学部で教育が行われている。昭和49年には経済学、経営学と法学の修士課程が開設された。それに引き続き昭和51年に同課程の博士課程が開設された。日本経済短期大学はいまでも亜細亜大学短期大学部として経営学科を維持している。

( Original )

Japan to issue residence certificates to foreigners. Foreigners with periods of stay longer than 3 months will be eligible.

February 25, 2009

Kyodo - The "Proposal to Amend the Basic Residence Registration Law" that the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications will present to the Diet was revealed on the 25th. The main objective of the proposal is to abolish the current Alien Registration System and allow foreigners with periods of stay longer than 3 months to register into the same residence registration system currently used by Japanese citizens. The government will reach a cabinet decision on the proposal in March, and will aim to implement the changes as early as 2012.

The inclusion of mid-to-long-term immigrants, and Special Permanent Resident Koreans in the Basic Resident Registration System will allow the issuance of residence certificates and resident cards to members of these groups. By giving local governments more accurate information about the residence status of foreigners, the changes would allow local governments to provide foreigners with the same social services available to Japanese citizens, such as welfare and education.

The Ministry initially considered creating a separate foreign residence registration system, but decided that adding foreigners to the existing Basic Resident Registration System available to Japanese citizens "would be more efficient than having two separate systems."

The proposed amendment would add Special Permanent Residents, as well as foreigners with periods of stay longer than 3 month who are eligible for the new "Resident Cards" that the country will issue en lieu of the Alien Registration Card, to the list of those who are eligible to register under the Basic Resident Registration System.

Residence certificates for foreigners, like those issued to Japanese citizens, will be issued by local governments. In addition to name, address, sex, and date of birth information, residence certificates for foreigners would include information on nationality, as well as the "residence status" and "period of stay" as recorded on the person's Resident Card.

By the end of 2007, foreigners in Japan numbered 2.15 million. This number represents a 50% increase over a ten year period, .

( Original )

虐殺の目撃者、アリソン・デス・フォージス、2月11日 66歳で死去
2009年2月19日のザ・エコノミストから

二つの飛行機事故がアリソン・デス・フォージスの人生を大きく影響した。最初のは、15年前ルワンダ上空で二人のアフリカ大統領を乗せた高級ジェット機が撃墜されたときだ。ふたつ目は、先週ニューヨーク州バッファロー市で混んだ通勤用飛行機が氷点下の中墜落して50人の人を殺したときだ。最初の事故は歴史上最速の大量虐殺の口実となった。二つ目はそれを根気強く目撃し続けた白髪のアメリカ人女性を沈黙させた。

1994年4月6日には、デス・フォージス氏はバッファロー市の自宅にいた。その日の午後8時20分に、ルワンダとブルンジの各大統領が殺害された、バッファロー市では昼食の時間だった。その20分後、ブルンジの首都、キガリにいた友達がデス・フォージス氏に電話をかけた。「これだ。我々は終わった。」とデス・フォージス氏の人権監視者仲間のモニーク・ムジャワマリヤ氏は言った。

それからデス・フォージス氏は深夜まで30分ごとにジャワマリヤ氏に電話をかけた。ジャワマリヤ氏は民兵が人々の家に回り、住民者を撤退して殺害してる模様をデス・フォージス氏に説明した。そのうち民兵はジャワマリヤ氏の家まで来た。デス・フォージス氏は、民兵（殺害者?）に電話を渡すようにと言った。デス・フォージス氏はホワイト・ハウス関係者のふりをして民兵を追い払うつもりだった。でもジャワマリヤ氏はそんなことでは追い払えないと説明し、「子供たちをよろしく、これから起こることは聞いてほしくない」と言い残して電話を切った。

デス・フォージス氏はその瞬間から運動家になった。彼女は1972年にルワンダの歴史について博士論文を書いたため、ルワンダの波乱な歴史をよく知っていた。なので彼女は20年後の悪夢を多くの人よりよく理解していた。彼女はヒューマン・ライツ・ウォッチのために政治的暴力を調査するために何年もルワンダにいた。彼女は、1993年にフツ系の政府とツチ系の反乱グループ、ルワンダ愛国戦線、の間に結ばれた和平協定は保たないと分かっていた。フツ族の軍事指導者は権力を分ける事を避けるため大量虐殺を企むこともよく分かっていた。

誰も聞かない叫び

彼女は数々の電話をかけ、ファックスを送って、必死に情報収集を行った。4月17日には彼女はルワンダで大量虐殺が起きてることに確信を持った。部外者がそのことを述べたのは彼女が最初の一人だった。でも自体を変えられる者は皆彼女を無視した。米国務省のアフリカ専門家は彼女の話を聞いて一緒に泣いた。でも誰も米国務省のアフリカ専門家の言うことなど聞かない。国連関係者は異人の避難のことしか心配していなかった。ビル・クリントン米大統領は、前年人道的任務を行ってた18人の米軍人が殺されたソマリアのような事態を避けようとしていた。デス・フォージス氏は米国防総省に虐殺を計画するために使われていた無線電波を妨害することすら説得できなかった。電波妨害はお金がかかりすぎると言われた。

虐殺はルワンダ愛国戦線がフツ系政府の完全制圧と共に終わった。デス・フォージス氏は内線後の4年間、複数の研究者を率いって真実に迫った。その後、彼女は800ページにわたってその悪夢を丁寧に記録した。今後の歴史家はその記録を頼りにするだろう。彼女の証言のおかげで複数の犯罪者が刑務所に入れられた。彼女のおかげで多くの人が言ったように、この虐殺の原因は昔からある民族問題が自発的に悪化したものだと言えなくなった。彼女は虐殺の計画を読んだのだ。彼女は50万刀ものマチェテの領収書を見たのだ。

ある意味彼女は古風だった。他の人権活動家は数々の社会経済的権利、社会住宅や公正取引などのことを心配する。でも彼女の心配は、殺されない権利のようにもっと単純だった。戦場に駆け込んだり、殺人を犯したばっかりの人に質問したりで、彼女の研究法のリスクは大きかった。彼女は、夫を埋めさせられた後強姦された女性たちのことや肥溜めに放り込まれた赤ん坊のことなど、吐き気のするような詳細もしっかり記録した。

彼女は事実が証明すること以上は推測しない。虐殺の犠牲者は80万人から100万人と推測する人もいるが、それでも彼女は犠牲者は50万人と言い続ける。他には、もし虐殺を犯したフツ族が悪人であれば、彼らを転覆させたツチ族はいい人だと思う人もいる。でもデス・フォージス氏はこう言う、虐殺を犯したのは一方だけだが、両方とも戦争犯罪を犯した。彼女は1994年にはルワンダ愛国戦線は2万5千人もの人を殺害したと述べている。

デス・フォージス氏の誠実の人柄のせいで彼女は現在ルワンダを統治するルワンダ愛国戦線政府に嫌われている。去年、ルワンダの司法制度を批判するレポートを書いた後、彼女はルワンダから入国が禁じられた。彼女は死ぬ前には、虐殺に参加したと不当に非難されたと思った亡命している学者を支持していた。彼女が編集したコンゴでの暴力についてのレポートが死後出版された。

彼女の動機は何だったのだろう？その答えはある秘話に隠されているかもしれない。1993年に、ルワンダの隣にあるブルンヂで何万人もの一般市民が殺された。そのことは西洋のメディアではほとんど報道されなかった。それを見たフツ族の軍事指導者は同じ事をしても誰も気づかないだろうと思った。デス・フォージス氏は残虐行為をしっかり記録して絶え間なく公表すれば世界は気づかなければいけなくなると信じた。彼女の本の題名は、「話が出来るものは残すな」という殺害者のかけ声からできた。デス・フォージス氏はその話の大切さを知っていた。

( Original )

I'm thinking about doing one Japanese-to-English, and one English-to-Japanese translation a week. The LDP parody poster on Mutantfrog tickled my fancy, so when I saw this article on Asahi I decided to make it my article of the week.

"Aso Separation" even affecting election posters. Diet members avoiding photos with the Prime Minister.

The "Aso Separation" phenomenon continues, and is now affecting political posters being made by LDP members. Members are avoiding having their picture taken with the Prime Minister, whose cabinet approval rating continues to fall. Rumors of the Prime Minister's resignation continue to build within the party, leading some to speculate (fear?) that "there is no guarantee that Lower House elections will be held under Mr. Aso."

Election laws prohibit candidates from putting up political posters 6 months prior to the end of their term of office (September 10 for Lower House members). In March, many Diet members begin to post posters, under the pretext of advertising speaking engagements, featuring the candidate with other politicians. Usually these posters use a photo of the candidate with the Prime Minister who is also the LDP Leader.

This year, however, one young Diet member expressed concerns that "we don't know how long Mr. Aso will be Prime Minister. If he resigns we would need to redo our posters." A Cabinet member, who began poster production, was pressed by his (gender neutral pronoun) supporters not to use Prime Minister Aso's image. Instead he (GNP) is considering using a picture with a well-known female Cabinet member, or a picture with the local governor.

One of the "Koizumi children" elected from the Kanto region is considering producing a photo publication with Health, Labour and Welfare Minister Yōichi Masuzoe. "When we were posting posters with Mr. Aso I got a complaint saying 'I cannot support you if you post those posters,'" he recounts.

Among representatives from Tokyo, Nobuteru Ishihara, acting party secretary-general and chairman of the party's Tokyo chapter, is a popular choice. Members who wish to have their photo taken with former Defense Minister Yuriko Koike are not rare. "Poster popularity" may be connected to finding Mr. Aso's successor.

( Original )


Image from:
Mutantfrog Travelogue