南向き翻訳事務所 岩渕デボラ ブログ

I sent my absentee ballot in yesterday, along with one of my daughter’s. The count is now 2-0 in California!

昨日、アメリカ大統領選挙の不在者投票を送りました。 どうか、今回の選挙は良い結果に終わって、アメリカと世界全体に良い働きのできる大統領が生まれますように！

moar funny pictures

(With this photo, I chose “adorable” over “statesmanlike”… .)

(ここは日本だから、「可愛い」系写真を選びました）

We love Thespa, and one of us is an avid blood donator. It only eggs her on when she finds posters with her favorite players showing off their little Red Cross cards showing how much blood they’ve contributed for the good of society. She has probably donated more than they have! (And I’ll have you know that I once donated blood because SHE wanted the poster of the Japanese National Soccer Team that was on offer.)

ザスパファンも献血熱心。試合に行って、好きな選手が献血のポスターで献血カードを見せているのを見つけると突然 ポスターチャイルドになる人もいます。きっと選手よりこのファンは献血した回数は多いと思いますが。

Having moaned and groaned about WaMu (see below) I would now like to say a word about an up-and-coming translation. The book will be a combination of the two above titles, English title yet to be decided. They were both written by Tadahiko Ito, who is also my latest hero. Ito worked for Sumitomo Bank for many years before being assigned president of Kansai Bank , a small local bank on the brink of closure due to the many loans it made during the “bubble” economy years to people making a living off of buying up real estate and then selling it again for a quick profit. (Sound familiar?)

Within seven years, Ito had turned the bank completely around, and it is now one of the top regional banks in Japan. As you may guess, the books tell the story of his amazing work getting the bank back up on its feet. Following the collapse of so many banks in Japan and in the US due to unstable real estate markets, you may not be surprised to hear that he completely revamped his lending process. Instead of putting the emphasis on collateral (what the bank gets if a borrower defaults on its loan), he began to take a good look at the businesses he was financing. In a nutshell, Ito saved a bank based on altruistic business practices. The idea was to save the bank, take care of the employees, take care of the customers and benefit society as a whole.

Amazing but true. Look forward to a book that lets you know how Ito succeeded and his advice on how anyone can succeed. This book isn’t The Secret and it is certainly no get-rich-quick scheme–be prepared to have your notions of “success” turned upside down!

The Four Stories website now has MP3 downloads and photographs from the June 15 Four Stories event in Osaka at Portugalia. I’m the one with her bangs in her eyes and too nervous to sit down and read. I read from Translucent Tree by Nobuko Takagi.  It wasn’t exactly in keeping with the theme, but the other three stories certainly were and they are definitely worth a listen to!

ああ、写真撮れば良かった。土日と旦那のごちそうを家族全員プラス娘たちの友達２人でいただきました。

土曜日は煮豚(焼き豚みたいなjuicyな煮込んだ肉）とアボカドのディップとチップス。日曜日はちらしずしとゴーヤチャンプル。大人数で愛情たっぷりのごちそうを食べながら、楽しい会話がありました。久しぶりでした。

Both daughters are at home, and adding to the pleasure of that, my husband cooked for all of us (including two friends of daughters) Saturday and Sunday. Saturday, we had his specialty, a kind of Japanese-style pork accompanied with a Japanese adaptation of Americanized guacamole dip with tortilla-chips-as-available. Sunday we had chirashizushi and the Okinawan dish–goya champuru–pictured above.

Food full of love and affection and outrageously hilarious conversation. It doesn’t get much better than this!

I borrowed this irresistible photo from the Daily Yomiuri. And here is the text from the newspaper:

TABLE TOSSING A man competes in a tableware-tossing contest, violently tipping over a dining table in Yahabacho, Iwate Prefecture, on Saturday. Participants in the Second-annual Table Overturning World Championships vied to see who could send a piece of tableware the furthest solely from the force of the low table holding the dishes being overturned. The returning champion, a 22-year-old university student from Morioka, won again with a toss of 5.87 meters.

FM Gunma reported that the contest took place in a shopping center, and that there were 17 contestants, each of whom shouted out a pet peeve as they tossed the table (note man with mike behind contestant). The tableware itself was made of plastic, meaning no permanent damage or dangerous flying bits and pieces.

The look on the face of the man in the picture says it all. Isn’t upturning a table what everyone would like to do? I have heard chucking crockery in the bathtub recommended as a way to get rid of stress, but this looks like more fun–there’s even an audience to appreciate the effort. That is what we need in Japan. Less knifing of pedestrians on the street and more table tossing competitions!

Have I mentioned Thespa–my local soccer team lately? I’m sure I haven’t since they began making their way up in the standings! After three years in the basement–the very root cellar of soccer standings– they’ve been actually WINNING MATCHES! And are currently no. 6 in a field of 15 teams. Last week they beat Cerezo Osaka, the no. 3 team. Tomorrow they will be playing no. 4 Sagantosu from Saga. It’s almost disorienting to look at the ranking chart of J2 teams, because the eye of a loyal Thespa fan will automatically go to the bottom of the list. Not finding it, one has a momentary and very frightening sense that the team has completely disappeared from the face of the earth. It takes a few seconds to realize you just need to go up a little higher–and (remarkably) there they are! Ooooooh Thespa!

ただ今、ザスパ勝ち続けています！ (うちの者いわく、引き分けをはさんで5連勝）J2で６位に輝いています。3年間のどん底状態が突然報われました。試合後の選手の笑顔が眩しい。水曜日、3位のセレッソ大阪に勝ち、明日は4位のサガン鳥栖との試合です。降っても照っても行きます。敷島の県立陸上競技場ーではなくてー正田醤油スタジアムで集まりましょう！

群馬県立女子大学国際コミュニケーション科の第1期生が今年4年生になりました。全員が就職活動をやっています。その中で着々と決まっている人もいますし、これから会社の面接や教員試験を受けたりする人もいます。運が良いね、うちの生徒達を採用する会社は。そう思います。世の中の教育委員会もかしこければ、教職をとっている女子大生を教員として取ってくれるはずです。

こんなに働き者で協力的で勉強ができる生徒はほかにいません。元気もいいし、ユーモアもある！

本当は行かせたくないけれど、仕方ないね。いつまでも学校においておくわけにはいきません。残念！

今学期は群馬県立女子大で６こまを教えています。相変わらず、女子大の生徒は日本一素敵な生徒ですが、学校、本の英訳、和訳の編集、その他食べていけるための英訳で疲れてしまいました。

昔、共愛 学園で教えたことを思い出します。5月の連休が終わると息を取る間もないまま夏休みまでだ〜と行きます。人生の中に学校というものが入るとこんな感じですね。

今日は教会に行ったり、スポーツジムに行ったり、ほかの人が作ってくれた夕飯をおいしくいただいたりして、ちょっと心を休まることができたのかな。あっそうだ！田村さんがうちの梅の木から梅を落として、きれいに洗ってもらって、梅干しと梅酒の作り方をメモに残してくれたので、梅も付けることができました。

明日の朝また大きな息をすって、新しい一週間に向かって行きます！

At some point after making the online acquaintance of Suzanne Kamata (editor of Love You to Pieces), I was invited to participate in an event called Four Stories, a “reading” event held regularly in Boston and Osaka.

Tracy Slater, a writer who goes back and forth between the two cities, is in charge of organizing the program and the venue. It is not often that translators get invited to “public” events, so I am looking forward to this one. Each of the four storytellers for the evening has fifteen minutes to read. I couldn’t decide between a hyper-edited piece of Devil’s Whisper (Miyabe Miyuki) or Translucent Tree (Nobuko Takagi), but finally opted for the latter for one simple reason–fewer characters for the listeners to have keep sorted out.

By all means, click on the link to find out more about Four Stories. I’ll leave you here with its motto:

“Four Stories: like a 19th-Century salon, only 150 years later–same socializing, same witty banter, corsets optional.”