One volume of Jump, 100 smiling people.

This is a 30 minute translation and I am still a student. Please verify anything you want to cite, this is for interest/convenience only.

Original : http://www.asahi.com/national/update/0326/TKY201103260109.html



At a Sendai bookstore that can't receive new magazine shipments, one volume of Weekly Shonen Jump as been read by over 100 children. This single precious copy was a gift from a customer. Being able to continue with popular manga has calmed children and brought smiles to their faces.

After the disaster, in the midst of many closed bookstores, the Shiogawa bookstore in Aoba ward near Itsuhashi station on the north-south subway line has reopened after 14 days with only its existing stock. But customers come looking for new magazines and the shopkeeper Mr. Yuuichi Shiogawa (47) has had to tell them "We have none. There are no plans for stock shipments." He mentioned that when he reported that they did not have Shogakuan's "Korokoro Comic" a young child began to cry.

What many people want to read is the popular manga One Piece and other titles serialized in Shueisha's Jump. One male customer that absolutely wanted to read Jump went to the neighboring Yamagata prefecture and returned with one copy he had finished.
"Shonen Jump issue 16 from 3/19 can be read here!! We only have one copy" Shiogawa posted a sign at the shop and the information spread by word of mouth. He says that children have come over 10 km by bike to line up and wait for a chance to read the magazine.

Holding the battered Jump in his hands, Kouki Sawada was relieved, "I went around to many bookstores but not one had it." His friend Takashi Hasegawa (13) read One Piece twice carefully and was overjoyed, "I am at ease now, I'm glad I was able to continue reading it".

Mr Shiogawa said "People don't want to see the miserable images on TV and the number of parents looking for children's books and picture books has grown. Of course we must consider the necessities of life first but I think providing books for children is important too." The next issue comes out on 4/4.

Heroman Song Translations

I've been watching Heroman on Crunchyroll and noticed they only have the first ending subtitled so here are translations for the other three. As usual, my Japanese isn't great so read at your own risk. As for the songs themselves, Roulette was definitely the hardest to understand/translate as it is full of the happy nonsense J-Pop is known for and Missing was the easiest (relatively). The video that accompanies "My Hand is for Your Sake" is one of my favorite anime endings, it mainly focuses on Joey and friends spliced into everyday scenes on the US, most likely California. (I believe the first photo is of the I-405N near exit 51) Check it out on Crunchyroll even if you don't care for the show (the ED starts around 22:20 in ep. 13+)

OP 1 : Roulette by Tetsuya

キラキラ回れ! Roulette
Sparkling Spinning Roulette
運命の瞬間を
At the moment of fate
Just now My way 始めようぜ
"Just now" "My way" Let's get started

道に迷った時には
When you lose your way
瞳を閉じて風に聴こう
Close your eyes and listen to the wind
真白な闇の中
inside the pure white darkness

キラキラ回れ! Roulette
Sparkling Spinning Roulette
運命の瞬間を
At the moment of fate
Just now My way 始めようぜ
"Just now" "My way" Lets get started
奇跡を起こせ Roulette
Causing miracles Roulette
泣いてなんかいないで
Don't cry
Why not? Hang on まだ間に合う
"Why not?" "Hang on" We can still make it


全て賭けたら Roulette
Betting it all Roulette
狙い定めて Roulette
Aimed at deciding Roulette
回れ! 回れ! 回れ!
Spin! Spin! Spin!
光集め回れ!
Gather light and spin!

OP 2: Missing by Kylee

一人　来てみた　いつもの公園　
I visited the usual park alone
it's a feeling never felt
"Its a feeling never felt"
子供みたいに　風の音が怖くて
Like a child scared of the wind
帰り道走ったんだ
I ran the path home

窓の外は　広すぎる空　where are you now?
Outside the window the sky stretches out, "Where are you now"
(届いて)
(please reach)
いつか叶う願いなら　ねえ　神様　
When praying, Hey God
今すぐ叶えて　my wish
please grant it soon "my wish"

声が聞きたいよ　miss you　今逢いたいよ
I want to her your voice. "miss you" I want to see you now.
どうしてもう　明日を見てるの?
No matter what, will we see tomorrow?
逃したねって timing 簡単に言わないで
I missed it "timing" Don't say that easily
もう一度だけ
Just once more

大好きなのに it's too late ずっと前から
Even though its loved "It's too late" Much earlier
諦めても　過去に出来ないよ
I gave up but I can't do it in the past.
しょうがないって no way 簡単に決めないで
It can't be helped, "no way" Don't decide that so easily
もう一度だけ 笑って
Just once more, smile again

ED 2: "My Hand is for Your Sake"/"僕の手は君の為に"　by Mass Alert

分かり合いたくて　本音でぶつかってきた
By wanting to understand each other we collided
君の涙も　笑顔もここにある　
Your tears and your smile are both here
どんな苦しみだってもう怖くない　二人ならどこまでも行ける
No matter what pain I'm not scared anymore, if its the two of us we can go anywhere
僕がひとりじゃない事　教えてくれたんだ
You taught me that I am not alone

君に合う為生まれきた　そんな言葉をつぶやいて度
I was born to meet you、When you mutter those words
不安は消えて　強さが心に灯る
My anxiety disappears and strength burns in my heart
ありがとう僕らしかわからない　合図で共に前に進むんだ
We knew nothing but gratitude and move forward with the signal
かけがえのない時に　刻み込め
Engrave that irreplaceable time

この場所から離れられない　同じ鼓動を感じて生きているから
We cannot be separated from this place because we live feeling the same pulse
守り切りたい　重ねてきた約束を
I want to hold on to that repeated promise
ありがとう僕らしかわからない　合図で共に前に進むんだ
We knew nothing but gratitude and move forward with the signal
かけがえのない時に　刻み込む
To engrave that irreplaceable time

90% Little Busters! Roundup: Goods, News, and Anime recomendations

I was going to call this a general roundup but then I realized it was 90% about LB -_- Scroll past jailbait Kyousuke to get to the non-LB stuff

Not much of interest has been happening to me as of late. I have been working on some long posts about aspects of Little Busters that will end up here if/when they get finished.

I preordered Kud Wafter with the yet-unannounced omake. I was waiting for getchu's decision (they supply himeya) before ordering but then erogeshop had a coupon sale. I hope I don't get burned. -_-

Aoishima replaced my Komari mobip after 2 months of exchange negotiation. Not bad service (considering my terrible Japanese...) but her joints aren't very good on this one either. They are cute but I can't recommend the mobip series at this time.

I bought the LB-EX artbook (despite not having played the EX part yet). Even so I'm considering getting the other one as well (which is what I was trying to avoid) because it seems to have bigger versions of some favorite CG and illustrations.

----End obsessed LB otaku section----

With that artbook, I also got the fifth Nanatsuiro Drops manga (recommended since its a fairly easy read) and the new JLPT spec book. This new listening section could be a problem but I haven't done a mock run-through yet. I'm pretty good at listening from playing LB though (see how I worked it in? xD) the grammar section is what is going to kill me.

For my birthday I got the Fate/Stay Night DVDs. I might review the set later since most reviews are by people who haven't played the game. Would that be worthwhile?

Animewise, I've been watching a lot of CrunchyRoll since they went legit. Particularly I want to recommend Time of Eve and Natsume Yujincho which are both fairly overlooked series that are quite deep and entertaining. (I've also been watching Heroman but that is something else entirely >.>)

I'm sure this post reads as a little aimless. -_- Please comment on what things you would like more in depth posts about!

Kud Wafter

I'm a bit late with the news but Key is making a fandisc to Little Busters! titled "Kud Wafter" (assumedly a parody of the title "Tomoyo After"). I don't care for the opening theme much but you can't decide for your self (warning: cam rip)




So, as you can guess, its a Kudo epilogue fandisc, probably with lots of H (lol). Its pretty much set that I will get this barring natural/economic disasters.

But I hear you asking, "how can you get this if you haven't finished LB! yet?"

I have been playing Little Busters! of and on for three years (I can't believe its been that long...). The only reason I'm not done yet is that I keep taking breaks between routes, that amount of Japanese reading is exhausting and at first especially I could only do it short bursts. Furthermore in the middle, when I had finished my favorite girl's routes and was left to struggles though the rest to unlock Rin's route and the Refrain, I found my self not playing very often (that and life issues).

However more recently it has been easier to do and my pace has picked up considerably. I don't feel I misunderstood the routes I read earlier but I read much faster and with less reliance on rikaichan now. Still nothing near fluent but I can manage 80% of the voiced lines without using rikai (My listening skills far exceed my reading skills so Riki's lines are very difficult for me T_T) In this weekend alone I finished the Haruka and Rin routes, unlocking the Refrain (true path).

So despite my speed issues, I have been enjoying LB very much and haven't given up at all :)

Education Rant

You have no right to a formal college education.

There I said it. Bring out the pitchforks. Its a hot topic in CA nowadays for student to demand the state continue paying much of their formal education. They're wrong. The state of CA made sure they got to adulthood reasonably educated and with life habits that come from school work. Now its their choice on how to grow them (or not).

You have a human right to information for self study.

Most likely this is via the internet. Maybe the books at the library. Maybe you work a job where you can hear another language or you post pictures for feedback on a website. Maybe you learn programming from a website or history from a old textbook. You do NOT need a professor to learn. You do not have a RIGHT to be taught by a professor. Your high school teachers did not teach you so you continue to rely on others, they taught to to be an effective human so start applying those skills.

I go to a private university because it is more efficient and enjoyable to learn in a formal environment (particularly that of my chosen school). I am majoring in Japanese studies and would like to do a 3-2 MBA program. My parents and I feel that the private formal environment is more efficient and enjoyable and that it is worth the cost. State students ought pay because they feel the formal environment is better for them than self study but they do not want to pay for the differences of a private school.

ALL students can self study if they do not feel their education is worth paying others for or if they can't pay/don't want loans. I started studying Japanese in middle school or early high school (don't remember) by buying a 10$ kana book and using David Hallgren's Japanese page. After a while of this when I began moving on to kanji, my parents decided to send me to a private Saturday class in Japanese. I got up at 7:30 every Saturday for years to go to a 4 hour class in Japanese language and culture. I love that school, I am grateful for them. While they didn't push students very hard, a motivated student could learn quite a lot and I passed JLPT 4-kyu last December (took it on a whim). I placed into Japanese 331 for freshman college and took JLPT 3-kyu this year. I won't say the formal education didn't help me (it did) but the motivation that made this happen can be applied to self-study.

Only you can better yourself. If you don't like the system, stop relying on it and study on your own.

Damned if I do, damned if I dont, type of moment: What other language has such a mascot?

This is like telling people about your birthday: your selfish sounding for doing it but if you don't people say "why didn't you tell me?!'
So there you have been told. I passed level 4 (lowest level) of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. Now to study for level 3.

In other news... Erin-chan is increasingly delightful. Am I bad for feeling moe over a educational character?

New computer, witch touching, and Erin

Well, I am back from my excursion to Oregon. We of course went to the Portland area Kinokuniya Shoten where I picked up the first two volumes of "Erin's Challenge! I can speak Japanese" a NHK video series with textbooks for foreigners learning Japanese. I also grabbed Lucky Star GN 1.

When I came home I was greeted by a small package from eBay: Doki Doki Majyo Shinpan. This had to wait though because I had to head off to the FedEx depot to pick up my new MacBook Pro.

Yes, I am typing from it now.