"Suki sa" - Anzen Chitai

I dare you not to think S-s-s! A-a-a! F-f-f! E-e-e! T-t-t! Y-y-y! in your head when you think of Anzen Chitai and how their name means "safety zone".

Recently Anzen Chitai started their national tour after reuniting last year after a hiatus of nearly a decade. I don't know much about them, outside of a couple of songs that I've heard over the years. They formed in the 70's (as a bunch of high schoolers in Hokkaido) and played nearly a decade before debuting (and becoming super popular) in the eighties. They went the separate ways in the nineties, doing their own projects, then popped up in the 2000's for a while, and then popped off once again, until last year.

『好きさ』 is the first song of theirs that I heard. I don't think it's the most popular, but I like it (and the lead singer Tamaki is sporting a pretty sweet hair/beard style on the video) so I present it to you here. It happens to be the theme song of Maison Ikkoku, by Rumiko Takahashi of Ranma 1/2 fame.

Youtube is a go-to if you're interested in any of their many other songs/albums. The video here also has a translation attached, different from my own. (Regarding the translation - specifically the line とまらない熱いときめきに / 涙をみせないで: I was a little hung up on that に. When I read it I took it as a sign that とまらない熱いときめき is the cause for the 涙, in the way that you "cry for/with shame". It sounds strange though and I'm not sure if the lines are supposed to be connected at all. Maybe it's just "Unstoppable hot palpitation/Don't show your tears" [or a more poetic version of that]. What do you, O Possibly Nonexistent But Appreciated If Existent Reader, think?)

好きさ しびれるほど 好きさ くやしいほど おそれるものは なにもない 好きさ 忘れられない きりがない甘い接吻を 風がむりにほどく とまらない熱いときめきに 涙をみせないで 好きさ しびれるほど 好きさ くやしいほど 思いつめれば 狂いそう 好きさ はなしたくない 帰れない あなたの肌にも 夜がしのびこんで しかたない  別れ間際には 無傷じゃいられない 憎めない つめたいしぐさは 逢えないとつらくて  やるせない あなたのその声 心がこわれそう 好きさ 好きさ…

I love you so much that it numbs me  I love you so much it disturbs me  There is nothing that can hurt us I love you -- I can't forget you A million sweet kisses  as we're torn apart by the wind  Don't cry for this endless feverish heartbeat I love you so much that it numbs me I love you so much it disturbs me  When I think about you, I fear that I'll go mad I love you -- I never want to leave you  We can't go back Evening has drawn over your skin  It's no use we can't walk away unscathed  I can't hate your coldness I long for it when we can't meet When I hear that woeful voice of yours I fear my heart will break  I love you  I love you...

"Shima Uta" - The Boom

I fell in love with "Shima Uta" the first time I heard it. It had the Okinawan sound I had come to love in my short time in Okinawa and beautiful lyrics. The sugar cane lines? They get me every single time. I also love the traditional style of singing. I've been listening to it for a year or so now, but I hadn't realized that it was inspired by the plight of the Okinawan people during WWII, who hid in caves to escape American soldiers. The singer of The Boom, Kazufumi Miyazawa, wrote the song after hearing one Okinawan's tale of survival. Since its debut, it has been covered countless times by many singers, including a singer of the Okinawan dialect; a rock star trained in traditional 民謡(folk) singing; and an Argentian, whose version was on the top of the charts for a while despite being in Japanese. These versions follow the lyrics below.

でいごの花が咲き風を呼び嵐が来た でいごが咲き乱れ風を呼び嵐が来た くり返す悲しみは島渡る波のよう ウージの森であなたと出会い ウージの下で千代にさよなら 島唄よ風に乗り鳥とともに海を渡れ 島唄よ風に乗り届けておくれ私の涙 でいごの花も散りさざ波がゆれるだけ ささやかな幸せはうたかたの波の花 ウージの森で歌った友よ ウージの下で八千代の別れ 島唄よ風に乗り鳥とともに海を渡れ 島唄よ風に乗り届けておくれ私の愛を 海よ、宇宙よ、神よ、いのちよ、このまま永遠に夕凪を 島唄よ風に乗り鳥とともに海を渡れ 島唄よ風に乗り届けておくれ私の涙 島唄よ風に乗り鳥とともに海を渡れ 島唄よ風に乗り届けておくれ私の愛

The deigo flower bloomed and called the wind, and the storm has come The deigo flowers blossomed and called the wind, and the storm has come This recurring sadness is like the waves that cross the island I met you in a field of sugar cane Under the sugar cane, we say goodbye forever Oh island song, ride upon the wind, and with the birds cross over the sea Oh island song, ride upon the wind and carry off my tears The deigo flowers fall, the ripples only tremble This small happiness is fleeting, like flowers on the waves You sang in the fields of sugar cane, my friend Under the sugar cane, we part for eternity Oh island song, ride upon the wind and with the birds cross the sea Oh island song, ride upon the wind and carry off my love Oh Ocean, oh Cosmos, oh God, oh Life, grant us the evening calm of this moment forever Oh island song, ride upon the wind, and with the birds cross over the sea Oh island song, ride upon the wind and carry off my tears Oh island song, ride upon the wind and with the birds cross the sea Oh island song, ride upon the wind and carry off my love

"The World is Yours" - Buck-Tick

Buck-Tick has been one of my favourite bands for a while, just on the basis of a few songs that I've come across. I admire the range of styles, the guitar work, and especially the singer's (Atsushi Sakurai's) voice. Honestly, I could listen to his voice all day long. He doesn't limit himself to pretty singing though. Lately I've been trying to learn a bit more about their music. It's tough going, since they've been making music since 1983 (they made their major label debut in 1987) and put an album out every year.* They'll mark their 25th year anniversary in 2012 and have about a million* songs. *This is an exaggeration. They have 17th albums, not including mini/live/compilation albums, and at most half a million songs.

Today I've tried to translate "The World is Yours." It came out in 1990, in their 4th album 『悪の華』. They have a PV for this song, but something about the 80's/90's set, the fashion of the ladies in the audience (who are all standing like contestants in the Ms. America pageant for some reason), Sakurai's pants and the way they resemble a plastic bag, the gravity-defying spikes of hair that quiver above the drummer Yagami Toll, and the bit of monologue at the beginning of the performance (which provides more 聞き取り練習, hurrah), makes me want to place the video of their live on オールナイトフジ(All Night Fuji) here.

Now, without further ado, "The World is Yours."

I'll be scared and chewing poison, longing for destruction, If I look for that fleeting dream at the apocalypse I was promised Don't laugh baby, I've been looking foolish I laugh and scream in the middle of the night The shadow of megalomania dances I'm bound so tightly it hurts on this moonlit night I'll be drowning in the erotic and grotesque, a flower blooming out of season, If I bleed red at the monochrome end Don't cry baby, I'm run-down I stop breathing in this languid darkness And soar into this giant city's sky, So drunk it's scary on this moonlit night CRAZY NIGHT CRAZY MAN CRAZY MOON  You are crazy CRAZY LOVE CRAZY EYES CRAZY DREAM  I'm crazy Don't touch baby, this is goodbye The night has swallowed everything I'll burn out at the edge of this city And never wake again CRAZY NIGHT CRAZY MAN CRAZY MOON  You are crazy CRAZY LOVE CRAZY EYES CRAZY DREAM  I'm crazy Chewing poison, fleeting dreams, laughing, crying, I'll bloom out of season, stop my breath and burn out

毒を咬み怯えてる　破滅へのあこがれ　 約束の終末に　淡い夢探せば　  Don’t laugh Baby　バカげてた…… 笑い泣き叫ぶさ　夜の中 メガロマニアの影　踊りだす　月夜に痛い程縛られて… エロ・グロに溺れてる　狂い咲く花びら　 モノクロの結末に赤い血を流せば　  Don’t cry Baby　ボロボロさ 息を止め物憂い闇の中 メトロポリス空に舞い上がる　月夜に怖い程酔いしれて CRAZY NIGHT CRAZY MAN CRAZY MOON You are crazy CRAZY LOVE CRAZY EYES CRAZY DREAM I’m crazy Don’t touch Baby　お別れさ やがて夜は全て呑みこんで メガロポリスの果て　燃え尽きる 月夜にもう二度と　目覚めない CRAZY NIGHT CRAZY MAN CRAZY MOON You are crazy CRAZY LOVE CRAZY EYES CRAZY DREAM I’m crazy 毒を咬み　淡い夢　泣き笑い　 狂い咲き　息を止め　燃え尽きる

Regarding the lyrics: I made some vocabulary decisions about metropolis and megalopolis. They just seemed too big (or something, she said, poorly defending her decisions). I felt like metropolis could fit, but megalopolis? I realize megalopolis is not often heard in Japanese, either, but... I also wanted to separate from the verb tenses used in the original, but since I already changed it up a bit with the megalopolis/metropolis issue, I stuck to the Japanese. And last, there is no outright subject marked, so I suppose it could be someone other than "I" ("we" maybe? Or "you"?).  Really I went with what I felt was proper as I listened to the song, but it is something I pondered over. I'd be happy to hear your own thoughts on these matters, or any errors you notice/suggestions you have.

Play some guitar and learn some Japanese

I took up guitar a month ago, thanks to a guitar-happy friend. Originally my goal was to play "Home" by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, which I had become obsessed with, and which, having only a few chords, seemed conquerable. Well, I still can't play B minor with any competency, unfortunately. But I am now able to play one of my favorite Japanese songs: チェインギャング (Chain Gang) by ザ･ブルー･ハーツ (The Blue Hearts).

I got the lyrics and the chords for Chain Gang at a site called Gakki , which also sells instruments (as you can probably tell by its name). It only has three chords, so it isn't the most complicated song, but I am practicing my Japanese, and learning new words. Once you translate the song, you basically have a sure-fire way to remember new vocabulary and their definitions. Even if you aren't teaching yourself/playing guitar, learning songs is a good way to practice pronunciation (although you'll find some singers who distort their words) and expand your repertoire of words. Some of the songs I'm hoping to move onto, once I finally conquer finally get tired of trying to conquer B minor are:

Luna Sea's Fate, more because it is fun to sing than the guitar part:

The Blue Hearts' キスして欲しい：

Jero's 海雪, even though I'll never be able to sing it:

B'z's Calling:

Aqua Timez's　虹:
 

 Do As Infinity 真実の詩, although it was the ending song for Inuyasha, which I hate with illogical passion：

 ELLEGARDEN's Marry Me, even though it isn't in Japanese at all:

Takamiy's Voice 2011 May 30: Top 10 Things People Want to Do in an Empty Office

Started doing some radio listening, to try and separate my listening skills from my visual-information-extrapolation skills, which I heavily rely upon, alas, when watching Japanese media. I am, as you probably are, quite adept at putting visual cues together in order to fill in the gaps in my Japanese comprehension. Which is a good skill to have, but not so much when you are trying to hone your listening skills. So besides shadowing, I thought I'd try this. I looked on TBS and downloaded some radio blogs. Today I looked for the shortest one I had (5 minutes or so), and it was... Takamiy's Voice! From May 30th, to be exact. I found him in the Culture section and thought "爆走・暴走・爆笑" and "ロック選曲" sounded like it could be my kind of program. I didn't recognize Takamiy, aka Takamizawa Toshihiko...

This man was born in the 50's and has nicer hair than I do.

...but I have heard of The Alfee, which is the band he is a member of. I'm pretty sure I have/had at one time one of their songs/collaborations. Found a handy dandy playlist on youtube, if you're interested. Click through it a bit, since they've had very long careers and so have experimented with a few different styles.

Anyway, he has this radio blog, which I enjoyed listening to. I felt like I understood at least 90% of it, but transcribing it was a different matter. Once again, I extracted all the main ideas but I wasn't listening for details. So this was a good exercise. Try listening to it yourself. You might be able to fill in the (?) or correct the (probably incorrect sentences?), or even revise some of the sentences I thought were pretty decent.

A working transcript:

今週のTakamiy's Voiceですけどね。ちょっと想像してほしいと思うんですけどね、だれもいないオフィスね・・・　（どうも？）自分の中に潜む、こう、いたずらのですね。（むしが、こう、さわいでしかたがない？）。実際にやらないにしても誰もいないオフィスでこんなことしたら楽しいではないのかなとですね。妄想ですね。含ませることもあるんじゃないかな。怖いからいかないかい？誰でもいないオフィスは。誰もいないね、静かなオフィスでみんなやってみたいこと何だろうということで、愚問やりますね。もう、これ、もう色んなランキングがあるんですけど、ここまで調べるのがということで、誰もいないオフィスで一度やってみたいことランキングっていうのがあるんですが、一位から十位まであるんですけどね。（？）の結果こうなりました。

第十位が、ドミノ倒しですよ。何倒すんだろう、誰もいないオフィスで。あっ、ドミノ並べてやるんだ。これは（いっそ？）大変な時間かかるよ、これね。第九位。臭いがきついものを大量に食べてる。何だこれは。たとえばギョウザとかにんにく（？）ですかね。これはでもね、かなり・・・　たけどあれだよね、お弁当とかそういうもの、駅弁（？）、お弁当、においきつくなくても「ああ、誰か食ってんだ」ってわかるよね、新幹線なんかとかでね。会社でもそうなのかね、やっぱり。

第八位がですね、嫌いな上司のモニターの位置はあげるってどういうこと、これ？見にくくするんだ！これはちょっとプチ犯罪だけど。もうだめでしょう、これは。（嫌いな上司の）モニターをちょっと、コンピューターのモニターの位置上げて、見にくく・・・　でも意味ないと思うよ。あっと思うとすぐ直すからね。嫌がらせですね、これね。

次、第七位。爆音で音楽をかけて踊る。踊るか！まあ、爆音の音楽をかけるのはわかりますね。誰もいない。だけどびっくりして警備の方来ちゃうんじゃないですかね、これ、ね、あんまりデカイと。そして第六位がホワイトボートに落書き！ああ。かさ書いて・・・９かくのから？）・・・　社長を（？）とかやつ。相合傘。そんなわけないですかね。次、第四位。会社の大きいプロジェクターで映画を見る。これはいいんじゃない。そう思うよ。映画をね。映画館（？）に、一人で見ると。これもあまり大きい（？）あの警備の方来ちゃうぜ。気をつけてほしいな、と思いますね。

そして第三位。コピーで顔や体を複写・・・できんのか、そんなこと！コピー機で。えっ、できるの？顔をつけるの、これだって？やったことあんのか！ちょっとびっくりしました、は、これ（？）（が入ってる？）んで、これないだろうと思った。あるんだ！意外と僕は、夜中と言いますかね、まあ、スタジオが多いんでね、そう、会社に行ったことないんですけど。まあ、スタジオなんかでもコピー機ありますから！へー。でもあんまコピー自分でやったことない。（やってまっちゃうんだね？）、コピーとかね。（？）コピーできるの？何でもコピーできるんだ！とりあえず・・・　へー。（さくらい*のね？）（？）やってみようかな、俺も。へー。

次、第二位。オフィスチェアで廊下をかけっ[笑]！　さあって、子供じゃないんだ、これ！これなんか楽しそうだね、廊下をわーっとかでかけるの。これはなんか、(ストレッサー？）（？）にいいんじゃないですかねこれ、なかなかね。誰もいないだったら平気でしょう。あんまり（やると？）あの警備が来ちゃうんでね、んん、気をつけたほうがいい。第一位が、社長のいすに座る。はぁ。色んなことありますね、これね。誰もいないオフィスで、一度やってみたいことランキングっつのね、一位から十位まで。なんか自分がやってみたいのは何だろうな。

[・・・]でもそうだね。でも小学校ってさあ、あんだけ人がいっぱいいるのに気楽になるじゃない。けっこう（閑散？）とする中にちょっと、こう、怖さもあるんじゃない。だからなんか忘れ物取りに行くときに（？）、「なんか、あれ？なんか怖くないこれ。これちょっとこわくないみたい」の感じがありますね。最近の方、なんか、学校の怖い映画とかいっぱいあるのね。んん。子供たちは怖がっているみたいです、やっぱり。ええ。オフィスで廊下をかけるっていうの、こう、ちょっと楽しそうだなって。あと、爆音で音楽をかける。あるいはアンプを入れて爆音でギターを弾くと。社長（？）、社長のいすに座って、思い切り爆音でギターを弾くよ。これがTakamiy's（？）オフィスで一度やってみたいことランキングでありますけど。うちのオフィスの社長ですよね、デカイ鉄人に（？）。何の会社（？）みたいな。かなり目立てますね。ということでありました。といことで、今週のTakamiy's Voiceはここまで！

*Sakurai is the name of another member of The Alfee. 

Violent Onsen Geisha 暴力温泉芸者

The other day I decided I wanted to try translating something, ended up on the Asashi Shimbun webpage, and decided to translate a review based solely on the title of the work being reviewed. I ended up doing 斉藤環's review of 中原昌也's autobiography, 死んでも何も残さない. Nakahara Masaya is a fairly popular guy, it seems. The review mentions one of his (many) projects, "Violent Onsen Geisha," which is referred to as a ノイズユニット. Noise unit? I didn't find a definition online, but looking through my handy dandy notebook Google search, I eventually decided I'd be probably mostly correct in thinking ノイズユニットmeant noise. And by noise I mean noise music. If you are more knowledgeable than me, have heard of noise music, and like it, you may find this blog interesting, if you haven't found it already. You won't find Nakahara's personal site, though, due to his apparent distrust of the internets.

Anyway, the nearest brush I've ever had with 'noise' is maybe The Mars Volta (yes, I like them, leave me alone!) and I don't think they'd really be considered noise even if they have long passages of what I would call noise. So I wondered what the nature of Nakahara's noise music was. Also the name is pretty awesome. There is an array of his music on youtube. A couple of the songs I've heard from the album "Nation of Rhythm Slaves" use found music, but you can find all kinds of genres, it seems, in noise.

There is also a music video!

Violent Onsen Geisha appears to be operating under the name Hair Stylistics, now. 

There were aspects of the review other than ノイズユニットthat I had some trouble translating, so I'll probably be looking a bit more at those later.