A TASTE OF CULTURE

Wagashi

A cultural tradition
still alive and well
by Angela Jeffs

In spring, taorl-zskurs :P.ffi.W. handmo lded c he rry blossoms. In summer,

wakaba-kage ~~ii, goldfish swimming
in a transparent je lly. Autumn is represented by kozue no aki
Q) tl<. maple
leaves colored green, yellow, and pink;
winter by matsu no yuki ~Q) "l'j , green
pine cones sprinkled with white "snow."
Welcome to the world- and seasonal
fantasy-of wagasfzi, or Japanese sweets.
Some Japanese secretly admit that
they hate wagashi, others remain happily
add icted. But on one thing they all agree:
these sweets and cakes, based on age-old
recipes and designs and traditionally eaten

with ocha (.to~. green

tea) at the end of a meal
or as a snack, always look
Wagashl are often designed to suit the season:
as pre tty as a pic ture,
from summe rtime goldfish (above) to autumn maple
each one a consummate
leaves (above left) to spring's tribute to cherry-blossom season, sakura-mochi (below left).
work of art.
Now regarded by
East and West alike as a
sometimes in response to historical events.
window onto the Japanese aesthetic, the
history of wagashi is inherent in the two
Where their origins lie exactly in ancharacters that make up the word: wa (f11 , cient Chinese tradition is far from clear,
from the ancient name for Japan, .A:l1J. but Chinese sweets seem to have been inread Yamato), and gashi 1ff: [-,a modifitroduced into Japan somewhere between
cation o f ka~hi, generally translated as
the seventh and ninth centuries, which is
"confecti on." (O )kas hi (:J3):ttfr (the
in line with early legends and stories con"honorific" o- prefix is almost cerning the creation of wagashi in Nara
obligatory) is the word no w
and Kyoto. At this lime, even the nobility
used for sweets and cakes in
ate only two meals a day, with portions
small and the fare simple. Consequently,
general. Wagashi have been
served ove r the centuries at rice cakes and dumplings flavored with
fes ti vals, reli g io us obse r honey, fruit, and nuts were added to the
basic diet as midday snacks, helping to
vances, and family ritua ls .
They have changed in shape,
provide important nutrients essential to
good health.
design, and even composition,
Elizabeth An doh, who us ua lly provides our Taste of Culture, will be absent
from the next few issues due to an illness in the family.
For a "slice-of-life" view of wagashi, check out our Dai- Tokyo Binbo
Seikatsu Manyuaru manga selection on pa ge 36.

no

tribute= :S:~ shiisan consummate = nf 1.0) shijiJ

aesthetic = 5)'e(Y-J w;Q biteki kankaku is inherent in = fokumarete-iru rituals = fib\/JiVe/ gishikilfiishii fare= it~ slwkumotsu dumplings = t~ lv ::_ dangn
16

M ANG A JIN

c: ;3- i tt..~ "' 1.,

-ni l
_

------------------------------- ---

TasteofCulture

If you want to learn all about wagashi ,

Kurokawa Mitsuhiro, president ofToraya Confectionery in Akasaka, Tokyo, is a good person to talk toso that's what we did. Kurokawa-shacho told us that
his family's wagashi business, which is certainly one
of the best known in Japan, is also one of the oldest.
In fact, it's so old, he is not sure of the exact age.
According to family legend, Toraya has been
serving Japan's Imperial Court since the Nara period
(710-84). The name, from tora (!Jf., "tiger") and ya
(~. "store"), comes from the custom among Kyoto
shopkeepers of taking the names of creatures that symboli~ed strength, long life, and good fortune.
By 1600, when the BattleofSekigahara ushered
in the Tokugawa era ( 1603-1867) and over two centuries of comparative peace and prosperity, Toraya was already well established as a successful and influential enterprise. lt was headed by
Kurokawa Enchu (,',M JIIIJ-J 1$), now regarded as the father of the
modem Toraya. Kurokawa is reputed to have recognized the medicinal benefits of wagashi and also to have had astute business
sense.
The family has documents containing an entry dated 1635,
whic h concerns Empress MeishO's (I~ I9./C ) visit to her
nutrients = :::~ eiyti ushered in = - ~ t t:. I? L !.: /~ I ~ ~.::. L t:.
m1keme nai court = ,.:.; if: kyt7tei concoction = i~-G- ~ kongi'J-butsu

Yokan, an
old favorite
among
wagashi
tans, is a
sweetened
azukibeanflavored
gelatin concoction.

father's court upon his retirement. Twenty items were ordered

from Toraya on her behalf to take as gifts, including kasutera
( tJ :A 7 7, from castella, the sweet sponge cake introduced by
the Portuguese) and senbei (fmftJI:, rice crackers), as well as two
kinds of wagashi which are still popular today: manjt7 (R~~JI .
steamed bean-jam buns) and yokan ($ ~. a dense, sweetened
azuki bean-gelatin dessert).
Yokan has roots in China- a fter a fashion. The kanji for
yfJkan (.:f-j!) literally mean "sheep-soup," and that's apparently

o motarashitalhikiokos!rita astute = ~lijjr: ~ /ttOt tl ~It ' kibin-nal

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MANGA JIN

17

TasteofCulture

BABEL PRESS

l,i,l,.'((

nt:t.

11

e a!R~ 1: ~ ~'MD
?:P~ IJ - ~-~Jv

etJ:t.:tS~n~Wi
~-~ Jv IJ A ~

1~'..1 ~ / ~ :; ~ <7)

ii~~ 1~1.1'

IJ:'>

t: t} /:! J.-) r.J !.:"'>[!\ J: '"(\

5 M21 R t.Pi D ~e:fa::fxt,

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t}

k~T-~'0M@l ,::g I

~ij.f{}io

..,_,

r.. Mer..,

what the present confection derives

from. A kind of thick mutton soup
was introduced into Japan around
the twelfth century, but since the
Japanese of the time generally
shunned the eating of meat, a mixture of azuki (11<~{. red beans) and
flour seems to have been substituted. T his mixture later went
through further transformations to
become the sweet, dense bean-gelatin confection of today. Yokan, as
it is known today, evolved during
the Tokugawa era as sugar became
more widely available.
Toraya holds 3,000 classic recipes,
from which it produces 150 different kinds of wagashi every year,
Every year, Toraya stages an in-house
picked according to the season and
competition to create new wagashi. The defollowing instructions recorded in
signs shown here are based on the themes
pictures. Among the sweets are
i!U (Nami ="Waves," selected because this
zangetsu ~!tJ=I, ginger-flavore d
was the theme of the Imperial Court New
Year's poetry reading ceremony) and J:.
pancakes folded gently over sweet
(Jnu = "Dogs," 1994 being a "year of the
azuki jam and evoking the waning
dog" under the Chinese astrological sysmoon at dawn, and monaka -I;: 9=',
tem; see our Feature Story, page 12).
a thicker mixture of azuki jam
pressed between wafers into a
shape resembling the full moon. Toraya's zangetsu are printed with chrysanthemum
blossoms, and their monaka feature the same flower, which, as the imperial family's
kamon ~~.or crest, symbolizes the confectioner's strong connection with the imperial household.
Though Toraya's repertoire includes so many recipes accumulated over the years,
old favorites sit comfortably beside the very latest designs. There is a special team
responsible for creating new wagashi to meet seasonal and ritual demands- for 1994,
for example, they developed designs suitable for the Year of the Dog. Kurokawa
Mitsuhiro encourages all 760 employees of the company to come up with ideas.
Special orders, like the wagashi catfish ordered for Prince Akishino's birthday,
are handled in Akasaka. Regular supplies of ingredients and finished wagashi come
from modern plants near Gotenba, at the foot of Mount Fuji, the original shop in
Kyoto, and the main factory in Tokyo, which started operations in 1985.
Though he eats wagashi every day, Kurokawa remains slim and fit. He claims
that the ingredients of wagashi, being healthful and nutritious, guarantee this-although he does admit to regularly skipping breakfast and lunch to make sure.
Despite modern technology and management methods- Kurokawa has introduced maternity leave and equal pay for men and women-artisans still use traditional techniques aimed to stimulate and indulge the five senses of taste, sight, touch,
scent, and even sound, the lyrical names given to wagashi being considered poetry to
the ear.
Toraya now has 69 branches, including shops in Paris and New York. In addition to traditional wagashi recipes, Toraya is also creating new recipes to meet local
tastes at their overseas locations-thus ensuring that wagashi will continue to evolve
over the years to come.

Published by BABEL PRESS

in Japan 700

[!]
18

BABEL INC.
1-3-6 Nishikanda, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 101 Japan Tei.03-3295-2304

MANGAJIN

Angela Jeffs is a free-lance writer living in Hayama, just outside Tokyo.

astrological = r!i JEJ!If(i') sensei-jutsu no evoking= fl};m T J., saigen suru chrysanthemum=~ kiku accumulated= J:f/i L1: chikuseki shita ingredients= ,fA"',ji!J- zairyo
artisans = ~A shokunin indulge= T~ JE ~it J., manzoku saseru

11

From Manga-holic"
to Guru
The Rise of an American
Journalist In Japan

Kachi5 Shima
Kosaku no Seiki5
Hi5teishiki ("Kacho

Shima Kosaku's
Formula for Success")
provides distilled
wisdom from the
manga series for
struggling Japanese
salarymen. In Part 2,
Amencan journalist
Tom Reid provides
input from another
point of view.

American journalist T.R. Reid used to

be one of the millions of fans who looked
forward every week to buying the manga
magazine Comic Morning, primarily to
follow the adventures of "Japan's most
famous salaryman," Shima Kosaku. Now,
in a new book of business advice from
Kodansha, Reid stands shoulder to shoulder with Shima as a sensei for Japan's
economic foot soldiers.
Bathed in the glow of Japanese media
scrutiny after a pair of well-timed scoops,
Reid, Tokyo bureau chief for The Washington Post since 1990, has become the
gaijin to go to for commentary and explication ofJapan's favorite topic: itself. Reid
was the first reporter (foreign or Japanese)
to fi le a story on the engagement of Owada
Masako to the Crown Prince last year
(Although his success, it must be said, was
due more to the deference of the Japanese
media to the wishes of the Imperial Household Agency than to investigative journalism on Reid's part). Then, in April, Reid
predicted the LDP's impending loss of its
longtime majority in the lower house of
the Diet. These two dai sukiipu ("big
scoops") brought Reid fame, if not fortune, as the gaijin reporter who beat the
Japanese. "Fact is, " Reid told Mangajin,
"l've been wrong a lot, too, but they don' t

notice since !lucked out and was right on

the big ones."
Thanks to his instant celebrity, Reid
has become a fixture on weekend television discussion shows, as well as the very
popular "All-Night Live TV" (fA i ~T
~ T v !::", Asa Made Nama Terebi) on
the TV Asahi network. Now Reid offers
his two yen's worth on Japanese corporate
life for volume two of Kachi5Shima Kosaku
no Seiki5 Hoteishiki ("KachO Shima
Kosaku' s Formula for Success"), a corporate guidebook for ambitious salarymen.
The book features highlights from the adventures of Shima Kosaku, the star of a
manga series that has sold 13 million copies in tankobon collected editions. Reid
was even more attractive to Kodansha as a
commentator since he had confessed his
addiction as a "mangaholic" in a 1992
Washington Post piece, describing the
world of manga in general, and the Shima
Kosaku phenomenon in particular. (An
adaptation of the article was used in Mangajin No. 28 in the introduction to a story
from the Shima series.)
Eager to squeeze some more sales out
of the concept, but short on material,
Kodansha enlisted Reid to give his reaction to the principles of life, love, and
office survival outlined in the text of Seiki5

by

David M.
Rosenfeld

Hoteishiki Part 2. Thus, after each section

in the book, featuring themes such as
"Salary man Ecology" (-IT 7 1) - ~ / ~
fl.~~. Sarariiman Seitaigaku) or "Factions" (VR~~. Habatsu), Reid weighs in
with "Tom Reid's proposals" (~A 1) r O)jjt: 8, "Tomu Riido no Teigen").
In response to questions like "How
are overweight people and smokers regarded in America?" and "How are personnel transfers handled in America?" Reid
gives his Japanese readers frank, breezy
answers: "lln America] if a corporate executive is young, strong, energetic and
handsome, his company can get that same
vigorous image. The idea is to give consumers the presumption that this company
will turn out good products." Or "Japanese
companies may have a system for discussing transfers with employees before the
fact, but it seems somehow a bit forced,
even militaristic ... ln an American company, they alwaysconsidertheemployee's
preference, and go along with his wishes
as much as possible."
If these sound Like the kind of comments many foreigners have probably made
in evening drinking sessions with Japanese acquaintances, that's because Reid
delivered his "proposals" in a series of
evening drinking sessions with Kodansha
editors. Presumably neither Reid nor
Kodansha were looking to break new
ground in the debate on Japan: he saves his
serious analysis for his Washington Post
reporting (supplemented by lighthearted
commentary on National Public Radio).
Kodansha was basically interested in "padding," said Reid.
Thus, his responses have relatively
little to do with the rest of the book, which
actually presents a rather alarmist portrait
of the plight of Japanese salary men in the
uncertainties of Japan's current economic
condition. The first book was mostly a
paean to Shima's heroism in service of his
company, the fictitious giant "Hatsushiba
Electric Corporation." He was portrayed

distilled= !fi..fij ~ flf:. jiJryil.Wreta scrutiny= i.IJ chiimoku addiction = tJ'~ chiidoku vigoroUS= fiSJJ ffJ katSUT)XJku-teki debate= .i(i;.!fr ron.siJ padd~
umekusa alarmist =L~~11(J) shinpaishi5no plight= ~fl'lfliftljotailkukyo paean=1t~sanka

=.lll!IO <~

20

MAN GAJIN

Book R eview
as a paragon of salaryman virtues who
"thinks seriously about life, loves and understands women, treats men sometimes
sternly, sometimes gently, sometimes
confrontationally ... a star of Hatsushiba
Electric's expectations, leading the company to business success."
The non-Re id-re lated sections ofVolumc 2, however, arc suffused with gloom
and paranoia: "Amid the adverse winds of
recession, rationalization, corporate transfer, and dismissal, how will you survive?"
asks the aurhor. Gone are the avuncular
encouragements of Volume 1; in their
place are dire warnings that " the myth of
the common fate of company and employees has been shattered! ... We salarymen
can no longer depend on our companies .
.. Know your enemy: the company!" Pretty
chilling stuff, but it ends up feeling more
like marketing spin than a real jeremiad:
One presumes that before they latched
onto Reid, Kodansha was going to sell the
thing as a recession survival guide, and

they never really bothered to go back and

re-edit it after switching their marketing
focus to the savvy gaijin journalist.

Washington

PostTokyo
Bureau
Chief Tom
Reid, as
pictured on
the jacket
of the
second
book

The fust volume of the series sold

240 ,000 copies, while the second has sold
180,000, according to Reid. He won't be a
part of the third volume, which apparently
has been cast to appeal to Japan's newly
visible legions of"kyaria l7man"- womcn
who arc interested in more than serving

green tea and wearing an OL uniform.

Shima's on-again, off-again lover, Omachi
Kuniko, is to be featured in the upcoming
volume, Reid reports.
His views on things Japanese will still
be available to the Japanese book-buying
public, however, in another upcoming book
from Kodansha, Tomu no me, Tomu no
mimi ("Tom's Eyes, Tom's Ears"), a collection of his Washington Post pieces and
NPR commentaries, with added "storybehind-the-story" (~~~. urabanashi)
notes. Reid sees a real value in this boo k as
an antidote to the Japanese conventional
wisdom that all foreign reporters constantly
bash Japan. "My own stories, including
several pieces in this book, have a lot of
bashing; last year I got called on the carpet
by the Foreign Ministry for being too
tough on Japan's government. But there
were a lot of positive things I wanted to say
to Japanese people, and this turned out to
be a good way," Reid says.

paragon =~~ mohan be suffu.~ with = - t.:J::U~ bl1.1.> - ni iiwarem avuncularencourogemen~ =(J':l (; iJ' t, llll ( J:
lcilc.u )'V-na) ammktti l~t~gmiOShi jeremiad :{f.U~ himn untido!c lli :iE All kyaset:tti

----

? ~)~t.: t.: iJ'~'I!ib i L.. (ojikflm

---

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M ANGAJIN

21

(0\ViN ~ Hobbt-s

'lfml

\lEi S\JSIE ,
PICK A.
KUMStR I~

1\.\t fOR'Nt

lt.llR.

0
Calvin: "Hey Susie. pick a number in the fortune-teller."

-+ -J? .t?

15

7-. - :J- , :::_~

Chotto

Siijii,

a linle

Susie

kono

It'~ ~!if:

uranai no

~ ~A-"'C":::.."!?A- J: o

siiji

yo.

erande-goran

this fonune-teller 's number (obj.) choose-and-see (emph.)

Susie: "Urn ... Three."

-+ ,Z- C, =-(i:)o
to,

san (ban).

(no.)3 )'>'<
.u~~
fortune-teller! 161t', ~~o
urn

.:.

-c

J
""{"'.:. <

*00

1:11 !..
~; ~;,.
!:'H? "-t
Hfi.
~i:>, B*~1JTI'J~~:tiSJ~~ibtrf'iJf3i)~iJf , :::..O'J61t'li

"'"'!!

.:. ~ t.

[J-1;,

-:>,t.

<

"fortune- teller" c IJ.flftL

0)-=f-m t.: i? 0) fl.fl "'C"/.t 1t t> tL "(It'~ t O'Jo
Calvin's paper "fortune-teller" is sometimes called J '{ -;; 7 / 7 7 7 - (pakkun furawli) in Japan; pakkun is
the sound FX of (opening and} closing one's mouth, and furawa is from the English "flower."

Calvin: "One. two. three!

-+ - ,

_ , =-o

Now fick a letter."

:?f/l

!if:

I
wa

~ ~A-"'C" o
o erande.

/chi, ni,

san. Kondo

one

three next/now as-for letter/character (obj.) choose

two

ji

Calvin: "We lift up flap '8 ' and it says. 'You're a mouth-breathin9 bag of boogers!' Ah ha ha ha ha hat"
-+ rsJ (/) ~ ~ ;f;ft;,..t~f~c , rJo i i l A\.fu!i ~ t:J~ l'-t-7/<~ n't.:.i I'J)
Bii

no tobira o

''B"

's

mochi-ageru to,

omae

if/when lift up

you

door (obj.)

!ffml

t!.J ,

yaro

da

guy/person (derog.) is/am

IJA.

l....t~ ... ~

stuffed-nosed

-c i!fv'-c <f.>~ .t, 7- 'J ,

tte

kaite-aru

yo!

(quote)

is wrinen

(emph.)

;f;fi?..tlf ~ o
.&.'It;
flap = (r.f1i:ij(J)~ t.:. (J) J: -j

lift up=

wa hana-zumari no hanakuso (no

as-for

Wa

(of

}\ 'J ,

}\ 'J , J\ '/ ,

ha,

ha,

ha,

katamari)
clump)
l ' '/ , l ' :; ,

ha,

ha

(boisterous laugh)

'"
v
~) ~tt~ t.:., -::> I'J _6 ,
~'

t...:'

snot

1:

1fT I'J Po
'>

it says= <*~-~~ c~ .:E~ftl: t.., "() l!fv' "(<f.> ~' ~""'"(It\~ 0

o

<-t 0) :::.. c "'C",

T 7 / t!. I?
It, J\ -t 7 'J (J) il' t.: i I') , ?W!fff!~, ~ c(J)~o Mouth-breathina liD "'C" .~,:a- 't ~ :::.. c t!.iJf,
li '"~
( t,
! & ?
.1.
'1': fi.~
t:>?f-''
z
JUsVdlfJ.
i t) ~: ~ tL!!'D "'C"IJ.f~-tt ~ ~ ~~.!J~ <~ ~ t.:. ~, :::.. :::.. "'C"Ii,._t!i i t) O'J;fl\fi.~ ~ m t.., "( v' ~ o
"'''!< ''?I!A. .,~.
vt A>t: : <
.f-?~<
:::.. ~UJUi*OO"'C" - ~~:1tt>tL -c '-'' ~ <b ~"'C"Ii 7j:
7J J'v r'f 1 /iJ<A ~~~T ~ t.:~I:~H'F t..,
t.:. t (/) 0
a mouth-breathing bag of booaers: booger li , li 1j:
T.!'-1 <-t~'>.,

\'

a baa of boogers "'(" J \

t"?

"'$.

<,

Calvin: "Life doesn't aet much better than this."

-+ A~ ~: :::.. tL J: I'J ~ t.., 1t' :::..
iJ< <f.> ~ t!. 1:> -) il' o
Jinsei ni kore
li fe

yori tanoshii koto

in/to this more than

fun

ga aru

thing (subj.) exist

daro

ka.

I wonder

(?)

a direct translation just didn't seem appropriate here; the final Japanese reads
something like, "I wonder if there is
anything more enjoyable in life than this."

Tht Days Art Just Packed. copyright!C 1993, Unive=l Press Syndicate. All rights reserved. Reprinted/translated by pennission of Editors Press Service, N.Y.

26

MA NGAJIN

Calvin: ~ Susie, guess what I have in m~ hands!"

' :J,. - :; - ' Lf < /){ .fO 1: M f :p.f "? l .0 1J> ~ l l :::: I? lv !
-+
Ne,

Siijii,

boku ga

motte- ru ka

atete goran!

hey

Susie

Vme (subj.) hand in what (obj.) am holding (?)

te ni nani

try to hit/guess

Susie: "Is it dis_gusting?"

1v iJ' 1f.:f;f -t;, ~ '-'' b(J)?
-+ -t-

n, t.t

that

kim.ochi warui mono?

nanka

Sore,

something

disgusting

thing

Calvin: "Um ... Well ..."

-+ ? -!v , i ii6 ....

iin,

ma ...

urn

well/urn

~A.

I:.; L

f;bO);p, -t- -) f.:' ;p ' ;{_- c' J t:t e: rJll3t ~PJ e:

IJ: fl'\o'b
l,v,t.;
t
L..-c ' ~ ~li 0) rJJ ~ r.1 f::. -tt .o 0) 1: J: <f~ v n .o o

well

?~

Susie: "Is it some cree~&ooe~ thing that no one in his ri~t mind would ever, ever want to look at?"
lE t,t :;,.. k (f) A t:t I? -!:!- -:; '>' 1 1: f::. v' E .~. b t,t v, J: ~ t,t,
-+ -t-

'*'

n,

seijo-na kankaku no hito nara

Sore,
that

normal

f,t lv /)>
nanka

){\'*

sense
0)

(=) person

~'-''

for sure

to

omowanai

yo na,

not think

type of

want to see (quote)

;pl;:f';pffL..f.: J:-) t:t. b(J)?

no warui neba-neba shita

kimi

mitai

ze-ttai ni

if

something sensation (subj.) bad

sticky/gooey

yo na

mono?

type of

thing

Calvin: "Uh . . . I sufose that degends onj our goint of view . . ."
1i
1: J: .o f.!_ ~ -? ;p ..,
-+ l - E, -t- tJ: -t- (f) A 0)

E to,

sore wa sono hito no

ni yoru

mikata

daro

ne ...

that as-for that person 's way of seeing according to is surely (colloq.)

um/well

,. ;,.

11>

;,.

1: fj: b -f. b -f'~ ~.-, @.] .o J c '-''-) ~'* t, f){\'*(J)b .0 '-''/:i3-f'i L.. v', J
;I;
tv'-)
~P;!ciJ{<b .0 /){, :::: -c"IJ:1&;g-o Gooey lJ: ;p If;p 11 L.. f.: ~ , ~e:~t-t.O ~ J:-JTo
\,\
tp}l.J(
I,..
<!>.C:?
f;ll...fl
that J.,J T IJ: thing ~(J't1~frliI..'CTA..0 ~ ~P] 111 oh tJ right mind 1'/j; f,t ~ .:Z, "? C -J f,t~Jto
..s.C: <
0'1:
your point of view: A (J);j:JL.i:, b O)O)J2.1Jo You IJ: :J..- :/- 1:" lJ: f,t <, -~9:89 t:t /f~J:E (f) A~ tlfi-t o
creepy, ~ooey: creepy
t~

.:?l.~

M')p

it~

~A.~

f~

Susie: "Forget it. I'm not guessin~."

v'~ f!.o lli l
(f)
-+ () ~
iya

Mo

da.

Ateru

no

~~t!I..."C~

IJ:

:: ~ lv

f.!_

Vo

wa

gomen

da

wa.

"(1,>

guess (nom.) as-for no thanks/won't do is (fern. colloq.)

already disagreeable is

Calvin: "You m~ht as well. You're nine-tenths there."

v'v'
lv t~~v'? t -J :iVi!ltliJ{f.: ~f.:"? l .0 J: o
-+

*-c-c -clb

Atete mite mo

ii

Mo

kyllwari-gata

already

about90%

ja nai?

even if try and guess good/OK (explan.) isn't it

atatte-ru

yo.

hitting/correct (emph.)

,.
(J):f:o
forget
it
=
f.!_~
,
b-)
v'v',

-:>-}
h'A.J;.1(
'i L
might as well .. . 'j: fl'lbv'v'o J t~)fj 'PJ -'(" ' im11. <b c ':!WJ~P] 0) 7f~ ~ 1$-) 0 r e: -J -tt t:t G1e:
"'"" t b 1!;-D-o
-) -tt f-5 /)> I? J tv' -J ~
i'.f (
t,n
there: there IJ::::: -c"lJ:lEfill~lli L.., :A- : / - (J)tjJ.!J /){ ~ b 66 'll~/f 1: ili: v'.::. t '/J> I?,
nine-tenths
~?t>~
#,
L:?A>A..
19 ?
f:>i.l
-j--7]-(f)JL i "C'lE~~~:i!Iv' C: -::> f.:. b (J)o -? i IJ 7Litl1J{f.: ~f.:-::> -c v' .0 :: t o
tl.V

.-.(

11:'1.\:(1>\,JI

1!1.-~\.

'*

lfA.H~

Cb~

1!\i)\ \

The Awhoritative Calvin & Hobbes, copyright 1990 Universal Press Syndicate. All rights reserved. Reprinted/translated by permission of Editors Press Service. N.Y.

MANGAJIN

27

T itle:
Dai Kyiijiigo Wa: Haru no 010zure
"Story No. 95: The Coming of
Spring''
otozure. meaning arrival/advent,'' is
from the verb otozureru ("visit'').

GJ Sign:

Hanabishi-ya
Ha na bishi
Narra tion:
Slwnbun no hi ga sugiru to ore wa
1abe1aku-naru mono ga ant.
There's something I get a c raving
for once the first day of spring a rrives. (PL2)
Shop Curtain:
Monaka (~ l'j:l) Kusamochi (~'i:!if:)
Wafer Sweets, Rice Ca ke Sweets
Kashi <-*r-obscured by Kosuke's
head)
Confections
Hanabishi-ya C1E ~ 1-tf)
Ha nabishi
Sound FX:
Karan koran
(sound of Japanese wooden sandals,
geta , striking pavement)
Hanabishi-ya is written here in traditional
fashion from right to left. T he suffix -ya,

0 Fx:
Peko
(action of bowing the head once)
Shop Woman:
Oya I haru no shisha ga kila ne
" Well, well, the herald of spring has come, has he?" (PL2)
oya is a interjection expressing mild surprise. like "Oh!/Weli!/Huh?"
kita is the plain/abrupt pa~t form of kuru ("come").... ga kita ="... has come/is here."

Customer:
T.wbame milai dane
"(.Just) like a swallow." (PL2)
Sho_p Woman:
Ha! ha! ha! (laughing)

36

M ANGA JIN

as with the robin in parts of North America, the

appearance o f tsubame ("swallow[s)") is regarded as a sign of spring.

meaning "swre/shop!Lrade," can be added

to almost any word or name to form a
trade name.
slumbtm is "the vernal (spring) equinox,"
and slumbtm no hi ("Vernal Equinox
Day") is the name of the Japanese national holiday that coincides with it.
sugim ="to pass/exceed/go beyond."
Slumbun no hi ga st1giru to literally
means " w hen Vernal Equinox Day
passes." which in the hearts of Japanese
people signifies that spring has come (regardless of the weather).
tabetaku is tabetai ("want to eat,'' from
10beru ="eat") in the -ku form. which
links to naru ("become/become so that").
T hus tabetaku naru mono = "something
that ( I) begin to want to eat."
aru ="there is/are" in regard to inanimate
objects. . .. mono ga am = "there is
o mething that ..."
this is a traditional Japanese sweet shop.
and monaka (a 'sandwich" of thin wafers
with sweet bean paste/jam inside) and
mochi-gashi (pounded ri ce cake filled
with the same sweet paste) are two of the
most common traditional confections,
coming in a myriad of shapes and colors.
Kusa-mochi (''grass/herb mochi") gains
its green color and tasty navor from an
herb known in English by a name unlikely to sell any sweets: mugwort.

Mackawa Tsukasa, A ll rights reserved. First

published in Japan in 1988 by Kodansha Ltd.,
Tokyo. English translation rights arranged
through Kodansha Ltd.

Kiisuke:
ltsumo no kudasai.
"The usual please." (PL3)
Sound FX: Pachi (sound of placing
Click coin on counter)
Sho Woman:
Ai yo. "Comin' right up." (PL2)
Sign:
-dango " -sweet rice dumplings"
itsumo= "always/usually." The no stands
in for !he understood object. effectively
making itsumo into a noun: "!he usual."
ai yo is an informaUfriendly hoi ("yes/
okay/sure").
dango are sleamed rice-flour balls that are
skewered like shishkebabs and covered in
a sweet sauce.

Disp_h!y Counter:
Sakura-mochi hyaku nijt7 en
"Cherry blossom mochi 120 yen"
sakura-moclri gets its name from being
wrapped in cherry leaves and having a
pale pink cherry-blossom colo r, nol from
anything approximating cherry flavor.

Shop Woman:
Tabete-ku daro.
"(You 'll) eat it here, right?" (PL2)
Kiisuke:
Hoi. " Yes."
tabere-ku is a contraction of the -te form
of the verb taberu ("eal") and the verb iku
(''go"), which lilerally means "eal and
(!hen) go." Daro (shorlened from the
usual daro) is the plain/abrupl equivalenl
of deshi5, "(I) suppose/guess/presume".

te

uguisu-mochi is sprinkled wilh green soy

flour and usually shaped (slightly) to resemble !he uguisu ("bush warbler''), also
associaled with spring.
omake = "a premium/somelhing extra/
something lhrown in for free."
tabi ="time/occasion."
rsukete kureru links the -te form of the
verb tsukeru ("anach/jo inlinclude") with
!he plain/abrupt form of the verb kureru
("give/do as a favor [for me/us)").

rs

1e
'S.

fl

Sho Woman:
Uguisu-mochi omake.
' 'The uguisu mochi (is) on the
house." (PL2)
Narration:
Kono mise wa kuru tabi ni omake o
tsukete kureru.
This shop throws in something extra every time I come. (PL2)

an is the swcel bean pa~teljam mentioned before, mosl commonly made fro m azuki beans.

Kiisuke:
Konnichiwa. ''Hello."
Sho~an:

0 . "Hey there." (PL2)

Kosuke: Shinsaku desu ka? " A new creation?" (PL3)

Sho Man:
An o ireta yubeshi da yo.
"(They're) 'yubeshi' with sweet bean paste inside." (PL2)
yubeslri = a confectio n made of miso, rice flour. wheal flour, sugar. and walnuts mixed
together. flavored with citron juice, kneaded and then steamed.

C2J

FX:

Pu- n (effect of distinctive smell rising; here, the smell o f the cherry leaf

MAN GAJIN

37

narm

QJ

Kosuke:
Haru rw kaori ga suru.

(Thinking) "Smells like spring." (PL2)

kaori ="(a sweet) smell/fragrance/aroma."
ga suru, following a phrase about smell or
taste, becomes "smells like" or "ta tes like."

[iJ

Kosuke:
Kore honmono nan-su ka?

"Is thjs the real thing?" (PL3)

Sho Woman:
Kyonen no shio-zuke ni shire oita n da
yo.

" Last year's, salted and set aside."

(PL2)
Sound FX:
Don.

Thum p (sound of setting thermos down

on table)
ltonmoto ="genuine (thing)/the actual item/
the real stuff." Kosuke asks if it is a real
cherry tree leaf because it is too early in the
spring for it to be a fresh leaf.
nan-su ka is a colloquial contraction of nan
desu ka.
shio-zuke is from shio ("salt") and tsukeru
("to pickle/preserve in," with tsu changing
to zu in combinations). Dropping the ru turns
the combination into a noun, so shiozuke ni
surulsltita literally means "make/made it
into salt-pickles."
shire oita is the -te form of suru ("do") plus
the plain/abrupt past form of the verb oku
("set down/lay aside"). Oku is added to verl>s
in this way to indicate something done ahead
of time/in preparation.

Kosuke:
!chi nen-kan haru no kaori o hozon shite
oku no ka?

"So the smell ofspring is set aside and

preserved for a (whole) year." (PL2)
Kosuke:
Shoppai
"Salty!"
ltozon shire oku comes from the -te form of
the verb hozon suru (''preserve/conserve")
plus oku ("set down/put in place").
Kosuke's question(... no ka) is rhetorical;
he is not really asking the woman.

Shop Woman:
MiJ ikko taberu kai.

" Will you have one more?" (PL2)

Kosuke:
Mo ii desu.
enough," and is often used to decline an offer of more food. drink, assistance, etc.
kudasai. literally " Please (give me);' can be used this way in stores to get a clerk's
attention when one wants to buy somethlng.

Sound FX:
Zu zu (sound of a liquid being sipped or slurped audibly)
in Japan, making "sipping/slurping sounds" when drinking tea or soup or when eating
noodles is taken as a sign that one is eating/drinking eagerly because it is delicious, and
is not considered rude.
(continued on next page)

38

MANGAJIN

"No thank you." (PL3)

Customer:
Kudasai.

"Excuse me." (PL2)

ikko ="one (piece)." -ko is the counter word
for relatively small solid objects.
kai is a friendlier version of the question
marker ka.
miJ ii desu, literally "(I am/it is) already
good," is an idiom meaning " I've had/it is

***

t:::;.; :j<-~Ut;? .::.

.::1.

7 Jv Dai-Tokyo B inbi5 Seikatsu Manyuaru

QJ Sound FX:

Karan karan (sound of geta on

pavement)

SoundFX:
Gasa (rustle of paper bag)
Narration:
Heya e kaeru toki tochii ni aru 0jizo-san ni o-sonae o suru.
When I go back to my apartment,
I make the offering to the Jizo
that's on the way.
Ko shire ore no haru wa hajimaru
no de aru.
And this is how my spring begins."
SoundFX:
Karan karan (sound of geta on
pavement)
heya (literally, "room") refers to small,
relatively cheap apartments (like the one
Kosuke lives in) that may or may not
have a kitchen/toilet/bath of their own.
tochii= "along the way/midway/en route."
aru is the verb used with inanimate objects to mean "exists/is."
0-jizo-san (or just Jizo. without the honorific o- and polite -san) is a protector/
savior of Indian Buddhist origin who
became associated with a wide variety
of folk beliefs in Japan; he is known especially for his love of children and his
protection of roadways, and his often
red-bibbed figure is found at roadsides
throughout Japan. For more information
on jizo see the book Liquid Life, by William R. LaFleur, reviewed in Mangajin
No. 27.
sanae ("offering") is from the verb
sonaeru ("to offer up"), and is almost
always preceded by the honorific o-. 0sonae o suru = "to make an offering."
ko shire is from kO ("like this/this way")
and the -te form of the verb suru ("do"),
so kO shire literally means "doing like
this,"---+ "in this way."
hajimaru ="begin/start."
no de aru is a more formal/"literary"
equivalent to the explanatory nodesu.

(continued from previous page)

Kosuke:
Gochiso-samli.
''Thank you for the sweets."
(PL2-3)
Shop Woman:
Ai yo.
"Sure." (PL2)
gochiso-sama (deshita) is used after one
eats something to thank the person who
prepared/served the drink or food, or
who treated you to it.

Shop Woman:
Kore itsumo no yo ni tanomu yo
"Would you take care of this, same as always." (PL2)
itsumo = "always," and no yo ni ="in the manner of," so together they mean " in the
usual way."
tanomu is a plain/abrupt "(I) request"; the yo softens it and makes it feel like an easy
request among friends, something like " Do me a favor, will you." She is asking him to
offer the confections to the Jizi.'i on her behalf.

MANGAJ IN

39

t!;llt1Jhl?)
OBATARIAN

by :tJffi El3

-JJ)-:::> V Z:. I H otta Katsuhiko

Narration: ::t r<-7

1)

7 /

(;!: .. .
wa .. .
as-for

Obatarian
obatarians

Obatarians ...

Sign:

fi v'

Hoshi
-uranai
star divination/astrology
Horosco~ Reading~

uranai is the noun fonn of ura/l{/11 (''divine/tell someone's fortune" by whatever means). Here it is by the stars/astrology, which is to say horoscope readings are being offered.

Narration:

1Jf ...

r5 "'
uranai
ga . ..
divination/fonune-telling (obj.)
... fortune-telling_._.__,

Sjgn:

:J-:1~-

rSit '

Jipushii
-uranai
gypsy divination/fonune-telling

Gypsy Fortune Telling

Narration: H~ o
suki.
like

... like. S iJm: =f.ffl

Teso

for the narration to actually work in English,

the order of the fragments given in frames 2
and 3 needs to be reversed:

Obatarians like to have their fortunes

told. (PL2)
Palm Readings
palmistry

with suki (''like''), the liked object is marked with ga, and the person who
likes it is marked with wa. The same is true for kirai ("dislike").
so can refer to the "outside appearance/countenance/physiognomy" of anything that is examined for purposes of divination/fortune-telling, so te
("hand")+ so refers to reading a person's palm to divine his/her fortune.
Nenrei
-uranai
age divination/fonune-telling

A2e Divination/Age Guessing

FX:

1Jr~-lv

Gara-n

(effect of a room or other large space being empty/deserted)

~~ 0 (,\
I

'//

f-.-

~,,.

uranai is sometimes used for what we would call "guessing" - though even
in this case, the "guess" is based on a "reading of/divination from" the appropriate "signs."

'S

--

~
... #,_ ... .

'---

r7

Hotta Katsuhiko. All rights reserved. First published in Japan in 1990 by Take ShobO. Tokyo. English translation rights arranged through Take Shobo.
40

MANGA JIN

Narration:

t;ZWlJU)

:t ~~ ~

1)

7 / 1;1: .. .

Obatarian

wa .. .

obatarian(s)

as- for

Obatarians ...

OBATARIAN

Obatarian: "'I?-=> L ~'-''t-It o

Jrasshaimase.
welcome

" We're so gla<t.Y-ou could come." (PL4)

irasshaimase is a polite command form of the PIA verb irassharu ("come").
It's the standard expression for welcoming a visitor to one's home, or customers to one's place of business. Our final translation is a little on the loose
side, but it seemed more natural than the literal welcome."

(D

Narra tion: A< J:

? n' Jv

Mizu-yokan

>a:-

tfi

kan

(J)
110

i t

til-t o

mama

dasu.

(obj.) can as is/was put out/serve

water-yokan

serve miz u-vokan still in the can. (PL2)

yokan is a jelly-like confection made by straining cooked azuki beans, boiling them down with sugar, and adding agar-agar; the dense jelly is typically
molded into rectangular "bricks" and eaten in slices. Using more water and
less agar-agar makes a lighter mizu-yokan. which usually comes in a small,
individual-serving sized can; miv t-yokan is eaten chilled and melts on the
tongue. so it's thought of as a summertime treat.
. . . no mama means "remaining as it is/was," so kan no mama= " remaining
in the can"
"still in the can."

Na rration: 11:~: ~h. 1.>

Cluli sareru to ...

when cautioned/reprimanded

When they are reprimanded .. .

When vou r eprimand them . . .

Oba ta rian: :W -=>""C l.> :hJ:--:>, ~tt
Shitteru
know

<i?lt' --::>

wa yo-!. sore

kurai-!

(fern. cmph.) that

much

"I know that much!" (PL2)

ffi- n'i? t:I:J-ttli' ~,,~,.,
Jv "t'L.L 111-tli!?
Kan kara daseba
can

ii

from if take out is good (explan.)

desho, daseba! ?
right?

if take out

" If I take it o ut of the can it will be good, right? If I

take it out?"

"So I'll take it out of the can. I'll ta ke it out! Will

that make you i!!!J!JlY-1" (PL2)
chtli sareru is the passive form of c/zt7i suru ("caution/reprimand/correct").
To after the plain, non-past form of a verb can give a conditional " if/when"
meaning.
shitte-ru is a contraction of shitte-int ("know"), from shim ("come to know").
the informal panicle for emphasis, yo, sounds very masculine after the plain
form o f a verb, so female speakers typically add the mostly feminine panicle
:h wa and say ... wa yo.
kurai (''about/approximately") is ofte n used idiomatically to downplay/minimize the significance of the thing/action/amount mentioned j ust before it, so
sore kurai means " that much" in a belittling sense.
her syntax is inverted. Normal order would be sore kurai shitte-(i)nt wa yo.
daseba is a conditional "if' form of dasu ("put/take out").
... ba ii n desho is literally " it is good if I (do the action), right?" but in response to a reprimand/correction. it feels like: "(I'm doing as you said.) Are
you happy/satisfied now?" or "(If I do as you say,) then you'll be happy/satisfied, right?"

Narration:

4-/Jt

1;1:

Kondo

wa

~ n' ~ i

lakasama

~:

ni

ll -t o
dasu.

this time/next/then as-for upside down (manner) put out/serve

thev then serve it upside down. (PL2)

kondo is literally "this time/occasion," but it can variously mean " recently,"
" now," "next/then,'' "soon/next time," or "sometime,'' depending on the context.
sakasarna ="ups ide down," and adding ni makes it an adverb (i.e., it describes
the manner in which the action is done) modifying dasu ("put out/serve").
@

Houa Katsuhiko. All rights reserved. First published in Japan in 1990 by Take Shooo. Tokyo. English translation rights arranged thro ugh Take ShobO.

MANGA JI N

41

'!17:1~ Furiten-kun
~~

Title:

Ekisha

Fortune-TeDer
eki refers to the Chinese ~g Yi ling (or I Ching, "The Book of
Changes"; Ekikyoin Japanese), and -sha means "person," so strictly speaking, ekisha refers to a person who uses the Yi ling to tell fortunes; but
ekisha is also used generically to refer to fortune-tellers of any kind.

Fortune-Teller: t:- i' o

Dozo.

"Please (sit down)." (PL3)

~

Sbin2le:

Eki
divination/fortune-telling

Fortunes
Front of Table: A;ffi
Ninso Pbysiowomy
dozo means "please" in the sense of urging an action ("please do [something]") or granting permission ("please feel free to ..."), not "please give
me [something]." With a short vowel, as in the following frame, it feels
more informal; repeating it gives the feeling of urging more strongly.
as with ekisha, the word eki can refer to fortune-telling of any kind.
nillSo is generally used to refer to a person's "facial appearance/features,"
so in the context of fortune-telling it means "physiognomy (readings)."

IIJ

c i' c i' o

Fortune-Teller:

Dozo dozo.

"Please. please." (PL3)

Customer:
*~ !i frn.A.o
Kazoku wa

family as-for 4 persons

~

ato

:=mr~t

i- J.E~ -c: -?~t:.

yonin. Sanryu-gaisha o

teinen de yameta

3rd rate co. (obj.) ret. age at

(J)

eki

no benkyo o

MHi i- l

-r

quit

1:

~ J.>

shite konnichi ni

after/since divination of study (obj.) do

today

itaru.

to arrive/reach

"A family of four. After guittin&: a 3rd-rate company at retirement a~:e. took up the study of divination, and have continued until today." (PL2)
tt~
!i iE!fD t!. i;< iRitff:t.J 1: X It J., 0
Seikaku

wa onwa da ga, ketsudan-ryoku ni kakeru.

character/nature as-for mild

is but

decisiveness

lacking in

"Have a ~:entle nature, but lack decisiveness." (PL2)

~
C Jlflli iJf
~~
~~v' o
I

to kanzo ga

yaya

yowai.

stomach and liver (subj.) somewhat/slightly weak

"Stomach and liver are somewhat weak." (PL2)

kaisha ("company/corporation") usually becomes -gaisha in combinations.

teinen refers to "(mandatory) retirement age."
yameta is the plain/abrupt past form of yameru ("quit").
ato can be either "after" or "since"; yameta a to= "after/since quitting."
benkyo o shire is the -te form of benkyo o suru ("study"); the -te form
essentially makes the complete thought/sentence eki no benkyo o suru
("study the Yi ling") into an adverb modifying konnichi ni itaru ("reach/
arrive at today")- i.e., that's how he occupied himself up to the present.
ketsudan = "decision" and -ryoku means "strength/power," so ketsudanryoku ="power of decision" --+"decisiveness."
... ni kakeru is an expression for "lacking in ... "
the natural ftrst assumption is that the customer is talking about himself,
but the artist deliberately leaves the subject of the description ambiguous
- as a set-up for the final frame.
(continued on next page)

Ueda Masashi, All rights reserved. First published in Japan in 1992 by Take ShobO, Tokyo. English translation rights arranged through Take Shobii.
4 2

M ANGAJIN

,~,';1~
Furiten-kun
Title: 6"'

Uranai

divination/fortune telling

Readinl!s
uranai is the noun form of the verb uranau, meaning "to divine/tell
(someone's) fortune" by whatever means, including " readings" of palms/
physiognomy/the stars/etc.

Poster:

1~ il

~ ~~

Shimei

tehai

designa1ion search

Wanted

)!,m

fiA~(l.

renzoku

satsujin-han

~~

KyiJaku

heinous/brutal succession/series murderer

Brutal Serial Murderer

shimei is a noun meaning ''designation/nomination," and tehai basically means
"arrangement(s)," but the combination is the term equivalent to "Wanted" on
an English "wanted" poster. The underlying literal meaning of shimei tehai
can be thought of as something like "a police-arranged search for a designated suspect." A related terrn is ~I!! .f-Ile zenkoku tehai, in which zenkoku
means "nationwide"--> "nationwide police search/all points bulletin."
satsujin = "murder" and -han is an abbreviation of hannin "offender/criminal," so satsujin-han ="murderer."

(continued from previous page)

Arrow: 13 7.)- 0
Jibun no
self

1:::

;{ 1~ I}

koto

zubari

.::.

of thing/description exactly

Description of himself exactly

Customer:

Description fits him exactly

if~
';t ~ I? -::> -c \t' < J: o
Kanban

wa

moratte iku

yo.

sign board/shingle as-for obtain-and-go (emph.)

"I'm taking our shin le with me." (PL2)

Fortune-Teller: iliiifi!li IJ?
DO)a-yaburi?
"A doiii crasher?" (PL3)
jibun ="oneself," or "me/myself," "he/himself," "you/yourself," "they/
themselves," etc., depending on the context.
koto is literally "thing," but is often used more abstractly to mean "situation/circumstance," or in this case "description":jibun no koto = "description of himself."
moratte is the -te forrn o f morau ("receive/take/obtain"), and moratte iku
is literally "receive/take and go," or just "take."
diJjiJ refers to a "drill hall/gym" for martial arts training, and yaburi is the
noun forrn of yaburu ("tear/rend/break [into/out of]/infringe [upon]"). DiJji5yaburi refers either to the act of going to/"crashing" the dojo of a different
martial arts group and roundly defeating all comers, or to the person/people
who do(es) this. It is also standard procedure for the victorious crashers to
take away the signboard from the defeated diJ)O.

Ueda Masashi, All rights reserved. First published in Japan in 1992 by Take Shobo, Tokyo. English translation rights arranged through Take Shobo.
MANGA JI N

43

,~,:1<
Furiten-ku~
GJ

Title & on Sism: =f.ffl

Teso
palmistry

Palm Readings
so can refer to the "outside appearance/countenance/physiognomy" of anything that is examined for purposes of divination/fortune-telling, so te
("hand")+ so refers to divining a person's fortune by the appearance of his
hand/palm: "palmistry."

Gangster: -!? tJ<~ -? !

Chigau!
different/wrong

"Wrong!" (PL2)
Palm Reader : .::r.?
E?

"Huh?" (PL2)
chigau literally means "(is) different," but idiomatically it often implies
"that's the wrong idea/conclusion," or simply "that's wrong."
~'

:,;

A,

shoba-dai

Palm Reader :

3 ;\ft

Po

ne.
(interj.) place/location fee (colloq.)

"Oh, my location charge, rightT

" Oh, right, my site dues." (PL2)

a ind.icates the speaker has suddenly recognized/realized something, like "Oh."
shoba is slang for basho ("a place/spot/location" - the two syllables have
simply been inverted for the slang word), and the suffix -dai means "fee/
charge." Shoba-dai is the fee paid by a vendor for a spot/space to set up his
booth/stand - either to a legitimate concessionaire (e.g., at a fair), or to
the yakuza ("gangster") organization that controls the territory where the
spot he wants to do business is located. Another example of "reversed-syllable slang" is the word neta (fane) used by sushi chefs to refer to the main
(non-rice) ingredients.
ne is like a tag question ("isn't it?/right?") that assumes an affirmative answer.

BookRe vi e w
(contin11ed from page 21)

Ever diligent, Reid has also written a book in English for Kodansha on
Japanese ski resorts- a product, he says, of the free time he had when his
newspaper was so full of Gulf War coverage he couldn't get his stories in
print. He hopes that the upcoming Nagano Olympics will spur interest in
checking out the Japanese slopes among tourists and foreign residents, in tum
financing a few more of his own ski trips.
David M. Rosenfeld, formerly with The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, is currently a
graduate student at the University of Michigan.

Ueda Masashi, All rights reserved. First published in Japan in I 992 by Take ShobO, Tokyo. English translation rights arranged through Take ShobO.

44

M ANGAJIN

NaniiNa
Kin'ycido
by

Aoki Yuji

The series:

The title:

Naniwa Kin 'yiidli first appeared in Kodansha's Weekly Comic

Morning (~fiJ :::J ~ ; 7 .:C - .::. / 7.) in 1990. It was an immediate hit and continues to run today. The appeal of the series
seems to be a combination of the subject matter (the unethical
dealings of an Osaka loan/finance company), the gritty Osaka
dialect spoken by most of the characters (except Haibara, the
"hero"), and the rough but oddly detailed style of drawing.

Naniwa (written here in katakana T.::. '7, but sometimes

written with the kanji .1i!;fE o r .1lti~) is an old name for the
Osaka area, where this series is set. Kin 'yil (1!:) means
" money/finance," and the ending do (:if[) written with the
kanji for "road/path," can be thought of as meaning " the
way of ..." Given the content of the stories, the title could
be rendered as "The Way of the Osaka Loan Shark."

The story so far:

In the first installment, the story's
main character, Haibara Tatsuyuki, is
working in a small print shop in Osaka.
He overhears his boss on the phone trying to come up with the cash to pay the
shop's bills. Soon the boss asks Haibara
to take out a personal loan for I 00,000
from a shady sarakin loan company so
the shop can meet its financial obligations.
Although it is the second time he
has been asked to do this, Haibara
agrees, and arranges for the loan. Since
the first loan has been paid off in full,
there's no problem getting a second. Un-

fortunately, this time around things don't

work out as well. One of the print shop's
major customers goes under before paying off its promissory note, and the print
shop owner, unable to meet his own financial obligations, skips town.
Out of work and presumably out
100,000, Haibara is in a fix. He studies
some books on finance, gets his resume

together, and applies for a job at a loan

company called Honey Enterprises,
where he breezes through the written
exam.

This month's installment opens with

Haibara talking to a suitably impressed
personnel manager about the results of
his test. In fact, all seems to be going
well for our hero. . . that is, until a secretary runs a credit check on him.

Naniwa Kin 'yiido Aoki YOji. All rights

reserved. First published in Japan in 1990 by
KOdansha, Tokyo. English translation rights
arranged through Kodansha.

M ANGAJIN

45

-r ::- 'J 1fi lA'!! ill Naniwa Kin 'y0di5

~-'7
t::
~A

O)L.J
>'J"(

tl

11

"'

46

MANGA JI N

7 ::. ? ft Ill ill Nani wa K in 'yiidlJ

---------------------------------Manaeer : 7 A - , MJ ~~

1... -c ~ t.:.

(f) fJ' tJ.?

Fumu-, benkyo shire kita

no kane?

shire kita is the -te form of suru ("do") and the

past form of kuru ("come"). Kuru after the -te form
hmm
study did-and-came (ex plan-'!)
of a verb often indicates the action is/was done
"Hmm, did you study_upbefore you came?" (PL2) before coming.
asking questions with kane is mostly reserved for
Haibara: ti "' o
superiors speaking to subordinates. Using only ka
Hai.
is abrupt or even rough; ne sof1ens the question.
' 'Yes, sir." (PL3)
yes/okay

Mana2er :

:U.i!R ~

f!.o 3'l,M'-?"l0 o US:

.(.,1J{!t

Rippa-na

kokoro-gake da.

Yoshi, matte-ro.

fine/admirable anjtudelintention is good/okay

1: flli!fl.."L<.O o

Shacho ni hokoku shire kuru.

wait

president to repon

will go do

"That's the ri2ht spirit. Okav. wait (here). I'll 20 reoort to the president." (PL2)
Haibara : (;!: "' o

''Yes sir." (PL3)

Hai.

kokoro-gake can refer either to a mental attitude/intent or the action that springs from it, so an alternate translation might be 'That was a admirable/wise thing to do."
yoshi is an interjectory ii/yoi ("good/fi ne/okay").
matte-(i)ro is the abrupt command form of matte-iru ("be waiting"), from matsu ("wait").
shire kuru is the non-past form of shire kita, seen above. Here the -te kuru form implies "will (go) do the action
and come (back)," so hiikoku shire kuru = "will go repon."

Worker 1:

U~, ~-? t

(on phone) Shaclto, yauo

tf3'i:

i*itiEA

hosho-nin

to

1Jf iili-? t:. iPI?,

shinsa

ga

totta

kara,

"'-? 1... .J: 1:*-c < tt.O

issho-ni

presJsir finally (credit) examiners (subj.) passed because/so guarantor/co-signer with

kite kureru

il'?
ka?

together will you (please) come?

"Sir (your aooJicationlhas finally 2otten throu2h the credit examiners so could vou come in
with vour co-si2ner?" (PL2)
Worker2: (> -J -t::. 1... i 1... ~
~lil:A
ft lt"L < :h.lt' t B':b:h.i t...t:. lv~o
(on phone) Mo
more

sukoshi mashi-na
a little

hosho-nin

rsukete

kurei

to

iwaremashita

n ya.

was told

(explan.)

better guarantor/co-signer attach/include (request) (quote)

"They asked me to include a ljttle better co-signer."

"Thev said vou needed to find a little better co-si2ner. " (PL3-K)
totta is the past form of rom ("pass/go through").
kite is the -te form of kunt ("come")and kureru ka after the -te form of a verb makes a slightly less-abrupt request than using just -kure, its non-question form. -Te kure and -re kurern ka are both masculine.
kurei is a colloquial variation of kure, so tsukete kurei = rsukete kure, an abrupt " please include."
iwaremashite is the PL3 past form of iwareru, passive of iu ("say"). lwareru usually means " be told (to)," so the
pattern .. . -re kure to iwareru is literally " be told to (please do the action)"--+ "be asked to (do the action)."
n ya is a contraction of no ya, Kansai dialect for the explanatory ending no da. Ya typically replaces da in
Kansai speech.

Sound FX: 1::' ') 1::' ') 1::' ') 1::' ')
Biri biri

Biri biri

Rrril! Rrri
PaJ!er: ~JlliDE I

Ryoshfisho I

receipt

.fi

(sound of paper - or something similar - tearing)

<**>
;6;~
I
( Kabu) Hachimitsu Shiiji-sama

I joint stock co.

:>fZ.Iit
t~
llfJ
Heisei ichi-nen jiiichi-gatsu

25 8

nijiigo-nichi

honey enterprises-(hon.) (era name) first year eleventh month twenty-fifth day

Receipt I To Honey Enterprises Inc. / November 25 1989

I J:~c
iE 1: ~Jil~ 1... i 1... t:. o

ill

Tadashi

l oki

provided/for I above noted

masa-ni ryoshii itashimashita.

truly

received

Provided I The above noted (amount) has been dulv received. (PLA)
(;{;j)
r ii,'/
I~ I
<**>
.~/1!

(Yil)

Shitauke

Doboku

Kogyo I

limited liability co. subcontractor construction/engineering industries

(Kabu)

Baka

ll!K!i

Kensetsu

joint stock co. fool/idiot ronstr\lctionlbuilding

Subcontractor Engineedne Industries, Ltd. / Idiot Construction Inc.

ryoshii is a noun referring to the act of receiving money, and 1ii ~;aE ryiishiislto as well as ~!JIH1f ryoshiisho
(see below) both mean " receipt." The kanji :li sholiterally means "certificate," while !f sho means "document." Ryoshii itashimashira is a PIA past form of ryoshii sum, a verb for "receive (money)."
the first year of the Heisei Era - i.e., the current emperor's reign - was 1989. In Japanese dates, the year is
given before the month and date.
the character ill indicates that what follows is supplemental information (indicating what the receipt is "for"),
conditions, exceptions, etc., to the item that preceded it. This is a written form, not usually given a "reading."
kensetsu and doboku can be considered synonyms for "construction," but doboku tends to be used more for
construction activities involving movement of earth: site preparation, ditch digging, levy building, etc.
many of the proper names used in this manga involve humorous word plays.

Sound FX: ;Y- 1

Poi (effect of tossing/throwing away something)
(conrmued on followmg {Jage)
MAN GAJIN

4 7

-t .=. '7 ~IM!itl

48

MANGAJIN

Naniwa Kin 'yDdO

-t =- '7 1l lit ili

Nani wa K in 'yiidlJ

---------------------------------

(continued from previous page)

Sign.: t ~ ft:

-shirsu is a suffix meaning "- room." The labels on

individual rooms in a Japanese office typically include
this suffix, but in America the label usually has just a
name and/or title. Here, the kanji are seen in reverse,
through the window on the door.
hairi-ramae is from hairu ("enter"). -Tamae makes
a fairly strong/authoritarian command, so its use is
restricted to the superior in a c lear superior-subordinate relationship. Unless you're the president of a
company, do-:.o (ohairi kudasai) is the more appropriate form to use.

Shacho-shitstt
president room

Preside nt's Office Sound FX:

President

::1 :-- ::1 :--

Kon kon
Knock knock (sound of knock o n door)

Preside nt: 'A I) t.: i ;Z. o

Hairi-tamae.
enter-(command)

"Come in." (PL2)

ffrA

Manager: () ~ t... ~ IJ 1:
Hisashiburi ni

yiishii-na

slrinjin

ga arawaremaslrita yo,

for first time in a long t ime superior/excellent newcomer (subj.)

appeared

shaclro!

(emph.) president/sir

"Fo r the first time in a long time a supe rio r newcomer has appeared, s ir."
"Sh:.for the firs t time in a long time, we have a top-notch applicant." (PL3)
President: li/..,c? i.l'b? ~~ (J)
Homo
ka ne? Kimi no
truth

is it?

you

~Wfiffi

lryoka

li ~ -r l :~c,~" ' i.l'l?

wa ate ni naranai
kara

s evaluation/judgment as-for

is not reliable

b -o
11e.

because/so (colloq.)

" Really? Yo ur judgme nt isn' t reliable, so (I' m not so s ure I can count o n it)."
" Really_? I'm never too sure a bo ut your judgment." (PL2)
shinjin is literally "new person." and refers variously to a "rookie" in sports. a "new face" on the screen, or
"fresh blood/a newcomer" in almost any group. Here it essentially means "applicant."
arawaremashita is the PL3 past form of arawareru (''appear/show up").
ate ni na ranai is the negati ve form of ate ni 11aru, an expression meaning "is reliable/can count on."

Mana2er:

"'~, ::..;..,c:

lya.

kondo

li i t:,i.)tt,., Hi"'A,o
wa machigai
omahen.

(intcrj.) this time as-for

mistake

iif!.~

1.'-?-tt,
desse,

Manten

it~l.~!!

manten!

docs not exist perfect score is-(emph.) perfect score

" W e ll this time the re 's no mis tak_e_about it. <He got ~__o_erfect score. A perfect score!" (PL3-K)
President: l:.' tl,
Dore.

Ji -tt -r J.J. -? o
misete miro.

(interj.) show-and-see

" Here, show it to me and (we' ll) see (whatlthink)."

" Here, let me see it." (PL2)

iya often serves as a kind of "warm-up" word, like "well."

omahen is Kansai dialect for arimasen, the PL3 form of nai ("not have/not exist").
desse is a Kansai dialect equi valent of desu yo ("is/are"+ emph.).
dore can mean "which one," but it's used here as an interjection, 'come/well/here/now:
misete is the -re form of miseru ("show"), and miro is the abrupt command form of mint ("look/see"). Mint after
the -te form of a verb can mean either "try (doing the action)" or "do (the action) and see what happens."
ja 11ai ka is literally. "is it not .. ?" but the question
here is purely rhetorical, and the actual effect is of
an emphatic assertion.
desho with the intonation of a question ofte n implies
the speaker expects/assumes agreement from the listener: "isn't it?/don 't you think?/right?" Here it actually feels a lot like "didn't ! say so?/What'd I tell
you?"

Preside nt: 71...-, "'"' l: -'<>~lt'i.l'o

Fumu- ,
ii
ja nai ka.
hmm

good/fine

is it not?

" Hmm thisJooks _very good." (PL2)

Manager : 1.' t... J: ? ?
DeshiJ?
" Right?" (PL3)
President: 28tl
i.l'?
1f.~
Nijt1hassai ka? Ne11rei
28 years

(?)

p..~~

mo

mo11dai

f..:v'
nai

f..: o
na.

age also/either problem docs not exist (colloq.)

"28 years old , is he? No problem with his age e ither." (PL2)

while illegal in the US, age is often used as a criterion for employment in Japan.

-sai is the counter suffix for years of age."

mo ="too/also," but in a negative statement it becomes "(not) either."
na is used for emphasis when confirming something for o neself.

President:

Jf :ti,

c -::> -r J.J. t.: i

~o

roue is from roru ("take/obtain"), and miramae is a

strong/authoritarian command form of miru ("see").
(name-fam.)
take-and-see
Again, miru after the -re form of another verb means
" Uno, obtain (a readout) and see (wha t it says)."
"do the action and see what happens." The president
"Check him out M iss Un o." (PL2)
is referring to "obtaining/checking" Haibara's credit
report. The dots over -? -r add emphasis. and inMissUno: li"' o
dicate it's a kind of interna l jargon- he doesn't have
Hai.
to tell her what to "take/obtain."
"Yes sir." ( PL3)
U11o-kun,

tone miramae.

(continued on following page)

M ANGAJIN

49

T - '7 ~Min N aniwa Kin 'y0di5

--~------------------------

~ " ' 10 10 36 ~
-;l ,..f:-ff*3
.:L .I'( "!- 'Y ~ 1}

:\'-7

50

MANGAJIN

'7

-r =- '7 ~filllill

Naniwa Kin 'yOdo

(colllinued from previous page)

Manager:

U ~,
Shacho,

mara ryoshii-sho sutete-man

president/sir again

sutete is the -le fonn of suteru ("discard/throw away''), and sutete-man is

Kansai dialect for swete-imasu, the
PL3 fonn of sutete-iru ("is/are throwing away").
mil na (or mil ne) works like a vague
"Yeah, sort of/Well, yes/You've got
me there," when forced to acknowledge something that is a little embarrassing/awkward.

no ka?

receipts is/are discarding (explan.-?)

"Are you throwing away receipts again, sir ?" (PL3-K)

Sound FX: 1! ') 1! ')
Biri biri
Rrrip (sound of paper tearing)
President: i iJb /j:,
Mii
na,

"-"-"-"-o

he he he he.

yes (colloq.) (sheepish laugh)

" Yeah, sort of. H eh heh heh he h." (PL2)

(J) 'b lv 1:-:> l ~ ~ , ~P:!JX~

-/J{
gurai no mon
dessltaro, ryosltii-slto ga

<':> "'

Manager: 7 1Uchi
us

about/just(=) Lhing

is probably

~It' t l.ll.~
oi to

~ </j: l.>

1J{

jfij7'C

zeikin ga takaku naru shobai

'i

wa.

receipts (subj.) if are many taxes (subj.) become high business as-for

"It's probably a thing of just us, a business where if you have more receipts your taxes go up."
" We must be about the onlv business where more receipts m ean hi2her taxes." (PL3-K)
President:

-t--? It'-? .: t -?
So iu

koto ya

that kind of

thing

(J)-,

no,

"-"-"-"-o

he he he he

is (colloq.)

(laugh)

"It reallv is that wav. is n ' t it? Heh heh heh he h." (PL2-K)
Sound FX: 1! ') 1! ')
Biri biri
Rrrip (sound of paper tearing)
... gurai no mon(o) is a(l expression meaning " ... is about the only one."
dessharo is a contraction of desu yaro, Kansai dialect for the conjectural desho ("is probably").
to after an adjective can give a conditional "if it is ..."meaning, so i"Ji to= "if it is/they are numerous."
takaku is the adverb fonn of takai ("high/expensive"); the adverb form of an adjective followed by naru ("become") means the subject "takes on/becomes (more)" that quality.
ryoshiisho ga oi to zeikin ga takaku naru is a complete thought/sentence ("taxes go up if receipts are numerous") modifying shobai ("business/trade"). Wa marks this as the topic of the sentence. His syntax is inverted;
in nonnal syntax the topic would come first.
ya no is a Kansai dialect equivalent of da nii/da ne, expressing a kind of exclamatory agreement.

Miss Uno: DB~

36~
10~
Showa sanjiiroku-nen jiigatsu
(era name) 36th year

JOB
ti"Jka

1:. i n , J}(mf.

&Z.o

umare, Haibara Tatsuyuki.

lOth month lOth day

birth

(surname) (given name)

"Date of birth October lOth 1961 Haibara Tatsuvuki."

Writing: l\.{l"\7 I 5' /.::L3f
Haibara I Tatsuyuki

=-

Miss Uno: ~ 3 7 '7

36 ;f. / 10 n y
10
1- J\ .{;'i 7 7 y .::L3f
Slti you wa san-roku ne n ichi-rei ga tsu ichi-rei ni chi Ita i ba rata tsu yuki
"S 3-6M 1-0 D 1-0, Ha-1-Ba-Ra Ta-Tsu -Yu-Ki."

Showa was the era name during the reign of Emperor

Hirohito (r. 1926-1989), now
known as Emperor Showa.
The era name is often abbreviated "S." - as Miss Uno does
in writing the date down.
umare is a noun fonn of
umareru ("be born").

since she has to enter everything in katakana, she first writes it out that way, then reads the letter for each individual keystroke as she enters the infonnation.
the 1Oth o f the month wou ld normaIIy be
Sound FX: I! '/ ~ '/ I! '/
Pi! pi! pi!
(sound of dialing touchtone phone)
Sound FX:

pronounced taka, but she is apparently required to enter the two digit numeral followed by the suffix -niclti, which is normally the counter suffix used for (most) days
of the month beyond the II th.

Jv Jv Jv Jl.Ru ru ru ru
(sound of phone ringing on other end)

~
~

Sound FX: / - / Tsii tsii

(sound of small printer printing on paper tape)
Sound FX:

~ ') ;1
Piri!
(sound of tearing small piece of paper -

Paper Tape: ~ 3 7 (::1J 1) ~ 3 7-!T1'

SltO(kai)
sltOsai
inquiry

details!paniculars

here, tearing off the paper tape printout)

r No ... I
I Kodo namba . . . I

I\.{J{7

Haibara

5' /.::L3f
Tatsuyuki

code no.

(surname)

(given name)

::::1 -

Inguiry results, Code No... I Haibara Tatsuyuki

the kanji for the fLrst two words would be P.ll.1l< shifkai and llHIII shOsai.
(contmued onfollowmg page)
MANGAJ IN

5 1

-j-:::.?.1>.""'""'
:'lr.ntJ:Jt!

52

M ANGAJIN

Kin 'yudiJ
N amwa
.

-r =- '7 ~ IH'i Nan i wa

Kin 'yud~

( cominutd from prtvious page)

@J

Manag; r :

c'~?

~*

Do ya?

-t ~

Caito

~ -??

nashi

do ya =do ya, Kansai dialect for do da, " How is

it?/What's the story?"
nashi is a classical form of nai ("not have/not exist"), still used idiomatically for emphasis.

yaro?

how is it? pertinent data not exist right?lis, isn't it?

" Well? No pertinent items, rig;ht?" (PL2-K)

@]

Miss_Uno:

~,.,~,.,.i,

-e *~ t

-IT71fi l U

A,~

t t) iTo
karitorimasu.

IOJJ i''? 21ill flPJ

lie,

sarakin issha de kyonen to kotoshi jiiman zutsu nikai

no

finance co. I co. at last year and this year 100,000 each 2 times

-et,

jf~L-r i-t

has borrowed

ltc'o

Demo, kansai shite-masu kedo.

but

has completely repaid but

" No he borrowed 100 000 each on two occasions oru:e.last year and once this vear from one
sarakin lender. But he's repaid the full amount." (PL3)
sarakin is short for sarariima11 kin'yii, "salaryman's financing." The name refers to finance companies that offer unsecured emergency loans at high interest rates to salarymen and housewives with relatively modest incomes.
karitorimasu is a contraction of karite-orimasu, PL3 o f karite-oru, equivalent to karite-iru ("has borrowed," from
kariru, "borrow"). Orulorimasu can be a PL4 verb, but in Kansai dialect it routinely replaces iru/imasu (PL2 & 3, respectively) without raising the level of politeness.
shite-(i)masu is the PL3 form of shite-iru ("has done"), from suru ("do"); kansai suru ="repay completely."
kedo literally means " but," but it's used here merely to "soften" the end of the sentence.

Manaee_r: ::r.--;;, Wi
- !,

'?;tA--el.-'t:. -?"C?!

-/J{

kare ga

what?

tsumande-ita

ue?

LJ:-JiJf;>j:~;'

ff~B

t!. lj:- o

Shiyo ga nai

yaro

da

nii.

he (subj.) had pinched/snacked (quote) hopeless/irresponsible guy/fellow is (colloq.)

"Wha-a-at? You mean to sav he's been snackim!? What an imoossible fool!" (PL2)
Presl<Lent: -f t:> Jt..-? o .::f ~ (!) ifffilii
li ~ -r 1: 7j: t:> A- !
Sora

miro. Kimi no

(interj.) look

you

hyoka

wa

ate ni naran!

's judgment as-for

not reliable

"See. what'd I tell you? I can't count onxourj_ud2menL" (PL2)

tsumande is the -te form of tsumamu, meaning "pinch/pick up (with one's fingers/chopsticks/etc.)" and used idiomatically for snacking/nibbling" on appetizers. Here the word is being used as finance company slang for "take out a loan,"
and since 'pinch" can mean "steal" in English, which isn't appropriate here, we decided to translate the word as "to
snack": tsumande-ita ("has been snacking")= past of tsumande-int ("is snacking").
the colloquial quotative tte exclaimed with the intonation of a question is like, "you mean to say that ... ?"
shiyiJ ga nai literally says "there is nothing one can do (about him)" "(he' s) hopeless/impossible."
yaro is an informal/rough word for "guy/fellow."
sora is an interjection like "There!/Look!/See!" and miro is
the abrupt command form of mint ("look/see"); sora miro feels like "See? It's just like I said/What'd I tell you?"
ate ni naran is a contraction of ate ni naranai ("is unreliable/can' t count on") seen above.

@]

.e.ru!dent: JiltQtl'!

:ft r,.

(name-ram.)

we

3Jl1fi

li

Tojima-kun! Wareware wa

a:-

genkin

1&-?

itfi?'C

o atsukau shobai

t.tA-

t!.

-t"!

nan

da

zo!

as-for money/cash (obj.) handle business (explan.) is/are (emph.)

" Tiiiima! We are a business that handles cash!" (PL2)

-kun is a more familiar equivalent of -san ("Mr./Ms."). In a corporate setting, superiors typically address their subordinates using -kun.
wareware wa genkin o atsuka11 is a complete sentence ("we handle/deal in money/cash") modifying shobai ("business/
trade").

President:

~;'

-? t:. A- .:f.
Juan
te
once

M!m_a~:

l:l:l Lt.:.
o

dashita

yatsu

wa, kanarazu mara

hand/arm (obj.) put/reached out guy/fellow as-for certainly

te

dasu

mon na 11 da!

again hand/arm (obj.) will put/reach out thing (explan.)-is

"Anvone who's had his hand in {that kind of thin!.!) once is sure to reach out a2ain." (PL2)
1' -:; , .:. .:. 0 .i -r H t) i T o
Ha!,
yes

kokoroete-orimasu.
I know/am aware-(humble)

''X.es sir I'm aware of it sir." (PIA)

teo dashita is the past form of teo dasu, " put/reach out one's hand," which idiomatically means " meddle in/involve
oneself in." /uante o dashita is a complete sentence ("[he] had his hand in once") modifying yatsu ("guy/fellow").
mon is a contraction of mono ("thing"), and m0110 (na no) da after a verb implies the action is "typical/characteristic/a
matter of course," or in combination with kanarazu ("certainly") earlier in the sentence, "inevitable." See this issue's
Basic Japanese, page 30.
ha! is a crisp, formal "yes/yes sir!"; kokoroete is the -te form of kokoroeru ("know/understand/be aware of'), and
orimasu here is the formal PL4 (humble) form of iru/imasu. The manager has suddenly turned formal and humble because he is being scolded.
(com irwed 0 11 follmvi"8 p(se)

MANGAJIN

53

-t =- '7 it 1M! ill

54

MAN GAJ I N

Naniwa Kin 'yiido

7" =- '7 ~ Milt Nsni wa Kin'yudo

(cominuedfrom previous page)

@J

1" /'

>;:-

.Att.J.> t

yatsu

ireru to

President: -f-? v'-?

So iu

$l&

(J)

Wf ~ t.: i X.!

'b t -?! I

jiko no moto ya! I Kotowaritamae!

that kind of guy/fellow (obj.) if let in/hire accident of source is

n:fuse-(command)

" If we hire a 2uv like that. we' re sure to have trouble. Send him awav!" (PL2)
ireru = "tak:ellet in," implying "tak:ellet into the company"--+ " llire."
jiko no moto ="source of accident(s)/trouble."
kotowaritamae is the authoritarian command form of kotowaru "refuse/turn down.''

Haibara: ~~

f;t -r:~t::.

Shiken wa dekita

13 $t l..-"(v>J., (1)1:-t

to

jifu shite-iru

no desu

'IJfo

ga.

exam as-for did well (quote) be self-confident (explan.)-is but

"I'm quite confident that I did well on the test, but .. ." (PL3)
Manae.er:

+ -? ,

So,

yes

i~ .r~.

t.!-? t::. J: o

manten

datta

yo.

perfect score was (emph.)

" Yes. you eot a perfect score." (PL2)

dekita is the plain/abrupt past fonn of dekiru ("can do"), so literally it says "was able to do (the test)," but the
implication is that he was able to do well on the test.
jifu means "self-confidence/pride," andjifu shite-iru is from jifu suru, its verb form.
the ga ("but") at the end of his sentence is enough to imply that he wants confirmation of his feeling that he
did well on the test. He doesn't need to state the question specifically.
so, literally "(is) that way," often serves as the equivalent of yes" for confirming the accuracy/aptness of
what the other person has said.
datta is the past form of da ("is/are").

~.:

Haibara: "t' (;t

Dewa

doko

.Y ;J.

i;t
ga

"t' L.

t!. -:J t::. lv

dame

datta

J:

-? iJ'?

deshiJ

then/in that case where (subj.) no good/unacceptable was (explan.) I wonder

ka?
(?)

"In that case where was no good, I wonder?"

' 'In that case. I wonder (if you could tell mel what was wron~:?" (PL3)
n is a contraction of explanatory no, indicating he seeks an explanation. Desho k.a asks a conjectural question,
" I wonder (where/what/who/etc.) ... ?"-in this case mea_ning "I wonder if you could tell me where ... ?"
Using the conjectural (no) desho ka to ask for an explanation is more polite that using a plain (no) desu kamuch like it is more polite to use a negative question to make a request (see next frame).

IIi} (J) ~~ 1:~~i-t (J)l:, ~X.'t'v't.:t!tt i-tt lviJ'?

ni iku toki no sanki5 ni narimasu no de, oshiete itadakemasen ka?

1: 11'<

Haibara: li'IJ'
Hoka

elsewhere to

go time for reference wiU become because/so

couldn't you tell me?

" It will be useful (to know) when I ap_plv elsewhere so couldn' t vou olease tell me?" (PL3)
Manaeer: -f tL l;t 8 btL"' lv (J)-?!
Sore wa
that

iwarehen

no ya!

as-for cannot say (explan.)

"I can't tell you that." (PL2-K)

hoka ="other," but in combination with iku ("go"), it means "elsewhere." Hoka ni iku is a complete thought/
sentence ("go elsewhere") modifying toki ("the time when").
sanko ="reference," and sanki5 ni narimasu is the PL3 fonn of sankiJ ni naru ("will become/serve as a reference" --+ "will be useful").
oshiete is the -te form of oshieru ("tell/inform"). ltadakemasen ka is the PL3 negative form of itadaku ("receive"); itadakemasen ka after the -te form of a verb makes a request that's more polite than -te kudasai.
iwarehen is Kansai dialect for ienai, the negative potential ("cannot") form of iu ("say/tell"}. Negative verbs in
Kansai dialect replace standard Japanese -nai with -hen, and negative potential verbs replace the standard -enai
with -arehen (or in a few cases -warehen).

Haibara:

~-tf?

II ( l;t
Naze? Boku wa
why

b-?

.:.: "'-

mo

koko e

*~"'
konai

lv
n

t!iJ'~,

da kara

"'"'

t:~~v>"t'i'iJ'!

ii
ja nai desu ka!
as-for already/anymore here to won' t come (explan.) because/so good/okay
is it not?

"Why? I will not come here anymore, so it's okay, is it not?"

"Why not? I will never be comine here a2ain so whv should it matter?" (PL3)
mo ("already") followed by a negative becomes "no longer .. ./not ... anymore."
konai is the negative form of kuru ("come").
ii ja nai desu ka is literally a question, "is it not okay?" but the question is purely rhetorical and the statement
feels more like a strong assertion/challenge. He's still polite, but an edge is creeping into his voice.

IEJ

Manaeer : 111: ~ 1:> l;t

Kimochi wa

b iJ' J.,

'IJf

wakaru

ga

feelings as-for understand but

~b

tL"' lv (J) -? o
iwarehen no ya.

cannot say

(explan.)

"I understand how_y_ou feel. but I cannot tell you." (PL2)

(continued on following page)
MANG AJIN

55

t- .::. ? ~ Mill

56

MANGA JIN

Nanl wa Kin'yDdlJ

7 .::. '7 ~Mill Na niwa Kin 'y0 dl5

(comitwed from previous page)

.lil!tt~ ~

Ha ibara: l;r < li

t!:lli L. -c 77 1 ""{-

Boku wa rirekisho o teislwtsu shire

I

.:: c

koto mo

private

things also

as-for resume (obj.) submiued-and

f.!: 1: (dl' t

i" "S I?

1:

~ b t.:

nanimo-kamo

sochira

ni

yudaneta

everything

~~

puraibeto-na
Q)

-e T

J: !
yo!

no desu

your direction/you to entru5ted/revealed (explan.) (emph.)

''I submitted my resume and revealed everything to you, even private things!" (PL3)
Manam : i" n li
b n' 7.. o
Sore wa

walwro.

that as-for understand/know

"I know that." (PL2)

teishwsu shire is the -te fonn of teishutsu suru ('"to submit"); the -te form here serves as a conjunction: '"submitted and ..."

sochira is literally "that/your direction," but it's often used as a polite way of referring to one's listener: "you."
yudaneta is the plain/abrupt past form of yudaneru ("entrust to/give into the hands of another" ....... " reveal"). It
is the past tense of this verb that makes the otherwise tenseless teishw su shire into a past tense verb: "submitted and ... entrusted/revealed."

Haiba ra: t.!. --:d.: I?

Dattara

:! El3

< I? v' ~!cz -c <n t.: ? -c

riyii

gurai

v' v' t. ~ .1? fJ i-tt;,., n' o

oshiete kuretatte

in that case reason at least

ja arimasen ka.

ii

even if tell to me good/okay

is it not?

"Then surelv vou could at least tell me the reason." (PL3)

dattara is an abbreviation of so dattara, "if it is/was so," "in that case."
gurai (or kurat) basically means "about/approximately."' but depending on context it can imply "at least (this
small amount/this minor thing).'"

oshiete is from oshieru ("tell"), and kuretatte is a colloquial equivalent of the condi tional kurete mo. from
kureru ("give [to me]/do for me""). Kureru afler a -te fonn implies that an action done by someone else benefits/fulfills the wish of the speaker or subject.

... -te mo ii is the standard phrase for giving pennission or saying it's okay to do something, and ... -tatte ii
is a colloquial equivalent.

ja arimasen ka is the PL3 fonn of ja nai ka, so ... -tatte ii ja arimasen ka (or ... -te mo ii ja arimasen ka) is
literally "isn' t it/wouldn' t it be okay if you ... ?" But the question is purely rhetorical, and his statement once
again feels more like an emphatic assertion/demand - though still a polite one.

Ama!

Yatou yatowan

you

hire

wa

kochira

no

katte

na 11 ya

I:!
de!

not hire as-for this side/direction 's own choice (explan.)-is (emph.}

"Now look here, mister ! Whether we hire.i!!_person) or not is our own free choice." (PL2-K)
anta is an infonnal anata ("you"). Here he is saying it sharply, like an angry " Look here, mister!/lady!" or
like someone might indignantly bark out his listener' s name in English.

yatowan is a contraction of yatowanai, the negative of yatou ("hire"). Though it is not limited to Kansai dialect, shortening the negative suffix -nai to -n is probably more common among Kansai speakers.
just as Haibara referred to his listener as sochira ("that side/direction"), above, it's quite common for the
speaker to refer to himself (or the group he belongs to) as koch ira ("this side/direction"). Sotchi and kotchi
would be used in infonnal speech.

no can be thought of as possessive here, so kochira no is "this side's" -+ "our."

nan ya is Kansai dialect for the explanatory na n(o) da that follows nouns. De adds strong emphasis, like the
masculine zo or

Mana2er :

ze in standard Japanese but without feeling quite as rough.

itT

.:: "S I?

Q)

MFf.

~o

Kane

kasu kasan mo

koclrira

no

katte

ya.

if~ A,

money (obj.) lend not lend also this side/direction "s own choice is
"Whether we lend ( a oerson) mon~y_ or not is also our own free choice."

Manager :

~It~

Kin 'yii-gyo

eli i"-?v'oJ
to wa

so iu

financial industry as-for that kind of

~-~Jj

-e

kangae-kata de
thinking

.fOCt)JL. ? cA,

Q)~

(PL2-K)
1:!!

naritauon

no ya

de!

with/on is organized/founded (explan.) (emph.)

''The entire financial industry_is founded on that kind ofthinkin2." (PL2-K)

kasan is a contraction of kasanai, the negative of kasu ("loan/lend").
to wa is the quotative to plus the topic marker wa ("as for"), so it could literally be thought of as "as for what
is called (the financial industry)," but it's essentially no different from just wa.
kangae is "thought/idea" and -kata is a suffix meaning "way/method (of)," so kangae-kata = "way of thinking." So iu kangae-kata ="that kind of way of thinking"
" that kind of thinking."
naritatton is a contraction of naritaue-oru, the Kansai equivalent of naritalle-iru, from naritatsu ("stand/be
organized/be founded on").

no ya is Kansai dialect for the explanatory no da that follows verbs and adjectives. De again adds strong emphasis.

M ANGAJIN

57

t-.::.? ~Mil

58

MANGA JIN

Nsnlws Kin'yOdlJ

-t =- '7 ~/Miiti: Naniwa Kin'yudo

Manager: ~ iPJ'

-f ;ft

-r:

'b-)

X. X.

~-? o

mo
e
yaro.
Sii.
sore de
well then that with already good/enough is, isn't it

..
.

"Well then, that' s about enough, isn' t it?" (PL2-K)

sii is often used like "well then/all right/come on" to prepare oneself for action or to urge the listener to action .
e is dialect for iilyoi ="good/fi ne"; moe is literally "already good," meaning "(already) enough."
yaro is Kansai dialect for daro, here asking for agreement/confmnation Like the English tag " isn't it?"

*=tL LiTo

Haibara: bf.P I') i L. f:. o

Wakarimashita.
understood

Shitsurei shimasu.
excuse me

"AU right. Excuse me, then." (PL2)

. wakarimashita

is the PL3 past fonn of wakaru, "come to know/understand." The word is often used to show
acceptance of what the other person has said/asked/ordered: "Yes/okay/1 wiLl do as you say."
shitsurei is literally "rudeness/bad manners," and shimasu is the PL3 form of suru ("do"), so the expression
essentially means "I will do/commit a rudeness." This a polite way to take one's leave, like saying "excuse
me" when taking one's leave in English.

Mana2er: iPJ iPJ '

A,
(interj.)

..

i?.t.-?C
chotto
a little

machi I
wait

'7~

(J)

-? -/){

<!Jlr.

C.' Cl

...

Washi no chiikoku ya ga na, ...

lime 's advice/counsel is but (colloq.)

" Oh, wait a second. I Ifl were to offer my counsel . . ." (PL2-K)
machi is an abrupt, Kansai dialect command form of matsu ("wait").
washi is a word for "lime" used mostly by middle-aged and o lder men .

Manager: iPJ lv t:. (;t

Anta
you

~i?o

it'b~

~iM!Jj!:

(;t

]ffiblv

IE '

'"''?

t:o

matomo-na
kin'yii-ya wa yatowan
to omou de.
wa
as-for straight/honest/decent finance co. as-for will not hire (quote) think (emph.)

"I don't think anv strai2ht finance comoanv will hire vou." (PL2-K)
yatowan is the contracted negative form of yatou ("hire"), and yatowan to omou ="(I) thin.k (they) will not
hire" --> "1 don' t think they'll hire."

.:.tt* -? "? t:. I? b n' I? 1v 1t t' ~- 0

yattara
wakaran kedo
nii.
kore-kei
Mii,
(interj.) this affiliation/group if it is
don't know but (colloq.)
" Of course, if it's of this affiliation , I don' t know, but ..."

Manager: i iPJ'

"Of course if it's one of these (more dubious) outfits it might be a different ston, but .."
(PL2-K)

. mii

..

is used as a kind of "verbal warm-up," that adapts to fit the context: "weiUyou know/I meanflet's see/of
course."
-kei is a suffix meaning"- affiliated" or "in the family/system/group/category of-," so kore-kei ="in this category/group." The gesture he makes as he says kore, pointing at the cheek and moving the finger diagonally
down towards the chin, refers to yakuza, the Japanese gangsters behind most shady operations in Japan. The
gesture indicates a scar running down the cheek of a stereotypical yakuza member, probably the result of a
knife fight. You can see this type of scar on the strong-arm enforcer on page 62, and on the yakuza collecting
"site dues" in Furiten-kun , page 44. In manga, yakuza are often depicted as having this kind of scar.
yattara = dattara, a conditional ("if') fonn of da ("is/are") .
wakaran is a contraction of wakaranai, " not know."

F e a t u r e S t o r

(continued from page 75)

Trust B ank , and in order to free money from the bank to in vest
as M s . Onoue reco mme nded , the bank official violated several
regulatory laws, including registering large loans with phoney
collateral and establishing fictitious bank accounts.

ing on infonnation from a fortune-te ller, u ra nai seems to be commonly regarded as at least another possible source of infonnation for peo ple struggling to make it through these d ifficult modem times.

Although this last example may b e an extreme case o f act-

John Mc Kinstry is a professor of S ociology at California Polytechnic State University and author of the book Jinsei Annai.

phoney ==- -C: ~ nise no collateral =fl! i'iHto 14' tm1po bukken

MANGAJ I N

59

t- =- ?~ Mill NSniW S Kin'yUdlJ

60

M ANGAJIN

-}- .=. '7 ~ill iii Na niwa Kin 'yil do

~M~

Haibara: ihht!lt

...

are dake looks like "only that," but its idiomatic

noni ...

meaning is "that much" - often, as he re, implying that the amount is/was a lot.
benkyo is a noun for "study/studying," and
benkyo shita is the plain/abrupt past form of
benkyo suru ("to study"). His sentence continues
to the next frame.

(/) ~:

1..-t::.

Are dake benkyo shita

studied even though/in spite of

that much

"Even though I studied so much .."

Sound FX: 7"1-'1'7"1--1'
gucha

Gucha

(effect of of crumpling up the newspaper)

Haibara:

::c.:::c<

;;.

t.:.-? t::. 0

kotogotoku

dame

datta.

his use of the word kotogotoku ("every last o ne/

o ne and all") makes it clear that he has tried other
loan companies besides Honey Enterprises, so
dame ("no good") here means "unsuccessful"i.e., he has been turned down everywhere.

entirely/one and all no good/unsuccessfu l was

"everyplace was uns uccessful."

" they all turned me down." (PL2)

On Basket:

<-fllm<.Ah)

Kuzumono-ire

trash contai ncr/receptacle

Trash
Man:

c -J f''o

dozo is a polite word widely used w hen offering

Dozo.

something, especially food o r drink but also

things like adverti sing fliers. In this case the "fliers" are contained within a poc ket-sized packet
of tissue paper.

please

"Please take one." (PL3)

P1 '\" Jv
Sign: ~~
Kissa

Roiyaru

coffee shop royal

The Royal Coffee Sho~

~jt

itt- .A

(/)

yiishi:

Kari-ire

no

On Packet: fgm
Shin 'yo

~"<'1i
oi kata

.B~f.H:

mo

o-kigaru ni

f;t!Jff!~ <f.!_~ "<' o

go-sodan

trust/credit lending borrowings (subj.) large amount person(s) also (hon.)-easily/freely (hon.)-consult

kudasai.
please

Credit lending: Even those who have borrowed large amounts before should feel free to ai!I!IY,. (PL3)
11:!![,5
-c: JI.
-c:~
7ir00 (/)
~11::
~G OK!!

Taren

de dame

demo,

shinsa -

Teikoku no

other shop/lender at no good even if it is/was (name)

nara oke!!

's (credit) examiners if it is okay

Even if other lenders have turned you down, Emuire's credit examiners will say OK. (PL2)

~1t*

507J p:j
5itf =
Of!t~--Yiishi-waku: reiken kara goken = gojiiman 'en made

loan limit

0 cases

to 5 cases

500,000

up to

Line of credit: 0-5 (~rior) loans =u~ to 500,000 . .

~11{

~flj

Jisshirsu nenri

actual annual interest

.
..
Haibara:

8~

29.2%
54.75%
29.2 plisento kara 54.75 pasenro,
29.2%

to

54.75%

8~

hibu

8~

hassen kara

interest per diem 8 sen

APR 29.2-54.75% Daily interest (~r 100) 8-15 sen

hibu

15~

Jugosen

to interest per diem 15 sen

kari-ire no oi is a complete thought/sentence ("borrowings are large") modifying kata, a word for "person(s)" that's
more polite than hito. In modifying clauses like this, the subject marker ga often changes to no.
o- and go- are both honorific prefixes, but they are us ually not interchangeable; some words take o- , and others go-.
hibu refers to daily inte rest per I 00, expressed in sen (h undredths of a yen) rathe r tha n as a percentage.

.:.n T

1&1~ (/)

Kore

saigo no kake

1m

~:

ni

VCch-~
-IJ'?
shire miru ka ?

shire is the -te form of suru ("do"), and ... ni suru

is an expression meaning " make it ..." Miru after
the -te fonn implies he w ill try doing the actio n

this (obj.) final bet/wager to will try making (?)

"Shall I try m aki ng this m y last wager?"

and see what happens.

"Shall I give it one last shot?" (PL2)

On Packet: 7 7 1

Fairo

'-'r

1!;5R

Uft

aru danshi eigyo

shain

a;~

fight/energy has/have male

I *~~ !!

~if; 20tilt
40tilt
<~:P~)
dai-boshii! Nenrei hatachi kara yonjussai (jakkan-mei)

sales employee(s) great recruitment age

20 years

to

40 years several (count)

Wanted!! Energetic male sales re~s, age 20-40 (several ~ositions available)
J;)._t +
~-g. I
257J
1(2
11fik~
t*i$
~I
-tiJJ
'f.~

Kokyii nijiigo man ijo purasu korirsu

buai I shi5 ichi shi5 ni

base pay 250,000 and up plus high rate commissions

I raise

kaikin

teare.

oxw
kohi

zen

2 bonus full attendance allowance transp. expenses complete

Base ~ay 250,000 and u~ + high commissions I 1 raise, 2 bonuses (~r year}, no-absence incentive,
transPQrtation ex~nses fully covered
-=4}
tl*l :JJHr I
8
Uf*
7C
:tR.

1* 8 00~
IlDiR:
Kaku

sha-ho

kan,

shanai ryokiJ I

each/all insurances provided company

trip

nichi,

shuku,

do

Sundays holidays Saturdays

kyiijitsu, mendan
off

sokkersu

interview immediate decision

Full insurance oackaee comoanv trio I Sat. Sun. & Hoi. off immediate decision uoon interview
(continued on following page)
MA NGAJt N

61

7-.::. '7 ft Ml ili Naniwa Kin 'yiido

62

MANGAJIN

7::. '7 ~~~il'i Naniwa Kin 'yiidlJ

(continued from previous page)

(f*)

of~
Minasama

ni ai sareru

everyone-(hon.) by

(Kabu)

Teikoku Kin 'yii

is loved join! slock co. empire

finance

Ever..von.! loves us: - Emoire Finance. Inc.

faito aru is a complete thought/sentence ("[they] have energy-+ are energetic") modifying danshi ("male").
dai- is a prefl}( meaning "large/great," and boshli here refers to a recruitment campaign for job applicants; in
other contexts, boshii can refer to an advertisement/invitation for school applications, prize entries, subscriptions, financial contributions, etc.
-mei is a counter for human beings that feels quite a bit more formal than the familiar -nin.
most of the terms used to indicate the pay and benefits here are abbreviations. Bonuses in Japan are considered part of one's rightful wage.
ai sareru is the passive form of ai suru ("to love").
kabu = "stock" and the kanji t-+: enclosed in parentheses before or after the name of a company indicates that it
is a **:it~U kabushiki-gaisha, or "joint stock company."
Haiba~:a:

7' :1Dame

dauara

isagiyoku

akirameyo.

no good/unsuccessful if il is manfully/wilh grace shall give up

" If it doesn' t work out, l'll!!ive uo l!racefullY.'' (PL2)

\!lim

~# 13C..f.
Shin 'yo Kashirsuke, Jiko-re

:ftb~
rtft
<f*>
Waribiki, Fudosan Kashirsuke ( Kabu)

SiJ:'n: fitJfl

trus!lcredil

loans

private bilVdrafl discounts real es1a1e

*~
iiM
Teikoku Kin'yli

loans joint s1ock co. empire

C redit Loans, Pnvate Bill Discounts, Real Estate Loans

finance

EmP-ire Finance Inc.

akirameyo is the volitional ("let's/1 shall") form of akirameru ("abandon/give up on [an idea/effort]").
jiko = "personaVprivate" andre is an abbreviation for tegara, which refers to a variety of "bills/notes/drafts"
of payment, typically with a due date sometime in the future when the payment is to be made. Waribiki =
"discount," referring to the practice of "selling" these bills/notes to a finance company at a discount in order
to receive immediate payment. For more details, see our first installment of this story in Mangajin No. 34.
the company apparently prefers to use the old kanji Ill!! (kuni; koku in combinations) in its formal name. Ln the
advertisement, above, they used the simplified 00. Neither the reading nor the meaning changes.

@]

Borrower: ~IDEA

(J)

Hosho-nin

no rokoro

guarantor/co-signer s

t.:lt

li

~' /vl:/v lc < A-lilitl.!

dake

wa

kannin shirokunnahare!

place only/a! least as-for

please forgive/no! require

"At least my co-signer's place, please forgive/don ' t require it!"

"Anvthim~. else._ but not mv co-siJ!ner's_pJace!" (PL4-K)

ManinPiaid: 7*7 v!
Ahorare!

:fiJtiJ

lllci.-'"C

Fuwatari

dashiroire

Iii:~? clv (!)~?

nani

itaon

no ya?

idio!lfool nonpaymenlfbad bill having pul ou!lissued whal are saying (explan.)

"Dimwit! After having issued a bad bill, what are you saying?"

" Dimwit! You defaulted on a payment. What' re .vou talkin2 about?" (PLl ; 2-K)
dake ="just/only/alone," but dake wa followed by a negative means "at least not ... /anytlling but ..." Here,
kannin suru in the sense of " not require" provides the negative meaning. From the illustration, we assume
they're about to escort the borrower to his co-signer/guarantor's home or office to dun him for the defaulted
funds, so the borrower is basically saying "ask me to do anything else, but don't take me to my co-signer's
place." He wants to avoid any trouble for his co-signer.
ka1111in ="forbearance/forgiveness/pardon" and kannin shirokunnahare is from kannin suru, its verb form,
which means "forgive" both in the sense of "pardoning an offense and in the sense of "not requiring" some
unpleasant/burdensome/onerous action to be done. Here it is the latter meaning.
more specifically, kannin shirokunnahare is Kansai dialect for kmmin shire o-kurenasai, the equivalent of
kannin shire kudasai, from kannin + suru ("do")+ the relatively gentle command (-nasai) form of kure ("give
[to me)fdo for me") with an honorific o- prefix. 0-kurenasai makes a fairly polite request, so the phrase basically means "please forgive/don't require of me.''
ahorare is a variation of aho ("idiotlfoollblockhead").
fuwatari can refer either to the act of nonpayment, or to the bi!Vnote that is not honored/paid. Fuwarari (o)
dasu, literally "put out/issue a nonpayment/bad bill," is its usual verb form -+ "to default." Here, dashiroire is
a contraction of dash ire oire, the -re form of dasu plus the-re form of oku, which after the -te form of another
verb means that action was done before/earlier. Fuwarari dashira in the next frame is the past tense.
iuton is a contraction of iutoru. Kansai dialect for itte-iru ("is/are saying").

Okuda: :fill~ lllt.:

t. "'? .:. c

Fuwatari dashita ro
defauhed

fi, :i3lltr li
iu koto wa, omae wa

'b

-J ?EA-t.:"'? .:. c li lv

mo shinda

(quole) say lhing as-for you as-for already

died

iu koro

na n

say 1hing (explan.) is

' 'The fact that vou defaulted means that vou are alreadv dead.'' (PL2-K)
ManinPlaid: -f(J) 1t ~
-!*~A
t:1{l'l::>"t"'b'?? (J)
fi
~r!.i
(J)
Sono hone

hosilo-nin

ni hirore morau

no

wa

~!
ya!

rozen

no

.:.c

-?.1::>!

koro

yaro!

thai's bones (obj.) guaranlor/co-signer by have picked up (nom.) as-for naturaVof course of thinglmaner is surely

"It's only_ natural that w~d asky_our co-sii!Il~r to_pick uuour bones!" (PL2)
(continued on following page)

MANGA JIN

63

-t -

'7

1? /Ill ill Nan i wa K in 'y Dd O

.:.~

.:. It
(;1: \.'

: t,t

64

MANGAJIN

7 .=. '7 ~Mtill Nani wa K in'yiidlJ

(continued from previous poge)

.
.

... (to) iu koto (Kansai speakers often drop the quotati ve to, as in the second instance) occurs here in two different
idiomatic meanings: "the fact that ..."(in the topic) and "means that ..."(in the predicate).
hirote= hirotte, the -te form o f hirou (''pick up"). Kansai speakers typically drop small tsu (and/or replace it with a
long vowel) in -te forms. Morau after a -te form means the speaker is asking someone else to do the action.
no is a " nominalizer" that makes the preceding clause into a noun, and wa makes that noun the topic .

seyakara is dialect for sii da kara, ''because it

Man: 1t~il'0 ll\rdj ~ i "'t.:t!ltttlf ~M
~L-it'!
is so" here implying "that's why I'm telling
Seyakara jikan sae
itadakereba zettai
kaesltimasu!
because is so time (emph.) if can receive absolutely will return/repay
you."
''Th at's why (I say), if you just g ive m e som e time I wiJI itadakereba is a conditional ("if') form of
itadaku ("receive'').
absolutely ~ay it back." (P L2- K)

zettai ='absolute," but here is being used as

'IJf t:t A,
;:r- ill I') ll t' A-~?
Okuda: ~M
~i? ~
an adverb, "absolutely," modifying
Zettai
iu mono ga nande f uwatari dasu " ya?
kaeshimasu, PL3 form o f kaesu ("retum/reabsolutely say person (subj.) why
defaults (ex plan.-?)
pay").
" Why does a person who says 'a bsolutely' default?"
the quotative to has been omitted before iu.
" If...v.ou sav 'absolutely_, ' then whv did vou d e fault?"
Zettai (to) iu is a complete thought/sentence
( PL2-K)
(''[he] says 'absolute ly'") modifying mono
("person").
Man: ~EB I A-, n' ;, r:.. ;, t... c < ;, t:t 1i tt. !
nande is a colloquial naz.e. "why?"
Okuda-han,
kannin shitokunnalrare!
(name-hon.)
please forgive/forebear
-Iran is Kansai dialect for -san ("Mr./Ms.").
" Mr. Okuda Please have a hea~tl" (PIA-K)
kannin slritokunnahare here comes across more
Okuda: 711 /!!
as a general plea for mercy- " Have a hean!"
Akan!
- though presumably his main concern is still
no good/won't do
that he doesn't want them to bother his co-signer.
''Forget it!" (PL2)
akan is Kansai dialect for ikenai (''no good/won' t
do").
Haibara: t.L.b A, 1J '/){
A-~ o
~"'
Harawan Ito ga warui 11 ya.
not pay side (subj.) is bad (explan.)
harawan is a contraction of harawanai, nega"The o ne who doesn ' t pay is at fault."
tive form of lzarau ("pay").
hii is literally "side/direction." here indicating
" It's his own fault for n o t P-ay ing un." (PL2-K)
the ''person" who doesn't pay.
Sound FX: :J..-';1
warui = "bad." and ... ga warui is often an
expression for " ... is at fault/is the problem."
Sfi! (effect o f a smooth action accompanied by little o r
no sound- here o f the e levato r d oors sliding open)

-r:

Sign:

Voice:

FX:

*fjj

(1*)
1fiM
(Kabu) Teikoku Kin 'yii
E moire F inance Inc.
~ t:t <l1') t '? t.:. ; ih 1J' A, c\
:::17 !!
1fi1M!JM
nametottara
akan
do,
kora!
Kin 'yii-ya 0
finance co. (obj.) if take lightly won't do (cmph.) (i nterj.)
" Hey! It won ' t do for you to take the finance company
lightly!"
''Don' t vou I!O t rvinl! to take us for fools vou
S .O.B.!" (PLI -K)

~7

'/

Biku.'
(effect of being startled and s tiffening in fear/shock)

t:t,
Haibara : ~lfv'
li o
'-- '-Yabai
na,
koko
wa.
bad/awkward (colloq.) here/this place as-for
"This_place could be trouble." ( PL2)
Sound FX: ;l'!/
Pon (effect of light tap o n sh oulder)
Takavama: 5Ct~A-,
mitt 'IJ'?
Niichan,
mensetsu ka?
brotherlbuddy-(fam.) interview (?)
" Hev buddv. (vou h e re for) an interview?" (PL 2)
Haibara : 7 '/, L:l:' li lt' o
lzalzai.
A!,
oh!ah yyes

"Ah v- ves." (PL3)

11ametottara is a contraction of namete-ottara,

Kansai dialect for namete-itara, a conditional
("if') form of namete-iru, which comes from
the colloquial/slang word nameru = "take
(someone/something) lightly": when the object
is a person it implies "insult/take for a fool."
do is a Kansai equivalent of the rough, masculine panicle for emphasis, z.o.
kora! is an interjection for scolding. When it
comes first, it's like "Hey!/Stop that!/Cut it
out!" but when it ends the sentence it has more
the feeling of an expletive/epithet.
yabai is a slang word that means " bad/awkward/troublesome" in the sense that it could
get the person in trouble.
his syntax is inverted. Normal order would be
koko wa yabai na.

niichan is a familiar/ informal form of niisanl

oniisan ("older brother"); niisan, oniisan, and
niichan are used as a generic terms of address
for young men in their upper teens and twenties.
asking a question with only ka sounds rather
abrupt and is mostly limited to male speakers.

To be continued ...
MA NGAJIN

65

66

MANGA JI N

The manga series Arerugen began appearing in Kodansha's

weekly Morning (.:C - .:=./ 7") in September 1992. Arerugen
means "allergen" (something that causes an allergic reaction),
but is also short for the name of the main character, Araki Genji,
as explained in frame 4 below. Although the episode we present
here is not a prime example, Araki usually manages to irritate
the people around hjm, just like his allergen namesake.
Each episode stands on its own-the manga is not a continuing story- and although Araki always has the same name

OJ

and feature , his persona changes in every strip. One week he

may be a salaryman, while the next he appears as a policeman.
Arerugen is something of a non-conformist- his unwillingness to compromise and his failure to contain his honne ("true
intentions/feelings") arc frequently the cause of the conflicts
which arise in the story. This "introduction" which appeared in
the first episode sums it up: "His name is Araki Genji. Heappears in a variety of places and forms. Wherever he goes, an
allergic reaction occurs. People call him 'Arerugen (Allergen)'."

Sound FX: tf ~ -t /
Gashan

Crunch (heavy metallic crunching/crashing sound-here of the two sides of the mold slamming
together)
Sound FX: ? 1 - /
Uii-11

Rrreeee (whine/whir of motor moving robot arm)

t-

lift ~
~o
yobu otoko.
allergen strong luck/fortune (obj.) call/beckon man

Narration: t;lt"! L..l: 7 vJv'l"/ o

Akemashite

Arerugen.

open/begin-and

~.!ilil
Kyow1

HJ!PPY New Allerg_en - The Ma n who Summons (Good) Fortune

Title: 7 v Jv 7" /
Arerugen

Aller:21!n
Artist: 11J11&:-f!.f!~
Nakasa Yoshiro
Sound FX: ~ /
Ton

Tonk (sound of molded figure being set down on conveyor belt)

Nar ration: 1\fi?JI:

(J) ~ :;

Miwaku

7' A.

no toppusu

fascination/allure of

tops

l'.!ms in Fascination
akemashite is the PL3 -te form of akeru, which can mean either "open" or " dawn/begin'' depending on the
kanji. In this case a play is intended on akemashite omedeto (gozaimasu), the standard New Year's greeting in
Japan. This installment appeared as the first episode of the New Year.
1111 = luck/fortune, and kyoun is literally "strong luck," perhaps implying a greater degree of fortune than simply "good luck." Kyoun o yobu is a complete thought/sentence("[he] calls/summons good fortune") modifying
otoko ("man").

Margin Note: 7 v Jv 7" /

Arerugen
allergen

=7
=

allergy

t-

~.: T
~'ill
okosu busshitsu
reaclion (obj.) raise/cause substance

v Jv .:- N.r.t.
arerugii

hanniJ

>it*

=
iml i'EI
= Araki Genji
= (name)

Aller2en =A substance that causes an aller2ic reaction - Araki Genii

arerugii is from the German "allergic," but is also an equivalent for the English adjective "allergic." Arerugii
hanna o okosu is a complete thought/sentence ("[it) causes an allergic reaction") modifying busshitsr1 ("material/substance").
besides being a katakana rendering of "allergen," Arerug en is essentially a short form of Araki Genji's name,
formed from the first kanji of his surname Ji'L, which can be read a(reru), plus the first kanji of his given name,
ibii gen.

Arerugen Nakasa Yoshiro. All rights reserved. First published in Japan in 1993
by Kodansha, Tokyo. English translation rights arranged through Kodansha.

MANGA JIN

67

v lv7'/ Arerugen

~~~fA

tJ~'?
-? t) .r f

t~ T- I
hF.I\:

68

MA NGAJIN

v Jv ?' / Arerugen

OLI : tl.:t

tl ;t ,

51..~,

~~~''t" o

GG

ne,

Hiromi,

kiite.

Jii-jii

Ne,

(!)

k,-1f:

(!)

no kotoshi no

611'

~t.::~?

ura11ai

mitli?

say/hey say/hey (name) listen-( please) (magazine name) of/in this year for divination/horoscope saw

"Hev hev. Hiromi listen. Didy_ou see ~our horosco_p_e for this vear in GG?" (PL2)
Hiromi: ~ t.:: b J: o ::. tl
7 7 ::I ~ t.:: J.,
(!)
l. tl.:t o
Mira

wa yo.

Kore

kekki5

ataru

110

yo

ne.

saw (fern. emph.) this quite a bit/pretty much hits/comes true (ex plan.) (emph.) (colloq.)
" (Yeah) I did. These a r e surorisine!v accurate aren't thev?" (PL2)

ne orne at the beginning of a sentence is used to get the listener's attention, like "say/hey/look here"; doubling it up
makes it sound more urgent. Ne at the end of a sentence assumes agreement from the listener; with a long vowel it
shows a stronger assumption, and often has the effect of an exclamation, as here.
kiite is the -te form of kiku ("listen"); she is using the -ze form to make an informal request.
uranai can refer to any means of divination/fortune-telling, but since they ask for Araki's astrological sign below,
" horoscope'' seems appropriate here.
mira is the plain/abrupt past form of miru ("see/look at"}. ln colloquial speech. questions often end in the plain form,
with the intonation of a question but without the question-marker ka.
kekki5, when modifying a verb, means "quite a bit/pretty much."
atan1 ="hit," implying that the divinations "hit the truth/the mark" -> "come true."

=J :; ~-717 -

OLl : f/..(1)

(!)

3lf 't"7'-l- LJ.::I?v.AI-7/ IOn A

Warashi no

rakkii karii

110 ao

kite

my

lucky color

(=) blue wearing date

t.!-:>1:", '1-Yl.,

deto shitara resworan jiimanni11-me da

when did

tte,

'Y.Y!

tada yo, tada!

restaurant IOO,OOOth person is (quote) free (emph.) free

" When I went on a date w~aring_my_juck~ color blue, the~ said I was the lOO.OOOth customer at the
restaurant a nd (the dinnen was free. Free!" (PL2)
OL2: -f-? '5" ;t If ;fl.
{> 7 7 ~- 71 7 - "t: 1f:* :l -t / :f- 175 fil
l. o
Si5

ieba watashi mo

that way if say

also

Ume

rakkii karii

de nenmatsu janbo ichiman 'en yo.

lucky color

with year's end

jumbo

10,000

(emph.)

" Now that you mention it..._ I won 10 000 in the Year' s Endj_umbo Drawing (when I was wearine}
mv luckv color." (PL2)
kite is the -te form of kiru ("don/wear"); the -te form here makes the preceding phrase into an adverb for deto shitara,
a conditional "if/when" form of deto suru ("have/go on a date").
-nin is the counter suffix for people, and -me indicates places in a sequence, " firstlsecondlthirdletc.," so jiimannin-me
= " IOO,OOOth person" " IOO,OOOth customer:
ieba is a conditional "if' form of iu ("say"}, so sif ieba is literally " if you say that ..."-> "now that you say that/mention it" or "that reminds me ..."
;t, - ;'\- "t:i:>~~

OL3: f/..,
Wataslti,
Ume

st7pli

1- FIJ

~-IJ' -:> f.::

de orsuri sen 'en Okaua

b o

siipii is from English "super"; in

Japanese, siipii by itself refers to a
"supermarket."
okatta is the past form of the adjective i5i ("is many/much/in excess").
so means "(is) that way," and
serves broadly as an affLrmative
response, "(yes) it is/he does/they
doll wi!Vetc.)

wa.

supermarket at change 1000 was extra (fern. colloq.)

" I 20t 1 000 extra in chan2e at the supermarket!" (PL2)

OL2: ~t.::-0
bl.
tl.:t o
Ataru

wa yo

11e.

hit/come true (fern. emph.) (colloq.)

"(The horoscopes) r eallv come t rue don' t thev?" (PL2)

OlA: -f 1 ,

-f -? o

So,

so.

[is] that way [is ] that way

"They do. they do." (PL2)

Araki: :t 1

7 ,

Oi!,
hey

.fl.

1:

-t- n >i!. 1t 1:" <h o

oi! is an abrupt " hey!" or "yo!" for

getting someone's attention.
misete is the -te form of miseru
("show"), and kure after a -te form
makes a relatively abrupt (masculine) request or gentle command.

si5sif is used when speaking of

events that take place "early/without delay" at the beginning of a
new year/month/job/sojourn/etc.
shi is an emphatic "and" for linking two parts of a complex sentence: "and moreover/and what's
more."

watashi ni mo sore misete kure.

Ume

to also that

show-(request)

" Hev. let me see that. too." (PL2)

Hiromi: .r.. 7 ! !
!?

Araki:

" Huh?" (PL2)

tif~

.!f-4 ,
siJsiJ,

Shinn en

Jlt.{fi

lic-t

saifu

L. . :J(Q) fi !i WHr L. .
otosu slri, inu no ftm wa fumu shi,

new year early/immediately wallet drop/lose and dog poop as-for step in and

~ 1f:

kyonen

n' I?
kara

:;r- :i1 f.iC ~

fu 'u11-tsuzuki

-r:

de

1v ~ 1v t:t 1v t.!. o

san zan

last year from/since continuing bad luck is-and terrible

nan da.
(explan.-is)

''The first thin2 tbis__y_ear I lose mv wallet, a nd step in some dog poop, and I've had a continuous
strin2of bad luck since last year I ' ve had nothin_2_ but 2rief." (PL2)
fu- is a negative prefix, like "un-/non-/in-/mis-: and un means " luck/fortune," o fu 'un ="misfortune/bad luck"; combined with tsuzuki, the noun form of tsuzuku ("continue"), it makes a noun meaning "continuing bad luck."
sanzan is a noun referring to a "severe/harsh/terrible" condition or circumstance.
(continued on following page)
MANGA J IN

69

7 v ;t,.. 'T / Arerugen

W1ai

"")
-r 7 .

n~

Q ':1
7.

70

MAN GAJIN

v !v 'J' ;,r Arerugen

(continued from previous page)

OLl: -m*~lv, :m~ - !

hisan-!
Araki-san,
(name-hon.) terrible/pitiable
' 'That' s terrible, Mr. Araki." (PL2)

Jli)j! seiza is the word for "constellation" and the

names of constellations all end with -za. Nani-za =
"what constellation"__. "what (astrological) sign."
deshita is the past form of desu ("is/are") and kke at the
end of a sentence implies the speaker is trying to recall
something that he/she can't immediately remember.

-c:

fij~
L.. t::. -::>~t?
Hiromi: Ji't*~lv,
deshita
kke?
Araki-san,
nani-za
(name-hon.) what constellation was (recollection)
" What was your sia:n, Mr. Araki?" (PL3)

Araki: l..:tc~ t.:!!

Otome-za da!
Virgo
is
Hiromi:

-s

" Virgo!" (PL2)

-c:

7!/J~l)JM.~Iv (!)7-J-7 l:li

J: ') t 5~'!1i
gifjif
de
ganbariya-san
no anata ni wa
Chotto
for
slightly stubborn is-and persistent person-(hon.) (=) you
1f;J., {J(J) 1Jf 7 -;; .:\'- - 7 1 7 A o
.:\'-7-;;t
hikaru mono ga
rakkii aitemu,
kira-tto
lucky item
(glitter/sparkle FX) shine thing (subj.)
"For you who are a little stubborn and are Mr. Persistent,
som ething that shlnes w ith a glitter is your lucky item."
"You are mrsistent, and even a little s tubborn, and
your lucky item is something that ~:litters." (PL2)

ll

1Jf

.&<~J.>

tl7 / t

IJ' t

J: o

yoku naru
kamo yo.
un
ga
gara-tto
fortune (subj.) (sudden change FX) become good/better might (emph.)
''You r luck may suddenly change for the better." (PL2)

Araki: ~tr
Fumu
(interj.)
OL:

.
.

" Hmm." (P L2)

de is essentially the -te form of daldesu ("is/

are"), and it adds the meaning "and," so glfjo
de= "is stubborn and . . ."
ganbariya-san is from ganbaru, meaning to be
"dogged/persistent/unflagging" in working toward some goal or in the face of a challenge.
The suffix -ya is better known for referring to
a shop or to the person/people running it, but
it's also used after certain adjectives and verbs
to mean "a person who is (that quality)/acts
(that way)." The honorific suffix -san, most
typically appended to names, can also be used
with descriptive words like this.
gara-tto is an FX word implying a sudden
change. Yoku is the adverb form of iilyoi
("good/fine"), and naru ="become," so yoku
naru is Literally "become good," implying " become better/change for the better."
kamo is short for kamo shirenai ("might/may
possibly").
fumu is an interjection that can either show interest in what is being said, or show that he is
contemplating something: " Hmm."

w,-g--) ;b ~t
7';;,
L..
tl. o
Ji't*~lv 1: ~;t / v .A v -:~ r ~ lv iJ'
~"'
shi
ne.
wake
niau
nai
Put,
Araki-san niwa buresuretto nanka
bracelet something like suit/befit situation not exist and besides (colloq.)
(stifled laugh) (name-hon.) for
"(Stifled laugh) For Mr. A raki, something like a bracele t would not be suitable, (so it's difficult)."
"(Stifled laua:h ) In your case, something like a bracelet would h ardly be suitable, so . " (PL2)
... wake (wa) nai is an expression literally meaning " the situation of . .. cannot/would not exist"__. "can ' t possibly
be/would hardly be ..."Since GG is a women's magazine, she assumes the horoscope meant to suggest a bracelet or
some other piece of shiny jewelery.
shi typically links the two parts of a complex sentence with an emphatic "and moreover/and besides," but when the
second part of the sentence is left understood, it often implies "so that's a quandry/that makes things difficult."

-c

7 l) ;7'
t (/)? ~ L.. tb t::. ')
iJ' G,
"t'b
-?Itt < iJ' 0
Araki: 1(;J.,
~"'
nai
kara,
kurippu
demo
tsuketoku ka?
Hikaru
mono? Sashiatatte
glitter/shine thing for the moment not have/not exist because/since clip/clamp something like attach for now (?)
"Something that glitters? Since for the moment I don' t have anything (else), I ' ll just ~ut on a eli~."
(PL2)
sashiatari (or its -te form, sashiatatte) is an adverb meaning " for the
moment/for immediate purposes."
Sound FX: r Jv Jv Jv Jv
tsuketoku is a contraction of tsukete oku, from tsukeru ("attach/put on").
Torurururu
Oku here implies "for now" - i.e., until he can get something better.
Rrinnna: (sound of phone ringing)

-!Jf Ji't* "t'T -!Jfo

1f:7J :r_IBT ~iff
:L ;; '
T iJ'?
fA
koban ("police box") refers to small
Sakae-machi koban desu ka? Watashi ga Araki desu ga.
E!,
police posts, located on strategic
(?)
Ume (subj.) (name) islam but
what? (district name) police box is
street corners, that have long been a
" What? Sakae-machi JWlice box? This is Araki (smakina:).'' (P L3) key element of community policing
M:1ti "t'T o l:h'' -r<rr~iTo in Japan. Similar facilities are startAraki: 7 / ' .f-?"t'To -f;h. ff..(/)
ing to appear in some U.S. cities.
sugu ikimasu.
so desu. Sore watashi no saifu desu. Hai,
A!,
my
wallet is
yes immediately will go
ikimasu is the PL3 form of iku ("go/
(interj.) that way is
that
will go").
" Oh, t h at' s right. That's my wallet. Y es, I'll come ria:ht away."
(PL3)
tenkan = "conversion/switch," and ten = " point,"
(/)
t
Araki: JI1n:
J!f::.!!
!i~A
so tenkan-ten ="turning point."
Unki
no tenkan-ten
to
mita!
mira is the plain/abrupt past of miru ("see/look
fate/fortune of turning point (quote) saw/judged
at"). The phrase ... to miru means "[I] see/view
"I juda:e t his to be the turnina: RQint of m y luck." (PL2)
it as ..." in the sense of " I judge it to be ..."
this hli would be spoken with the rising intonaOLl: li<b?
tion of a question, implying puzzlement.
"Huh?" (PL2)
Hli?
Araki:

-c:

(continued onfo/lowing page)

MAN GAJt N

7 1

72

MANGAJIN

v Jv?' /

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v Jv 7' /

Arerugen

(comimtedfrom previous page)

Hiromi: ffl1J'
7' / 7/ fJ"? "'C .0 h o
Nanika
butsu-bwsu ille-ru
wa.
something (munering FX) is saying (fern. emph.)
" He's mutterin2 som ethine (to himsefO." (PL2)

itte-(i)ru is from iu ("say"). Butsu-butsu

OL2: fjiJ L.l:>

7 1 ~- .A
~ lv t!. 1;> ~ 0
Nanishiro
nwt plsu
nan da lalra.
(intcrj.) "my pace"town pace (explan.-is) because
" He (always) goes at his own pace, you know."
" H e 's so w rapped llD_in his own world vou know." (PL2)

;11 ="mutter."
nanishiro is a conJunction or interjection
that can take on a variety of meanings
depending on the context: "at any ratell
mean/you know/after all/etc."
mai pesu is a katakana rendering of English "my pace"; it implies "going at
one's own speed/going one's own way/

-r <

Araki: -; J: ? c!:::
-~ fT?
.0 o fi c!::: L. t::. Jij;:(p 1Jf tJj t::. o
~ i~ one's.ow; ~orl~
... h' h
ld
Chollo
keisatsu
iue kuru.
Otoshita saifu ga
deta.

as omme. . e 111 w tc wou

a little/briefly poljce will go and come droppedflost wallet (subj.) showed up normally follow ketsatsu.
" I'm eoine down to the Po lice (box) for a minute. The walle t I lost showed u p." (PL2)
Narration: i:>~$~
0 -mikoshi
ponable shrine

mikoshi refers to palanquin-like,

portable Shinto shrines used in festivals. They are highly ornate, with
lots of glittering gold leaf/paint.

0-mikoshi

IT)
~[S L.
li L. -::> 1J' t) ml tr o
A r aki: H~
Katen
no kizoshi wa slrikkaru tsukamu.
tum for bener of sign/omen as-for firmly
grasp
"0 will) take firm h old of the s ign s indicatinl! a
turn for the b e tte r ." (PL2)

On Door :

RO

lt(1it)

Shain
Slwkudo
employee dining room/cafeteria

koten is written with kanji for "good/favorable" and

"turn." It refers to a "favorable turn/turn for the better."

Cafeteria

Araki: i:>lf't;,?lv, A5Elto

Obachan,
e-teishoku.
auntie/ma'am
set lunch A
" Set Lunch A. ma' a m " (PL2)
Lunchlady: li "'
.).: !
Hai
yo!
yes/here (emph.)

iue kuru is the -te form of iku ("go") followed by kuru

(''come"). This is the PL2 form of iue kimasu, the standard "good-bye" used by a person leaving home or office on an errand/outing from which he will later return.
otoshita is the plain/abrupt past form of otosu ("drop/
lose"). This modifies saifu ("wallet"): otoshita saifu =
" lost wallet" ---> "the wallet I lost."
deta is the plajn/abrupt past form of dent ("come/go
out"), used idiomatically to mean appear/show up.''

obachan is a familiar form of obasan, used both to mean

"aunt" and as a generic word for addressing or referring to any woman past her mid-twenties (roughly).
hai, literally "yes," is used like English " here" when
handing something to someone.

" H e re you go." (PL2)

JIL*

OL I: JU~ -::>?
~ lv IT) ::f- 7? 1, ~ 1:: :tJ o @P;f; :'!- "'o
Mira!?
Araki-san no nekutai, kinpika. Shumi waru- i.
saw
(name-hon.) 's
necktie glittery gold taste
bad
" Did vou see it? Mr. Araki's n ecktie - e:litterin g._gold. S u ch b ad taste!" (PL2)
Hitomi:

i-tt'.: ~IT) ~ 0 - v '/ 7 A o 611'

g t. "( 'Jt t.J bIT)
-:>lj"'C A.J!. ~ ,
7 7 7 o
Sore ni
ano nise
Rorekkusu. Uranai
shinjite lrikari-mono
tsukete n dii,
fufufu.
andfbesides that fake
Rolex
horoscope believes-and shiny things is putting on/wearing (cxplan.) (fern. laugh)
" And that fake Rolex. H e b e lieves the horoscope and h e's wearin 2 thin2s that shine. (lau gh)" (PL2)

shinjite is the -te form of shinjiru ("believe"), and tsukete n is a contraction of tsttkete-iru ("has put on/is wearing")
fro m tsukent ("put on/wear").

il'fj~, 2~

*#

m~,

Araki: I'*
287t
i1r:ii
187t
lchiji nijiihappun Kondo Shokai, niji jiihapeun Oi Kensetsu,
" 1:28, Ko ndo Trading C o mpa n v: 2 :18 Oi C onstruction (Company);"
2~
567t
7$;ffil
~,
31li
267t
:EiJ:~
1:~ , 4!l;
187t .. .
niji goji'iroppun Takahashi Doboku, sanji nijuroppw1 Tamabuchi Kogei, yoji jiihappun . . .
"2:56 Tak a h ashi C o ntractors 3:26 Tamabuc hi_Techno loe ies; 4:18 " (PL2)

-r

Co-worker: ii}k ~'

td., Jit* ~ lv o i<tl: '.: j.,' t...
i b L.
J: o
Sugoi
ne,
Araki-san. Ore ni sukoshi
mawashite
yo.
amazing (exclam.) (name-hon.) Ume to a linle pass/forward/tum over-(requesl) (emph.)
" You 're amazine. Mr. A r a ki. H ow about turninl! s ome of them over to m e?" (PL2)

mawasu. lit. ''tum/rotate," is used idiomatically to mean 'send around/forward/refer [to]"---> "turn over to."
kensersu and doboku are synonyms for "construction." but doboku tends to be used more for construction that involves earth-moving: site preparation. ditch digging, levy building. etc.

A r a ki:

*"'(

*"'(

~ -? ,
2-=>:E
f.!. o
.0,
.0
-t'!!
A!.
futatsu-dama da.
Kite-ru,
kite-ru
zo!!
(interj.) two balls/yolks is has come/is here has come/is here (cmph.)
" H ey, it's a double volk! It's h ere it's h e r e (m v luck 'is with m e)!'' (PL2)

kite-(i)ru is from kuru ("come"), and since it literally means "has come," it also implies "is here/is with me."

MANGA JIN

73

7 !..- Jv 7' :..-

74

MAN GAJIN

Arerugen

v Jv 7' /

Arerugen

---------------------------------

Sign: H~ iR
t!} liS
Shibusawa Shoten
Shibusawa Bookstore
Araki:

~ .1!)/l 1: L. t.: ~ A- t.: ~ 1j: "' 1j: o

mo balw ni shita mon ja nai
na.

fi " '

Uranai

divination/horoscope also fool

to made thing

is not

(colloq.)

" Horoscopes are not to be made fool s of/ridiculed, J guess."

" Horoscopes are nothinl! to scoff at.Xguess." (PL2)
shita is the plain/abrupt past fonn of suru ("do") and ... ni suru is an expression for "make it ... ,"so baka ni
"ridicule (something)."
suru is literally "make (something) a fool"
111011 is a contraction of 1110110 ("thing"). Balw ni shita modifies 111on{o) "ridiculed thing"
''thing to be
ridiculed/scorned/sniffed at."
when talking to oneself, 11a at the end of a sentence can make a conjecture/guess.

@)

Sound FX:

~ .A /
D O.HIII

Thud (sound of heavy object landing on Lhe ground)

Araki:

'? It'""( J.>

Tsuite-nt

.t ?

am lucky

lj: , '? lt'""(lj: lt'

.t? lj: o

yo-11a,

tsuite-11ai

yo-11a.

is like

am unlucky

is like

" It's like I'm lucky, it's like I'm unlucky."

"(I don' t know whether to feel) luck or unlucky." (PL2)
'J '7
tJ ' :7t ~ (> (l) tJ't ,IE!? A(l)
11'?
So
lw, hikari-mono ga
taran
110
ka?
that way (?)

shiny things (subj.) insufficient (cxplan.-islare) (?)

" Oh, I know. Maybe I don't have enough s hiny things." (PL2)
tsuite-(i)ru is from tsuku ("[something] sticks/attaches to"); the word is also used as a slang word for "lucky."
Tsuite-(i)11ai is its negative form.
so lw is literally a question ("Is it so/is that right?"), but it's also used as an exclamation of udden realization/
understanding ("'That's it!/Oh. right!/Oh, I know!").
taran is a colloquial form of tarinai ("insufficient").
. . . no ka is the form used to ask for an explanation, "is it the case that . . . ?";but when talking to oneself it
often has the feeling of a conjecture "maybe it's that ..."

Narration :

1filill~

Kinlwkuji
golden pavilion temple

Kinkakuji
Kinlwku ("Golden Pavilion") is one of Japan's most famous temple buildings, a 3-story structure, gilded almost entirely in gold leaf. The suffix -ji means "temple." Strictly speaking, the temple in Kyoto to which the
pavilion belongs is named Rokuonji, but it is popularly referred to as Kinkakuji.

F e a t u r e S t o r y
(continued from page 14)
CN t 1

~1.\.t;oo-:>

$ ~ 1m :il~~

(Techniques for Improving Your Business

Forlllne)
~L

~ <~L

~1 Q) ![if (The Unlucky Years f or Corporations)

We found that perhaps the mos t pervasive use of uranai in

big business is in the personnel office. A retired executive from
one of the biggest international trading companies in Japan
pointed out that all foreign assignments for the company during
his period of service were done with the help of ninso, explaining that when the principles of ninso were ignored, bad decisions often resulted.

-r "'

(most) pervasive= (f& (J ) 1-v lj: !(fill (J )~ & I.,

J.> (mouomo)
sakcm -na/(mottomo) fukyl7 sttru prayer chanting= fiTW)C(7) ;*nlil
kitiJbtm no eisho

There are even several famous fortune-tellers in Japan who

specialize in stock market predktions. A few years ago an interesting scandal touched on the subfield of stock market fortunetelling. The scandal urrounded one Onoue Nui, a fortune-teller
who practices a type of prayer chanting known as kamigakari
(~ ~ ~ ). Investors would gather at her house while she chanted
from late evening right on through until dawn, after which, while
in a state of tota.l exhaustion, stock market information from some
cosmic source was supposed to transfer to her mind through a
statue of Buddha. Inc Iuded in her clientele were some of the most
respected investment counselors in the Osaka area.
By itself the story constituted no real scandal in the minds
of most Japanese and would probably never have even made it
into the newspapers if that was all there was to it. It turned out
however, that one of her customers was an official at East Asia
(continued 0 11 page 59)
M ANGAJIN

75

0.

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76

MAN GAJIN

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v Jv 7' /

Arerugen

Araki: ~Jl ~t)iJ~c?.::-~~~'iT o j(.JI!:

{/) ~* "t'To A,~ b
J:7:l l<o
Maido
arigato goz.aimasu. Maruhigashi no Araki desu. Kotoshi mo
yoroshiku.
every time
thank you
(co. name) of Araki islam this year also favorable consideration
"Thank you for your patro n aee. I'm Araki from Maruhieas hi. (Please give me) your favorable
cons ide ration this vear too." (PL4, 3, 2-3)
R eceotionist: '7 -;;,
IIY: l "' '? o Jtt;fc ~ fv t.J: (J)?
t'? l ~~-:>f.:
(J)?
Wa!,
mabushii!
Araki-san na no?
Do shichatta
no?
(exclam.) bright/dazzling (name-han.) (explan.-?) what/how did (unexpected) (explan.)
' 'Yikes it's blindine! Is it r eallv vou Mr. Araki? What's eoin2..on?" (PL2)

maido arigato (gozaimasu) is a standard phrase for thanking customers/clients for their patronage/business. It literally means "Thank you (for) every time" -+ "thank you for your (frequentlloyal) business/patronage."
yoroshiku is short for yoroshiku onegai shimasu, literally "weiVfavorably" + "(bon.)-request" +"do/make," or
something like " I request your favorable consideration/treatment." Kotoshi mo yoroshiku (onegai shimasu) is a
standard New Year's greeting in both business and personal contexts.
do shichatta is a contraction o f do shite shimatta, from do shita (literally "what did you do") used idiomatically to
ask " what happened?/what's wrong?" when something is not normaVnot as expected. Shimatta reinforces the feeling that something is strange/out of the ordinary/not as expected.

@]

{:lien 1: A, 8 li fi!J (J) fiij "t' T 1J'?

Kyo wa nan 110 yo desu kll?
today as-for what of business is it?
" What business do you have today?" -

' 'What can I do for vou todav?" (PL3)

Maki: $~,
?7- C {/)
l!l51,
ffi', "'~, 3ffi' 1: l i l t ? o
BuchO,
uchi to 110
torihiki,
bai, iya, sa11bai 11i shimashO.
dept. head/sir my co. with of transactions/dealings double no triple to let"s make
"Sir let's double no triole vour companv's business~ith mine." (PL3)

yo is short for yoji, " matter to attend to/business."

uchi literally means "inside/within" but is used frequently to refer to one 's own house/family, company, or other
group. Here it means " my company."
bucho is literally "department head"; in Japan it's quite common to address people by just their titles in situations
when an English speaker wou ld use a name alone or a name with Litle, or say "sir/ma'am" instead.
torihiki refers to "transactions/dealings" between 2 or more individuals/groups - r.e., to "doing business with
(someone)."
-bai is a counter suffix for multiples. Bai by itself always means nibai = "two times/double"; sanbai ="three
times/triple," yonbai = " four times/quadruple," etc.
shimasho is the PL3 form of shiyo, the volitional ("let's/1 shall") fonn of sum ("do").
f;Jient 1:

JiL* ~ fv

(J)

~4151 ~

1:

ti

~It f.:

J: o

goin(-sa) implies " forcefulness/

pushiness" that at least borders on,
and sometimes is patently, unreasonable/inordinate; the connotations
are not necessarily negative,
though, so long as the results of the
Ara ki: s.ru~ l t.:.~~t) 1 -ttlvo
tS~'
1: -t ? 1:11\:"v'iTo
forcing/pushing are positive.
Coin
ja arimasen.
Uranai
ni so
dete-imasu.
forcefulness
is not
divination/horoscope in that way
appears
maketa is the plain/abrupt past fonn
" It's not force. It appears that way in the divination."
of makeru ("lose/be defeated").
ja arimasen is the PL3 fonn of ja
" It's not force. It's in the cards." (PL3)
nai ("is not").
A r aki: Ul~,
l!l51
tlt:*: "t'T o Iii?, 611' l:/:l1\:"11'1To dete-imasu is the PL3 form of deteiru, from deru, meaning "come/go
Shacho,
torihiki kllkudai desu. Hora, uranai ni dete-imasu.
co. president business/trade expansion is look/here divination in
appears
out," or in the context o f divination,
" S ir (it's time to ) expand our bus iness {with each other)~ See
"(a sign) shows/appears."
it's in the cards. " (PL3)
hora is an interjection to focus the
C lie nt 2: t.t '? , t.J: 1:, t.t fv t.t (J), -ttL , ~* ~ fv?
listener's attention on something,
Na-! nani, nan na no, sore, Araki-san?
like "look" or "here."
whwhat what (explan.) that (name.-hon.)
1 - -- - - - -'....:':W
:::::h:::::::
w:::h::a::t=w:::h::a:=t:::is= th
=a=t: ::M
:=
r::
. ::
A::r::
a::
k::i?:_'_' _:C:.:_
P_:L::2~)________j maida arii is an infonnal abbrevia~
A r a ki: ~ll
~~"'!!.::.tt.~:
Jllil:l1 i~iJtll'/j:l"t'TJ: o
tionofmaidoarigatogoz.aimasu,
Mat"d~
.." K'!' e d.e .fuir.dassIzutsu mach.tgm.. nasIu. d ~su yo. machigai
seen above.
am..
~io
="mistake" and nashi is
every 11me thanks w11h th1s busmess slump escape
cenam
IS (emph.)
.
. .,
''Thanks for vour patrona~ With this you're sure to b reak o ut
an.~mphauc f~nn. of na~ ( .~ 0~ exo f y4
b
. 1
" (PL3)
tst ), so machtgat naslu = wtthout
our usm ess s ump.
mistake." Idiomatically, the phrase
C lient 2: -t , -t 1 iJ' f.t ~ o f.!. t
~' "'
7j: ,
~* ~ fv o
implies certainty - in this case
So- so
ka nii. Da 10
ii
na,
Araki-san.
something like " I can predict/asth- that way (?) (colloq.) if it is will be good (colloq.) (name.-hon)
sure you without mistake that you
" Is it (really) that way? ll will be good if it is, Mr. Araki."
will escape your slump" -+ "you 're
" Y- vou reallv think so? I hope you 're right, Mr. Araki.'' (PL2)
sure to escape your slump."
Araki-san no goin-sa ni wa
maketa
yo.
(name-han.) 's forcefulness by as-for am defeated (emph.)
" By your forcefulness I am defeated, Mr. Araki."
" I can ' t stand uo to vour forcefulness Mr. Araki.'' (PL2)

:if'vc

(cominued on following page)

M ANGAJIN

77

78

MANGA JIN

v Jl; 7' / Arerugen

v Jv?" ::-- Arerugen

Y
(continued from previous page)

P,

-man is a suffix meaning "gate," and YOmei-mon (lit., "sun-bright gate") is

the most ornate structure among scores of intricately crafted buildings at the
ToshOgii Shrine in Nikko, dedicated primarily to Tokugawa leyasu, the
founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate ( 1603-1867).

Narration: ~EJfl
Yomei-mon

Yomei-mon

sun-bright gate

Co-worker: It' It'

li

li -? It' -c?
hottoite?

(f) ir,

no ka,

hottoite is a contraction of hotte oite,

the -te form of hotte oku ="leave as
is/ignore."
the syntax is inverted; normal order
would be houoite ii no ka?
sawaranu is an archaic equivalent of
sawaranai, negative of sawaru
(''touch"), modifying kami ("god/
spirit"). Nashi is a form of nai ("not
exist/not have"), so tatari nashi =
"has/gives no curses." Sawaranu
komi ni tatari nashi can be equivalent
to the English saying "Let s leeping
dogs lie.'' but here it seems closer to
"Far from Jupiter, far from thunder."

good/okay (explan.-?) leaving as is

"Is it okay to leave him as is?"

' 'D'vou think it's okav to let him 20 on like that?" (PL2)
Co-worker: ~C., i:J.
fill 1:
Sawaranu komi ni
not touch

~ I'J

tatari

nashi

-?

-c h o

tte

ne.

god in curse/retribution not exist (quote) (colloq.)

"T he god you don' t touch won' t curse you, they say."
" As thev_say, ' Leave well enou_eh a lone."' (PL2)
Co- worker: ~ I') ~
Arya

7 i":>

-? -c J.> -? -c

itchatte-ru

tte

~I.:

t!. h o

kanji

da

ne.

as for that/him gone-(complete) (quote) feeling/impression is (colloq.)

" He gives the impress ion of being completely gone."

" I ' d sav he' s ore ttv far !!One." (PL2)
Co-worker: ~ tt. 1.' Jm
Are de seiseki

..t.lf"C lv
agete n

t!. iJ' t.>

t.t!

da kara

na!

that with record is raising/improving (explan.) because (colloq.)

" Because with that he is (actually) improving his record, (it's amazing)."
"It's hard to believe he's actuallv l!ettinl! results that wav." (PL2)

arya is a contraction of are wa ("as for that"). ltchatte-ru is a contraction of itte shimatte-iru, from iku ("go") and
shimau (implies the action of the preceding verb is complete/thorough): "has completely gone." The colloquial
quotative ue makes this phrase into a modifier for kanji ("feeling/impression").
seiseki refers to one's "score (on a test)/grade (in a course)/showing (in a competition)" or one's "overall accomplishment/record (in schooUa sport/business/etc.)." Agete n is a contraction of agete-irn no, from ageru ("raise/improve") and the explanatory no.

Araki:

~?..

Jli~ I

b L b L,
i*illilJJ A- o ? -1(f)
Moshi-moshi, Nagakubo Shoji-san. Uchi to no
hello

iJ~

torihiki

ga

51~~ t: ~ IJ i-to

!if-z;

"-(/)

koten

e no hikigane ni narimastt.

(co. name-hon.) us/our co. with dealings/transactions (subj.)favorable tum of/for trigger

will become

"He llo Na 2.akubo Ente J:"urises? Doin2business with our comoanv will tri22er a turn for the better
fin._~our profits)." (PL2)

moshi-moshi is the standard way for the person initiating a phone call to say "hello." The person answering says "hai."
narimasu is the PL3 form of narn ("become"), and the preceding ni marks the result: what the subject will become.

Araki: -t"? "t'TiJ'o

So
desu ka.
that way

~t)iJfc").:.~lt'iTo ~~:L7:>

is it?

Arigato gozaimasu.

7t<d'L :E

iJf

-t"? -a'-? "CiTo

Nanisltiro suisho-dama ga

thank you very much

after all

crystal ball

so

itte-masu.

(subj.) that way says/is saying

" Is that so? Thank you very much. After a ll, the crystal ball says so."
"You will (do business with us)? Thank vou verv much. After all._ the crystal ball savs_vou should."

(PL3, 4, 3)
nanisltiro is a conjunction that can take on a variety of meanings depending on it's context: "at any rate/1 mean/you
know/after aiUetc."
itte-(i)masu is the PL3 form of itte-iru ("says/is saying") from iu ("say/says").

@]

Araki:

~:;fi:!Jm~~A-o

?-1-

Jli51

Tl.>

Umemoto Bussan-san. Uchi

to

torihiki

suru

(co. name-hon.)

"'~"t'To

our co. with dealings/transactions do

fl..

-'fgLiT o

';l:

beki desu. Watashi wa yogen shimasu.

should

1/me

as-for

prophesy

" Um em o to Products? You should do business with our comoanv. I pB!J!hesy (it will be good for
you}." (PL2)
uchi to ("with us") functions as an adverb modifying the verb torihiki stmt ("'dol
Sound FX:
.L. ;;
transact business"): uchi to torihiki suru ="do business with us/our company"; uchi
Bomu!
to no, two frames above, is the equivalent adjective form, modifying the noun torihiki
(sudden burst of flame)
(''dealings/transactions"): uchi to no torihiki ="dealings with us/our company."

*'

beki desu is the PL3 form of beki da, which follows verbs to give the meaning "should/ought to/must."

iffix

~~Araki: ~ IJ iJfl:").:.~~,. ,iT o ;t;t, .:.tt."t'

Arigato gozaimasu.
,
kore de shobai lu.mjo,
thank you very much

yes

~~

!if-z;

gyoseki

kOten

?'t~lt>r\ ;; -f- 1 )--c.'T

ukeai

with this business prosperity bus. results tum for better guarantee

batchiri desu
cenain

J: o
yo.

is (emph.)

" Tha nk_y_ou verv._muc h. Yes with this a flourishinl! business a nd improvement in orofits are I!Uar anteed for s ure." (PL2)

gyoseki. literally ''business results." can mean either "sales" or "profits."

ukeai desu and batchiri desu both basically mean "is/are guaranteed/for certain," so combining them gives the redundant/emphatic feeling of "guaranteed for sure."

M ANGAJIN

79

80

MANGAJ I N

v !v-7' / Arerugen

Araki:

v Jl.-7' /

Arerugen

}LJr[
(/) :i\'L*"t'To 77- C ~~~ ~tz6i)i l..J: ? o -f? rS~'
Hajimemaslrite. Maruhigashi no Araki desu. Ucili to torihiki o hajimemasho. So
uranai

!il.:.i)i l..""Co
for the first time

(co. name)

of (name)

is

my co. with dealings (obj.)

tJ{ti:\""(~>iT o

ga

let" s begin that way divination (subj.)

dete-imasu.
has shown

" Let m e introduce mvself. I'm A raki from Maru!ligashi. Let's ~in_doin1t bus iness between our com panies. It's in the star s." (PL3)
~j.

1t>-?,
lya,
no

::J7D7~1vf_!lj

f!!!

77-

li

dame

da!

Uchi

wa Kokuroku-san dake to

no good

is

-::>~<li.J?""CJ.> o

tsukiatte-rtt.

this co. as-for (co. name-hon.) only with

are associating

"No tha t 's n ot ooss ible . W e do bus iness onlv with Kokuroku." (PL2)

hajimemashite, literally meaning " (I meet you) for the first time," is a standard pan of introductions/first meetings.
Though not a true equivalent. it's often translated " How do you do?" but we thought ""Let me introduce myself' gives a
bit more of the feeling of "first meeting" in this case.
hajimemasho is the volitional ("let's/1 shall") form of hajimeru ("begin'").
tsukiatte-(i)ru is from tsukiau, which means to "socialize/maintain a relationship (with someone)." In this case, it refers
to maintaining relationships between companies, so tsukiatte-(i)ru is another way of saying ''doing business with.''
Araki:

.I-- -;; !?
-!?
" Wha-a-at?!" (PL2)

kahO comes from the Buddhist concept of karma and originally meant
either the reward or the retribution
received in your present life as a reSound FX: ? - tr . . . lv . . .
lv. . .
~ "" / ~ "" / . . . lv . . .
1 <7- /
sult of actions in previous lives. Over
U-11111 . . .
N. . .
N. . .
Shan shan . . .
N. . .
Pachin
time it has come to refer only to the
Hmm .. Uh-huh Uh - huh S hake -s h ake . .. U h-huh Snap!
rewards- i.e.. your "good luck/fortune." Kahowa nete mate implies you
Araki: T-"""C
":lfl:$!i
li
~""( ~;f""C"
tilf.: o
need to wait patiently for your reSubete
"Kaho
wa
nete mate" to
deta.
a!Uentirely good luck/karmic reward as-for sleep-and wail (quote) appeared/showed
wards to come, so it's essentially
" All (divinatio ns) showed ' For good luck, s leep and wait."'
equivalent to the English saying, "Ev"The si~ns all sav 'Good luc k comes w hile ou sleep."' (PL2)
erything comes to him who waits.'"

Araki:

-!ir ~ lv!
Minasan!

Kaisha no

hatten

no tame, watashi, nemasu!

everyone-Chon.) company 's development for sake of

1/mc

Dewa,

will sleep well then

oyasuminasai.
good night

" Ladies and 2e ntlemen! For the sake of our compan y's g rowth, I am 20inl! to sleep. Wei~
nig ht." (PL3)

mina ="everybody," and adding -san makes it more polite; when minasan is used as a term of address before a group. it
feels something like "ladies and gentlemen"- though perhaps not quite as formal.
nemasu is the PL3 form of nem ("go to sleep"), and oyasuminasai is the standard expression for ..good night."'
Sound FX:

r Jv Jv

r Jv Jv

r Jv Jv

r Jv Jv

Toruru
toruru
toruru
toruru
Rrinnng Rrinnng Rrinnng Rrinnng ( te lepho nes ring ing)

ICo-worker: >'it*~ lv,

1G:a~
demva

(to Araki) Araki-san,

?'J{ .. .
ga . . .

(narne-hon.) telephone call

(subj.)

''Mr. A raki {vou have) a call ._." (PL3)

5rt*

Co-worker:
"t.'TtJ'<li.J .. .
(on phone) Araki desu kii . . .
(name)

is it?

"(You want to s peak to) Mr. Ar:.aki?" (PL3)

OL: >'it*
(on phone) Araki

li

-!f 7- 3

wa ima

:;

r ...

chotto.

(name) as-for now a little/slightly

''Mr. A r aki (can ' t com e t o the phone) right now." (PL2)

OL: >'it* "t.'~"'C .y-;;. "t'T?'J'?

(on phone) Araki de nai to dame desu ka ?
(name)

if is not no good

is it?

"Is it no good if it is not Mr. A raki?"

" Does it have to be Mr. Araki?" (PL3)
Co-worke r : 7-;;,
.to~~
'b >'it* "t'TtJ'?
(on phone) A!,
oraku-sama mo Araki desu ka?
(imerj.) (hon.-you-hon.) also (name)

is it?

" Oh. vou (want to talk tQ) Mr. Araki. too?" (PL3)

OL: 51t* ~ -lv, !S ~ ""C? !!

(to Araki) Araki-sa- 11,

okite!

(namc-hon.)
gel up-(requcst)
" Mr. Ara~lease get up!"

(PL2)

dem va can be either "telephone" or " telephone

call." The first speaker's implied sentence is
demva ga haitte-imasu = "a telephone call has
come in (for you)" -essentially equi valent to
English phrase like "theresa call for you/you're
wanted on the phone:
when speaking to someone outside the company.
Japanese refer to their co-workers without the
honorific -san ("Mr./Ms.") even if they would
normall y use -san in addressing the person directly, or whe n referring to him within the company.
chotto (lit. "a little/slightly") is often used as a
softener" before negative statements. as if to say
"thats slightly no good/he s slightly unavailable/
etc." Chotto by itself serves as a shorthand for
the entire statement when the context makes the
implication obvious; and it can also be a way to
avoid being too specific/direct when expressing
objections/rejections.
taku = ''home/residence''; adding the honorific
prefix o- makes it "your home'' or "you depending on the context, and adding -sama/-san makes
it more polite. In the corporate world otaku becomes "you/your company."
okite is the -te form of okiru ("get up"); the -te
form serves as an informal request, "please get
up," and the small -? tsu shows she says it
sharply, with a note of urgency in her voice.

MA NG AJ IN

81

...... fk

t:.. t>

t::M~
~t,*l,

i ~ Li"-tt-r
-r

v Jv 7' ;.t Arerugen

"'t:.

'":>

t.t

I>

......
M

*i- ~

IIIJi

"("'?

l:t

t:.
(1) t:
......
t,

-c"

i"

(1)

-c"

82

MANGAJ I N

c:

!-:'
Jl?

t.t
.o-r

7(' ~

7 J.... ill'/ / Arerugen

Client:

:::~1v

< t!.~v' o

Gomen

kudasai.

pardon

please

~771

;:(

Sapurahu

{00

't'To 77 ;; ?

Kikaku

desu.

Ara!?

is

(interj.)

surprise planning/production

" Hello. (I'm from) Surprise Productions. What the . .. ?" (PL2)
Sound FX:

-t~ i'~ i'~ -t~ .. .

Suya suya suya suya .. .

(effect of sleeping soundly and peacefuUy)

gomen kudasai (lit. "please pardon'') is the traditional phrase for gelling a home/shop/office occupant's allenlion when arriving/entering.
ara! is an interjection showing sudden awareness/surprise, "oh!/oh my!/hey!"

@)

Client: 1t,
Kimi,
you

t-?

t.t '=' -r: lv t!.?!

do

nalte n da ?

U~

~ Ll

Shain

~ -r:

;;:en'in

nere-ru

.f'!
zo!

what/how has become (explan.-?) employees all members are sleeping (c mph.)

" He)!:, what's 2oing on here? All the employees are asleep_!' (PL2)
Rece tionist: lh', t:. t!. It' i li
:!f: $fH;J 1:>
(!) II~ Ill! ~ -t (!) ~ o
Hai,

radaima

yes

right now as-for waiting for good luck of/for time

wa

kaho-machi

rw jikan desu node.

is

(explan.)

"Yes rieht now it's the time for waitineforJ!!>Od luck (to arrive)." (PL2)
do natte n da is a contraction of do rwtte-iru no da. where do means "how/what," natte-iru means ''has become" (from naru, "become"), and no da asks for an explanation, so it literally means "what has (the situation) become?" "what is the situation?/what's going on?" Asking a question with da or no dais masculine
and very emphatic, and can even sound quite rough.
nere-(i)ru ("is/are sleeping/asleep'') is from neru ("go to sleep'').
radaima is a noun meaning "just/right now; and wa makes this the topic of the sentence: "as for right now ..."
kaho-machi combines kaho ("good luck/karmic reward") with the noun form of matsu ("wait"), to make a
noun meaning "waiting for good luck." ... 110 jikan ="a time of/for ..."
node shows she's making an explanation; it can be translated "because/owing to," but in English the context
alone often makes it clear enough that an explanation is being offered, without explicitly saying "because/etc."

Client: i v' '=' t:.

t.t ~ o

Mailta

11li.

(interj.)

(emph.)

" What a fix!" (PL2)

Receptionist:

~.!..

L -r: ,

;.HL

Watashi mo shi1SL1rei
Ume

shire.

kaho-machi

sasere itadakimasu.

also rudeness do/commit-and waiting for good luck will have you allow me to do

" I, too, will excuse myself and have you allow me to wait for good luck."

"Excuse me, but I think I will ask your induleence and join in the waitinl! for l!ood luck."
(PL2)
maitta is the plain/abrupt past form of mairu ("give up/admit defeat/be beaten"); it's often used as an interjection to express the feeling of being "at a loss/dumbfounded/baffled,'' and in such cases it's almost always followed by an emphatic/exclamatory na (or equivalent). See Basic Japanese 30.
shirsurei shire is the -re form of shirsurei suru, literally "commit a rudeness," but idiomatically meaning excuse oneself."
sasere itadakimasu is a roundabout and polite way of saying suru ("will do"); since it literally means " I will
have you allow me to do ... ,"the feeling is something like "I will take the liberty of doing ..."or " I will beg
your indulgence in doing ..."
iH~

Client: ? :; ,
Wa!,

-e

~-r:

dozo made

J.> '=' !!

made= ''Up to/untiVas far as: often idiomatically meaning "even as far as/to the extent of ..." -+ "even .. .''

nere-ru!

(exclam.) statue even

is sleeping

" Yikes! Even the statue is asleep!" (PL2)

Receptionist: :!:{.H

nt*illiiiil

"lf'J!.(!)lQ."

Tosha "ChiikO no So"

this co.

restorer

Araki Genji

(!)

I*'W

no "Kaho

~-r:ffl'-r:
Nere Mate

f~J -e-to
ZO" desu.

(surname-given name) of good luck sleep-and-wait statue

is

" It's the 'Sleep and Wait for Luck' statue of Araki Genii the restorer of this company('s for~"

(PL3)

.t:>~TJ}.f.t~~' o

Oyaswninasai.
good night

A:=..'\'A:=..-\
Munya mwzya

(indistinct moulh sounds)

"Good ni2ht. Mnya mnya." (PL3)

Sh~n

on Desk: ~ft
Ukersuke

Receptionist

to- as a prefix means "this-," so tosha = "this company."

clu7ko= "restoration/revival," and so= "progenitor/originator,"
so clu7ko no so refers to the person credited with bringing about
a restoration/revival: "restorer.''
dozois literally ''bronze statue." but it's also used generically to
mean "statue.'' Statue names often have (Z! zo as the final element of the name, and even when they don't, it's customary to
append zo to the name when speaking about the statue.

mwzya-mu11ya is an FX word for indistinct words/sounds coming from someone's mouth; it's often used as an
FX word for sleeping because of the various sounds people make with their mouths while asleep.
MANGAJIN

83

Voca bul ary Summa r y

From Binbi5 Seikatsu Manyuaru, p. 36

*~
i*iti"'->
~t)

ann
~5}

.t:>i"t.l~

i\1 ~ J.,

honmono
hozon suru
kaori
otozure
shunbun
o -sonae
sugiru

genuine (item)/the real thing

preserve/store (v.)
(pleasant) smeiUfragrance/aroma
arrivaUadvent
vernal (spring) equinox
offering
pass/exceed/go beyond

From Obatarian, p. 40
11:~-t'->

li'Ui"'
Tfr

tt tr tt i

=F-m

chui suru
hoshi-uranai
kan
sakasama
teso

caution/reprimand/correct
horoscope readings
can/tin (n. )
upside down
palmistry/"hand reading"

From Furiten-kun, p . 42
~~

iitlflf:t.J
~~t.l

A-m
i!Ull

~A~~

'li'*
%:~

ekisha
ketsudan -ryoku
kyoaku-na
ninsi5
onwa
satsujin-han
seikaku
Ieinen

fortune-teller
decisiveness
heinous/brutal
physiognomy/"face reading"
mild/mildness
murderer
character/nature
retirement age

From Naniwa Kin 'yiido, p. 45

~~(;,161.>

akirameru
l)tbtl.l.>
arawareru
~ "( 1: t.l J.,
ate ni nart1
atsukau
t&?
benkyo suru
~~T'->
t)i:.g.
buai
.'i!;'.i3'
chiikoku
dans hi
~Ff
doboku
7 71 r
fa ito
lf'f)J~
f udosan
lf'iJt t) ~tlT fuwata ri o dasu
genkin
lJlii
hairu
.Al.>
hirou
t.!i?
hiikoku suru
.ai3'-t'->
hone
11'
hosho-nin
i*1!iEA
hyoka
WHiffi
"'tt ~ J: < isagiyoku
issho-ni
" ' '? L. .t 1:
fi
jifu
j iko
lJI.ai
kake
1m
kansai surt1
~8fT'->
itt) 1.>
kariru
kashitsuke
~#
.::..::..1.>~'->
kokoroeru
kokoro -gake
L'~~It
.::.c.::c< kotogoroku
kotowaru
ltiTbl.>

abandon/give up on (idea/effort)
appear/show up
be reliable/can be counted o n
handle/treat ( v.)
study (v.)
commission(s)/percentage
advice/counsel
male
construction/contracting
energy/fig hting spirit
real estate
default
mo ney/cash
enter
pick up
report (v.)
bone(s)
guarantor/co-signer
evaluation/judgment
manfully/with grace
together
self-confidence/pride
accident
bet/wager
repay completely
borrow
loan(s)
know/understand/be aware of
attitude/intention
entirely/every last one
refuse/turn down

<'f~

fJi~

kuzumono
man ten
maslri-na
matomo-na
mendon
mondai
naritatsu
nenrei
nenri
rippa-na
rirekislro
riyt7
ry(Jslriisho
ryoslu7 suru
saigo no
sanko
shiken
shinjin
slritauke
slrobai
suteru
takak11 naru
teikoku
teishutsu suru
yabai
yatou
yudaneru
yt7slrt7-na
zeikin

*f.:_ J.,

atart/

!lmfl

busslritsu
giiin-sa
gojo
hanna
lrikaru
hisan
inu no fun
keisarsu
kinpika
kizaslri
koban
mabuslrii
makeru
niau
nise
okosu
OtOSLI
otsuri
saifu
san zan
slroten
slrumi
soso
suisho-dama
tsukamu
unki
yobu

i~.~

i L. t.l
ict>t.t

mi~

r,,M

)j)tt)Jl:?
~it
~~J

JL:i*IJ:
/lllffi!f
JJEI:J
iJil/XIDE
~1/XT'->

t1H&Q)
~~
~~

fiT A

Tm

i!'fi7'C

11;"(1.>

i'l:i<t.t'->
1ff00
tfi!:tli"'->
~lilt'

Jiil-?

~tll.>
fl~t.l

trash/waste paper
perfect score
better
straight/honest/decent
interview
problem
be based/founded (on)
age (11.)
annual interest
fine/admirable
resume
reason
receipt
receive (money)
finaUiast
reference
exam
newcomer
subcontractor
business/trade (n.)
discard/throw away
become high/go up
empire
submit
bad/awkward (slang)
hire (v.)
entrust to/reveal
superior/excellent
tax(es)

From Arerugen, p. 66
~!?Itt

~iM

Jj_f.t,
:i'tl.>
~~

:;kQ)lt

-~!::"n
ii
~E L.

~-

112: L. "'
fi It l.>

w,.g..:;,
~

.::.-t
lic-t
1:>-::>t)
M$'
ttlv~lv

16
.@lit
.!fl- 4
;f(db:f

mltr
il)l\
nq;.~

hit the mark/come true

substance
forcefulness/pushiness
stubborn( ness)
reaction
shine/g litter (v.)
misery/wretchedness
dog poop
police (n.)
glittery (with gold)
sign/ome n
police box
bright/dazzling
lose/be defeated
be suitable/befit
fake/imitation
cause/create
drop/lose
change (money)
wallet
severeness/harshness
bookstore
taste/preference
early/immediately
crystal ball
grasp/grip/seize
fate/fortune/luck
call/beckon/summon

The Vocabulary Summary is taken f rom material appearing in this issue of M ANGAJtN. It's not always possible to give the complete
range of meanings fo r a word in this limited space, so our "deflnilions" are based on the usage of the word in a particular story.

84

MANGA JIN