Japan Was the Future That Never Arrived

choi

Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, Japan Was the Future but It's Stuck in the Past. BBC, Jan 20, 2023.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-63830490

Note:
(1) in Japan: "after you've finished paying off your mortgage in 40 years, it [the house you live in] is worth almost nothing."

Are 30 years a lifetime? Why the Japanese prefer brand new homes.  Housing Japan, Apr 13, 2020.
https://housingjapan.com/blog/ar ... er-brand-new-homes/
(2) "When I arrived in Japan for the first time in 1993, it wasn't the neon-lit streets of Ginza and Shinjuku that struck me - nor the wild 'Ganguro' fashion of the 'Harajuku' girls. It was how much richer Japan felt than anywhere else I'd been in Asia"
(a) Ganguro
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganguro
(section 2 Etymology)
(b) Japanese-English dictionary:
* gangan ガンガン[P]; がんがん (adv): "(3) (on-mim) (col[loquial]) fully; vigorously; hard (eg working); flat out"   (ガンガン is katakana, whereas がんがん, hiragana.)
* kuro-i 黒い 【くろい】 (adj): "(1) black  (2) dark; blackish; sun-tanned (skin)"
(c) Harajuku Girls
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harajuku_Girls     
("backup dancers featured in stage shows and music videos for Gwen Stefani")

Harajuku 原宿 is a neighborhood in Shibuya-ku 渋谷区.


(3) "In Taipei, where I was studying Chinese, the streets thronged to the sound of two-stroke scooters spewing acrid smoke"
(a) motorcycle engine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorcycle_engine
("Motorcycle engines are typically two-stroke or four-stroke internal combustion engines")

Click "four-stroke" and the new Wiki page shows the four strokes.
(b) The Four Stroke Engine. Harley-Davidson,
file:///C:/Users/Patron.DPL/Downloads/article-four-stroke-engine-17.pdf

full text consisting of 3 paragraphs:

"The sound of a Harley-Davidson® motorcycle is highly recognizable and unmistakable. But what causes that significant sound?

"The heart of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle is the engine. Harley-Davidson motorcycles are powered by an internal combustion engine. This means the engine burns fuel inside.

"There are four strokes or stages in the engine cycle. The four strokes of the cycle are intake, compression, ignition, and exhaust. Bike lingo for this is: suck, squeeze, bang and blow. Each 180 degree turn of fly-wheel is one event stroke. The flywheel must make two revolutions to complete
one power cycle of the motor.

(4) "From New York to Sydney, ambitious parents were imploring their offspring to "learn Japanese". I had wondered whether I'd made a mistake plumping for Chinese."

plump (vi): "to favor or decide in favor of someone or something strongly or emphatically —used with for"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plump
(5) " 'Baburu Jidai [時代]' or the bubble era"
, where baburu is katakana for bubble.
(6) "You start to appreciate the quirks - like the four petrol station attendants who clean all your car windows while they fill the tank and bow in unison as you depart."

"Originally, Japanese gas stations were full-service only, with a few attendants waiting around for customers and then providing their service energetically with a smile. Self-service gas stations are becoming more and more common these days. * ** Self-service gas stations are indicated by the セルフ ([katakana for and pronounced] serufu) signs"  from the Web.
(7) "The geeks and oddballs love it for its wonderful weirdness. But it also has alt-right admirers for refusing immigration and maintaining the patriarchy."

alt-right
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt-right
("an abbreviation of alternative right * * * the alt-right originated in the United States during the late 2000s * * * Seeking to distance themselves from the violent, skinhead image of neo-Nazi and KKK groups")
(8) "I remember sitting in a village hall on the Boso Peninsula on the far [east; 'far' from viewpoint of a Tokyoite] side of Tokyo Bay."

Bōsō Peninsula  房総半島
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bōsō_Peninsula
(section 2 Etymology)
(9) "In 1868 the Samurai surrendered their swords, cut their hair, put on Western suits and marched into the ministries in Kasumigaseki (the government district of central Tokyo) and they're still there today."
(a) Kasumigaseki  霞ケ関
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasumigaseki
is a 町 next to Nagatachō 永田町, both of which are in 千代田区, where the Imperial Palace 皇居 is.
(b) The 霞 in Japan means haze (as in Japanese term 雲霞 clouds and haze). The 晚霞 in Chinese is 夕焼け (pronounced yūyake) in Japanese, and "evening glow" in English.
(c) The following are from the same source -- first in English and then in Japanese.
(i) The History of Kasumigaseki. Government Buildings Department, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism
https://www.mlit.go.jp/english/2 ... ngs/01_history.html
(ii) 「霞が関」の由来. 国土交通省, 官庁営繕部, undated
https://www.mlit.go.jp/gobuild/kasumi_history_kasumi_history.htm

(10) "Shinzo Abe * * * was * * * grandson of another prime minister, Nobusuke Kishi. Grandpa Kishi was a member of the wartime junta and was arrested by the Americans as a suspected war criminal [A級戦犯被疑者 (due to his work as 軍需次官 during WW
II; he was not charged, let alone tried)]. But he escaped the hangman and in the mid-1950s helped found the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)"

Nobusuke KISHI  岸 信介
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobusuke_Kishi
(1896-1987; "Kishi later served in the wartime cabinet of Prime Minister Hideki Tōjō [東條 英機] as Minister of Commerce [商工省 商工大臣] and [subsequently] Vice Minister of Munitions [軍需省 軍需次官 (right below 軍需大臣)], and co-signed [as 商工大臣] the declaration of war against the United States [米國及英國ニ對スル宣戰ノ詔書] on December 7 [Dec 8 in Japan], 1941. * * * Kishi was instrumental in the formation of the powerful Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) through a merger of smaller conservative parties in 1955")
(11) "This form of pork-barrel politics is one reason so much of Japan's coastline is blighted by tetra pods * * * "

tetrapod (structure)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrapod_(structure)

I grew up in City of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. In 1960s, These things suddenly appeared on some seacoasts there (and haven been since). Governments gave no explanation. Some people speculated about erosion, while some others (including me) measures against amphibious landing.
(12) "These rural strongholds are crucial now because of demographics. They should have reduced [in number] as millions of young people moved to cities for work. But that never happened.
Tokyo's first female governor Yuriko Koike
(13) "At midday we squeezed into a tiny restaurant for a 'set lunch' of grilled mackerel, sashimi and miso soup."
(a) I do not think there is "set lunch" in Japanese, but set meal only. The term "set lunch" seems to be ENGLISH.
(b) Japanese-English dictionary:
* ei-zhen 営繕 【えいぜん】 (n,v): "maintenance and repair; upkeep (of equipment)"
* tei-shoku 定食 【ていしょく】 (n): "set meal" (Its antonym is アラカルト arakaruto -- katakana for a la carte.)
(14)
(a) Yuriko KOIKE  小池 百合子
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuriko_Koike
(1952- ; Tokyo governor 2016- / table: Political party  independent (2018–) [switched parties numerous times])
(b) The yuri, ko, ike 池 are all Japanese pronunciations of respective kanji.