Japanese Curlers Stumble into Spat over Korean Strawberry

choi

Alastair Gale and Mino Inada, Strawberry Jam: Japanese Curlers Stumble into Food Fight; Athlete's praise for Korean fruit left a sour taste at home; $6.75 a berry. Wall Street Journal, Mar 16, 2018 (front page).
https://www.wsj.com/articles/wha ... d-nation-1521130541
http://www.cetusnews.com/life/St ... ight.r1gSzXuKz.html

Note:
(a) This report is NOT behind paywall.
(b) caption of a online photo that does not appear in print: "Luxury fruit retailer Sembikiya in Tokyo last year."

Sembikiya.
http://www.sembikiya.co.jp/en/
("Sembikiya 千疋屋 is Japan's oldest fruit shop. * * * In 1834 (the 5th year of the Tempo era 天保年間) toward the end of the Edo Period [1603-1868], the founder of Sembikiya, Benzo OHSHIMA [another way to romanize is ŌSHIMA] 大島 弁蔵, who was then a samurai in Senbikinogo, Saitama-gun, Musashinokuni 武蔵国埼玉郡 千疋の郷 [also written as 千疋村] (today's Senbiki 千疋屋 in Koshigaya-shi 越谷市, Saitama 埼玉 [県]), set up a store, putting up a sign which read Mizugashi Yasuuri Dokoro 水菓子安うり処, which literally means 'fruits discount store,' in Fukiya cho 葺屋町 (today's Ningyo-cho 3-chome in Nihonbashi 日本橋人形町３丁目) and began selling fruits and vegetables. This was the origin of Sembikiya.  At that time, being located at the origin of Gokaido 五街道, the five main travel roads, Nihonbashi was a vibrant city and was the center of trade and finance")
(i) What is said is that the founder, originally from 武蔵国, set up his first fruit store in Edo, now tokyo (but the quotation did not out either).
(ii) Romanization should be n -- but in English, it is always m, not n, before b or p. That is why there is inconsistency between company name and the quotation.
(iii) I leave the quotation as is (about the long vowel). If I have my way, it should be: Tempō, Benzō ŌSHIMA, Senbikinogō 千疋の郷, Fukiya chō 葺屋町, chōme 丁目, and Gokaidō.
(iv) With identical meaning as in Chinese, 疋 has Chinese pronunciation "hiki" whose h is softened to b when not placed at the first syllable of a compound word.
(v) Quick question: What is '-chome'?  flyertalk.com
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ ... ion-what-chome.html
("ksandness" on May 6, 2009: "Japanese cities are divided into ku 区 * * * The ku are divided into cho, many of which were once independent villages, as old maps of Edo show. In modern Japan, these are roughly equivalent to large neighborhoods.  The cho are divided into chome 丁目which are numbered subdivisions of the cho")

I add kanji in the quotation but otherwise leave it alone --without adding sinal for a long vowel.


(c) Japanese-English dictionary:
* mizugashi 水菓子 【みずがし】 (n): "(1) jelly dessert; (2) fruit"
* yasuuri 安売り 【やすうり】 (n,v): "discount; bargain sale; selling cheaply"
* buki 葺き; 葺 【ぶき】 (suf[fix]): "roofing; roofed with"  (The root/dictinaryform is pronounced fuki, but when used as a suffix -- placed after another word -- the f is softened to b.)
* hoppe ほっぺ 《頬っぺ》 (n): "cheek"
* satsuki 五月; 皐月 【さつき】 (n): "(obs[p;ete]) fifth month of the lunar calendar"
* senshuken 選手権 【せんしゅけん】 (n): "championship; title (of champion)"

(d) various strawberries: "Super Deluxe Tochigi Maiden, Red Cheeks 紅ほっぺ [赤い果肉 flesh of fruit is red; 紅 is pronounced 'beni" -- its Japanese pronunciations], the Skyberry スカイベリー [also huge in size] and the world's heaviest, the Sweet King [あまおうKing, where 'ama-ō' is 甘王, ama is Japanese pronunciation for the 甘, and ō Chinese pronunciation for 王] * * * Scent of First Love 初恋の香り [pronounced 'hatsukoi no ka-ori], which is white but still sweet, and the Love Berry ラブベリー, which is as big as a child's hand and very juicy."

(e)
(i) On March 13, 2018 in Aomori, Aomori 青森県青森市  "Olympic curler Satsuki FUJISAWA" 藤澤 五月 and other members of Japanese curling team promoted Japanese strawberry, in 第11回 全農 [「全国農業協同組合連合会」の略称] 日本ミックスダブルスカーリング選手権大会 Curling mixed doubles Japan championships, which started on Mar 14.
(ii) "a curling team member [Yumi SUZUKI 鈴木 夕湖, female of Japan] declared Korean strawberries 'surprisingly delicious' at an Olympic press conference"
(iii) "Ken SAITŌ 齋藤 健, Japan's agriculture minister"
(iv) "Tsutomu IMURA 伊村 務 [栃木県農業試験場; tsutomu is a verb whose kanji representation can be 務 or 勤], a Japanese official in charge of copyright for vegetables and fruits in Tochigi, the country’s best known strawberry growing prefecture"

Tochigi Prefecture  栃木県
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tochigi_Prefecture
(map)