Authentic Japan in Gyakuten Saiban pt. 5
Long time no see, my dears!
Due to some circumstances, I had to take a break, but I have something interesting in store for you.
Continuing the topic of Japan in GKS and what was mercilessly lost in localization.
Today, our focus will be on the 3-3 Recipe for Turnabout (in Japanese 逆転のレシピ (Gyakuten no Reshipi)) and one of its most prominent representatives - Old man.
His name in the original is 五十嵐将兵 (Shōhei Igarashi), but Naruhodo will simply call him "Old man" (ジーサン (jīsan)) behind his back during their first (and subsequent) meetings.
Shōhei contains the kanji for "officers and soldiers" (将兵).
Igarashi means "fifty" (五十) and "storm"/"a difficult problem" (嵐).
His full name could therefore be read as "fifty storms of officers and soldiers".
The localization preserved his connection to a family of traditional artisans, but somehow played with the name - if he's so committed to tradition, as he himself tells us, then a name of Latin origin fits in here like an elephant in a kitchenware store, even though it matches the meaning of his surname. He was born long before the trend of giving children Western names to be modern, and he himself would never have changed his name, so this raises questions about the necessity of the effort. Fine.
The first thing he manages to tell us in the traditional manner is the story of やまとなでしこ (yamatonadeshiko) - a woman who displays the feminine virtues of old Japan, when he complains to Naruhodo that "modern girls have no shame."
うら若い婦女子が、あんな はしたないカッコウで!
A youthful maiden, in such vulgare attire!
はしたない (hashitanai) - vulgare, low, immodes, shameful
カッコウ (kakkou) - appearance, posture, shape, attire
By the way, this word is read the same way as "cuckoo"
は、“はしたない”って････ あの制服のコトですか?
So, "vulgare"... are you talking about that uniform?
ま、まったく、最近の婦女子は “恥ぢらい”というモノを知らん!
Honestly! Modern maidens these days have no shame!
恥ぢらい (hajirai) - shame
ああ、ヤマトナデシコは
枯れはててしまったワイ!
Ah, the Yamato nadeshiko has utterly withered away!
Wai (ワイ) is an old-fashioned or regional (Kansai) masculine exclamatory suffix that gives a phrase an archaic and dramatic tone.
大和 (yamato) - this is the old name of Japan, from which other words characterizing the traditional country come: 大和魂 (yamatodamashii) - the Japanese spirit, 大和言葉(yamatokotoba) - native Japanese word and etc.
ナデシコ (nadeshiko) - Dianthus superbus/woman
Incidentally, there's already one representative of the yamatonadeshiko archetype in the GKS (at least that's what her design was based on) - Susato Mikotoba. Her clothes are, of course, typical of the Meiji period, but her outlook on life is very progressive and she doesn't like being discriminated against just because she's a girl.
The typical yamatonadeshiko archetype includes modesty, grace, submissiveness, loyalty, and the ability to handle household chores, despite a fragile appearance.
But that's why it's an outdated term, so modern girls don't strive to emulate it. And no one cares what the old man wants anymore.
And even when Mayoi tells him that she actually wears Japanese clothing (wafuku), he chides her for "not being graceful enough" to resemble a yamatonadeshiko.
････あたし、和服着てますよ?
...I'm wearing a japanese clothes, you know?
アンタは、しとやかさが足りん!
You're not graceful enough!
和服 (wafuku) - japanese clothes, loose robe
(The word "kimono" does exist in Japanese, but it's written differently - 着物 and is distinguished by the length of the garment - it reaches the floor. Now let's remember what Mayoi wears.)
しとやか (shitoyaka) - graceful, ladylike, modest, gentle, polite, quiet, well-mannered, refined (behavior)
Old man is so committed to the old language that he does not tolerate any borrowing from "Western" languages.
“女給”････は、よくありません。 ウエイトレスさん、ですな。
"Girl serving at table" is not a good word. It's "waitress."
Old man uses the word 女給 (jokyū), which comes from the shortened form of the Japanese word "女给仕" (jōkyūji) and means "waitress" or "hostess", but it connotes a different atmosphere.
女 (jo) - girl
給仕 [kyūji] - to serve (at table)
In the 1930s in Taiwan, during the Japanese occupation, this was a coffee shop waitress, but in addition to the general duties of serving customers, they also played the role of a socializer and entertainer, which included ambiguous interactions, physical contact, and a romantic atmosphere (you get the idea, right? es court).
You can read the article here or here
By the way, if you watched Mononoke (2007), one of the characters in the final episode is a coffee shop waitress (Chiyo Nomoto), who also offered such services to live well.
And if the old man had used the full word, there would have been no questions about him, but since he used an abbreviation that means "that" word, then naturally the judge convicted him for it.
Instead, our judge corrects him and tells him to use the word ウエイトレス (ueitoresu), which means "waitress" but is pronounced like a Japanese word (hence it's written in katakana), and even adds -san to show respect.
アンタみたいなジイさんまで、 西洋かぶれかッ!
Even an old man like you is a Western fanatic!
The word かぶれ (kabure) in this context means that a person blindly or excessively imitates or is carried away by something foreign and sounds like a harsh reproach.
ワシに言わせれば、トイレは便所!
ティッシュはあくまで、ちり紙!
In my opinion, a toilet is a latrine! A tissue is nothing more than just plain wiping paper!
便所 (benjo) - lartine, lavatory, water closet
Consists of two kanji:
便 (ben) - convenience, facility, excrement
所 (sho) - place, extent
It appeared sometime in the 15th century (1400+) during the Muromachi period and was only in active use until the 1970s, when it has now been largely replaced with お手洗てあらい (o-tearai, “washroom”) or even トイレ (toire, “toilet”) and sounds dated.
ちり紙 (chirigami) - wiping paper, toilet paper, where:
ちり(chiri) - trash, garbage, rubbish, dirt
紙 (kami) - paper
ティッシュ (tisshu) accordingly, the modern name for tissues and toilet paper.
もっと、自分の国のコトバを
タイセツにせにゃイカンですぞ!
You must cherish the words of our own country more, I tell you!
せにゃイカンですぞ (senya ikan desu zo)
This phrase means a strong obligation or statement (must/have to do something), but is framed in a very archaic, bossy, or didactic male manner of speech.
And no matter how much Naruhodō himself loves his language and finds fault with those who distort it, he cringes at this old man almost more than anyone else.
We'll continue with this in the next part, there are many more cultural references.
