masahi: (Asaji Saki desu)
masahi ([personal profile] masahi) wrote2010-01-22 07:01 pm

Translation: Deja Vu

Though it may not seem apparent so much now, I am still a happy Asaji Saki fan. I have recently started a project to translate her Deja Vu book. It's basically a semi-journal written during the months when she was moving from Nibante to Top Star and the events surrounding it, made all the more eventful by the Kobe earthquake.

Since my written Japanese is pretty much non-existant, I suspect it could take a long time, and some of the translation may be not-quite-100% accurate, but I hope to put across the general meaning of the thing.

Deja Vu: The Introduction

Much of this memoir is reflecting on events from three years ago, when I moved from Nibante to Top Star.

To be honest, it was interesting and difficult to write this memoir, knowing what to put in and whether you should include this connection or not include that one.

Instead of making up the reports of others, I tried to informally describe my experience based on the bare facts and in my own words.

Written over a number of months, it was important to be able to look back and see the honest feelings and thoughts again, two years on, for myself and for others.

Now, with it all collected up in one volume, reading it again, I am both embarrassed by my poor writing and reminded of those times and how we handled it.

Because things are ephemeral and disappear with time, some recollections fade in the present, but through this memoir, the important thing to me is that my memories remain, which is a precious treasure to have.

Many heartfelt thanks to everyone who has cooperated in the publication of this book, including various teachers, Dr Shenchin and the Chief Director Ueda Shinji.

And, from my time as an underclassman until the day I leave Takarazuka, I want to sincerely thank Miyata Tatsuo for the images that he has left behind.

I offer this memoir with my best wishes, to all those I have mentioned, and to all those who read it.

May 1997

Asaji Saki
everchangingmuse: oozora yuuhi as phillipe from Seal of Roses (concentrate phillipe concentrate)

[personal profile] everchangingmuse 2010-01-23 04:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Aren't there some types of words that use one or the other exclusively? Like, animals are in katakana, but people/job titles in hiragana? I'm trying to remember my (extremely extremely) limited Japanese - gleaned from subtitled shows, raw shows, a few books I've found at used bookstores (before my brother "borrowed" them for his own classes and they disappeared) and my "My Japanese Coach" game on my DS. Yeah, really piecemeal, but classes in my area are non-existent, and the Latin eats up a lot of my language time. I'm hoping this summer to do some more extensive self-study in the language.