JAPANESE POP CULTURE &LANGUAGE LEARNING $4.95 MANGAJINNo. 30 JAPANESEHOTELS: theinnsand BREAKFASTINAMER1-----Japanesest NewcomerstoJapan oftenimagine theryokan"Japanese inn") as an earthl y paradise where one's every whim is indulged in an atmosphere of Oriental grace, refinement and beauty. At this ide-ali zedryokan,guestsaregreetedatthe door by the smiling staff and escorted to a room that overlooks a Japanese garden (untilrecentlyagardenwasalegalre-quirement for classification as a ryokan). Thenaftertea and cakes andaveryhot bath,guestsaretreatedtoabanquet of local delicacies. Soothed and sated. they finallydrift off tosleepinfluffy,fresh futon,as the cicadas chirp outside. Bynow atravelwriting cliche, Jhis experience,orsomethingclosetoit,is stillavai lableatbetterryokanthrough-outJapan.lt issometimes overlooked, however, that the experi ence comes at a price.Aone-ni ghtstayatafirst-class ryokan,includi ngthebanquet,canap-proachthe$ 1,000 mark.A Iso, someof themoreexclusiveryokanwillnolac-commodateastranger,foreignor Japa-nese, without aproper introduction. Finally,notallof Japan's 80,000 ryokanarctheparadisesof thetravel magazines.Somearecrowdedwith schoolorcompanygroupswhoparty boisterouslyuntiltheweehoursofthe morning.Othersarevirtuallyindistin-guishablefrom minshuku JX:W, inexpen-sive, often family-run inns where the fa-cilities are more spartan and theservice less personal than at a first-class ryokan. (At a minshuku, the maid will usually not pour your tea or lay out your futon. She will,however,roustyououtof bedat 7:00inthemorning so that she can put the futonaway). Fortunately,thetraditionof hospi-tali tyin Japanis still alive at awide va-riety of other establishments. Though Ja-by MarkSchilling panhasitsshareof standard-brandin-ternationalhotels,itoffersvisitorsa rangeof accommodationsandexperi -encesthattheywillfindnowhere else. How about ani ght in an Edo-era thatch-roofedcottage,atemplethathasbeen shelteringpil grimssi ncethedaysor Murasaki Shikibu, or a love hotel whose roomsarcdecoratedinthestyleof Versailles Palace? Japaneseinnsoncewelcomedpil-grimsontheirwaytotemples,trades-men on their way to market and samurai Aroom In the first-class ryoksn Kagaya Locatedinthe famousWakura hot springs area on the Japan Sea side of Hons hu, the Kagaya has been host to the Showa Emperor and Empress. Aroom In a typical minshuku The Hamayuis a small minshuku on the lzuPeni n-sula; not as luxu-rious as the Kagaya (above), but much more affordable. ontheirwaytobattle.Theymayhave beenas hospitableas theyarcnow,but accommodationswereusuall ymore functionalthan fancy. Then, early in the 16th century,theTokugawa Shogunate ordered feu-dallords)tospendalternativeyearsin the capital , Edo, under the government's watchfuleye.Bykeeping1hedaimyo, along with hundreds of their retainers, on theroadfor lengthyperiodsoftime, the bakufu (liJ;Jff, shogunal government) un-wittinglygaveri setoanewclassof Ilegal requirement= itW: "t')it &?Ght.; .11: hiirit.fu de sadamerareta hitsuyo jclken travel writing cliche=iAJ Q)'ii\':fr 1n)ryokii annai no jiitoku without proper irttroduction = 'f.tt(J))L. i)> 1.> -"'*1:l fr-t:t((najimi kyakunado no) .1/Jikarubeki sh6kai naku boisterously=; 4L.(sozoshiku 1 wee hours (of the morning)= IJl.(i)j sochothatch-roofed= :bwarabuki yane 110pilgrims =:i!HL:lf junreislw retainers=** kerai 10MANGAJIN luxuryinn.calledhonjinwhich evolvedtoaccommodatethelordsand their closestretainers. Lower-ranking re-tainers stayed in what were called waki-honjin ("side-honjin"), more like the inns that cateredto regular travelers. WhentheTokugawa-enforced policyof nationalisolationendedand Westernvisi torsbeganarrivinginthe 1850s,innshadl ongbeenproviding high-class service to wel l-heeled travel-ers.Butforeigners had needsthat Japa-nese-styleinns couldnot easilysati sfy (few, for example, could provide a roast beef dinner,after-dinner brandyor de-cent billiards table). ThefirstWestern-stylehotelor hoteru * 7Jlt,as they are called in Japa-nese, was the Edo, a I 02-room hotel built inTsukiji ,Tokyoin1868.Thebest-knownisprobablytheImperialHotel , which wasopened in1890 asa govern-ment-sponsoredhotelfor forei gndigni -taries and rebui lt in 1923 by Frank Lloyd Wright, just in time to survi ve the Great Kanto Earthquake. Wright's Imperial did notsurvi vcprogress,however;inI 968 it was removed to make way for the cur-rent structure. Thereare now nearly 400 Western-style hotels in Tokyo alone and1,000 na-tionwide. Several. including the Imperial andHotelOkura,aretrulyworldcl ass, andtheroomsresembl etheir counter-partsinParisor NewYork.Japanese travelingonbusinessapparentlyfavor Western-stylelodgingsandasaresult, indowntownTokyoandothermajor commercial centers, it is difficult to find FeatureStory Capsules In a capsule hotel The capsule hotel provides a cocoon-like space for late night revelers whomissed the last train home, or tired salarymen who need a short snooze during the day. Photo courtesy ofKiyosuku In(-'\'3:7.1/), Tokyo. deluxe Japanese-style inns. But for foreigners whose currencies havebeen plunging against theyen,the priceofWestern-styleluxurycomes high. At the Hotel Okura, where Bill and Hillary Cl inton stayed during this year's Tokyo Summit, singles start at 28,000 and a night in the Presidential Sui te costs a deJicit-ballooning 350,000. The Presi-dent.ialSuite.however.isoutrankedby the Imperial Suite, which requires a royal outlay of500,000. Hitby endaka(I"J (.lj,"highyen"), hotel room occupancyrate havefallen aboutI 0percentcomparedwith1992. Also, the percentage of foreign guests is declining." About10 yearsago,nearly 80percent of our guestswereforeign," saidaspokeswomanfortheImperial Hotel."Now it is closer to50percent." To Jure guests back, hotel s are reducing roomrates and offering special package deals. But even with breakfast thrown in, asingleroomundertheOkura's Busi-nessPlancosts 33,000 ($3 17). Thebudget-mindedandtheadven-turous need not despair, however. Japan offersa widevarietyof relati vel ylow-priced accommodations. Among the most common are: Business Hotels (:J * 7 Jv,bijine.whoteru).Theseareno-fri lis hotel sforthebusinesstraveler.The rooms arc often broom-closet smaJJ, the walls paper-thinand,instead ofringing for roomservice, the guestexploresthe contents of the tiny fridge or pads down thehal ltothevendingmachine.Busi-ness hotel s are cheap (about 5,000 for a singleroom)andarereadi lyavailable (you usually don' t have worry about get-ting turned down for a room because of A room in a "love hotel" (photo and verse frompromotional brochure of the Aine Hotel ). Other rooms feature names such as "Jimmy Detec-tive Office," "Sago Sago," "Lady White Story," "Wa Ha Ha," and "Sugar Sugar."

OOZ:X. c < , ... The verse reads: Hoshi-tachi 110sasayaki ga kikoete-kuru ko11nahi wa.sekai-jil no yozora o kimi ni agetai ... "On a day like this whenyou can hear the whispering of the stars, I want to give you the night skies from all over the world ... well-heeled = 'IIHUl t.t.yiifuku-naforeign dignitaries=flllikokuno seifu kokan plunging against the yen= fi1H l.. "( fllli1r!i;I;{Ti7? L..l -:- J.>en ni raishite kachi ga geraku shiteiru deficit-ballooning =$+a-ijl J.:.-tt akaji o zifdai sauru budget-minded =7Jl)(. 1.: f.tJ.,(b*ff ___.!_keihi !Ill ki ni naru (ryoki5slw)no-frills =#""Co'l.>e 110) hniryo 110yukitod_oiue-im goinfor;;;;-Jt{IJ)d1. 7.> - oIOri-irerttlocal lore= :11l!.;t.: C1) ilfijimoro 110 hanashi -- - - - - - - - - ------ -----unreluctantonescanbe foundonalist compiled by the Japan Minshuku Center (8 1-3-321 8-6558). Ratesper person, in-cludingaJapanese-stylebreakfastand dinner, average about 5,000. Pensions/Ya / .Pen-shon): These might be described as West-erni zedminshuku.Foundaroundski slopes and other sporty resort areas. pen-sionsareoftenrunbyurbanescapees whotrytoprovidetheir guestswitha friendly, but trendier and more Western-izedexperiencethanthetypical minshuku. The architecturemuybeter-minallycutesySwisschalet,butthe food--often Western cuis ine using local ingredients with a personal flair-"? "( t....i"' it....t.: J l:v'-? o i?v' i""C'i.l'-1ifilfJJ 1t' G hoi:b I')""C'Iiv' il' t ..'tl. -?oLil'i? t!. tv'bhl.:>o I it! it.: fl!t I i ;?3v' A- t!. il' G j t: t"' vn -c,:tttn"'-Q) s m- I'J n l.:> o G "":) il'hl.:> o.:li {J-?1&:h "( t....i -::>t.: l: v' -J@t.... o:: t

il....(-Jf!o o t 1>tfffih7.:> 0 Garushia-kun,o-tsukare.Sayonara. (name-hon.)(hon.)-tiredness " Goodbye."(PL2) " Thanks for yourGarcia."(PL2) o-tsukare is short for otsukare-sama (deshita), which is from tsukareru, "become tired."The expression isa standard form used to thank a person for efforts that are presumed to have tired him out. Typically, though not necessarily, it also doubles as a "goodbye." Garcia:77 ... Fii . . .(sigh of exhaustion) Man:? Tadaima!Minnagenkika? just noweveryonehealthy/well? "I'mh ome. I severyone doing OK?"(PL2) tadaima literallymeans "right now/just now," but it's the standard greeting used when returning home, like "I' m home!" Wife: it::.j;yc 1:;poArrow:If' falliL-cJ.JJa,mataatodene.Furin0shite-rutsuma well thenagainlater(colloq.)immorality/affair(obj.)doingwife ''Bye. I'll talkto youlater."(PL2)Wife who is having an affair Son:5t11\t:t.ml:t.v't!.l:J 0Arrow: (J)

Genki-nawakenaidaro.Futokonomusuko well/healthyreason/situationnot existprobably/surelynot go to school(=)son " How could I be doing OK?"(PL2)Son who stays homefrom school Sound FX:furin("immorality") commonlyrefersto extramarital Pika piko(sound of computer game)affairs. Man : /\/\/\ -/){/v(f 1.> -t'. !l 0Arrow: i-z'11.-? 0-/{/) *0 Haha haTi5sanganbaruzo.Shinumadeharauron110ie. (laugh)father/dadwill strive hard(emph.)dieuntilpayloan/mongage(=)house " Ha ha ha. Dad's gonna working hard."(PL2)House with mortgage hewill be till hedies. ganbam means to be "dogged/persistent/unflagging" in working toward some goal. Zo is a strong masculine particle for emphasis. shinu made harau("pay until one dies") modifies ron ("loan/mortgage"). MANGAJIN37 by NishimuraSo Nishimura So. All rightsreserved. First published in Japan in1992. Engl ish translation rights arranged through Nishimura So. 38M ANG A J IN Da uh t e r1:-lf 8liA, 1: tf)t.:;ti lJ: ?. KyowaTosannikyiiyooataemasho. .) shall give/providetodayas-fordadtorest/relaxation (obj ' 'Todale t 's giveDad a(dayoO r est."(PL3) ferred to as rosan or s within the fam-'s own father should otosan (the honor-her person). Papa is ed with others. within the family, thefather is typically addressed or re otosan (the o- is honorific, showing respect for his statu ily); when speaking to someone outside the family, one be referred to as chichi and the other person's father as ific o- is obligatory inthis case, out of respect for the ot also widely usedwithin the family,but should not be us rk the target/desti- one of the most common uses of theparticle ni is to rna nation/direction of an action - inthis case theaction o f giving/providing. ataemashii is the PL3 equivalent of ataeyo, the volition aJ(''let's/1 shall") form of ataeru ("give/present/provide"). I: l.t \ t.: t.!. i-t 0 unde itadakimasu.Honwadame.Atamamoyas book as-for must nothead/mindalsorequire to rest " No books. Weneedto haveou r es tvour head too."(PL3) dame ("no good/useless/vain/unacceptable") is common ly used as a word of prohibition ("must not"). , and itadakimasu is er the -te form of f (the action)," but state what they re-assuming authority yasrmde is the-re form of yaswnu (''rest/taketime off') the PL3form of itadaku ("receive" - polite). lradaku aft a verb can be literally translated as "receive the favor o the combi nation is often usedby persons of authority to quire of the listener. In this case the family members are over the father's day off. Daughter 2 :1:tlJ:? 0 masho.Menimokyr7yooarae eyes toalsorest/relaxation (obj.)shall gi " Let'sr estour eyestoo."(PL3) Sound FX:77- 7 Puchi! Click(sound of TV on/off switch, off) velprovide herebeing turned y express what thevolitional forms (-mash5/-yi5/-ii, ''let's/1shall")normal! speaker intends/plans to do, but they can be used to enc thelistener to do something instead- essentially like E shallwe?" might be used to tell someoneto do somethi ourage/command nglish "Let's ... . ng. PL2) f'). offtoo."( yasrmri isthe noun formof yasumu ("rest/take time of II ...,

by Nishimura So Nishimura So.All rights reserved. Fi rst publi shed in Japanin1992. Englishtranslati on rights arranged through Nishimura So. Sign:;;Samiuokaijii summitmeeting place Summit HaJJ Flag:A 77' Swoppu Sto__R samiuo and sutoppu are both katakana renderings of the English words. kaijo is literally "meeti ng place," andit can refer variousl y to a single room. several rooms, an entire building, an outdoor facility, etc., depend-ing on the nature of the meeting. Guard: 7/7Q)s:jJ Torankunonakaoshirabesasete kudasai. trunkofinside(obj.)please allow to check/examine "Please let me check the inside ofour trunk." (PL3) tora11k11i s a katakana rendering of English "trunk." 110 can reflect a wide variety of relationships between two nouns, but basi-callymakes thefirst noun into a modifier for the second.Here 110can be thought of as posessive (''lhe trunk' s inside") or as equivalent to "of' ("inside ofthe trunk"). shirabesasete is the -teform of shirabesaseru, the causative ("make/let do" ) form of shiraberu ("check/examine/look into"). The -te form of a verb plus kudasai makes a polite request, so shirabesasete kudasai = "please allow (me) to examine." 1JI}"/ o bakkari! bakkari! i s a colloquialvariation of bakari, " only/all." Letters (continued from page 4) (PL2) worth noting,though, that your "trusty" Nelson's (copyright 1962 and 1966) does give it as a second reading after sagu(ru), and the character is listed in Nelson's on-kun index under sagasu as well as saguru. The same holds for every other kanji dictionary we've looked at.Basically,thisre-flects actual, long-standing usage,as does inclusion of this reading on the 1973 list we memioned above. Careful writers might still choose to make a distinction betweenrl"t T, using the former when looking for something that is lost/has dis-appeared (e.g.,alostwallet, a fugitive)and thelatterwhenseeking out! attemptingtodiscover aparticular object (e.g.,an apartment,aspecific book inabook store).Inthe latteruse,sagasu has essentiallythesame meaningas("search/explore/probe/sound our"),but theex-pressionfor looking for an apartment isapato o sagasu, not apato o saguru. Since the apartment was never lost, perhaps you can see why some people might have objected to usingn!l T in such a phrase-though it does remain officially acceptable to do so. Standardizationnecessarilytakes atoll onnuance,and writersstill don't stick entirely to the Joyo Kanji chart, but ifit's any consolation, things weremuchworse beforethe Ministry of Educationmoved tostandardize usage.We should all be grateful for what the chart hasM ANGAJIN39 tllffl!N') OBATARIAN Narration::t 7' 1)7/f;J: Obatarianwakuchikarademakaseoiu. obatariansas-formouth fromrandom speech (obj.)say Obatarians run off at the mouth. Signs:-IT1 Sain-kai sign/signature meeting/session Autograph Session Obatarian:ih C, -::> ,ih t:.lbv' v'fJ'lC,? Ara!arashimo11 kashira? (interj.)Umealsogood/okayI wonder "Oh! Iwonder if I could have one, too?"(PL2) Celebrity:!::: 7 f'' o Dozo. please "Certainlv."(PL3) demakase refersto something said without thinking or without any real knowledge, and kuchi kara demakase o iu is an idiomatic expression for "talk off thetop of one's head/make irresponsibleremarks." sainis akatakana rendering of English "sign."Its verb form sain sum means "inscribe one's signature," so as a noun sain means "signature/autograph." Sa in can also refer to signboards or to signs of the kind given in baseball. arashi is a colloquialwatashi ("lime"), used almost exclusively by women. dozo means " please" in thesense of granting permission or a favor ("please go ahead/please feelfreeto ...") rather than of asking afavor. Obatarian: h.t:.v'.4-B Kyii,yumemirai.Kyokiteyokatta- ! (squeal of delight) dreamis liketoday came-andam glad " Wow!It's like a dream. I'm (so) glad I came to-day!"(PL2) Sound FX:-IT7-IT 7 Sarasara(effect of writing s moothly) kite is the -te form of kuru ("come"), and yokatla is the plain/abrupt past form of the adject ive iilyoi ("good/fine"). The expression .. . -te yokaua means "I'm glad I.. ./I'm happy to have ... 0Obatarian:7 hlv'--::> o-r:77/"f:T(J) o Ureshii-!Kazoku-jfidefandesuno. delighted/happyentire family(scope)fansis/are(explan.) " I' m so hap..J!V!Our whole familv are fans."(PL3) *:i:li1'b --::> o Kahonishimasuwa- ! family treasuretowill make(fem. colloq.) " We'll make it a family treasure!"(PL3) Celebrity:J\J\ 1\o Ha ha ha.(pleased/gratified laugh) -jil is a suffix meaning "throughout -," so kazoku-jii ="throughout the fam-ily"--> "our entire family." desu no is afeminine equivalent of the e xplanatory form na no desu, which follows nouns to mean literally "the situation is that I am/we are/it is .. ." shim(lsu is the PL3form of suru ("do/make"). Obatarian:::. hf.t !v"( iT(J)? Korenanteyomimasuno? thiswhat(quote)read(explan.-?) ' 'How do you read this?"(PL3) nan is a contraction of nani ("what") and te is a colloquial variation of quotative to.Nan te (yomu) = "(read) as what"--> " how (do you read)." yomimasu isthe PL3form of yomu ("read"). Asking a question with explana-tory no after a PL3 verb sounds distinctlyfeminine, thoughmen frequently ask questions with no after plain/abrupt (PL2) verbs. the fact that Obatarian can't read the celebrity's stylized signature shows that she doesn't even know who heis. HonaKatsuhiko.Allrightsreserved.Firstpubl ished in Japan in1990 by Take Shobo, Tokyo.English 1ransla1ionrights arrangedlhrough Take ShobO. 40MANGAJI N OBATARIAN 'I :_0: I\ I byfJHlEBtJ}-::> VZ:.IHotta Katsuhiko Narration:; lvt':t -:>"C Sono kawari,wataslzinoiukotookichin tomamollekudasai. in exchange for 1ha1I(subj .)saylhings(obj.)exaclly/fullyobey/adhere 10please " But please adhere exactlyjo what I say."(PL3) i-r >;: lv 1.'"=fl;yi1.'"1.'"f,f.; lv 1.'"' Mazukusurionondesanjimadeheyadeyaswzde, firslmedicine(obj.) drink-and3:00unlilroominrest/sleep-and :=11.f 'f.1:b 1- Jl.:. .:.......,*"(,$fll.>;: J.> o sanjilwnnimiiiclzidokokoekiteshinryooukeru. 3:30almoreoncehere10come-and examina1ion(obj.)receive "First of all.,take thatmedicine and rest in vour room until 3:00thenat 3:30 come back here for another examination."(PL2) 1\fi :d.; C:> f&: 1.'" -rtJ' tJ' f'J"'? It ;:Zuibunktmjaoamayakashite-iruja nai ka.' very/quite paticnl(obj.)are pampering/spoilingare younot? " You certainly_pamperyour patients, don' t you?"(PL2) Dr. Jinbo: ltR h o.:tl *rJv -ct.>