Being the one with the disposable income, I was able to get my brother’s family a Wii U for Christmas some years back, and a Switch this past Christmas. When there are many kids in the family, it’s hard to wrap a present for the whole family and then one person’s the one to open it. What was done for the Switch was, it was put into a box and giftwrapped, and the name of one of my brother’s kids was put on it. Then that box was put into another box and giftwrapped, and another kid’s name on it. Then that was boxed up and wrapped with another kid’s name on it. Pretty much everyone in the family had to participate in unwrapping that gift.
My enthusiasm for this book is ebbing away. I just don’t much like the people. The only character I really enjoy is Boy-roomba! And of course the description of Japanese office life is painful. My wife regularly does 12-hour days in her office, it is entirely normal in Japan, but it wrecks body and mind.
But anyway, thank you to whoever it was that just updated the word-list! You’ve inspired me to keep going for a while! My main problem seems to be page 76. This is what I’ve got. Any help much appreciated!
それってつまり2 - that + quotation particle + “that is to say” = ???
出社前 - before leaving for work
スーツに 着がえていた ときのこと - while I was getting changed into my suit
パパ - daddy
なんか - “something…” (I’m not sure about this)
へっ!? - eh?!
白シャツ - white shirt
べ０マックスみたい - you look like Baymax (kid speaking)
白ジャージ - white jersey (for me a jersey is a cotton jumper, clearly in Japan it means something more like a tracksuit, including the bottoms)
それって あの… - that + quotation particle + that = ???
全身 真っ白だから だよね? - because I am completely white from head to toe? (dad speaking)
体型じゃ ないよね!? - It’s not because of the shape of my body is it?! (dad speaking)
I’m sure I’ve made a mess of this. And why is the kid crying at the end?
This, and the previous section (それってつまり) have punchlines where someone summarizes the events or words with a funny phrase. つまり certainly can be translated as “that is to say”, but I feel in this case, it is more natural to think of it as “in other words”. The それって is basically a placeholder that represents all the events and stuff that are about to be summarized “in other words”.
My understanding is that なんか is (yet another) japanese expression that is hard to translate since its meaning is quite vague. “Something” works in many cases, but in this case it is closer to “Somehow”. In this particular scenario: “Somehow… you look like Baymax”
This is using the same construction as the title. “それって” refers to what the kid just said… and あの in this case is just a generic expression that shows that he’s confused, in a similar way as in English one would say "… erm… " or an inconclusive “… that’s… eh…”.
I arrived to the same translations for those two speech bubbles too.
I read this as はずがない meaning “it is (highly) unlikely that”. I thought what happened in this page is he is imaging the scene of him going to the illuminations with his family, and he finishes by saying - “But it’s unlikely that this is going to happen…” because he’s going to be far too busy at work.
I don’t see the point of coming home on the first train, surely easier just to stay at work! Unless this is the Christmas morning scene starting and he’s trying to get home before the kids open their presents maybe.
I don’t really think you can omit the ない in this sort of sentence.
My thought precisely. I’ve seen anime where they come home on the first train so they can get changed and have breakfast or something in time to catch their regular train back to work again a few hours later.
Yeah, but then you’d have to be working. Better to go home (sleep on the train for a bit) and, like Belthazar says, have breakfast and change your clothes etc.
But in this case, I think you are right - he also wants to get home to see the kids unwrap their presents!
Wow I was so far away on this culturally!! Reading it again he is describing that this is the period of time when they work so hard they come home on the first train of the day, it’s not a one off. When I was first translating it I assumed he was going in early to work because he was working such long hours - it took a while to click that he was actually regularly pulling an all nighters and just nipping home for a couple of hours at 5am (I think that’s when the trains start).
Poor Shingo!
@Belthazar I see what you mean about はずがない. I’ll update the vocab list.
Thanks all, once again the discussion thread has been really helpful understanding the story!
I get the feeling he’s complaining that it’s not fair - “yourself only” - he wanted a longer hug but she’s already recharged her batteries and doesn’t need more.
I wasn’t sure if she was saying Baymax to tease him again he’s fat or because his hugs have healing properties!
Thanks both. I wasn’t quite sure what you’d done there Chris but I think that とは means definition of - so you’re basically asking google in Japanese - what is the definition of X?
And the response in this case is that ずる means “an unfair thing”.
Correct. It’s the Japanese language equivalent to typing “define unfair” into Google, and getting a definition.
You can also type a grammar point into Google followed by とは, and get some Japanese pages explaining the grammar. Right now, I’m mostly restricted to reading English pages on Japanese grammar, but the 「wordとは」 vocabulary word definitions via Google tend to be fairly simple for common words.
Yup. So Shingo is saying that the thing of 「自分だけ」 is unfair (as you had originally gotten from it).
Herro! Now I am here too. Yes, I’m trying to catch up. :3
Enjoyable reading and I tried to really pay attention to the really nice art style (I like it), because I too often get so engrossed in understanding to see it. (When I read manga in languages I knew well, I’d get too interested in the story and barely glance at the images for that reason.)
