Book One Chapter 1: 青豆:見かけにだまされないように Haruki Murakami's 1Q84

So, my teacher and his wife looked into this a bit more, since they weren’t exactly sure about it either, and turns out こと is the kun’yomi of 殊. So according to them they’re exactly the same thing, and has nothing to do with 事.

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I asked my teacher about this, and he basically confirmed what I said.

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It has been a bit quiet in here, so I thought I’d point out a sentence that I found quite unusual:

p. 21, right in the middle:
午後の三時過ぎは通常であれば、三号線の上りが渋滞する時間帯ではない。

The meaning is roughly “Usually there is no traffic jam at that time on this part of this highway.” so there is no issue, but when I first looked at the pieces:

午後の三時過ぎは - Speaking of “after 3pm”
通常であれば、- if it were normal
三号線の上りが渋滞する - creating a traffic jam on Highway #3 (inbound)
時間帯ではない - it is not a timeslot that does this.

I found it weird that it is the timeslot that is in focus here, and especially this traffic jam sounded so active… Having thought about it a bit more, maybe “to be congested” might be a better wording for it?

午後の三時過ぎは - Speaking of “after 3pm”
通常であれば、- if it were normal
三号線の上りが渋滞する - Highway #3 (inbound) being congested
時間帯ではない - timeslot is not.

Still I find it weird that it’s mainly talking about the timeslot. Can you relate to this, or do you have further insights for me as to why it is being described like this?

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Well, since highways usually have times where there is more traffic than at other times of day, I don’t necessarily find it weird… You would think the inbound highway would be quiet in the afternoons, since traffic is usually leaving the city by then. Contrasting with the morning, when you would expect heavy traffic on that highway?

It has, hasn’t it? :sweat_smile: I was spending time with my boyfriend and his parents, so I was preoccupied. Plus, I recently got a VPN, so I’m watching a lot of Netflix… I’ll blame it on the heat!

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Well, of course I understand the meaning and why she thinks this. It’s just that in English I would probably say:

This highway is usually not congested at this time of the day.

while the sentence is more phrased like

This timeslot is usually not a congested one on this highway.

It’s this difference in focus that somehow makes it a bit weird for me. :woman_shrugging:

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‘At this time of day it’s usually not that busy on this highway.’ sounds equally plausible to me, though :woman_shrugging:

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Yes, that would be plausible to me as well, but the noun that’s used here is 時間帯 which I read as timeslot, and I’m wondering why it is emphasized in that way.
I was more expecting something like 街道 (to refer to Highway No. 3) or even の (to refer to the topic of “after 3 pm”), but not 時間帯…

But I guess it’s just the way Murakami decided to phrase it and there is no rational explanation :upside_down_face:

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I mean, it has to be a time period, since the topic of the sentence is one as well.
I guess I just don’t see what is strange in that sentence :upside_down_face:

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Yeah, looks like it’s just me, which is totally fine. :slight_smile:

While in general this book is not difficult to read for me, I somehow got tripped up by this sentence and it was stuck in my head for a few days, so I thought I’d check back whether there might be something special about it. I guess the essence of what I find weird is that the timeslot is being qualified with the road having a congestion.

Anyways, thanks for both your input!

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I think she is trying to justify her decision to go on the highway. And that’s why she mentions the time of day twice? Like, nobody would have been able to predict this kind of traffic, so I was still right to tell the driver to take this highway.

But, as Naphthalene said, the timeslot is still the subject of the sentence.

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「そうですね、火災会談に似ています。ほら、古いビルの裏側によくついているようなやつ。特に危険はありません。高さはビルの三階ぶんくらいありますが、普通に降りられます。いちおう入口のところに柵がついていますが、高いものじゃないし、その気になればわけなく乗り越えられます。」

Having a bit of trouble with the bolded sentence. I’m not sure what to make of その気になればわけなく. I wanted to hear your thoughts on this. Page 23, left side. Wasn’t able to find anything with a quick look in DoJG.

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I found this: 訳無い(わけない)の意味 - goo国語辞書
(Oh, and jisho also knows it)

For the rest, I took it to be straightforward:

その気になれば - in case you are worried
わけなく - easily
乗り越えられます - can climb over

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Ah okay, that’s simple. Thanks!

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Jisho says that その気になる means to feel like it or to get to think that way, so it seems to me more like a matter of actually wanting to do it or not rather than worrying it might not work.
This sentence caught my attention too, but breaking it up into the right expressions was really helpful. Thank you!

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Oh, derp! I did not look that bit up because of course I know 気になる (ahahaha well :woman_facepalming:). Thanks for double-checking!

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I went ahead and started the next thread! Book One Chapter 2: 天吾:ちょっとした別のアイデア Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84

What are everyone’s feeling/thoughts about the first chapter? Let’s use spoiler tags. I’ll update with my thoughts after I actually finish reading the chapter :joy: :sweat_smile:

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Also, another question regarding this chapter:

On page 24 driver says: 「ここに座って良い音で音楽を聴きながら、のんびりしてらしても、私としちゃちっともかまいません。…」

I wouldn’t at all mind sitting here while listening to music with good sound, even if it seems lazy.

Should I read that らして as らしくて? Is this a typo, or some grammar I don’t recognize?

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Turns out you’re not the only one with this question :slight_smile:

のんびりしてらしても | WordReference Forums

TL;DR it’s not らしい but いらっしゃる…

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Thanks! I had noticed a slight change in his tone from before… this fits into that quite well.

Annoying that っ disappears in this short form. Would have made it more easily recognizable… So it’s basically していても

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I really like it! I must confess that this book was part of my reason for learning Japanese - I read it in German right about when I started to dive into Japanese, and I liked its beautiful language so much that I wanted to read it in the original, which I do now :blush:

And so far it’s not letting me down. I reread about half of the first chapter in German after I read it in Japanese because I wanted to double-check on some tiny things, and I must say that until now I like the Japanese version even much better than the German one. So, mission accomplished :+1:

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