Hanchou Episode 2 - Notes of Doom
Sorry these notes are so late! Time sort of got away from me. ^^;; There are only three this time (maybe to make up for the excess of last time) but they're all pretty intricate in meaning.
Zaibatsu - The term "zaibatsu" is used to refer to a number of Japanese financial superpowers that reached the height of their influence between the beginning of the Meiji Era (1868) and the end of World War II, although several of them got their start as early as the 1600's. They were family run monopolies that had strong political connections and thus were able to influence national and foreign policies. During the USA's occupation of Japan, the most powerful zaibatsu were dissolved and most of the rest were reorganized, so, technically, zaibatsu no longer exist. However, many of the businesses spawned from these organizations are still very much in existence today, and many of them are still run by the same families that started them.
Among the zaibatsu the most powerful were referred to as "the Big Four," consisting of Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Sumitomo, and Yasuda. If you've watched Hana Yori Dango, the F4 and their families were probably inspired by these four companies. ^_^
Here's a link to the surprisingly informative wiki article, and a link to a page chronicling the origins and development of some of the more well known zaibatsu.
"There's no accounting for taste"/"Tade kuu mushi mo sukizuki" - "Tade" is a type of plant that, while edible, has very bitter leaves. The saying literally translates something like, "Some bugs love tade." The implication is that everyone has their own tastes, what you may hate others may like, and there is no rhyme or reason to it. Thus, we have the English "there's no accounting for taste," which has a slightly more negative connotation...but given the way Mizuno feels about Takano, we felt the translation was appropriate... ^^;;
Shinjuu/Lovers' suicide - The word "shinjuu" is usually translated as "double suicide." Shinjuu is generally committed when a couple cannot be together because of external circumstances, generally conflicts between their families, or between their "honor/duty" and their feelings. It was a popular subject for plays and bunraku (a formal and highly artistic style of puppet theater) in Japan, and it can still be found in movies, dramas, novels and manga in contemporary Japan. Unfortunately, it is also still practiced to some extent. Generally, in the stories, the couple will plan a time to meet and then they go somewhere together to die. They do anything from take poison, to walk into a river to drown themselves, to jump into a volcano.
Interestingly, the kanji for "shinjuu" is "kokoro" (heart, mind, spirit) and "naka" (center, inside, core). The idea of death or suicide isn't directly stated at all. Instead, it is seen as the expression of one's truest feelings: if you cannot live without the one you love, but you cannot live with yourself if you betray everything and everyone else you hold dear, then this is the only path left.
Some people say that Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is a good example of shinjuu, but I disagree. Shinjuu is something planned, something deliberate. It is undertaken with some sense of dignity in addition to the despair, and it is done so that both parties die within moments of each other. That's not what happens in Romeo and Juliet...
Zaibatsu - The term "zaibatsu" is used to refer to a number of Japanese financial superpowers that reached the height of their influence between the beginning of the Meiji Era (1868) and the end of World War II, although several of them got their start as early as the 1600's. They were family run monopolies that had strong political connections and thus were able to influence national and foreign policies. During the USA's occupation of Japan, the most powerful zaibatsu were dissolved and most of the rest were reorganized, so, technically, zaibatsu no longer exist. However, many of the businesses spawned from these organizations are still very much in existence today, and many of them are still run by the same families that started them.
Among the zaibatsu the most powerful were referred to as "the Big Four," consisting of Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Sumitomo, and Yasuda. If you've watched Hana Yori Dango, the F4 and their families were probably inspired by these four companies. ^_^
Here's a link to the surprisingly informative wiki article, and a link to a page chronicling the origins and development of some of the more well known zaibatsu.
"There's no accounting for taste"/"Tade kuu mushi mo sukizuki" - "Tade" is a type of plant that, while edible, has very bitter leaves. The saying literally translates something like, "Some bugs love tade." The implication is that everyone has their own tastes, what you may hate others may like, and there is no rhyme or reason to it. Thus, we have the English "there's no accounting for taste," which has a slightly more negative connotation...but given the way Mizuno feels about Takano, we felt the translation was appropriate... ^^;;
Shinjuu/Lovers' suicide - The word "shinjuu" is usually translated as "double suicide." Shinjuu is generally committed when a couple cannot be together because of external circumstances, generally conflicts between their families, or between their "honor/duty" and their feelings. It was a popular subject for plays and bunraku (a formal and highly artistic style of puppet theater) in Japan, and it can still be found in movies, dramas, novels and manga in contemporary Japan. Unfortunately, it is also still practiced to some extent. Generally, in the stories, the couple will plan a time to meet and then they go somewhere together to die. They do anything from take poison, to walk into a river to drown themselves, to jump into a volcano.
Interestingly, the kanji for "shinjuu" is "kokoro" (heart, mind, spirit) and "naka" (center, inside, core). The idea of death or suicide isn't directly stated at all. Instead, it is seen as the expression of one's truest feelings: if you cannot live without the one you love, but you cannot live with yourself if you betray everything and everyone else you hold dear, then this is the only path left.
Some people say that Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is a good example of shinjuu, but I disagree. Shinjuu is something planned, something deliberate. It is undertaken with some sense of dignity in addition to the despair, and it is done so that both parties die within moments of each other. That's not what happens in Romeo and Juliet...