Journalistic Japanese

the author of both the contents and the page itself is
Mitsuhiro Tagata (C) 1996

Return to GSIA 45-968 Fall 96: If your computer cannot display Japanese at all, go back to the homepage, and click the clickable icon to the right of the clickable line of text.

Asahi Shimbun Newspaper November 6, 1996

TEXT: This newspaper text was excerpted from 朝日新聞社's asahi.com on 11/06/96.
---クリントン大統領、大差で再選---
五日投票の米大統領選挙は、東部各州を中心に開票が進み、民主党現職のクリントン大統領（５０）が、共和党のドール前上院院内総務（７３）に大差をつけて再選を果たした。
(www.asahi.com, 11/06/96 at 15:54JST)

VOCABULARY:
大統領（だい、とう、りょう） = president; 大差（たい、さ） = a big difference; 再選（さい、せん） = to be re-elected; 五日（いつ、か） = the fifth (day of the month); 投票（とう、ひょう） = to vote/ballot; 米（べい） = America(n); 選挙（せん、きょ） = to elect/election; 東部（とう、ぶ） = east area; 各州（かく、しゅう） = each state (of America); 中心（ちゅう、しん） = center (of a circle); 開票（かい、ひょう） = to open the ballot box/to count ballots; 進（すす）む = to advance; 民主党（みん、しゅ、とう） = the Democratic Party; 現職（げん、しょく） = currently in office; 共和党（きょう、わ、とう） = the Republican Party (i.e., GOP); 前（ぜん） = former; 上院（じょう、いん） = the Senate; 院内（いん、ない） = inside of the House; 総務（そう、む） = secretary (of the House); 果（は）たす = to achieve

TRANSLATION:
(A)---President Clinton Re-elected with an Overwhelming Difference---
In the American election in which people voted on the fifth (of November), the counting of the ballots are advanced especially in eastern states, and President Clinton, 50, the current Democratic President, achieved his re-election, brushing aside Republican Dole, 73, the former Senate Republican leader, with a overwhelming difference.
(B)---President Clinton Wins a Landslide Re-election---
President Clinton, 50, from the Democratic Party, won a landslide re-election against Bob Dole, 73, the former Senate Republican leader, in the American presidential election on November 5th. The results of the voting in eastern states were reported early, and Clinton's re-election was decided for sure.

EXPLANATION:
(1) Translation A is closer to the original Japanese, and Translation B is a modified version. Because of the structural difference between English and Japanese, we often have to decide how close to the original Japanese an English translation should be.
(2) The structure of the given sentence is as follows:

[Sentence 1]、[Sentence2]。
where [Sentence 1] is 「五日投票の…は、…進み」, and [Sentence 2] is 「民主党…が、果たした」.
(3) Some Japanese nouns are inherently verbs, and some are inherently adjectives, but they are still nouns. This may be confusing for English or European languages speakers. For example, the noun 投票 means (i) the action of voting and (ii) to vote (as a verb). As an example of adjectives, the noun 院内 means (i) the place inside the House and (ii) in-House or inside the House (which modifies a noun). In a sense, you should not rely upon the English gloss in terms of whether it is a noun, a verb, or an adjective. All the kanji without a hiragana ending are nouns. If there is a hiragana ending, and the ending ends in い, then the word is probably an adjective. If there is a hiragana ending and the ending ends in a う-sound such as う, く and す, then the word is probably a verb.

Asahi Shimbun Newspaper November 13, 1996

TEXT: This newspaper text was excerpted from 朝日新聞社's asahi.com on 11/13/96.
---年賀状を廃止新年あけまして節約いたします---
---石川島播磨重工業---
石川島播磨重工業は来年一月から年賀状を廃止することにした。廃止されるのはざっと二万枚。はがき代・印刷費や社員による関連業務を計算すると、年間数百万円が浮くという。
総合重工業界は造船不況からリストラに追われた時期もあったが、コスト削減の結果、現在は業績が好転中。先行きが不透明なので、切り詰めることにした。すでに準備してしまった海外向けのクリスマスカードも、来年からやめるそうだ。
(www.asahi.com, 11/13/96 at 12:29JST)

VOCABULARY:
年賀状（ねん、が、じょう） = New Year's card; 廃止（はい、し）する = to abolish; 新年（しん、ねん） = new year; 節約（せつ、やく）する = to economize/save; 石川島播磨重工業（いし、かわ、じま、はり、ま、じゅう、こう、ぎょう） = [company name]; 来年（らい、ねん） = next year; 一月（い、がつ） = January; 二万枚（に、まん、まい） = 20,000 cards/sheets; はがき代（だい） = the cost of postcards; 印刷費（いん、さつ、ひ） = the printing cost; 社員（しゃ、いん） = employee; 関連業務（かん、れん、ぎょう、む） = related business; 計算する（けい、さん） = to calculate; 年間（ねん、かん） = per year; 数百万円（すう、ひゃく、まん、えん） = several million yen; 浮く（う） = to be saved; 総合重工業界（そう、ごう、じゅう、こう、ぎょう、かい） = general heavy industry; 造船不況（ぞう、せん、ふ、きょう） = recession or depression in the shipbuilding industry; リストラ = restructuring; に追われる（お） = to be busy -ing; 時期（じ、き） = time; コスト = cost; 削減（さく、げん）する = to reduce; 結果（けっ、か） = result; 現在（げん、ざい） = now; 業績（ぎょう、せき） = business result; 好転中（こう、てん、ちゅう） = to be improving; 先行き（さき、ゆ） = future; 不透明な（ふ、とう、めい） = unpredictable; 切り詰める（き；つ） = to cut down; 準備する（じゅん、び） = to prepare; 海外向け（かい、がい、む） = for overseas countries; クリスマスカード = Christmas card

TRANSLATION:
---No More New Year's Cards: A Happy New Saving Year---
---Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries---
IHI will be abolishing the custom of sending New Year's cards from next January on. Until now, about 20,000 cards have been sent every year. They say that several million yen will be saved per year which includes the postcard cost, the printing cost, and other related tasks by the employees.
The general heavy industry used to be forced to restructure itself because of the shipbuilding depression, but now its business results are getting improved. However, its future is still unpredictable, so IHI decided to cut down such unimportant work. They say that although they have already prepared Christmas cards for overseas countries this year, they will be also abolishing them from next year on.

EXPLANATION:
The structure [Verb rentai]+ことにした adds the meaning "decided to~" to the verb or preceding whole clause. The second sentence is "AのはB". It will be translated into "Those which are abolished will be about 20,000." The structure [Verb shuushi]+という adds the meaning "it is said or they said that~" to the verb or preceding whole clause. The structure [Verb shuushi]+そうだ also adds the meaning "they say or it is said that~" to the preceding whole clause.