✍️ Blog

I watched Green Book today, and it reminded me how much I love old America. One day, I want to write a story set in that era — a time full of music, dance, and art. Life was inconvenient in many ways, but that imperfection is what made the era glow. People are pursuing a better life, always trying to improve their world in small and meaningful ways.

I’m not usually into romance, but romance novels and movies are great for learning about different culture. You come across lots of culture-specific words, like “bridezilla.” Love stories may not be my favorite, but they do make great textbooks.

I showed my manga to a family member who was born and raised in America. She said she liked Kappa better than Last Idol. My Japanese friends also said the same thing. That made me realize that people are just people, whether they're Japanese or American. What makes a manga interesting doesn't change across cultures. Humans are just humans.

I went to see the movie called Michael at the movie theater. It's about Michael Jackson. It was interesting that one of Michael's best friends was a white driver. At first, he was just Michael's driver, but he eventually became more like a personal assistant and close companion. In the middle of the movie, I noticed that he was sitting in the car with Michael instead of driving it. At that point, I thought, "Wait, the driver isn't even driving anymore!" It showed how their relationship had changed over time.

I visited the Monet exhibition at the Artizon Museum. Monet’s paintings felt like being submerged in a beautiful, quiet ocean, and it was deeply soothing. It felt like entering a blue world with no sound. My favorite painting in this exhibition was Camille on Her Deathbed (1879). I felt a complicated emotion from it. It felt too heavy to simply call it “love.” There was sadness… and also a slight sense of relief. Was she suffering from an illness? Or perhaps Monet painted it with the wish that she might finally rest peacefully.

My homework for my translation class is about a news paper article that criticizes National Geographic Magazine. The author discusses the magazine's biased portrayal of countries and cultures outside the United States. I agree with some of the author's points, but I disagree with others. I think it is important for people to have real-life experiences rather than relying solely on what they read in articles.

One thing I find really interesting is that Americans are incredibly chatty, but they're often surprisingly discreet about other people's private matters. Meanwhile, Japanese people are incredibly shy, but they can be surprisingly loose-lipped. In the US, small talk is often about enjoying the conversation itself. In Japan, however, casual conversation can be more focused on maintaining social relationships or sharing information. As a result, gossip and news about other people are more likely to become conversation topics. That's kind of what I love about US. I hate gossiping.

When I first watched The Bachelor in the US, I was surprised that the participants kissed and acted affectionate in front of the camera. But after I got used to it, Japanese reality show participants seemed a bit boring. Japanese participants behave more politely in front of the camera. I want more chaos.

I’m translating a newspaper column right now. It’s pretty challenging, and since I’m better at translating dialogue, columns take me much longer

I’m showing my manga to my family to see what they think. Also to the editor. I’m not just messing around—I’m serious about becoming a mangaka. I know becoming a mangaka is hard, but I keep trying. I’m working on a 4-page manga now. After that, I’ll move on to an 8-page manga. Right now, I’m doing the pen inking for the 4-page manga, and at the same time I’m working on the story for the 8-page manga. I haven’t come up with a story for the 8-page manga yet. My brain gets really tired from studying English to Japanese translation and working on manga at the same time.

I’m learning how to translate, and when I looked at the student next to me, I noticed her paper that there were no corrections at all. I thought that was amazing, and it made me want to work harder too. My teacher seems to see right through everything—I honestly don’t know how, but she can tell exactly what I’m struggling with, almost like she knows everything. But then I realized it’s just because everyone is making the same mistakes.

I watched Janbo from Disney movie. I didn’t know the Disney character Janbo’s name came from ‘dumb’ and ‘jumbo. It was a cute movie.

The dialogue sections came back with barely any corrections — which honestly felt great. It's making me think manga translation might genuinely be something I want to pursue.

Turns out if you translate a gag with too much energy, it gets rejected. So what's the "safe zone" for comedy? I'm not sure there is one — but I want to slowly get better at landing the joke without losing the punch.

Personally, I feel like 「あんたなんか人間じゃない」 is best captured as "You are a monster." — it carries the same emotional weight without being too literal.

Still wrestling with how to translate "indeed" and "How iconic" naturally. For now, the plan is to just do a lot of practice translations and focus on speed without dropping quality — improvement comes with reps.