jaymee

Since I work as a translator I'll throw my two yen out there... A lot of it is just echoing @inertia
 
- Learn the language. My personal opinion is that you need at least N2 level. The more kanji and grammar you know, the better. Don't learn Japanese exclusively from anime, manga, or VK. Seriously no one in real life talks like that.
 
- Be well read in your own language (assuming it's English). It's difficult to  translate something well, especially poetically, if you don't know how to write well to begin with. Commercially you will probably have few or no fluent proofreaders so double check and proofread everything.
 
- Spend some time in Japan after you've become conversationally fluent. You'll get a better "feel" for how people of different personalities, genders, subcultures, etc. use the language. There are also a lot of Japanese words that are defined in the dictionary a certain way and might seem interchangeable, but really aren't, and hearing them used situationally helps. Example: "mesen" and "manazashi" both mean gaze, but the latter is almost never used in real life (but used in anime, etc.)
 
- Research whatever you're translating. I'd say sometimes half of my work or more as a translator is spent researching the topic. Unfortunately most clients fail to include essential background information or a guide of officially accepted translations of organizations, laws, company names, etc. that I then have to double check. When it comes to VK, like @inertiasaid, reading interviews or liners can go a long way. Even better if you are familiar with the band/their fanbase so you can provide tone to your translation.
 
- Japanese can be pretty vague so you'll probably have to offer up your own interpretations at times just to add subjects and have things sound natural in English. If it's a personal translation you can just mention that in the notes if you feel unsure, but for commercial translations it's better to seek confirmation from the client if possible.
 
- Be prepared to answer lots of annoying questions from clients like, "Why can't you translate this literally?" Or, "Google Translate says this, so why did you write it like that?" especially from Japanese people who only have a rudimentary understanding of English but think that qualifies them to be checking your work and second-guessing you.
 
Or people who have no idea how long translating takes nor its value, and don't understand that no, sorry, I cannot translate and proofread  10,000+ characters for you a day for 1-2 yen a character and give you a high quality translation so please quit wasting my time. Also people will want you to answer these dumb questions and edit for free.
 
If you aren't a freelancer and work for an actual translation company, be prepared to for your job take over your whole life and work crazy hours for likely not as much as you should be making.
 
- I did a lot of bad/ok translations before being able to do better ones. I still don't think I'm anywhere near the best out there and I'm still learning new things every day. If I could re-do things, I would have taken translation courses in college, studied harder, and gotten certified.
 
- It might help if you are well-versed in some of the major translating softwares like TRADOS, but honestly most of Japan is still technologically stuck in the 90s (most of their fancy tech stuff is export only lol) and you'll be translating mostly in Docs and Excel files.

What is Byou doing there then? :v

*screaming* LEGENDS ONLY! L E G E N D S  O N L Y

Glad she's not pulling an Ayu or Madonna and instead retiring before she gets too burnt out and all her songs sound recycled.

Also, the gay scene and what gay men find attractive in Japan may be different from the gay scenes in other countries?
 
When I first came to Japan a lot of gay dudes were into cute, cuddly "big" guys. One of my gay Japanese friends is somewhat feminine in dress/mannerisms, and he's had no problems getting dudes.
 
I also think it's important to note that your general fashionable Japanese dude looks kind of feminine by Western standards to begin with, so unless the VK guy is actually the "girl" of the band, he probably doesn't seem that feminine to people who like VK.

That line-up would make for an amazing show. Whatever it turns out to be, I hope it is actually "Nagoya-kei" and not some cover night featuring semi popular bands now with "guest" appearances by a few random old school musicians.

Actually, this live was announced by enter brain last month, right after their 2-day Nagoya-bands only event with DIMLIM, bonds, DEXCORE, DARRELL, ORCALADE (all meh) and highfashionparalyze (yay). So at least I expect Kazuma and aie to be involved. If so, can I also expect Merry Go Round, please?>< 
Anyway its February 2018 and if they announce it so early I do believe they have plans for something big. If not, I will be really disappointed.

https://www.youtube.com/user/AvengedTau

Bottom Line is bigger than ELL size by at least 500. It's bigger than ELL, too. Think the next livehouse up in size from Bottom Line is Diamond Hall.
 
So I guess they have at least one band they're betting on doing pretty well that day.
 
 

Liza Minnelli is looking good

if it was something relevant wouldn't it at least be at ell size or something?? bottom line for the legend status ???
tbh i think it'll be a one night revival of some bands with respect sessions. none of those bands listed were considered 'nagoya kei' by the jp definition so i don't think thats who the poster is refering to (at least i hope not)

It will be every band on Enter Brain feat. Kiyoharu. 

D. Are all the above right options (?)

As part of their 30th debut anniversary project, BUCK-TICK are releasing a new single titled "BABEL" on 2017/11/15, with the following tracklist and versions:
 
01. BABEL
(lyrics: Atsushi Sakurai / music: Hisashi Imai)
02. Moon さよならを教えて (Takkyu Ishino Remix) (Moon sayonara wo oshiete)
(lyrics: Atsushi Sakurai / music: Hisashi Imai)
 
■Limited edition Type A (SHM-CD+Blu-ray)：VIZL-1261 / ￥2,380(tax out)
■Limited edition Type B (SHM-CD+DVD)：VIZL-1262 / ￥1,880(tax out)
■Regular edition (SHM-CD)：VICL-79002 / ￥1,000(tax out)
 
The bonus discs will contain the music video for the title track. Also, seeing as there is a remix of an as-of-yet-unreleased song, I think it's safe to say that a new full-length album won't be far behind either.  As they promised at the beginning of the year, iirc.
 

Setlists @ 9/9:
 
MASK (1st lineup):
1.お通しパレード(SE)
2.色鬼
3.Gemini
4.東京トリックシアター
-MC-
5.赫い盲目
6.ためらい自殺信号
7.XxxXマスター
8.赤裸々ノイローゼ
 
MASK (2nd lineup):
1.WE ARE MASKER (SE)
2.桜
3,世の中の日常で頻繁に起こる今ではごく当たり前とされている出来事
-MC-
4.求めた故に残ったもの
5.会いたくて
6.Boys be ambitious
-MC-
7.ローズ・マリー
8.未来への翼

-ENCORE-
1.優しい嘘
2.空
3.色鬼
 

http://v-kei.jp/news/?newsId=6194

I only went to the 9/16 live so I have no idea how Friday's went, but everyone's covers sounded a lot better live. General consensus from D'ERLANGER fans I chatted with and on Twitter seems to be that PLC's cover was best and a few D'ERLANGER fans said they cried during it.
 
Band set order:  lynch.→ Psycho le Cému → D'ERLANGER → D'ERLANGER feat. 清春
 
Setlist:
 
 
Ryo from def spiral played support bass for lynch. (which I've heard isn't a rare occurrence?) and during their set, Cipher came out to play with the band on "XXX FOR YOU". Later during PLC's set, Seela came out to perform with PLC for DARLIN'. During D'ERLANGER's set Asanao (lynch) and Tetsu had a drum "battle" and he played "XXX FOR YOU" with D'ERLANGER, and after that seek (PLC) came out to play bass on "an aphrodisiac". Kiyoharu's set with D'ERLANGER was really short, and he only sang covers (no guitar). Kyo and Kiyoharu sang together for "SADISTIC EMOTION", which I think improved it a lot... Although Kiyoharu did a great job with the other two songs so not sure why he decided to go with "SADISTIC EMOTION" for the tribute. D:
 
For the encore of "La Vie en Rose", Daishi, Hazuki, Kiyoharu, and Kyo all sang together. Daishi was really nervous/shy the whole time because he's a big D'ERLANGER fan boy and it was really adorable because he never acts like that. I think he felt a little intimidated by Kiyoharu, too, lol.
 
I was really fortunate that I was able to trade up for a saizen ticket, although I switched out with D'ERLANGER fans after PLC and went toward the back of the front section to visit with some of the other PLC girls than came (not too many of us in comparison to lynch gya) and then caught Tetsu's drum stick. It was a really good show and I was really impressed at how accommodating D'ERLANGER was to all the guest bands. Like they were just so professional, put a lot of thought into making sure everyone had a good time, and I could really see why so many other artists look up to them (besides musically). Their fans were really nice, too. Lots of gyao.

I attended two of the shows on this old school tour in osaka and posted them on Facebook. Decides I might just as well repost them here:
 
Day 1:
"
I just attended the best show of my life, and it was a MUCC live.
 
The best way I can describe it is as if I went back in a time machine to 2001 and attended one of their oneman lives. They performed only old songs, including tracks so old several fans noticably did not recognize then, like Kranke (my favorite song!) and Koibito. The entire live felt dangerous and rough, just like one of those 90s lives where the audience are headbanging their necks off and the band is taunting them further into a frenzy. Before VK became a polished business.
 
It was super intense, during some songs the entire audience was moshing and thanks to the intense mosh I ended up in the second row in front of tatsurou during the second half of the live, where I ended up catching him as he stage dived during Orugooru. At the end, when they played Kurutta Kajitsu, we were even ordered to perform a wall of death and delivered it splendidly.
 
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/mucc/2017/esaka-muse-osaka-japan-2be5b0e2.html
 
Tomorrow is Homura Uta day... can't wait. Dir en grey, take note. This is how you do nostalgia shows."
 
Day 2:
"
So... MUCC day 2 was every bit as good as day 1. Homura Uta day, so practically the whole album was performed, along with some songs from Antique and Tsuuzetsu.

Especially the performance of Kimi ni Sachi Are and Kurayami ni Saku Hana stood out as soulcrushingly beautiful, and tracks like Kokuen made the whole audience mosh yet again while Tatsurou kept jumping into the front rows to make us work harder.
 
Before OYOGE! TAIYAKI-KUN Tatsurou addressed me directly, asking if I knew the lyrics (since I was seemingly the only foreigner at least in the front of the venue). I made an OK sign and he looked surprised and happy and made some comment about it, and then we all sang it together, the entire venue.
 
During the wall of death during Kurutta Kajitsu today, he jumped into the audience and participated for a bit before being rescued back onto the stage. 
 
To be honest, unless MUCC makes further nostalgia tours, I might not attend any more of their lives in the future. Nothing can top this tour no matter how hard they try. Sure, I'd like to see a Zekuu and Kuchiki no Tou tour as well, but until that happens I might just lay off their lives in the future.
 
Todays Setlist:
HOMURA UTA (intro)
ZETSUBOU
SHIAWASE NO SHUUCHAKU
KOKUEN
YAKEATO
KARE GA SHINDA HI
KIMI NI SACHI ARE
MAMA
SHIGATSU NO RENGESOU
BOKU GA HONTOU NO BOKU NI TAEKIREZU TSUKUTTA HONTOU NO BOKU
KURAYAMI NI SAKU HANA
USO DE YUGAMU SHINZOU
KAERANU HITO
KOKONOKA
OYOGE! TAIYAKI-KUN
SUISOU
MAE E
SUIMIN
Encore:
YUME NO MACHI
SHOUFU
DAIKIRAI
KURUTTA KAJITSU (WARAI)"
 
Hope someone here finds it interesting to read!

My interest for that tribute album suddenly rose from 0 to 100, that is a fucking amazing lineup, I can't wait. 

Yup.
 
I mean I wish it wasn't the norm, but it is. Almost nobody sinks the amount of money regular gya do into going to VK lives just for the music. Of course they probably like the music and it may have some significance to them personally or artistically, but often you are going to support a certain member or band and be a part of the "world" they've created, be that the actual show itself or enjoying that feeling of belonging with other fans.
 
There are lives I've gone to just to show support for a band during a taiban so they at least make a little money that night. (When your choose which band your ticket money is going to.) From a music perspective, unless you like most/all of the bands playing, paying full price for a ticket just to hear 4-6 songs at a taiban isn't usually "worth it".

Yup.
 
I mean I wish it wasn't the norm, but it is. Almost nobody sinks the amount of money regular gya do into going to VK lives just for the music. Of course they probably like the music and it may have some significance to them personally or artistically, but often you are going to support a certain member or band and be a part of the "world" they've created, be that the actual show itself or enjoying that feeling of belonging with other fans.
 
There are lives I've gone to just to show support for a band during a taiban so they at least make a little money that night. (When your choose which band your ticket money is going to.) From a music perspective, unless you like most/all of the bands playing, paying full price for a ticket just to hear 4-6 songs at a taiban isn't usually "worth it".

Also, the gay scene and what gay men find attractive in Japan may be different from the gay scenes in other countries?
 
When I first came to Japan a lot of gay dudes were into cute, cuddly "big" guys. One of my gay Japanese friends is somewhat feminine in dress/mannerisms, and he's had no problems getting dudes.
 
I also think it's important to note that your general fashionable Japanese dude looks kind of feminine by Western standards to begin with, so unless the VK guy is actually the "girl" of the band, he probably doesn't seem that feminine to people who like VK.

I never said women don't pay attention to their music; I said women tend to focus more on looks and how attractive a VK artist can be to them.
 

ahhh, man

let's be honest.

The idea of visual-kei is to sell a perfect image of somebody that doesn't exist.
Same with all of the pop-idols. This is an industry, first of all, music comes secondary. We have a target audience of 18-year old Japanese girls, most likely obsessed with androgynous male image and who read a lot of josei and shojo manga.. They are not gonna buy music in general - they don't give a shit about that. What you can sell to them is an image.
 
as it was once put:
"No, they’re sexy, but they don’t exist in the same universe as the fans. They don’t have chlamidya, they don’t worry about child support payments, they don’t have girlfriends or baby-mamas. They don’t have a stinky van. The fans don’t want to think about that! They want a dream, (not a man or a woman), they want a higher being, a look out of a fairy-tale. That’s why we do all the makeup and hair. It’s not about the guitars or playing A-flat in a Lydian mode."

In case you didn't notice - it's the same thing with anime. It will always cater to the male audience, because we tend/are willing to spend whatever money we have on our obsession - be it motorbykes or fuck-pillows. And if you take socially awkward males who had no success with women and life in general, and sell them over-sexualized image and play on their instincts - oh boy, you get a really good chunk of revenue. So you can see the similarities with the visual-kei approach here.
 
So, the visual-kei's target audience just does the same - spending whatever they have on their obsession. The difference is that visual-kei found its small (really small) niche of fans who are ready to do that. If we take population in general - it will not work. But it just takes whatever mental image/ideal the fans have, wrap it in a nice way, add a little bit of consumer psychology/evolutionary psychology and neurobiology (yes, it's the thing, I highly recommend reading material on how the last two infuence what we buy and how much we are willing to spend) - and you get your revenue =)
 
Hence, we have a situation, that mostly females go to visual-kei gigs (because it was created for them), mostly (hungry/semi-virgin) males go for female pop-idols' gigs (because it was created for them), and etc. Which is fine.
It's all about money, not the art.

I went ahead and did the romaji/translation. It's a pretty straightforward song, I feel.
 
Virge - Nimaijita (Double-Tongued)
 
Romaji
 
English
 
Notes:
1. I usually denote lyrics written in katakana in all caps, but since everything besides the kanji were written in katakana, I decided not to. But for non-Japanese speakers, I’d like to note that writing this way emphasizes the feeling or message of the song, just like writing in all caps does in English.
2. There are various parts where I went for a stylized translation over a literal one, most notably going with “spare me your sanctimony” instead of something more literal for “gizensha usero”.
3. @Peace Heavy mk II's translation of the title is just as valid, however I kept it as "double-tongued" because this is literally the way it's written in kanji.
 
As always, comments or suggestions welcome.

Ugh god IDEK why Kiyoharu is so eager to crank out horrible shit for every tribute album under the sun. He must really need that coin.