ジオン公国軍の士官の生活The Life of a Principality of Zeon Officer

It's been a pretty good life, lately. Well, another promotion might have something to do with that. I am now a Captain (by Navy standards, so O-6). It's a testament to how good I've gotten with Bonds of the Battlefield.

最近、いい生活だったな。多分、昇格のおかげで。今、僕は大佐だ。戦場の絆の能力が上達した証だ。

Basically, ranks are divided into three broad classes. B class is the line troops (from Civilian up to Corporal/Petty Officer), A class is the NCOs and officers (from Sergeant/Chief Petty Officer all the way to Colonel/Captain), and S class is the flag ranks. Over the half year I've been playing this game, I've managed to get myself from a rank novice all the way up to the very top of A class.

階級は、三つのクラスに分ける。Ｂクラスはただの兵士、民間人から伍長まで。Ａクラスは下士官と士官、軍曹から大佐まで。最後に、Ｓクラスは一番上の士官（少将、中将、大将）です。僕はこのゲームをした半年の間に、大佐まで昇格した。

The way that works is detailed here, if you can read Japanese. Promotion requirements at first are simply based around pilot points, although you can get a chance to take the A class promotion test early if you're really good. In fact, I recently created a Federation pilot card, and I have already been offered that chance. I declined, because I can't play with other people in B class once I start the A class promotion test.

昇格と階級の詳しい説明はこちら。最初は、パイロットポイントは大切だ。でも、優秀なパイロットは早くＡクラスの昇格試験を受ける可能性がある。実は、最近僕は連邦軍のカードを作って、もうこのチャンスがあった。断った。というのは、Ａクラス昇格試験を受けると、他のＢクラスのパイロットとすることができないからだ。

At any rate, promotions in A class are based around grades. Every battle is graded, from the highest grade of S down through E. S ranks are extremely rare, as you have to get through the entire battle without getting destroyed even once to get one, and of course you need to do really well on top of that. E ranks are also rare, as you need to be destroyed four or more times in one battle to justify getting one.

とにかく、Ａクラスで、必要なのはランクだ。全部の戦闘はランク、つまり成績、をもらう。ＳランクからＥランクまである。Ｓランクはとても珍しい。一度だけ撃破されると、Ｓランクをもらえなくなる。Ｅランクも珍しい．．．四回も撃破されると、このランクをもらう。

So for the A class, the game looks at your last ten battles, and if your grades are good enough, you can get promoted. Today, I finally managed to assemble a set of ten battles that met the frankly brutal requirements for promotion to Captain: four As, four Bs, and two Cs. (Or higher; one of those As was an S, in my case.)

Ａクラスで、過去の10戦は大切だ。その10戦の成績はよかったら、昇格する。今日、僕はやっと大佐に昇する格条件が揃った。この条件は、四回Ａ、四回Ｂ、二回Ｃ。（以上もいい。僕の場合は、一つのＡはＳランクで揃った。）

It helped that the battle today was a 6v6 in Belfast, a harbor map that favors long-range nautical combat. (Some mobile suits are designed for underwater combat, although I honestly don't know what the in-game effects are.) You see, I'm actually kind of bad in smaller battles... I guess I'm better at taking advantage of a chaotic battle. And I finally had an excuse to try using my Gelgoog Marine.

一つの助かったことは、今日のステージ：ベルファスト、6対6。ベルファストは、広い港のステージ。遠距離の攻撃は抜群だ。海もあるから、水中で戦えるモビルスーツを使ったほうがいい。実は、僕は小さい戦闘（4対4）がちょっと苦手だ．．．大きい戦闘の混乱を使った能力があるかもしれない。そして、ゲルググＭを使うチャンスがあった。

It also helped that the enemy never even tried to shoot me when I played as a long-range bombardment type mobile suit the one time. Being able to destroy the enemy base without opposition is an excellent way to get an A, and the bombardment on the enemy mobile suits with cluster rounds didn't help matters. That was the S, actually.

もう一つの助かったことは、遠距離砲撃モビルスーツを使った戦闘に、敵は全然攻撃されなかったことだ。敵拠点を簡単に破壊するのはＡランクをもらう方法だ。その上、拡散弾を使って、敵のモビルスーツを攻撃した。その戦闘はＳランクの戦闘だった。

So yeah. I can now call myself Captain Zankou of the Principality of Zeon forces. Life is good.

それじゃ。ジオン公国軍のざんこう大佐と名乗れる。気持ちいいな。

伏見稲荷大社Fushimi Inari Shrine

（なぜか分からないんですが、これを翻訳したくない．．．すみません。）

Finally, I do something other than go to the arcade.

As is typical, the weather refused to cooperate. The fact that I could see snow falling when I got on the train at Kutsukawa should tell you how cold it was today. At least it was sunny when we got to the shrine itself; that and the hiking I did went a long way towards keeping the cold off.

Anyway. I went with my host mom to Fushimi Inari today. Apparently she has a friend who works at the gift shop there. In practice, that means "free stuff", and while it was a little embarrassing to be getting free stuff from someone I'd met literally a minute ago, I couldn't really get a word in edgewise to say "no thank you". Besides, the water came in handy.

You see, the actual main shrine at Fushimi Inari is at the base of a hill. I mean, it's called Mt. Inari, but it's not really a mountain. 233 meters is not worthy of being called a mountain, as far as I'm concerned. I did end up spending around an hour walking around up there, but I did a lot of looking around and praying at shrines along the way and other things that weren't "walk from point A to point B".

My host mom didn't even start up the hill. She got as far as the rear shrine before turning around. Of course, this was hardly the first time she'd been to Fushimi Inari, and the rear shrine is plenty far enough to see one of this shrine's major selling points...

 ... the Senbon Torii, one thousand of these easily-recognizable gates. (Apparently my host mom tried to count them once. Got up to around 300 before giving up.)

Frankly, after that I feel like not much happened. I mean, it's a shrine. I've been to plenty. There were the ema, the little wooden card things that you write a wish on and hang near the shrine. They were in the shape of a fox, since foxes are important at this particular shrine. You could draw to get a fortune; mine was excellent. There were protective charms; none really interested me.

There were these "Heavy-light Rock" things (Omokaru-ishi). Apparently if they feel light when you pick them up, then whatever you were praying for will be easily granted. I mean, they weren't impossibly heavy, I suppose. But now I forget what I was wishing for. Well, even if I remembered, I seriously doubt I'd share it here.

What else happened... Oh right. Cats.

So according to my host mom, people do abandon cats at shrines like this. Because they're, well, shrines, people don't just kill or chase away the strays. Divine messengers, and all that.





I of course realized none of this at the time. I was in my usual frame of mind. Which could probably be summed up as "here kitty kitty... aww cute kitty"... yeah, I have a weakness for cats. (Or there's this XKCD comic.)

It was an interesting little hike, and a cool shrine to be sure. But I worry that shrines are getting to the "seen it all before" stage. I don't know what to do about that. Other than find a few more (like, oh, Ise) just to confirm my suspicions...

Young Alive! Lyrics

Nana Mizuki is my favorite singer and voice actor, period. Her music was where I first started trying to understand Japanese lyrics. I could spend a very long time yapping about how awesome she is, but I'll just get the lyrics for this song up and get on with it.

水樹奈々は私の一番好きな歌手と声優だよ。最初の歌の翻訳は水樹奈々の歌だった。本当に大好きだし、長い間で話したいけど、この歌の歌詞の方が大事だ。

Young Alive!

Artist/Lyrics: Nana Mizuki

歌手/作詞：水樹奈々（みずきなな）

Composer: Hirobumi Miyake (Not sure about that reading...)

作曲：三宅博文（読み方不明）

Arranger: Junpei Fujita (Elements Garden)

編曲：藤田淳平（ふじたじゅんぺい）(Elements Garden)

歌詞/Lyrics:

無理難題　多岐亡羊(>_<)
規矩準縄　旗幟鮮明　オシエテ
何を迷っているの？　カッ飛ばせ！

Impossible problems, too many choices,
show me how to make my attitude clear!
What has you confused? Let me fly!

どこにもない　どうしようもない
独学の人生（ドラマ）をね走ろう
誰も真似は出来ない

Nowhere to go, no other choice,
I'll just take off through the drama of self-education.
No one could fake this.

履き潰した靴　放り投げて太陽とKISS
７秒数えたら始まる　Special Race

I toss away the shoes my feet were jammed into, kissing the sun,
and once I count off seven seconds, the special race begins!

虹色のMachineに乗って空高く
アリエナイ未来だって動かすよ
ブルーに変わるSign見付けたら
全力全開踏み出すよ
１人じゃない
Are you Ready? OK? come on! Let’s GO!

Board the rainbow-colored machine, high in the sky;
although it's an impossible future, we'll put it into motion.
And once we get the green light,
full power, all out! Advance!
You're not alone!
Are you ready? OK? Come on! Let's go!

意気揚々　雨奇晴好(≥ω≤)/
天衣無縫　拈華微笑　まだまだ
眠ってるハズだよ　本気出そう！

In high spirits before this beautiful scenery;
flawless, and yet I still can't share my thoughts.
It should still be sleeping... I'll get serious!

どうすれば…？　どうなるの…？
不安はね　進化への第一歩だよ
目標－星－を生み出して行く

What should we do? What will this become?
Uncertainty, you know, is the first step to progress!
It brings forth the star that is our target.

細胞に広がる　新しいリズムを感じて
７回数えたら　目覚める自由な規則（フリーダムルール）

Feel the new rhythm that reaches to each cell of your body;
once we count off seven beats, awaken to the rule of freedom!

虹色に染まる宇宙（ソラ）を滑り抜け
とびきりの明日だって創り出す
振り切ったmeter（針）はもう戻れない
そう、行けない場所なんてない
手をとって
Are you HAPPY? I will make it together!

The rainbow-colored sky slides past;
although it's a better tomorrow, we'll create it!
We can't return anymore to the meter we've shaken free of;
yeah, there's no such thing as a place we can't reach.
Take my hand!
Are you happy? I will make it, together!

前例？
そんなのイラナイから
さあ、突き進もう！

Precedent?
Because we don't need anything like that,
come on, let's push on forward!

虹色のMachineに乗って空高く
アリエナイ未来だって動かすよ
ブルーに変わるSign見付けたら
全力全開踏み出すよ
がむしゃらでいい　キミらしく
Are you Ready? OK? come on! Let’s GO!

Board the rainbow-colored machine, high in the sky;

although it's an impossible future, we'll put it into motion.

And once we get the green light,

full power, all out! Advance!

You're not alone!

Are you ready? OK? Come on! Let's go!

春休みの予定Plans for Spring Break

I don't have any.

無し。

Okay, well, more seriously... a lot of my friends are in Tokyo right now, and in all honesty I would have liked to go with them. But, I've been in Tokyo twice now, and I keep spending too much money, both in the process of getting there and in shopping once I'm there. There are still places I want to go in Tokyo, things I want to see, yes. But I'll wait on the next Tokyo trip. Which, actually, might be soon... there's a certain event coming up...

実は、僕の友達は今、東京にいる。本当に行きたかったけど、もう東京に二回行った。東京に行くたびに、買い物とか新幹線とかお金を使いすぎる。行きたい所や見たい事はまだある。でも、次の機会はいい。実は、この機会は今にもあるかもしれない．．．とあるイベントはもうすぐだ．．．

One good idea I had was to go the other way, to Hiroshima. I do need to go there sometime. Of course, I can't ever seem to plan ahead, and so I have no actual plans. I'm almost tempted to use the shinkansen's speed to make it a day trip (it's less than two hours away on the Nozomi) but then I don't know what there is to see there. I'd hate to miss something because I was trying to fit everything into one day.

いいイデアの一つは、広島に行く事だ。いつか行かなくちゃ。でも、まだ予定を立ててなかった。新幹線の速さで、日帰りをしようだと思う（のぞみで二時間以下かかる）．．．しかし、見なくてはいけない場所、まだわからない。

Or I could just stick around in the Kyoto area and do as little as possible. Somehow, I still haven't been to Kiyomizu-dera or Fushimi Inari Taisha, both of which I really do need to go see. Or there's Ise, which is only one of the most important shrines in all of Shinto, period. Well, now that I think about it, that would also be a day trip, two hours away on a Kintetsu limited express train...

まあ、京都で何かをしてもいい。なんとなく、まだ清水寺と伏見稲荷大社に行ってない。行かなくちゃ。しかも、伊勢神宮に行ける。これも日帰りかな．．．近鉄の特急で二時間くらいかかる。

Well, whatever I end up doing, I'll post about it. Unless I end up doing nothing. I imagine everyone has better things to do than read a blog post about me sitting around eating Pocky and reading fanfiction. (Heh.)

何かをしたら、ここで何かを書くよ。まあ、何もしなかったら、何も書かない。多分、みんなはファン・フィクションを読んだり、ポッキーを食べたりしたについてのブログ、読みたくないな。（笑）

ゲームセンターに行こう！Off to the Arcade!

Finally, I get promoted to Commander!

やっと、中佐に昇格しました！

Hah. Okay, let me explain. I mentioned the one Gundam arcade game a while back, right? Well, I've still been playing it. Probably spending too much time and money on it, in fact. I could go on and on about the abilities of close-range combat type mobile suits, and how they compare to a long-range bombardment type tank, or I could explain the quick draw ability that only melee type mobile suits have.

えへへ…説明する。先、戦場の絆というゲームについて話したね。まあ、まだしてる。多分、しすぎる。近距離戦型の能力とか、遠距離砲撃型と比べとか、クイックドローと言う格闘型の能力とかについて話せる。

Anyway, I went to the arcade today. Same one as always, the Namco Wonder Tower at Shijo and Kawaramachi. I actually started the day with some DDR, mostly because I felt like it. I wanted to play this one Riyu Kosaka song called Love Shine, but I couldn't find it... and then this Japanese guy goes up after I'm done and what's the first song he plays?

とにかく、今日ゲームセンターに行った。いつもどおりと同じ、四条河原町のナムコワンダータワーと言うゲームセンターだ。最初は、DDRをした。Love Shineと言う小坂りゆの曲をしたかったのに、見つけられなかった…しかし、僕が終わった後で、日本人の男はその曲をした。

I really don't like talking to people I don't know all that well... I always feel awkward. But, lacking any other ideas regarding the mystery, I managed to ask him about it. After talking it over a little, he realized that you have to reach a certain level to unlock some songs, and even spent some time checking the Internet (on his phone) to find out what those levels were.

僕は知らない人と話すのが好きじゃない。不器用って感じ。でも、その人と話すしかないから、聞いた。話し合ったら、解錠しなければならない曲があることに気づいた。そして、その人は携帯を使って、インターネットで条件を調べた。レベルの条件がある。

Short version of the story: I need to reach level 46 already. (I'm level 19ish, I think.) At least I get Break Down at level 30...

縮めて、僕はレベル46に上がりたい。今のは、16ぐらい。まあ、30に上がるとBreak Down!を解錠する…

After that I picked up lunch and went back to the arcade for the Gundam game. With six battles since I had last been promoted, I needed to play twice more (two battles per play) to even be eligible for promotion. On top of that, I needed two victories, an A, and no more than one C.

その後、昼ごはんを食べて、戦場の絆をするためにゲームセンターに帰った。先の昇格は六戦前から、昇格するために二回しなくてはいけない。（一回で二戦する。）しかも、二回勝つのと、一回Ａランクが必要だけど、Ｃランク以下のはだめ、二回Ｃランクもだめ。

I mean, I did it, obviously. First battle kind of didn't go well; my team lost, and I got that C. But then I switched to a long range mobile suit and went after the enemy base for the second round. Things got messy real fast. I got myself destroyed twice, and with less than 100 points I was on my way to getting a D. But, I managed to finally destroy the enemy base in the last ten seconds of the battle, pushing my score up to an A-worthy 300-some and giving my team the victory on top of that. You're welcome, everyone. God knows you could have actually, oh I don't know, defended me a little so that I could have done that without getting myself killed twice.

もう話した。もちろん、やった。一回目の戦闘はちょっと悪い…負けて、Ｃランクを取った。でも、二回目は、遠距離を使った。最初はやばい。二回も撃破された。しかも、僕のスコアは100以下あったから、Ｄランクを取る恐れがあった。だけど、最後の10秒の間に敵の拠点を破壊した。スコアは、300ぐらいになって、僕のチームを勝った。どういたしまして、皆さん。次回、僕をちゃんと守ってくれたら、どう？

The remaining two battles were actually kinda easy. Don't know why. Matching gave us enemies that weren't all that good, I guess. So not complaining though. Not after getting promoted.

残りの戦闘はちょっと簡単だった。なぜかわからない。ちょっとうまくなかった相手と戦った理由は、マッチングのシステムのおかげかな…でも、平気。問題なし。昇格したから。

... rather than writing this, I should probably be doing homework...

さあ、これを書くより宿題をしなくちゃ…

色々な理由Various Reasons

... I haven't been blogging that much lately, have I.

最近、このブログであまり書かなかったね...

Well, I can't do anything about that beyond just trying to write more. I've certainly been doing plenty of interesting things, I just haven't been talking about them online.

もっと書くしかない。面白いことをたくさんしたけど、ここで話さなかった。

For this, I do have reasons, but no excuse. Life has been somewhat... chaotic... since this newest semester started. I feel like I've been trying to do everything all at once. It's not a feeling I particularly like, to be honest.

理由があるんだが、申し訳ない。今学期の始まりから、生活はちょっと...混乱、かな。したいことが多すぎるという感じだ。ちょっといやな感じなのに...

But, as long as I've been doing other things, I may as well share. I want to keep blogging, but as long as I'm getting distracted I might as well explain what it is that keeps distracting me - talk about my reasons, as it were.

まあ、僕の理由について話しましょうか。

The first problem is writing. I mean, the total halt to blogging last semester was pretty much entirely due to National Novel Writing Month. Which is only in November... but then, I started writing fanfiction. Because, you know, I'm not enough of an anime fan already. So on days when I actually want to write, I end up writing fiction rather than blogging.

一つの問題は、書くのだ。まあ、先学期、全国小説執筆月間というイベントのせいで、ブログを一時停止しちゃった。このイベントは、11月だけだけど、その後、ファン・フィクションを書き始めた。なぜかわからない。だから、書きたい時に、こんな事を書いて、ブログをしない。

At any rate, I might as well provide a link to my stories. For now I've been writing Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha fanfiction... specifically, a crossover between that and Halo. The Time-Space Administration Bureau is close enough to a military organization that I think it actually works out well... but since this definitely falls in the 'shameless self-promotion' category of activities, well, no promises.

とにかく、こちらは私の書いたこと。だいたい、僕は魔法少女リリカルなのはのファン・フィクションを書いた...具体的に、Halo（ヘイロー）と言うゲームのクロスオーバーだ。時空管理局は軍隊みたいだと思うから、絶対にバカなのではない。

Problem two is anime. I've actually stopped watching anime broadcast on TV, but I make up for it by going to a rental store called Tsutaya. I wanted to watch the original Mobile Suit Gundam series (the one from 1979), but they have a lot more than just that. I can rent five DVDs for 1000 yen, which is a lot better than buying one for seven times that. But watching five DVDs in a week takes a fair amount of time.

次の問題は、アニメ。アニメの放送は最近見なかったけど、つたやと言うレンタル店に行く。最初の機動戦士ガンダムを見たかったけど、それ以外、たくさんある。DVDは1000円で5枚を借りる...買うのは7000円ぐらいかかる。

Finally... well, I'm my usual self. Hanging out on the Internet looking for cool things. And I keep finding them. I keep getting hooked in by stuff that's already been around for a while, thus forcing me to do a lot of reading quickly if I want to catch up.

最後に、僕はいつもどおりの僕だ。インターネットで面白いことを探すとか。物語とかコミックとか第一話を読んで、興味を持って、もっと読みたくなる。時々、一つのはたくさんあるから、たくさん読まなくてはいけない。

Some fanfiction stories are like that... 150 thousand words or more. (For comparison, that's nearly twice as long as the first Harry Potter book.) If you have an interest in those, well, the earlier link to my profile has the stories that I've marked as favorites too.

ファン・フィクションの物語について、時々15万語以上ある。（ハリー・ポッターシリーズの第一巻は7万語ぐらい。）これは興味があるなら、僕の気に入り物語は先のリンクにある。

But then there are the original stories. These are works that the author has simply posted on the Internet, available to read for free. Of course, if you like the stories, there's usually the option to donate/buy a physical copy/what have you.

でも、二次創作じゃないものもある。インターネットで無料で読むことができる物語だ。

Of those, easily the best I've read recently (and by 'best', I mean 'spent four hours last night reading it, instead of doing my homework like I should have been') is a series called Anachronauts, the work of an author named Stefan Gagne. It's an adventure set in a world with magic, high tech, and low-tech all at once (well, actually, modern, so perhaps these categories should be ultra-tech and modern tech...?), and it is a royally entertaining ride. I can't possibly do it justice, so hit the link (which goes to an introduction page) and see for yourself.

今は、一番好きなのはAnachronauts（アナクロノッツ）というシリーズだ。作者はステファーン・ガグネだ。この物語は、色々なファンタジー的なことがある。うまく言えないけど、本当にかっこいい物語だ。でも、英語の物語だ。しかも、読みにくいかもしれない。

Actually, my introduction to his work was a much earlier story called Sailor Nothing, which I also highly recommend. Despite the title, it is not actually connected to Sailor Moon in any way beyond sharing the same genre, magical girl. Although really, Sailor Nothing is what happens when you take a magical girl story and add in a healthy dose of cold reality to the picture. Post-traumatic stress disorder is the least of Himei's problems, to put it bluntly.

実は、同じ作者のもう一つのいいものがある。Sailor Nothing（セーラーノッシング）と言う。魔法少女の物語以外、セーラームーンと関係ない。この物語は、魔法少女に辛い現実を入れる。心的外傷後ストレス障害は主人公（ヒメイと言う少女）の一番簡単な問題だ。

So yes. I apologize for not posting much, and then posting basically nothing but "you should check this out" when I finally do break my silence. Hopefully over the weekend, I can find my stride again with this whole "blogging" shtick. And if not... well, I guess I'll just see what the future brings.

じゃ...あまり書くのは、すみません。これも、この「これを見て！」というのは、ちょっと悪いかもしれない。だけど...まあ、ちゃんとしたいから、やってみる。

着物Kimono

Finally got a chance to wear a kimono. So cool.