Cost in translation

[Mike Oxlong]

Gal With a Suitcase

Our new travel columnist (http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-11-27/gal-with-a-suitcase-2/?cid=bsa:moreauthor1) visits Tokyo, a place at once colorfully chaotic and contemplatively serene—and more accessible to Westerners than ever before.

Welcome to Tokyo, home of Harajuku, supersonic toilets, and food that can make even the sturdiest stomach reconsider career options. Every traveler wants to visit Tokyo, but making the schlep (and it is a schlep, from virtually anywhere) is an entirely different matter. But believe me, it’s worth it.

I hadn’t been to Tokyo in three years and what struck me on a recent three-day visit was how the city seems vaster, yet more accessible for Westerners, than it did when I was last here. Now nearly everyone, from your cabbie to your masseur, can converse with you in relatively fluent English. And speaking of cabbies, Tokyo’s are glorious. All wear white gloves, have doily-adorned seats, and accept American Express. And no more renting one of those weird cellphones when you visit; 3G now works here. All these comforts and conveniences have a way of making Japan feel less foreign—almost, I dare say, like any other major city.
Thankfully, what remains unchanged are the enchanting Japanese. Many of the clichés remain true: flawless etiquette in every encounter (even if I was occasionally called “mister”), exquisitely prepared food, perfect-in-every-way service, and masterful in the art of the business deal. I like that life here retains a tinge of formality, too. Take, for example, press releases, hand-delivered to all journalists in the Nikkei by a bike-messenger every day—no blast email, no fax.

But just when you think you’ve got Japan figured out, it surprises you. This can be a chaotic, rebellious place, where fashionistas in Hello Kitty haute couture strut the streets of Shibuya, and young punks with 10-inch Mohawks screech from makeshift stages in grimy underground clubs... (http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-11-27/gal-with-a-suitcase-2/full/)

[Doctor Stop]

3G now works here.Well, Japan has has almost ten years to work out the bugs. Hire a fact checker, Beast, or better yet a whole bunch of them.

[Taro Toporific]

Gal With a Suitcase
Our new travel columnist visits Tokyo...

Sorry, Mike but I gotta ask...
I[B]s this satire or a quote of an unnamed publication? :confused:


Oops　http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-11-27/gal-with-a-suitcase-2/?cid=bsa:moreauthor1

[Mock Cockpit]

If you’re on a budget, don’t come―you haven’t a chance in the world. Instead, arm yourself with the phrase takai neh (“How much?!”)
I'm sorry dear, but you appear to be dead.

[Taro Toporific]

I'm sorry dear, but you appear to be dead.

The writer is not dead....Just 'tarded.

http://www.fuckedgaijin.com/forums/images/vbimghost/1294b1149ae80f0d.jpg
Gal With a Suitcase
thedailybeast.com/author/jolie-hunt/
Our new travel columnist...
(http://www.thedailybeast.com/author/jolie-hunt/)

[bornbitter]

I hate the view of Japan from the outside even more than I do the view from inside.

[prolly]

oh christ, another one of those "in between" idiots. please, someone drag her into the street and set her on fire.

[Greji]

http://www.fuckedgaijin.com/forums/images/vbimghost/1294b1149ae80f0d.jpg
(http://www.thedailybeast.com/author/jolie-hunt/)

Global Head? Does that mean she swallows?
:confused:

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Global Head? Does that mean she swallows?
:confused:

I was kinda hoping it meant she gives it to everyone in the world....

[Greji]

I was kinda hoping it meant she gives it to everyone in the world....

As long as the list includes me, I don't care if it's the entire red army with a man in motion....
:cool:

[BigInJapan]

the phrase takai neh (“How much?!”)

It never ceases to amaze me how "journalists" continually spout inanities without confirming details, especially basic Japanese phrases.

Now nearly everyone, from your cabbie to your masseur, can converse with you in relatively fluent English.

Really? Sure, if you stay at the Hyatt, and travel by taxi around Roppongi etc. you are bound to run into people in the service industry that have at least rudimentary English skills. But c'mon, fluent?

[Iraira]

Really? Sure, if you stay at the Hyatt, and travel by taxi around Roppongi etc. you are bound to run into people in the service industry that have at least rudimentary English skills. But c'mon, fluent?

Taxi Cab Driver: Where you from?
Global Head Girl: I live between New York and London.
Taxi Cab Driver: Do you like sushi?
Global Head Girl: I absolutely adore sushi, especially meguro.
Taxi Cab Driver: You see Fuji-san?
Global Head Girl: Ummmm, who's that? Oh, you mean the mountain? Yes, it is very beautiful.
Taxi Cab Driver: This is winter, Japan is four seasons.
Global Head Girl: I'm staying at the Hyatt, not the Four Seasons. To get to the hotel....Takai neh?
Taxi Cab Driver: ??????????

Fluency

[Mock Cockpit]

The comments section is full of people calling her an idiot.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

The comments section is full of people calling her an idiot.

This comment (http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-11-27/gal-with-a-suitcase-2/#comment_348724) was great!

Jolie Hunt's "report" on her jolly hunt in Tokyo says a lot about the quality of Thompson Reuters, Financial Times and IBM if she's managed to secure such fancy sounding positions at these firms....

[Mike Oxlong]

Sorry, Mike but I gotta ask...
Is this satire or a quote of an unnamed publication? :confused:


Oops　http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-11-27/gal-with-a-suitcase-2/?cid=bsa:moreauthor1

Yeah, I should have made the source more clear. Thanks for putting up the links and bio. I guess I was still half chuckling to myself, half shaking my head when I posted...:cool:

[Mulboyne]

I run into about two cab drivers a year with reasonable English. If they don't actually say anything up front, a good clue is if they retune the car radio to AFN-Japan when you get in. They are mostly older men of the kind who used to pester Greji for Hershey bars when they were kids. One guy spoke some English because he had gone to the Philiipines to find his second wife.

[wuchan]

I run into about two cab drivers a year with reasonable English. If they don't actually say anything up front, a good clue is if they retune the car radio to AFN-Japan when you get in. They are mostly older men of the kind who used to pester Greji for Hershey bars when they were kids. One guy spoke some English because he had gone to the Philiipines to find his second wife.
:rofl:

[Yokohammer]

I'm really glad that people on this and other forums are calling this moron out on what is just a half-assed, finger-up-nose effort. She was probably just here for the shopping, and scrawled her "report" on a sick bag on the flight home. I hope the feedback gets back to her and her publisher(s), with appropriate consequences. This crap might have worked 25 years ago, but not in an age when there are plenty of serious English-language reporters/writers residing in the country, and when Internet scrutiny is bound to swing around and kick you in the ass if you get even the tiniest detail wrong (and even if you don't).

Jeez that was dumb. :doh:

[Coligny]

As long as the list includes me, I don't care if it's the entire red army with a man in motion....
:cool:


Great, just great, so this time I will not just have greiji sloppy second but the entire red army too... can you bath her after at least ? or I don't know put her back away wet but at least under the rain ?

Should have woke up earlier... (as I was also fracked for a ebay auction...)

FUCK YOU SUNDAY... FUCK YOU DAY OF INFAMY...

[Greji]

Great, just great, so this time I will not just have greiji sloppy second but the entire red army too... can you bath her after at least ? Well, I normally try to throw a bucket of water on her on the way out the door to keep the dust down...

FUCK YOU SUNDAY... FUCK YOU DAY OF INFAMY...

Excellent definition of any day following Saturday night....
:cool:

[sublight]

Man, those comments are brutal. Not a single one that isn't calling her article a steaming piece of crap.

Of course, she deserves every bit of it, it's just rare to see that level of agreement on the Internet.