I need to surprise a friend....

[pirho]

Hi there,

I'm someone who wants to surprise a Japanese friend, by sending her a gift through snail-mail (snale-mail?) Anyhow, I want her to get it on her birthday itself and therefor like to include her parents in the deal... (who prabably will get the package first...)
First of all is this acceptable behaviour on my part... (I don't know anything... I'm Dutch...) and secondly I don't think her parents speak English so I would like to give them a message in Japanese (In Roman letters...) Is there in anyway someone here could help me by translating something for me?

Something like: "Dear parents of Tomoko, could you please give this package to her on her birthday?"

I could translate this using a translating site (I can recommend : http://poets.notredame.ac.jp/cgi-bin/jedi-inon , by the way...), but I wouldn't know which kind of humble-ness I would need to use... (I have to say I never met them, although I do believe they know of my existence...)

Anyway I would be most appreciative when someone here would be able to help me...
I don't know if people ask you this stuff all the time... If so, I'm very sorry to bother you...

Dank U. (Domo Arigato(u(?)))
Pirho...
http://www.pirho.tk

[Adhesive]

Tomokosan no goryoshin e


kono presento to hikikaeni musumesan o kudasai...j/k, don't use this line.



Kono puresento o tomokosan no tanjyobi ni watashite kudasai. yoroshiku onegai itashimasu.

-Your name here-

That's fairly polite...nice art by the way, yours?

[fatslug]

tomoko san no munko honto ni tabetai.

kono presento wa... tomoko no mama to papa agemasu.

yoroshikuo negaishimasu.

your name.

[amdg]

tomoko san no munko honto ni tabetai.

translation - I really want to eat Tomoko's c*nt

Not sure that I'd use that line either...

[Greji]

[maraboutslim]

It may be possible to send it by Takyubin and specify the day that it will delivered. (maybe not if it is sent from outside of Japan of course but possible from within Japan).

[gkanai]

First of all is this acceptable behaviour on my part... (I don't know anything... I'm Dutch...)

Unless you have met her parents and are friendly with them, this is not generally done in Japan.

Surprising her with a gift is fine. Doing that via her parents- she may not appreciate that part.

[amdg]

The word in romaji that you are referring to is Manko, with a short "o" sound to deferentiate it from the word meaning wholehearted or heartfelt

I hate romaji.

[pirho]

Thanks for your replies, you shouldn't have worried about me using phrases which were completely inappropriate, I would have checked the words on the online dictionary... (Idiots always make predictable jokes, so I anticipated them coaxing me to use obscenities... Anyway I'm glad i could be able to make people laugh at their own jokes.... But enough of my condescending remarks...)
I don't live in Japan and I didn't want to spend too much money, so the post is my only means of sending stuff... But I have been put off the idea to use her parents...
Anyway thanks for the remarks... If someone else has some clever ideas, I am open to suggestions...

Pirho

[pirho]

That's fairly polite...nice art by the way, yours?

Yes (some of the paintings might be her...
If you know her don't tell her I wrote here )

[kurohinge1]

Pirho-san

Why not just address the parcel to her and write on top of the parcel for her to open it on a certain day.

For example, for September 23 you might just write: "9 gatsu 23 nichi ni akete kudasai" (please open on 23 September) - you can just change those numbers depending on the real date.

By the way, nice website you have there - great work.

[amdg]

That's fairly polite...nice art by the way, yours?

Yes (one of the paintings might be her...
If you know her don't tell her I wrote here )

This one?

[pirho]

Writing on it, that she can't open it untill her birthday is my second option and I'm afraid that's the one I have to take... (But it's not nearly as nice...)

By the way, that's not her... That's a girlfriend of a Yakuza boss, whilst dancing with the main character in the film "monday"

Pirho

Please don't overload my website...

[kurohinge1]

... By the way, that's not her... That's a girlfriend of a Yakuza boss, whilst dancing with the main character in the film "monday"...

I loved the music in that film
& finally tracked down the
Captain Funk album
mentioned in this earlier post:
Captain Funk - Tatsuya Oe

[fatslug]

[FG Lurker]

I'd wrap it twice. Once in plain wrapping on the outside, and then inside that in nicer wrapping with a note asking her to wait until her birthday to open it.

[pirho]

Thanks, yes I was planning do that.
(She got me a gift once and I was amazed at the way it was wrapped... Although I don't believe she did it herself...)

Talking about movies, for some reason I see more Japanese "art-house" movies in European videostores, than she does in Japan? Is she not looking closeenough or is Japanese (art-house) Film not appreciated in Japan that much? Like Tsukamoto Shinya or even the films by Kitano Takeshi....

[amdg]

Thanks, yes I was planning do that.
(She got me a gift once and I was amazed at the way it was wrapped... Although I don't believe she did it herself...)

Talking about movies, for some reason I see more Japanese "art-house" movies in European videostores, than she does in Japan? Is she not looking closeenough or is Japanese (art-house) Film not appreciated in Japan that much? Like Tsukamoto Shinya or even the films by Kitano Takeshi....

Jap films are a novelty in Europe, but not in Japan. Most Japanese movies are crap and are not interesting to discerning Japanese people.

Luckily, it seems, your Tomoko is discerning.

[pirho]

There's a small flaw in your thinking...
I am not an idiot.... And I wasn't talking about crappy horror...

And Japan isn't that big of a novelty to me...
I think I can discriminate between crap movies and good movies, whether they are from Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand, Holland, Germany, or even America.... (Yes, there are even a few good movies from the country of mainstream crap!!!!)

Luckily for you, there are more people that share your view...
(But please don't impose them on someone that isn't even called Tomoko in real life..... )

[pirho]

And the worst film by Kitano is some colaboration with some Americans... (called "Brother")

[jingai]

Nonsense, Brother is a very fine (if uneven) film and very useful for learning Japanese

I have some sound clips at:
http://www.jingai.com/yakuza/

Did you send the present?

[pirho]

Brother is crap (boring, predictable, exploiting the japan-"novelty-factor" and the cool black-man image, and I haven't learned a single word of Japanese from it.... (not even the word "brother")

Present not sent yet!