What do the kanji say on the front page of AJATT?

I can kind of read the second - fourth -> beginning ... think ... concept

But the others are too small for me to work out, and I probably won't know them anyway.

What does the phrase mean? Is it in Chinese / Cantonese instead of Japanese? If so I won't have a chance at understanding it...

勝元 (katsumoto) 思想 (thought/idea) 萬 (10,000) 歳 (age)

Any chance it's 万歳！　（ばんざい）　萬 being an old form of 万?

That fellow has a bit of an old kanji fetish and a sense of humour that could conceivably include poking fun at his own personality cult.

^I read it as "banzai" as well

萬 is actually quite common. I'm not sure I'd consider it much of an old form, as it's used especially a lot in law paperwork, etc.

Is it commonly used in 'banzai'?

Aijin Wrote:萬 is actually quite common. I'm not sure I'd consider it much of an old form, as it's used especially a lot in law paperwork, etc.

Not old at all. Sometimes You MUST use the complicated alternatives for numbers such as 壱 for 一 (one) and 萬 for 万 (ten thousand). Let's say, I borrow ten thousand yen from you, and you write out a deed saying "magamoはAijinから一万円借りました。平成２１年７月１日までに返します。返せない場合はマグロ漁船(ry" I find you used simpler kanji, add some strokes so it looks like "magamoはAijinから十五円借りました。..." and pay you back fifteen yen.

Thora Wrote:Is it commonly used in 'banzai'?

萬歳 usually means まんざい, style of traditional entertainment in Japan. Here's the article in Japanese wikipedia. I'm not sure if it can mean 万歳, but my IME lists the complicated version as one of ばんざいs.

萬 can substitute for 万, such as in 萬歳亭. Too odd for me personally, as I haven't really seen anyone use that variation.

Ah, a similar problem occurs in the US with checks. For example, some people send a tax payment to the Internal Revenue Service with payment to "IRS". Well, it's not too hard to change that to "MRS. JANE DOE", so it's recommend to write out the entire name "Internal Revenue Service".

So Aijin, think Magamo is going to pay back that 15 yen he owes you?

FromThe Cult of Mao: Mao's face had to be painted red and often had a halo which emanated a divine light, illuminating the faces of the people standing in his presence.

...the ritual of "asking for instructions in the morning, thanking him for his kindness at noon, and reporting back at night". This involved bowing three times, ... reading passages from the Little ... Book in front of his picture ... and would end with wishing him 'Ten thousand years'. ... In the evenings, people would report on their accomplishments or failures and announce their resolutions for the next day. The rituals were often accompanied by dancing the 'loyalty dance', which did not involve much more than stretching one's arms from the heart to his portrait[....] accompanied by the song "Beloved Chairman...".

Maoism = "Mao Thought" = 毛澤東 思想 (trad. Chinese)
'Ten thousand years' = 萬歳 (trad. Chinese).



I thought 萬 was the old form (旧字体) of 万 (other than special use in legal docs). So I guessed 萬歳 could = Japanese 万歳　(ばんざい). Beloved Katsumoto has done stand up and is into Japanese comedians and old kanji. So I imagine he's familiar with both 漫才 comedy wordplay and its kanji history ( 萬歳 -> 万歳). So the expression might work in both languages and have a pun in Japanese. (It's a Japanese learning site after all.) Then again, maybe not.

萬歳 = ばんざい
It's just using the old kanji for 「万」(「萬」). In World War II, it's documented that the Japanese screamed 「萬歳!」 during celebrations, so this way of writing it is just from the pre-WW2 era. Everyone knows Khatzu loves those pre-occupation kanji.

As far as kanji for numbers go, there are two types of complicated alternatives: 旧字 (きゅうじ) and 大字 (だいじ). The former is the old set of kanji Khatzumoto often uses. A lot of kanji, regardless of whether they're numbers or not, have 旧字 versions too. The latter is a set of kanji used to prevent alteration of numbers. Only numbers have 大字. Some 大字 also have 旧字 versions. Some laws forbid normal kanji for certain numbers in legal documents and only allow 大字. As far as I know, kanji for 1, 2, 3, and 10 should be 大字 in an official family register, which lists dates of birth.

万's 旧字 and 大字 are the same, and they're both 萬. I'm not sure if there is any law that forbids 万 in certain documents, but sometimes 萬 is used to prevent alteration or for aesthetic reasons. 一 is 壱 in 大字, and 壱 is 壹 in 旧字. I don't know if 一 has 旧字. 壱 is often used because 一 is apparently the easiest kanji to alter and numbers are often the most important information. 壹 is very rare. This kanji was printed on the front side of a one yen banknote.