前原 誠司 written in Hiragana まえはら せいじ or Romaji Maehara Seiji.

Tori-kun wrote:

[Also the 、 before 政治家　is frustrating me.

I take it as being an implicit して after the 辞任 -- the announcement is that he is resigning and taking responsibility, which I think is formal/newspaperish.

Also you seem to have dropped the "ばかりだった" in your translation : と宣言したばかりだった  is "had (only) just announced ...". [the implication being "...so shouldn't be running for the leadership so soon afterwards".]

ETA: this is a really annoying sentence, incidentally -- lots of bits in it where I'm almost but not quite certain about what it means. Eg is it "even as Foreign Minister" or "even though he was Foreign Minister"? pretty sure it's the former but the latter maybe makes slightly more sense with the rest of the sentence. Is it "a serious 'money and politics' scandal" or "the most serious of the 'money and politics' scandals"? Ugh...

Last edited by pm215 (2011 August 31, 1:16 pm)

@Tori-kun

前原は外相としても、外国人やフロント企業からの違法献金という「政治とカネ」の最たる問題で辞任、政治家として責任を取ると宣言したばかりだった。

I'd translate it something like this:

"Maehara had just announced that as well as resigning as Minister of Foreign Affairs due to illegal donations from foreigners and front organisations (yakuza?), the ultimate problem of 'politics and money',  as a politician he will take full responsibility (for his actions)."

It's a tough sentence to translate because it's one of those times when the English would probably be split into 2 sentences.

regarding the も in としても, I see this as having the meaning 'as well' or 'going as far as'. I don't think it means "even as Foreign minister" here. You need to read it in the context all the way up to 辞任:

前原は外相としても...辞任（し）、政治家として責任を取ると宣言したばかりだった。

Maehara had just declared that, as well as (in addition to / even going so far as) resigning as minister of foreign affairs,  he will also take responsibility as a politician.


Kind of like "As X.... and as Y....."
She was proud as mother and as a woman she felt blessed.

Last edited by nadiatims (2011 September 01, 10:27 am)

that leaving out the masu stem し is a newspaper convention. Gotta save characters.

I was curious so I looked up the sentence 前原は外相としても、外国人やフロント企業からの違法献金という「政治とカネ」の最たる問題で辞任、政治家として責任を取ると宣言したばかりだった。and it seems the sentence actually starts さらに、前原は外相としても･･･  The previous sentence also talks his other failings so I think with that, the　外傷としても makes more sense.

http://diamond.jp/articles/-/13710?page=2

I'm starting to go through Read Real Japanese but can't really grasp this grammar if anyone can help. 「鴫を見るために、行ったことはあったが、」　"I had gone to see the snipes, but," I don't really understand the 「あった」 part. Is 「行ったことはあった」 something like "went and met"?

kudokupo wrote:

I'm starting to go through Read Real Japanese but can't really grasp this grammar if anyone can help. 「鴫を見るために、行ったことはあったが、」　"I had gone to see the snipes, but," I don't really understand the 「あった」 part. Is 「行ったことはあった」 something like "went and met"?

I'm thinking you probably need to look at the wider context that this phrase is being used in. To me it is as if the person is saying 'I've been (there) to look at the birds, but... (I haven't been to do such and such that you are talking about, I didn't get a chance to eat the famous soba, I didn't do anything else only birdwatched, or whatever else the other person is talking about etc.)

Last edited by SendaiDan (2011 September 02, 8:36 pm)

The grammar here is just 行った事がある、 which is generally translated as 'I have had the experience of going.' (東京に行った事がある = 'I have been to Tokyo'; compare to without the 'koto' construction, '東京に行った' would only mean 'I went to Tokyo'.)

So anyway, it's this grammar then modified to use は to create a sense of contrast to the current walk with 弁当 in hand. The exact nuance of making ある past tense is slightly lost on me still despite having read this book also and this story the most of all, but I feel it just emphasizes that it's in the past... but until I see it a few more times I can't be sure and I don't think he had a note on that. I don't think that tiny detail should get in the way though.

(Actually, I wonder if it isn't the same as the English difference... "I had been to Tokyo" vs "I have been to Tokyo", making it 'at -that- time I had -already- had the experience of... ' ... dangerous to speculate, but I'm going to do so anyway and hope my own post reminds me to search ALC for examples later. It feels right anyway!)

Last edited by SomeCallMeChris (2011 September 02, 9:44 pm)

Oh of course, ある. I understand it now, thanks.

nadiatims wrote:

鴫を見るために、行ったことはあったが、暑い季節にこうして弁当まで持っていくのは初めてである。　
means something like:
"I had been there before to see the snipes, but this was the first time to go during the hot season (summer) and bring a lunchbox."

I thought 弁当まで means "even a lunchbox". Like, the weather was hot in summer and there was even a chance/occasion bringing a bento-box along. Something along the lines?

Tori-kun wrote:

nadiatims wrote:

鴫を見るために、行ったことはあったが、暑い季節にこうして弁当まで持っていくのは初めてである。　
means something like:
"I had been there before to see the snipes, but this was the first time to go during the hot season (summer) and bring a lunchbox."

I thought 弁当まで means "even a lunchbox". Like, the weather was hot in summer and there was even a chance/occasion bringing a bento-box along. Something along the lines?

Yeah, this is right.  I would say something like "to go so far as to bring a lunchbox."

Meaning, when he went before it was just a small visit to see the snipes, but this time they were going more all-out, even going so far as to bring a lunchbox.

DevvaR wrote:

Need a quick response for a quick question.
これを5℃で管理することで...
and
販売期限が切れて取り下げられる

What does this mean? If context is needed.
　現在、セブン-イレブンの弁当は20℃で配送・陳列されており、消費期限は約24時間だ。これを5℃で管理することで、3～4日ほど消費期限を延長できるようになる。店の棚に並べられてから、販売期限が切れて取り下げられるまでの時間を長くすることにより、従来と比べて弁当廃棄率の低下が期待できる。値下げなどに頼らない、チルド弁当は別の視点による弁当廃棄問題の解決策だといえる。

The first one is as Tori-kun says, although note that in this context it's not "you" but "7-11" that is keeping the bento at 5C: the whole paragraph is about 7-11 introducing chilled delivery and display, which means they can mark everything with later best-before dates, which in turn means less waste when they have to throw out unsold bento. Grammatically this is 管理する to control + こと nominaliser + で by means of. (My guess at why 管理 is that we're into the "control" meaning; 品質管理 is "quality control" for instance.)

The second one : 販売期限が切れて取り下げられるまで is "until the sell-by date is reached and they are withdrawn from sale".

Last edited by pm215 (2011 September 03, 7:39 am)

脱衣所の境界すらなくなっている in the context of someone talking about 混浴 at a public bath. 

I'm a bit confused about the "すら". Where does it come from? Is this the particle "すら" as in "even"? But I kind of have the feeling that this is not the case, or at least the connotation is wrong.

Last edited by Hinode (2011 September 04, 5:12 am)