Japanese culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Japanese culture - Essay Example The researcher states that the Japanese constitution is believed to have some very serious translation errors; yes, rendition errors are part of this constitution since its origin. Article 9 of this Constitution relinquishes war or forbids the traditional warfare in Japan. Article 9 says. â€Å"Japanese people desire to renounce war and refer to international peace as a system of order and justice. They consider it an autonomous national right of the people of Japan and also abandon use of force as a means of settling international disagreements.† In order to come in compliance with this rule, sea, land, and air forces as well as other war related forces will never be sustained. The supreme right of bellicosity of the state will never be documented. The Japanese version and English version of Japanese Constitution differs to such an extent that most people are unable to comprehend that these two are just a translation of one another! As we all know that Americans wrote the Con stitution of Japan after World War II, weight of English version should be more than Japanese one but Japanese version is considered as the original, source document and what is written in it matters most to the Japanese than English one. The Constitution of Japan was written by U.S Occupation Authority and MacArthur in the wake of World War II. And then it was converted into Japanese. The Constitution bears keen interest among Japanese linguists and translators as it looks peculiar when translated into Japanese. (Wallace, 2011) The Constitution sounds very aberrant in Japanese, as if it wasn’t meant for this language. It looks very unnatural and peculiar. In English, the later paragraph says, â€Å"sea, land, and air forces as well as other war related forces will never be sustained†. However, the Japanese take it differently; instead of ‘will never be sustained’, they say ‘will not be sustained’ or ‘shall not be sustained’. The Japanese have not used the word â€Å"never† anywhere in the text. Neither had they expressed it in a written form or implied it anywhere. During the course of time, English version had become the accepted one and Japanese one had been rejected. Strategists and scholars outside of Japan rely on the English version when considering Japanese policy and politics. (Wallace, 2011) The English version is found in modern Japanese politics and history, in college textbooks, in media reports, and is used as a model for all other countries of the world in relation to pacifistic propensities and anti-war strategies. Bilingual experts have seen the dispute between the Japanese version and English version long ago. But, until recently it wasn’t seen that a modification to Japanese constitution was likely to take place, so this impediment of translation was not given a second thought. Now, if the Japanese alter their Constitution or not, it does not genuinely matter as Article 9 doe sn’t say anything permanent. (Language Realm) This translation error in the Constitution does imply to the fact that Japan has one of the best equipped and third biggest military in the entire world. Japan uses its self defense forces in military action. This is a clear contradiction to its Article 9 of the Constitution as of the English version of the Constitution. The translation issue is regarded as less important due to the truth that Japan is keeping fast breeder reactors and is likely to become a nuclear country within twelve months of actually deciding to be one. But, this is reality is also important that the words in Japanese Constitution are not only taken gravely by people around the globe, but by Japanese themselves as well. (Language Realm) In 2009, an annual poll conducted by Yomiuri on revising the Constitution of Japan once again found out that a clear majority-51.6 is in favor of the revision. The