Japanese MWT books answered....

[mycenaeth.livejournal.com]

Okay, I was really confused for a bit...

I found this page

http://home.att.net/~mwturner/

Which listed the Japanese version of The Thief and QoA as being published by Akane Shobo publishers. I took the title of the books shown on the page, Toushinden, and typed it into their search engine... AND FIVE BOOKS SHOWED UP. 0___o













Such pretty cover art!!!

They say written by MWT, Translated by Kanehara Mizuhito and Miyasaka Hiromi.

Here are the blurbs for each book in case anyone's interested:




Book 1 reads "The thief Gen makes a journey to procure a stone refered to in the legend of 'Hamiathes' which grants immortality and the right to rule a country"

Book 2's description is "Gen, the thief working for the Queen of Eddis, is captured in the neighboring country of Attolia. In order to obtain harmony and love, Gen crawls up out of the depths of despair and hopelessness..."

Book 3 says "For the sake of harmony, persistantly struggling Gen makes a serious profession of love to the Queen of Attolia。Despairing after being betrayed by the gods, Gen discovers hope at the very end..."

Book 4 says "Eddis' Thief, Gen, has finally become King of Attolia. However, before he becomes an absolute ruler, a conflict is brewing..."

Book 5's description says "After the assassination attempt, Gen is feeling more and more intensely isolated as he tries to accept his new environment. At the end, who will the gods smile on?"

So Im guessing KoA is split in two parts over books 4&5. Same for QoA over books 2&3... Makes sense to break them up if you want to translate small parts at a time and get them published quickly.

"Toushinden"... The title for the series of these books is a made up word using the three characters for "Thief", "Gods", and "legend", according to my coworkers. I like it!

Pretty pretty pretty... Debating whether I would be willing to try and read through them in Japanese. haha...

Comments

[fragilistikal.livejournal.com]

It's a strange system they have over there in Asia, because it's a usual thing to split up books into parts... I'm reading a japanese book that's been translated into korean, and there are two books that are really just one--the first book ends in a cliffhanger. Books like Harry Potter get the same treatment...and the price of paper is pretty pricey.

[mycenaeth.livejournal.com]

I like the fact I get 5 pieces of cover art though. XP

[(Anonymous)]

Also, I always see Japanese people reading while standing up on the train, and during rush hour, a huge tome like HP6 or 7 might be kind of unwieldy, as well as hard to carry around. Haven't seen anyone reading MWT yet, but I'll keep my eyes peeled!

[mycenaeth.livejournal.com]

XP

Where in Japan are you located? If you don't mind me asking.

It's nice to know there's another MWT fan somewhere in this country~

[(Anonymous)]

Whoops, that was me. I'm in Tokyo, but am leaving tomorrow morning (so sad!) Will be back in Kyoto in two weeks, though, so not too sad. :)

[sangoire.livejournal.com]

Argh! LJ doesn't want to log me in for some reason. My bad.

[mycenaeth.livejournal.com]

lol, not a problem! I'm wayyy up north In Hamatonbetsu, only about 1.5hours south of the tip of Hokkaido. XP

Hope you enjoyed your trip! I just got home from a Obon Omatsuri myself and got to do a bit of Taiko. it was really fun!

[idiosyncreant.livejournal.com]

You are IN Japan!? *wail* "Despair! Anguish! HORROR!"
I lived in Yamagata [halfway between Hokkaido and Tokyo ^_^] for four years, far too long ago. In a small city, where the rice patties checkered its fringes, surrounded by a bowl of mountains and blessed with the greatest dialect I ever spoke...


Being a red-headed teen (the only white teen besides my brother) in the whole area was totally worth it. Now I'm not longer a paranoid 15 year old, I HAVE to go back...
What ya'll there for?

[mycenaeth.livejournal.com]

I'm in the JET Program, Japanese Exchange and Teaching program, for up to three years if I wish. I teach english full time at two jr. highs mainly and 4 elem. schools off and on.

I am also the only white female for MILES, and there is one other american who teaches at the sr. high in town. Its a really small town, only about 4,000 people in town so I am very much the celebrity here. XD

[Don't mind me, just bonding over here...]

[idiosyncreant.livejournal.com]

Hope you're having fun! We knew a lot of JETs. Our city was pretty big, plenty of high schools and middle schools (this was before they instituted elem. English, but just as they were working toward it) so our International Relations club was pretty sizeable.
I actually worked with a tour team that did English tours.

If you want help reading the Japanese, I volunteer! I ought to buy them, huh. They are so pretty, too...

Oh, and I went to a jr. high for a few years, and even tutored with the other redhead in the city (at the time)--an Irish JET whose blarney was extremely entertaining. He probably made life worthwhile for a while there. My brother and I were in the same room (a MAJOR stretch to the rules) so we sat through all the English classes and tried to help out the JET of the day when she came to have a bit of chaos in our class.

Re: [Don't mind me, just bonding over here...]

[mycenaeth.livejournal.com]

XP I studied Japanese for 4 years in college, but Kanji is a bitch. =( It's cool that you got to be with family while you were there. I miss mine very much!

I just got here at the beginning of August so I'm just starting to feel settled in.

Re: [Don't mind me, just bonding over here...]

[bluestalking.livejournal.com]

Ah, I have a friend in the JET program! She started this year and is probably doing brilliantly because she's generally brilliant. I have only taken one year of Japanese, because I am rotten at languages, so if I take any more it will be auditing so it doesn't murther my GPA. At any rate I've always wanted to go to Japan but am afraid to, because I am horrifically allergic to shellfish, and so many things that don't look shellfishy still have shellfish essence in them somewhere.

It's gotten me twice recently, in May and July, and I really fear any further encounters.

(It wasn't fair, either, because the gyoza were supposed to be pork, and the oden was supposed to be chicken but had a fishy base. *tears* *cramps* *immobile agony*)

Re: [Don't mind me, just bonding over here...]

[mycenaeth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's almost impossible to not eat fish in some form here.... Really sorry to hear that!

[emerald-happy.livejournal.com]

oh wow. The cover art is beautiful!

[dagger-ix1.livejournal.com]

What beautiful covers! Perhaps I'll get these when I have (a lot) more kanji under my belt...

[mycenaeth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, just deciphering the blurbs took me a few minutes. But if I had the english copies and the jpn copies side by side, it could be a great way to learn.

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

Those are beautiful! I am wildly jealous. I had seen the Thief cover, but not the other Queen ones.

If you read them side by side, Megan had asked at one point for comments on the translation.

[mycenaeth.livejournal.com]

yeah, if I get them I'm sure I'll review here. =p

[bluestalking.livejournal.com]

Recommendation: the Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary, by Jack Halprin. It's not the traditional organization of a kanji dictionary; it's flippin' brilliant. I love mine to bits (not literally, though my regular Japanese dictionary had to be taped back together this semester. *sigh*)

[cabin-boy.livejournal.com]

x.x Coverartswoon. Sheesh. When I finally get a job here, I would totally be willing to pay you to buy and send me the Japanese copies of the books, just to own and fawn over. They're *so* gorgeous. Go you for thinking of looking them up while you're there. XD

And that is really cool, about the title of the books. How creative!

[mycenaeth.livejournal.com]

For all of them, it'll be about $94. Still tempting though. XP

When I get my paycheck on Monday I might get the first ones or something. =p

[cabin-boy.livejournal.com]

>.> Would be totally worth it. XD

[mycenaeth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the insides look pretty too!

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

If you do get them ... could I commission you to get me a set as well?

[mycenaeth.livejournal.com]

possibly, if I can find them. =p

At this point I'm probably going to end up buying online. Since the bookstore in Sapporo didn't have them in stock.

[bluestalking.livejournal.com]

Waaah. I had sad bookstore luck this summer. No comic shops had my Buffy Season Eight comics; no Borders or Barnes and Noble had Mirador; and Kinokuniya didn't have the manga Kuroshitsuji, which I wanted for an entirely guilty pleasure. ...If anyone in Japan runs into *that* in a bookstore, I would so pay them to send it to me. And tip them, too.

[lilian-cho.livejournal.com]

Wow, and I thought books in the U.S. are expensive.

Books in China are insane cheap (as low as $1 each0. Back in 2006 I bought a small suitcase full of children's books there, and it cost me less than $100 =3

Are you still teaching in Japan?

[mycenaeth.livejournal.com]

No, I came back to the U.S. in July 08.