Posted by umi on June 09, 2008 at 06:59 [219.118.247.221]
In Reply to: Japanese Cheerleaders (Comments Appreciated) posted by umi on June 07, 2008 at 04:57
I wish to thank everyone who has read and replied to this thread. With the exception of one obnoxious racial slur, I do appreciate all your comments. In the interest of conciseness I will make my response within this single message.
It was expressed that it may be possible that I myself as translator had fabricated these messages. I had actually sought to forestall such suspicion by providing the URLs to the original pages. Anyone desiring evidence of authenticity can feed them through babelfish or some such software and see that the resulting word salad is comprised of the same content, albeit in a far less intelligible form. In other words, don't shoot--I'm just the piano player!
However, in my analysis of these posts I do see considerable indications that at least some of the authors themselves have fabricated, or at least exaggerated wildly. Not all of them, but there are a few prominent posters in the threads and poll who I feel are being something other than completely honest, and I can go into details as to why I think that if anyone is interested. Nonetheless, the content and quantity of these had me going for some time, enough to think to myself: I've been in the wrong social group; I should have been going after the cheerleaders!--even though as a translator by profession it is part of my job to perceive and preserve similarities of writing style and word choice. It's good to hear a variety of reactions, including personal anecdotes from those of you who offered them.
Fres wrote:
I have seen several references in the press to Japanese "Baby Girls" who delight in wearing baby-style clothes in public as a fashion statement. There are no pictures attached. Without getting yourself arrested, can you tell us if any of them "go the whole hog" and wear omutsu/nappies/diapers underneath?
I think you refer to Lolita fashion; unfortunately I'm not the best authority on it, although I do admire its beauty and elegance and I have a few online friends who are active participants in the subculture, but I am not on sufficiently intimate terms with them to ask if they wear diapers as part of the fashion. Sorry!
In response to Kevin's request, I will post an update later this week. I may have mentioned that the latter thread had recently been resurrected, and it was up to 93 posts at last count. The said new poll has also garnered 9 responses so far, which I will also post for the curious.
Email: hiroshima_umi@weirdness.com