The STAGE48 post dump

Story in the NY Times about changes in the law regarding names

Unusual Names Can Complicate Life in Japan. Now Parents Are Being Reined In.
As such names have increased, so has media attention to cases of people unhappy with them. But critics say new rules may infringe on the right to be creative.

Growing up, all Yuni Matsumoto wanted was to fit in. But his name made that hard. It was highly uncommon in Japan and, on top of that, essentially unreadable as written. Middle school classmates ridiculed him. The bullying got so bad that he eventually dropped out of school.

Mr. Matsumoto, 24, had what is known as a kira-kira — meaning “shiny” or “glittery” — name. A growing number of Japanese parents are choosing these unconventional names, often in hopes of making their children stand out in a country where pressure to conform is strong.

Mr. Matsumoto’s parents were driven by that same desire for uniqueness, but to him, his name was a shackle. This spring, he went to family court and had it changed to a common one, Yuuki, written in a way anyone could read. “I felt like I had finally been freed,” he said.

Within the next two years, changes will take effect in the law governing the all-important family registry certificates that every Japanese citizen must hold. The revisions will bar parents from giving their children some more extreme types of unconventional names and, for the first time in the registers’ 150-year modern history, require notations ensuring that all names can be read as intended.

The use of Japanese names with unorthodox readings has increased over the past four decades, according to research by Yuji Ogihara, an associate professor of psychology at Aoyama Gakuin University.

There are, for instance, around 1,000 women and girls in Japan whose names are written with the character for “moon,” which is usually pronounced “tsuki,” but read as “Luna,” said Hiroyuki Sasahara, a linguist at Waseda University.

The change in the Family Register Law will limit readings of the kanji in children’s names to those “generally recognizable by society.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/01/world/asia/japan-baby-names.html

 

here in the Netherlands it's mostly up to the discretion of the registering civil servant wether a name should be accepted.
after the last war it was impossible to register your son as 'Adolf', for obvious reasons, even though it was even a common name in the history of the royal family.
Dolf is ok though

 

US tv debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night.


if the video does not show watch the video here

 

NHK World has a story about Attarashii Gakko

Atarashii Gakko! dances to its own beat and draws a global spotlight to Japanese school and home life.


if the video does not show watch the video here

 

if the video does not show watch the video here

Update:

Story in Sponichi, which includes the discussion of the name of his dog, デコピン or ディコイ [Deikoi or Decoy]

https://www.sponichi.co.jp/baseball/news/2023/12/15/kiji/20231214s00001007301000c.html

Another interview


if the video does not show watch the video here

 

I wasn't clear. The question was how to pronounce ディコイ as an English speaker, Deikoi or Decoy. He wanted to make it easy for fans to say. デコピン is Dekopin, as you say.

 

I just spent two hours having a Japanese cultural experience. Two of my granddaughters take Taiko lessons at Makoto Taiko in Pasadena, and they had their winter recital today. One is in the 10-12 group and the other in the 13- 15 group.




(Was it loud? Definitely!)

 

When Arai Yuki graduates, she can become a star in the US.

Can Sukeban Make Female Wrestling Fashionable With Americans?
A unique form of Japanese wrestling that mixes fashion and theatrics has come to the United States.





Sukeban places a particular emphasis on fashion, and well-known designers, including Olympia Le-Tan, a founder of the league and its creative director, helped to produce the costumes and props with the hope of appealing to an audience unfamiliar with the sport.



https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/12/style/sukeban-wrestling.html

P.S. At our family early Christmas, my kids gave me a pre-order Shohei Ohtani LA Dodgers jersey, to be delivered in several months. They must love me to pay that much for the real thing!

 

Do you love Disney? Now there is a Shinkansen just for you.

A ride on the Shinkansen always feels special, but it’s going to feel extra exciting for Disney fans later this month. Next Friday, East Japan Railway, also known as JR East, will begin running a special Disney-themed Shinkansen.

The Disney Shinkansen will run along the Tohoku Shinkansen line, which connects Tokyo with the northeastern Tohoku region of Japan’s main island of Honshu, most notably with Sendai, Tohoku’s most populous city.

In addition to the graphics on the outside of the train, the standard passenger announcement chimes inside will be changed to a Disney-themed version,





https://soranews24.com/2023/12/18/d...ng-to-japans-rails-starts-service-this-month/