Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Japan/Archive/November 2009

Development of Japanese track list
Hi all. We are currently discussing the possible development of Japanese track list at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Anime and manga#. Your input would be appreciated. G.A.S talk 05:03, 2 October 2009 (UTC)
 * A working final version is up for input. 陣 内 Jinnai 19:43, 6 November 2009 (UTC)

Yet another translation request


Could someone please translate the text on the sign at the top of Commons:File:Seattle Nihon Go Gakko interior 12.jpg? Please feel free either to edit the description directly or to use the "add a note" feature. - Jmabel | Talk 18:08, 2 November 2009 (UTC)


 * It's a Chinese phrase. Probably by Han Yu. 一視同仁 means " treat everybody equally". But I cannot understand the rest. It might be better to ask at WikiProject China. Oda Mari (talk) 19:42, 2 November 2009 (UTC)


 * Really? Because it is in the Japanese cultural center. - Jmabel | Talk 19:53, 2 November 2009 (UTC)


 * I think so. 一視同仁 is a yojijyukugo and dictionaries say the origin was from the book '原人' by Han Yu. The word 'treat' could be exchangeable for 'love'. Oda Mari (talk) 20:20, 2 November 2009 (UTC)


 * If you look at the large version of the upload, you can see the text on the accompanying sign. It translates the calligraphy as "Strive for brotherhood among all mankind". Dekimasu よ! 03:12, 5 November 2009 (UTC)


 * By the way, the calligrapher is Ito Hirobumi. I guess the next characters are 天道, but I can't be certain. After that may be an old Japanese word for the Philippines. So you've got me. Considering the artist, I could make something up--say, that this was sent to the US to congratulate them after the Spanish-American War. But don't quote me on that. It would be nice to be right, but who knows. Dekimasu よ! 03:49, 5 November 2009 (UTC) Guessing it's actually 天涯比隣, not 天道比とう. That's what happens when you make up a just-so story. But Ito is still the calligrapher. Dekimasu よ! 03:57, 5 November 2009 (UTC)


 * There is a description in File:Seattle Nihon Go Gakko interior 12.jpg, "The sign reads "一視同仁，天涯比隣", or "Treat all people equally, close in spirit though far away"". See Summary section. ―― Phoenix7777 (talk) 05:02, 5 November 2009 (UTC)


 * Please see my post on the OP's talk page too. Oda Mari (talk) 05:16, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

Translation help
What does "茶室二畳半台目" mean? Is it a 2.5 mat tea room with raised platform or something completely different? I found the expression in connection with the Joan teahouse (Japanese wikipedia article). bamse (talk) 19:21, 2 November 2009 (UTC)


 * 台目 is a shortened form of 台目畳/daime-datami. It's a 3/4 length tatami mat used in a teahouse. Oda Mari (talk) 20:02, 2 November 2009 (UTC)


 * I see, so 二畳半台目 is a 2 + 3/4 mat room? What is the meaning of "半" here? bamse (talk) 20:09, 2 November 2009 (UTC)


 * It's a 2.5 + 3/4 mat room. Oda Mari (talk) 20:11, 2 November 2009 (UTC)


 * Thanks. bamse (talk) 21:14, 2 November 2009 (UTC)

Nomination for deletion
Please see: Articles for deletion/Toru Goto (religious persecution)Redddogg (talk) 17:56, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

Request for comments/suggestions
I am planning to improve List of National Treasures of Japan (shrines) up to featured list quality and am looking for suggestions on how to improve it. At the moment I am expanding the "remarks" column, wondering if the information of the "Ōsaki Hachiman Shrine" is too detailed and what could be dropped? Maybe it could be written in a more compact form?! Also, is it worthwhile to add geo-coordinates (in the "location" column) to the precise location of the building? Lastly, what does it mean if something is attached to the nomination (see notes section)? Are those items considered National Treasures as well? I'd be grateful for any suggestions or comments. bamse (talk) 10:09, 6 November 2009 (UTC)
 * A map with the precise locations of the National Treasures would be nice. Someone could edit File:National Treasures of Japan (Shrines).svg to include them, or then create a whole new map. -- ざくら 木 15:11, 6 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the reply. A map is already on my todo list. I don't mind if somebody else creates one though ;-), preferably in the style of File:National Treasures of Japan (sculptures).png or File:National Treasures of Japan (paintings).png. bamse (talk) 17:20, 6 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Just put up File:National Treasures of Japan (shrines).png... bamse (talk) 20:15, 6 November 2009 (UTC)

Working my way down the list and adding (architectural) remarks. I'd like to make the "remarks" column sortable but am not sure what property would be most interesting to sort after. By style (irimoya, ryōsage,...), size (=area in ken*ken) or something else. Any suggestions?bamse (talk) 23:58, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

Request for review of Medicinal mushrooms
Can you review this page?Jatlas (talk) 22:58, 6 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Um, you sure you posted that to the right project? What does that article have to do with Japan? —  Hello Annyong  (say whaaat?!) 00:52, 7 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Mushrooms grow in Japan? Just taking a stab at it... ··· 日本穣 ? · 投稿  · Talk to Nihonjoe 02:42, 9 November 2009 (UTC)

Adeyto - lecturer or professor?
In the Adeyto article, a comment has been added saying that she is a university professor based on the university staff page which describes her as a "教授" (kyōju). I understand that "教授" is often indiscriminantly translated by Japanese speakers as "professor", but I feel that if this were a university in an English-speaking country, it would be more correct to call her position simply "lecturer". Not being involved in Japanese academia, maybe I'm not sufficiently aware of the Japanese university system. Or am I just being too picky? --DAJF (talk) 14:50, 9 November 2009 (UTC)


 * You may try asking User:Matt Thorn as he's a professor at a university in Japan. I don't know if he's been active here lately, though. ··· 日本穣 ? · 投稿  · Talk to Nihonjoe 15:15, 9 November 2009 (UTC)


 * See this. 第四章　教員の資格、第十四条. She seems to be a case of #4. Oda Mari (talk) 16:57, 9 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Oops. Sorry, not #4, but #5/五 or #6/六. Oda Mari (talk) 01:52, 10 November 2009 (UTC)


 * I'm also not too clear on how the Japanese university system works, but just be aware that not all English-speaking countries work the way universities in the UK do, making such a strong distinction between lecturer and professor. Here in the US, nearly everyone who teaches at the university level is an assistant professor, associate professor, junior professor, senior professor or simply "professor". We don't do "readers", and I'm pretty sure we don't do "lecturers" for the most part. LordAmeth (talk) 21:50, 9 November 2009 (UTC)


 * The URL that Mari has posted (and I mean the bit after the "#" in the URL itself, not the page that's there) is awe-inspiring. &para; I've commented on this matter at the surprisingly disputatious Talk:Adeyto, which might benefit from a greater number of eyeballs. -- Hoary (talk) 00:45, 10 November 2009 (UTC)


 * I found the English translation of the law, Standards for Establishment of Universities here. See Qualifications of Professors in Chapter Ⅳ Qualifications of Teachers. Oda Mari (talk) 04:20, 10 November 2009 (UTC)
 * I don't know what the British standards for usage are, but in American academia, "lecturer" suggests a non-tenured, adjunct instructor. A "kyouju" is a permanent, full-time member of the faculty, and, like an American professor, is at the top of the pyramid. "Kyouju" is always translated as "professor," and "助教授 (jokyouju)" or "准教授" as "associate professor." Below that rank, it becomes more complicated, because while an American "assistant professor" is not tenured (though full-time), a Japanese "専任講師 (sennin koushi)" or "助手 (joshu)" can be permanent, but lack the status of an American assistant professor. Matt Thorn (talk) 13:04, 10 November 2009 (UTC)


 * I think the title "Professor" is more appropriate. While the relevant web page lists her as "教授," it also lists others as "講師," which would be analogous to the position of lecturer in American academia. Konamaiki (talk) 22:41, 10 November 2009 (UTC)


 * For more information http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%AC%9B%E5%B8%AB_(%E6%95%99%E8%82%B2) The section 概要: #2. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Konamaiki (talk • contribs) 22:45, 10 November 2009 (UTC)


 * The inflation of title is certainly true in the case of Adeyto, it is because the third rated and emerging universities like U of C need "billboard" to advertise them . In the case of the famous universities, talents like her would be 講師(lecturer or instructor) or at most, 客員教授(guest or visiting professor). Yesterday it is reported that a drug scandal singer Noriko Sakai entered the social work department of the university. She will be another "billboard" of the school. Anyway her English title should be a "professor". ―― Phoenix7777 (talk) 23:12, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

East Asian age reckoning
Someone in New Mexico is adding ages at time to death to infoboxes of the Japanese Emperors. I have posted a message alerting him/her to the difficulties involved in East Asian age reckoning, but a new user may not appreciate or understand my warning:

See User talk:97.123.171.147

If you are online, please do what you can. In my view, this seems urgent -- no? --Tenmei (talk) 01:58, 11 November 2009 (UTC)


 * Honestly, I don't really see the problem here. This is an encyclopedia. What is the problem with giving the actual age of the Emperor when he passed away? Maybe I'm missing something obvious here. -- T orsodo g Talk 02:45, 11 November 2009 (UTC)


 * I think Tenmei's concern may be due to the use of the lunar calendar in Japan prior to 1868. Due to this, the "age at death" information may be incorrect on some or all of these articles. ··· 日本穣 ? · 投稿  · Talk to Nihonjoe 03:08, 11 November 2009 (UTC)


 * Oh, alright. Well, if these ages are questionable or incorrect, then they probably shouldn't be added. -- T orsodo g Talk 03:19, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

We each learned many things from Fg2. I did attend carefully; but in some matters, I only learn slowly. I had presumed my concerns were reasonable in the context of Fg2's final paragraph at Talk:Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Oda Mari suggests an alternate point-of-view: As long as the arithmetic looks okay, the potentially minor discrepancies can be resolved by someone else at some other time. Implicit in my thinking was an expectation that I would be the one to clean up any serial errors; but it doesn't have to play out that way.

As ever, this becomes something to do with figuring out how to assess the best balance in evolving circumstances. --Tenmei (talk) 08:48, 11 November 2009 (UTC)


 * Careless of me! Belatedly I noticed the problem. When someone's birth date and death date are known, there's no problem. All we have to do is to check whether s/he died before or after the birthday in the year of death and figure out her/his age of death. But what if one or the both of the dates is/are unknown? Write (aged 60 or 61)for instance? Oda Mari (talk) 15:01, 11 November 2009 (UTC)


 * There's the Death year and age template that will handle this for you. —  Hello Annyong  (say whaaat?!) 15:05, 11 November 2009 (UTC)


 * Oh, I didn't know the template. Thank you, HelloAnnyong. Oda Mari (talk) 15:15, 11 November 2009 (UTC)


 * The template presents an elegant solution. I'm so glad to discover this -- a "fuzzy logic" shortcut which mitigates the problem without needing to explain in detail. The template's edit history shows that it has been around since 2007, but it simply escaped my notice.


 * Thanks, HelloAnnYong. It's fortunate that you noticed our thread about a small issue. --Tenmei (talk) 16:30, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Date entries in tairō article
I noticed that the article tairō has wrong date entries for the terms of the different tairo. The author copied them from a Japanese source, which uses the dates and months of the traditional Japanese calendar, and transferred them 1:1 to the Gregorian calendar without proper conversion. It's easy to verify with the Japanese article ja:大老 and the date of the assassination of Ii Naosuke, which happened on the 3rd day, 3rd month of 7th year of Ansei (安政七年三月三日). This is not March 3, 1860, as in tairō, but March 24, 1860. The article Ii Naosuke has it correctly. Can someone take care of this? It is also necessary to check the biography articles of the tairo to see whether this mistake has spread. --Mkill (talk) 11:32, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Toshiyuki Mimura
Can someone who can read and translate Japanese help with this one? Thank you! Chris (クリス • フィッチュ) (talk) 14:40, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Translation help
I am stuck with translating the attached items of shrine National treasures and am looking for help. I'd need translations or at least readings of: Thanks for any help. bamse (talk) 16:19, 11 November 2009 (UTC)
 * 非常門, 銅庫門, 東通用御門 (社家門), 銅神庫, 鐘舎, 燈台穂屋, all at Nikkō Tōshō-gū,
 * 末社印社本殿, 末社一言社本殿, ..., 末社三言社本殿, at Shimogamo Shrine,
 * 玉殿, at Sumiyoshi Shrine (住吉神社), Shimonoseki
 * Done. bamse (talk) 17:20, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Reliable source for Japanese NPB baseball stats?
I've decided to make a push to really get the Japanese baseball task force going again. I was able to get 2009 Japan Series on the main page for In The News, and that is just one step I want to take to get the NPB more exposed and better covered on the Wikipedia. One problem I have, however, is I don't have a reliable online source for the baseball stats for the many Japanese players. The official English NBP site has some stats here, but this is only for active players. Does anyone know of a good, reliable Japanese baseball stat site in English OR Japanese? It has to be out there, but I just cant find it and it is a major hurdle in getting player article off the ground. -- T orsodo g Talk 20:10, 14 November 2009 (UTC) NPB only seems to have year by year and all-time leader lists and the stats for current players. Suponichi's and other sports newspapers' NPB sections have roughly the same amount of data (but at least to me, they seem to be a little easier to navigate). English-language japanesebaseball.com has season stats for many more or less famous historical players, maybe the csv databases deserve a look as well; but neither list all players. (Just try searching for single season/single start players such as apparently misguided first-round draft pick Kunihiko Ishii.) The same applies to the Yakyū Dendō (HoF) and Meiyūkai sites. Among the many fansites, blogsites etc. some have stats for quite a lot of players (e.g., ), but it's hard to judge how reliable those are. --Asakura Akira (talk) 23:18, 14 November 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm not aware of any comprehensive online database listing all players' season stats (I’ve been searching for a reliable online source on several occasions. Of course, you can find individual stats in newspaper archives etc. in many cases.)

Nanatsu no Ko (七つの子)
I made an English article for this children's song recently, but there is a severe lack of English language online sources which has made it difficult to establish notability and find authoritative sources. There is a Japanese version of the page already and google comes up with lots of hits for "七つの子", but I am hampered by my inability to comprehend the language. Can someone from WPJapan try to rescue it? Also Ujō Noguchi (野口雨情 Noguchi Ujō), the writer, could probably use as article as well if someone desires to run with it. Thanks a bunch. 1modnar (talk) 18:13, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

New template
PLease use Japan-protected-area-stub where applicable. Thanks! ··· 日本穣 ? · 投稿  · Talk to Nihonjoe 04:06, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Rampaging User:Seibun
I noticed he's on a rampage of changing ii into i'i and such, causing broken links and deletion of single-use Fair Use images. Please have a look at the message I left him at User talk:Seibun (I have a feeling he won't listen to a gaijin). And I've found out he's also been at it on the Polish Wikipedia moving articles and breaking links like crazy. 62.147.25.2 (talk) 13:35, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

Road article titles
We need to be consistent in our naming of roads in Japan. For example, we have some national highways named Japan National Route 1 and others named Route 151 (Japan). I prefer the first naming method as it is very clear and doesn't require parentheticals. Thoughts? ··· 日本穣 ? · 投稿  · Talk to Nihonjoe 06:10, 23 November 2009 (UTC)
 * The first one does seem easier, but the second is used a lot. I'm not sure which is better and I may not be the only one since no one else has responded. Cla68 (talk) 08:39, 26 November 2009 (UTC)
 * They are both used quite a lot, so whichever we choose, it will be some work renaming the others. ··· 日本穣 ? · 投稿  · Talk to Nihonjoe 17:12, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

For reference, the U.S. standard, after much time wasted, is at Manual of Style (U.S. state and territory highways). In essence, if the common name of the highway is Route 1, you should refer to it as Route 1 unless the context (Japan) is not clear, and what you actually title the article matters little, since you'll always be calling it simply Route 1. --NE2 05:46, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Petition for Help on Feudal Japan related Wikipedia articles
Hello and my thanks to any whom may read this, agree to this, and wish to help me on this. Our database on Feudal Japan related articles here on Wikipedia has been hurt badly by one or more members, or outside contributors, of our overall project to the point that a high percentage of them have been, in the minds of whom edited these articles, essentially made informationless over a basic fear of copyright violations. A few of the pages that these now informationless articles can be found are:


 * User:Exiled Ambition/Articles (an approximation of said articles)
 * [] (relatively scattered)

Other relative terms with shared problems:


 * []
 * Any database of deleted articles on the topic of Feudal Japan that can be found on Wikipedia

Short list of references that can be used in the adding of information to said articles:


 * www.samurai-archives.com (an encyclopedia of Feudal Japanese history and figures, however minor and generalized)
 * A History of Japan, Vol. 1 through 4, George Samson, Tuttle Publishing, 2000.
 * Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697, translated from the original Chinese and Japanese by William George Aston.

I have not begun a discussion of any potential begin date for this petition, nor have I posted this petition on any other recommendable page of our project, but please post your views and suggestions here so that we can see what steps we can take together to make our project more elaborate with the fixing of this problem. Thank you for your time. Talk to IMMORTAL SAMURAI 22:07, 24 November 2009 (UTC)


 * Um, are you a sock of User:Exiled Ambition? Sure seems like it... —  Hello Annyong  (say whaaat?!) 22:24, 24 November 2009 (UTC)


 * I'm pretty sure we've decided against using samurai-archives.com, not because of the copyright problem -which is problem enough - but because it often isn't verifiable information in the first place. — Gavia immer (talk) 22:35, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

The SamuraiWiki of samurai-archives.com is probably what you're thinking of as you mention information that is hard to verify. The controlled encyclopedia that's used on the site, rather, doesn't state any references for the information it has on its various biographies of Japanese figures. Also, the site says it has been alive for a decade and I can't find any other English translated encyclopedias of Feudal Japan on the internet. Thus, I find it improbable for samurai archives to be an unreliable source, and our objective doesn't have to be full-blowing references right now when dealing with articles that have no references at all. But since the information is under suspicion, of course, adding tags to the articles will save us from trouble. This proves using that source would be smart for a first step among others. Talk to IMMORTAL SAMURAI 23:40, 24 November 2009 (UTC)


 * So if a website (a) says that it has been going for ten years, and (b) has no rival in English, it's unlikely to be unreliable? And adding tags to say that use of a source might make the content of an article suspect would prove that use of that source was smart? Mmm, are modus ponens or modus tollens at work here? I see a curious resemblance to modus fidikus.


 * On the use of "SamuraiWiki" for Wikipedia and other related matters, see this gruesome mess, passim. -- Hoary (talk) 00:20, 25 November 2009 (UTC)


 * He was indef blocked by Nihonjoe for being a sockpuppet. —  Hello Annyong  (say whaaat?!) 03:03, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

Everything on the Samurai-Archives is derived from other sources. Responsible editors will go out there and get their hands on such sources, and work from those. Published sources are almost always more reliable, verifiable, authoritative than something put up on the internet by armchair enthusiasts. In any case, the people who run the Samurai-Archives are already extremely annoyed at "Immortal Samurai" here for his rampant copyright violations, and at the Wikipedia community for their (our) failure to handle the situation in a timely and effective manner years ago when it first came up. Please don't start this all again... LordAmeth (talk) 19:40, 26 November 2009 (UTC)
 * It was handled as quickly as possible given the fact that we had to sift through over 600 articles to determine which ones were problems and which weren't. The guy from SA was being unreasonably pushy about things, however, given that Wikipedia is completely volunteer. No one can legitimately make the argument that we dragged out feet on that issue. ··· 日本穣 ? · 投稿  · Talk to Nihonjoe 08:48, 27 November 2009 (UTC)
 * I must regretfully part-disagree with you, Joe. No, nobody can claim that WP dragged its feet, or anyway that certain volunteers (notably you) did so. You spent far more of your time deleting than you should have had to. But that site clearly says "Unless otherwise noted, all contents of this website are &copy;1999-2009 by C.E. West and F.W. Seal, all rights reserved". If blatant violation of this declaration within Wikipedia can't quickly be fixed (and it couldn't), then this points to systemic (and perhaps intrinsic) failures in WP. It's not the fault of the victim (SA) that the perp (WP) is, for however understandable a reason, incompetent. &para; Still, WP has its copyvio-sniffing bots as well as selfless humans, so there's hope. -- Hoary (talk) 12:23, 27 November 2009 (UTC)


 * Here are some other sources that can prove quite useful:
 * Anything by Stephen Turnbull - one of the only people out there putting out books with serious narrative detail on samurai history
 * Papinot's Dictionary/Encyclopedia of Japanese History - seriously outdated, but extensive and quite useful when used in conjunction with other sources to corroborate accuracy, and in conjunction with some understanding of the changes in terminology and romanization since his time (e.g. Yedo --> Edo)
 * Countless sources in Japanese, from the Rekishi Gunzo mooks to things like Sengoku Jinmei Jiten ("Encyclopedia of People of Sengoku"), as well as websites like kotobank.jp which draw from encyclopedias and other sources to provide brief descriptions of a wide variety of topics.
 * Numerous monographs on much smaller topics: Friday's book on Taira no Masakado; Ravina's book on Saigo Takamori; Berry's book on the culture of civil war in Kyoto; Vaporis' book on sankin kotai...

LordAmeth (talk) 19:40, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

Japanese National Archives online
Just in case this hasn't been brought to anyone's attention here. Many of the images appear to be old enough to be public domain. Cla68 (talk) 04:56, 25 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Awesome. :) ··· 日本穣 ? · 投稿  · Talk to Nihonjoe 05:10, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

Is there anybody in Nara...
...who could confirm (or reject) that File:NaraTodaijiAzekura0246.jpg shows the scripture house (本坊経庫) which is located at 34.68608°N, 135.84053°W just a few meters east of the nandaimon (南大門) of Tōdai-ji? bamse (talk) 17:04, 25 November 2009 (UTC)


 * The image is not 本坊経庫. Because 本坊経庫 does not have a wooden fence. See and . 本坊経庫 lies in the walled 本坊, see the 7th image, and is not open to public except special occasions. The image looks like 手向山八幡宮宝庫. See the 18th picture on this page. Oda Mari (talk) 05:25, 26 November 2009 (UTC)


 * Thanks. Too bad it is walled. That makes it hard to find decent free pictures of 本坊経庫. bamse (talk) 08:28, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

RfC of possible interest
Editors with knowledge of Japanese popular culture (particularly related to anime), as well as historical Japanese views on capital punishment, may, perhaps, be interested in this RfC. --Tryptofish (talk) 15:33, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

Need romaji help
It looks like we need the romanization of several given names at Kōriyama,_Fukushima. Can someone help? Badagnani (talk) 02:58, 29 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Probably not. Great numbers of people can make educated guesses at the pronunciation of such names. But great numbers of people also know that many Japanese names have idiosyncratic readings. Indeed, even when seemingly authoritative Japanese sources provide readings for people of demonstrable interest, they often get them wrong (example). No guess is far better than an educated guess, unless the educated guess is clearly marked as such (example). Incidentally, I'm most surprised by the redlinking there: does some editor really suppose that the "successive mayors" of Kōriyama will eventually get biographies that meet each of en:WP's relevant rules (verifiability, reliable sourcing, etc)? -- Hoary (talk) 03:09, 29 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Wow, I didn't know that. A lot of Japanese given names with kanji are quite standard so I didn't know there was a problem. Badagnani (talk) 03:17, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

I've translated two of the names. Did it using a combination of Internet searches and Jim Breen's name dictionary. 七司 is either Shichiji or Shichishi, but the former seems more natural to me. As to the third name, 善庫, I'm not really sure about that. Are you sure those kanji are correct? I see that the Japanese version of the article has them, but I'm a bit skeptical... —  Hello Annyong  (say whaaat?!) 04:10, 29 November 2009 (UTC)
 * 善庫 seems correct as it appears in multiple google hits including a record of Diet. I would read the name either Zenko or Yoshikura, but cannot find decisive sources. --Sushiya (talk) 04:25, 29 November 2009 (UTC)


 * I suppose "translated" is just a typo for "transliterated", but a decision on the reading of a name that depends on the choice that "seems more natural to" one editor does not square with Wikipedia's purported aim of providing information based on reliable sources. Granted, my Japanese literacy is far below that of a literate native (how's yours?), but for what little my "intuition" is worth, either "Kazuhito" or "Kazuto" seems more likely to me than does "Katsuhito" as the reading of the given name of 中里和人. And just how much is it worth? It's worth jack: the reading is actually "Katsuhito". &para; Please stop providing readings of names via more or less educated guesswork, and remove any such factoids that have already been added. -- Hoary (talk) 05:18, 29 November 2009 (UTC)
 * I found a site that got one of them for me, so I updated that. The other one I still have no idea on, and wouldn't really feel comfortable guessing. Sushiya had my two guesses above anyway. —  Hello Annyong  (say whaaat?!) 05:34, 29 November 2009 (UTC)


 * Everyone please hold off on any more edits right now. I found a page which gives readings for all of them, but it will take a few minutes to transfer the information. Thanks. ··· 日本穣 ? · 投稿  · Talk to Nihonjoe 05:52, 29 November 2009 (UTC)


 * Okay, done. I think some of the names sound unusual, but I've met my fair share of people with unusually-read names in Japan, so... ··· 日本穣 ? · 投稿  · Talk to Nihonjoe 06:03, 29 November 2009 (UTC)


 * *floored* Can't believe I didn't see the furigana button at the top of that page. Well done on that. (PS, congrats on the bureaucratship!) —  Hello Annyong  (say whaaat?!) 06:05, 29 November 2009 (UTC)


 * It's the first site I've ever seen with a button like that, so I wasn't looking for it. I just happened to notice it. Thanks. ··· 日本穣 ? · 投稿  · Talk to Nihonjoe 06:52, 29 November 2009 (UTC)


 * I feel impatient today and called the Koriyama Central Library and learned the correct reading from the 8th to current mayor's names. I'll call City Hall tomorrow and get the rest. 穣、就任おめでとうございます. Oda Mari (talk) 07:05, 29 November 2009 (UTC)
 * If any are incorrect from what I found, please let them know so they can change the city website. It would be useful to just have the readings on the regular site. ··· 日本穣 ? · 投稿  · Talk to Nihonjoe 07:35, 29 November 2009 (UTC)
 * I didn't notice that furigana button. It seems the site has a furigana machine. This 大（だい）島破（しまやぶり）竹郎（たけろう） is impossible! Human doesn't read like that. Even though there are many difficult readings, 大島 must be Ōshima or Ōjima. I'll ask about it too tomorrow. Oda Mari (talk) 08:23, 29 November 2009 (UTC)
 * I had noticed the machinelike repetition of for example 第（だい）, and was wondering who was supposed to benefit, but was too lazy to investigate further. Well done! -- Hoary (talk) 08:33, 29 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Done! The woman I talked with didn't know whether the site used a furigana machine or not. I asked her to put furigana/reading manually to that page. Oda Mari (talk) 07:13, 30 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your help on this one, Mari! ··· 日本穣 ? · 投稿  · Talk to Nihonjoe 15:52, 30 November 2009 (UTC)
 * An excellent find; and, if I may exile my ambition for a moment, your direct use of it shows outstanding extraboxical arbitratitudinality. I don't see you here; too bad, but there's always next year. -- Hoary (talk) 07:12, 29 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Unlikely. I don't think I want to deal with what they go through. ··· 日本穣 ? · 投稿  · Talk to Nihonjoe 07:35, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

More romaji/kanji help
The article Bemani Python 2 is up for deletion. I was wondering if someone knowledgeable would please provide the romaji and/or kanji written forms at the AfD page. Thanks. SharkD  Talk  06:16, 29 November 2009 (UTC)