Koizumi’s farewell tanka

In Japanese:
「ありがとう 支えてくれて ありがとう 激励 協力 只々感謝」

The official translation:
“Many thanks to you all
For all your support
Many thanks to you all
For all your encouragement and cooperation
Words of thanks are not enough to express my gratitude”

My more literal translation before seeing the official one:
“Thank you
for supporting me
thank you

I have only appreciation
for your encouragement
and cooperation.”

Isn’t it just horribly lame, like the kind of thing you write in the high school yearbook of someone that you had a lot of classes with but aren’t actually close enough with to bother actually keep in touch?

5 thoughts on “Koizumi’s farewell tanka”

  1. That’s what I’m afraid of. He’d better keep in touch!

    But anyway, what are you talking about – He didn’t write it himself! At best, it was probably written by the Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary. Koizumi mentioned in his last issue that Abe was the first editor of his mail magazine when he was in the above mentioned position in 2001. Right now it’s a Mr. Seiji Suzuki, upper house member and lifelong politician:

    http://www.i-shift.co.jp/seiji/

    That will probably change next Tuesday, however.

  2. Isn’t it just horribly lame, like the kind of thing you write in the high school yearbook of someone that you had a lot of classes with but aren’t actually close enough with to bother actually keep in touch?

    Absolutely not. As the Japanese language is one in which phrases are so pre-set that there is little room for creativity, Koizumi’s two farewell addresses that I’ve read/heard have been remarkably unique. Phrases like 熱く御礼を申し上げます, and what you quote here, are not set phrases and thus noteworthily unique.

  3. Curzon, what you forget is that this is a poem. Koizumi does have a unique speaking style, but it doesn’t carry over into this at all. Having read some traditional tanka and whatnot, I attest that this one is horribly lame. I know that you have no interest in studying literature, so you may not have any idea what a good tanka sounds like, but certainly not like this.

    And “the Japanese language is one in which phrases are so pre-set that there is little room for creativity”? Come on. We’re talking about an alleged poem here. The man was so starved for ideas he said “arigatou” twice!

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