Tattoo help!

[RKitagawa]

Thanks a bunch masaegu, that's a really huge help
starting to have second thoughts after hearing that you think it sounds sissy though haha. Was also expecting there to be a bit more kanji in it. All that hiragana will make it a pretty long tattoo... hmmm, lots to think about.

I'm curious though. Do you think the english translation would also be a sissy tattoo? I personally think it's pretty poetic, and it strikes a chord with me. So I'm curious to learn if you think it's just the japanese translation that sounds sissy, or the quote in general. regardless of language.

Anyways, I really appreciate your help, and opinion. Thanks

@KyleGoetz I've often wondered that myself to be honest. I don't know how the Japanese see Murakami. But I would be a little disappointed if he was sort of a JK Rowling/Stephen King of Japan. His work is so beautiful, bizarre, and atmospheric. Nothing against those other authors, but to me.. Murakami is on a totally different level. At least, the Murakami I know (which is of course all translated, so who knows?).

[RKitagawa]

oh, another question. Now that we have the quote. I just want to make sure I'm reading it right. :P

My Japanese is pretty poor, so correct me if I'm wrong here. But it would be read like this?

ぼくは夢を見る。ときどきぼくにはそれがただひとつ の正しい行為であるように思える。

Boku wa yume o miru. Tokidoki boku ni wa sore ga tada hitotsu no 正?(don't know this one) -shii kouide aru youni omoeru?

I'm sure I absolutely butchered that :P I'm still learning. Thanks again!

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by RKitagawa

oh, another question. Now that we have the quote. I just want to make sure I'm reading it right. :P

My Japanese is pretty poor, so correct me if I'm wrong here. But it would be read like this?

ぼくは夢を見る。ときどきぼくにはそれがただひとつ の正しい行為であるように思える。

Boku wa yume o miru. Tokidoki boku ni wa sore ga tada hitotsu no 正?(don't know this one) -shii kouide aru youni omoeru?

I'm sure I absolutely butchered that :P I'm still learning. Thanks again!

it's 'tadashii'.

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by RKitagawa

starting to have second thoughts after hearing that you think it sounds sissy though haha. Was also expecting there to be a bit more kanji in it. All that hiragana will make it a pretty long tattoo... hmmm, lots to think about.

Using as many kanji as possible does not necessarily appeal to the more educated Japanese readers. Any 9-year-old knows the kanji for ぼく and ときどき but as you can tell from the sounds, these are originally Japanese words and many writers, pros and amateurs, prefer to write them in kana. Same goes with ひとつ. A lot of us consider it to be in bad taste to write it as 一つ.

There is only one Chinese loan word used in the two sentences: 「行為」. The rest is entirely in 大和言葉（やまとことば）. When a phrase "sounds" Japanese, meaning it consists mostly of kun-sounds, you usually do not expect too many kanji used in it because the imbalance between the "soft" Japanese sounds and the "hard" look of a kanji-studded sentence is something many of us prefer not seeing.

I'm curious though. Do you think the english translation would also be a sissy tattoo? I personally think it's pretty poetic, and it strikes a chord with me. So I'm curious to learn if you think it's just the japanese translation that sounds sissy, or the quote in general. regardless of language.

I am not an English-speaker nor do I reside in an English-speaking country, so I don't really feel my opinion would be valid. One thing that has crossed my mind is that a phrase that sounds good in one's ears or looks good on paper might not necessarily look as good in a tat. I do not know anything about the U.S. trends regarding tattoos. All I know is I rarely, if ever, see a long phrase like this in a tattoo in Japan. To be more concrete, I have never seen prose inked on one's body.

[RKitagawa]

Originally Posted by masaegu

Using as many kanji as possible does not necessarily appeal to the more educated Japanese readers...

Right right, I do know that. I just wasn't expecting it to be so extensive. Not that it matters too much. It just might increase the cost of the tattoo due to its length.

Originally Posted by masaegu

...I do not know anything about the U.S. trends regarding tattoos. All I know is I rarely, if ever, see a long phrase like this in a tattoo in Japan. To be more concrete, I have never seen prose inked on one's body.

Yeah. I actually know quite a few people with long phrases as tattoos. Some of them being quotes from books. I suppose it's a lot more common over here. I do still think I'm going to get it. I understand that it sounds 'sissy' to you haha. And I'm sure you're not the only one who will think that. But it sounds very poetic to me. Which I suppose could be part of the reason it sounds sissy. But to each his own I suppose. I'm okay with other people thinking it sounds sissy, as long as I myself am happy with it. Which I am. As long as getting this quote isn't offensive in any way. I can live with some people thinking it's a sissy tattoo. I just don't want to offend people or have people think I'm stupid.

Thanks again for all the help masaegu, it means a lot to me.

[Starskysea]

Well, it depends where you're getting it, and what size font it is. If you get it along your shoulder blades it's not the same as going up your bicep, right? What are your plans as far as tattoo placement?

[RKitagawa]

Originally Posted by Starskysea

Well, it depends where you're getting it, and what size font it is. If you get it along your shoulder blades it's not the same as going up your bicep, right? What are your plans as far as tattoo placement?

The plan was to get it on my arm. Sort of on the inside of my bicep. But I don't want it vertical. it'll still be horizontal. But I'm not 100% set on this location. I was also considering back or chest. maybe even forearm.

[ryuurui]

Interesting, well that must have been one messed up Japanese page I got it from then.

[RKitagawa]

So I've decided I am going with this tattoo for sure now. i do have one last question however. for the second sentence:
ときどきぼくにはそれがただひとつ の正しい行為であるように思える。

It's too long to write in one line. Where do you think would be a good place to break it up? I've been trying different things, but I don't know where a natural place to start a new line would be... Maybe something like:

ぼくは夢を見る。
ときどきぼくにはそれがただひとつの正しい
行為であるように思える。

or maybe:

ぼくは夢を見る。
ときどきぼくにはそれがただ
ひとつの正しい行為であるように思える。

Again, I don't know if either of these look awkward to the native speaker or not, but I do need to break up that sentence into two lines. It just doesn't fit on one line, due to the length of it.
Also, I don't know much about writing Japanese vertically, but that's also a possibility. what do you guys think?

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by RKitagawa

So I've decided I am going with this tattoo for sure now. i do have one last question however. for the second sentence:
ときどきぼくにはそれがただひとつ の正しい行為であるように思える。

It's too long to write in one line. Where do you think would be a good place to break it up? I've been trying different things, but I don't know where a natural place to start a new line would be... Maybe something like:

ぼくは夢を見る。
ときどきぼくにはそれがただひとつの正しい
行為であるように思える。

or maybe:

ぼくは夢を見る。
ときどきぼくにはそれがただ
ひとつの正しい行為であるように思える。

Again, I don't know if either of these look awkward to the native speaker or not, but I do need to break up that sentence into two lines. It just doesn't fit on one line, due to the length of it.
Also, I don't know much about writing Japanese vertically, but that's also a possibility. what do you guys think?

The most "natural-looking" ways to break it up into 3 lines, if you cared about how it would look to Japanese speakers, would be:

ぼくは夢を見る。
ときどきぼくにはそれがただひとつの
正しい行為であるように思える。

Horizontal or vertical would be up to your own sense of aesthetics and it may also depend on what part of your body this is inked onto. Needless to say, Murakami writes vertically as do 99.9% of professional Japanese novelists.

Lastly, DO NOT center the 3 lines if you choose vertical. It would look weirder to Japanese speakers than you would imagine.