User talk:MC MasterChef/Scratch pad/WP:Japan-related topics notice board Redesign/2005

Japanese loan words in English & pluralization

Good day Japanese Wikipedian's. On the tsunami page, they have pluralized the word tsunami as 'tsunamis'. Now according to Wiki's own rules about pluralization of Japanese loan words in English, Japanese words do not carry a 's'. See reference http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_plural. Many tsunami contributors think tsunami is the most appropriate. What does this group think?

Probably to anybody who knows Japanese, tsunamis looks dumb (as does "tsunami wave" since the "nami" part of tsunami means "wave"). But unfortunately that doesn't necessarily mean it's incorrect now that it has been coopted and bastardized into English. I can buy the argument that tsunamis is a correct English word even though it grates on my ears. Mdchachi|Talk 22:41, 14 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Japanese writing in English use the word "tsunamis", including the Japan Meteorological Agency (the government agency that does tsunami forecasting) and the Japan Times newspaper.

Also, the USGS and Pacific Tsunami Warning Center and ITIC all use "tsunamis".

See discussion and links at Talk:Tsunami#Plural_of_tsunami_is_tsunami.3F -- Curps 09:53, 15 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Japanese Governor of Taiwan

Dear All,

I am trying to see if anyone can help us to link the following Taiwab governors to existing pages, and perhaps find out the english name of them for us on the article of Japanese Governors of Taiwan?

第一任　樺山 資紀　 海軍大將。子爵　1895.5.21 1896.6 第二任 桂 太郎 陸軍中將。子爵 1896.6.2 1896.10 第三任 乃木 希典 陸軍中將。男爵 1896.10.14 1898.1 第四任 兒玉 源太郎 陸軍中將。男爵 任內赴遼東半島，投入日俄戰爭 1898.2.26-1906.4 第五任 佐久間左馬太 陸軍大將。子爵 1906.4.15 1915.5 第六任 安東貞夫 陸軍大將。男爵 1915.51 – 1916.6 第七任 明石元二郎 陸軍中將 1916.6 – 1917.11 第八任 田 健治郎 寺內內閣閣員男爵 1919.10.31 – 1923.9 第九任 內田嘉吉 貴族院議員 1923.9.6 – 1924.9 第十任 伊澤多喜男 貴族院議員 1924.9.1 – 1926.7 第十一任 上山滿之進 文人 1926.7.16 – 1928.6 第十二任 川村竹治 貴族院議員 1928.6.16 – 1929.7 第十三任 石塚英藏 貴族院議員 1929.7.30 – 1931.1 第十四任 太田政弘 關東廳長官 1931.1.16 – 1932.3 第十五任 南 弘 貴族院議員 1932.3.2 – 1932.5 第十五任 中山 健藏 文部省次官 1932.5.27 – 1936.9 第十五任 小林 躋造 海軍大將 1936.6 – 1940.11 第十五任 長谷川清 海軍大將 1940.12.16 – 1944.12 第十五任 安藤利吉 陸軍大將 1944.45-2.30 – 1945.10

Many thanks!! :) Mababa 05:58, 28 Jan 2005 (UTC)

It has been done!!! Really fast!!! Thank you so much!! Really appreciated!! :) Mababa 04:02, 29 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Cities/towns merging

Is there anyone keeping track of all the cities and towns which are merging to form new cities often with a new city name? The prefecture's list of cities/districts/towns will have to be corrected. Is somebody going to do this?

I can do it for one prefecture (Shiga), but what do we do with the old city and town links/pages? Do a redirect to the new city page? Or rename the old city page? Or delete it since the city/town no longer exists politically?

I'm holding off on adding content because of all these mergers last month and this month in Shiga. I'm waiting until new Wiki pages are created for these new cities. Photojpn.org

I have just started articles Merger and dissolution of municipalities of Japan and List of dissolved municipalities of Japan. Although they are no more than the starting points, they should make a good place to collect this kind of information for both readers and us contributors. As for old municipalities, in principle, we should not delete or redirect them as we have articles about old provinces. But, of course, the tense should be changed into past, and the article should note about merger or dissolution at the first paragraph. See Akitsu, Hiroshima for example. -- Taku 04:50, Feb 11, 2005 (UTC)

OK, so if there are no objections, I will correct the old municipalities and create new ones for the new cities for Shiga. For Akitsu, Hiroshima, it says "the town was dissolved after it was merged into a city of Higashihiroshima" it should read "merged into the city of" (in case you're using a template for all such articles). Photojpn.org 06:09, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Oops, you are right. Please don't hesitate to correct any errors. -- Taku 06:18, Feb 11, 2005 (UTC)

There's Takashima, Shiga, a town which merged with neighboring towns to form a city in Jan. 1 called Takashima-shi. What should I do with this? Should I edit the original Takashima, Shiga town and make it a city after explaining what happened? Or should I make a new page for Takashima-shi? What do I call the new page? Photojpn.org 20:50, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I'd say edit the original article. I posted a suggestion re mergers at talk:List of dissolved municipalities of Japan. Should the discussion be moved here? -- Rick Block 19:20, 13 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Whew! It's a lot of work. I edited Iga, Mie and promoted it to a city (as Phil suggested), keeping the old text and changing the tense (as Taku suggested). And edited all the towns, villages and districts that dissolved to form the new city, changing the tense to past, and mentioning the merger. And modified or removed the category (city, town or village of Mie Prefecture) from each article. And edited the prefecture article, moving Iga from town to city, and removing all the old cities, towns, villages, and districts. I'm looking forward to the day when the final two cities on Honshu, サクラ and さくら, merge to form the city of 桜. Until then, we'll have a lot to do! Fg2 11:26, Feb 15, 2005 (UTC)

And, I almost forgot. The disambiguation page for Ueno, which was part of the merger. Now, I'll go back to the articles, check What Links Here, and see if there are any more to change.

And, I just discovered, the template for Mie, which lists cities and districts. And, an asteroid named after Iga Ueno.

So, here's a list:

• Each city, town, village, district:
  • Change to past tense
  • Mention merger
  • Change or remove category
  • If towns/villages merge into cities, update (reduce) district's population and size
  • If towns/villages merge into existing city, update (increase) the city's population and size
  • Update External Link section, point to merged municipality's website
• Prefecture article
  • Update lists of cities, districts, towns, villages and municipality/district counts in table
• Prefecture template
  • Update lists of cities, districts
• Disambiguation articles (find by What Links Here)
• Miscellaneous other articles (find by What Links Here)
• Prefectures of Japan
  • Update municipality/district counts in table
• List of dissolved municipalities of Japan
  • Update

Additions to table in italics. -- Rick Block 03:46, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I'm not sure removing the categories is needed (I haven't been doing this). For example Ueno now is in no category. It was at one time a city in Mie. Do we think most people will understand the category to mean "cities currently in Mie" or "cities that have ever been in Mie"? As long as the article text makes it clear that the city no longer exists, I don't see a particular issue with leaving it in the category (even for people who understand the category to mean "cities currently in Mie"). Perhaps we should rename these articles in some fashion (adding "(merged)" or something?) so that when looking at the category listing it's obvious. Another alternative is to create a category like "former municipalities in ...". I think "former cities", "former towns", etc. would be overkill. -- Rick Block 13:40, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)

For your infomation, Japanese Wikipedia keep a good track of those mergers. Both on each prefecture article and on a particular article for recent merger. I think they good be good references. Also their German Wikipedia (de) correspondence are good maintained and provide you with romaji names correctly. And (sorry too late) I support the idea to keep articles of desolved municipalities as themselves, not as redirects, but in the past tense. --Aphaea* 03:44, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Yes, there's no problem in finding the merger info at sites like the official Web sites for the prefecture/city. But it is a lot of work to modify everything (as listed above) even for one prefecture. (Almost finished for Shiga. You can also see my preferred format for the merger list under Geography.) So if the prefecture's merger info is not yet listed in the List of dissolved municipalities of Japan, I guess we can assume it has not been done yet for that prefecture. Looks like we got 36 more to go. I don't think we have to go too far back with the list of mergers. I would place priority on the most recent ones occurring in the past 5 years or so. Photojpn.org 16:57, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Wards of Cities

I put a proposal for unifying the titles of articles on wards of cities at

Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style (Japan-related articles)#Wards of Cities and invite comments there. Fg2 06:35, Feb 17, 2005 (UTC)

Tessaiga/Tetsusaiga, re-visited

I have proposed that another consideration for the spelling of this sword from the anime InuYasha should take place. Please see Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style (Japan-related articles)#Tessaiga/Tetsusaiga, re-visited for more information. Thanks in advance. LG-犬夜叉 09:53, Feb 26, 2005 (UTC)

Japanese administrative divisions

I've made a navigation template: Template:Japan divisions levels, to organize all the articles related to the administrative divisions of Japan. Right now there is no general article on the system of local government in Japan as a whole.

What's missing on this topic from Municipality of Japan? -- Rick Block 14:57, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Not sure why regions are on the list, since they're non-administrative. Also think 23 special wards should be with cities, not wards. Fg2 03:31, Mar 11, 2005 (UTC)

Also, I'm missing an English translation for 特例市. Anyone has any idea? -- ran (talk) 13:35, Mar 8, 2005 (UTC)

http://web-japan.org/factsheet/pdf/LOCALGOV.PDF calls these "special cities". -- Rick Block 14:57, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)

The Council of Local Authorities for International Relations has a helpful brochure written in Japanese and English. Very useful if you want to figure out translations for terms related to local governments in Japan. This publication calls 特例市 "special case cities." By the way, can anyone explain why Wikipedia uses district instead of county for 郡? The explanation at County isn't very detailed and makes me curious. Atsi Otani 00:52, 9 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Good question. I prefer "county." Fg2 03:31, Mar 11, 2005 (UTC)

Ideal articles for prefectures/cities/wards/towns/villages?

Do we have any articles for the above which we can say is pretty complete (not a stub) and an ideal model for other same-type articles? Tokyo is probably the most complete prefecture, but can we call it an "ideal prefecture article" with regard to its format, layout, images, and content? Is that how we want the other prefecture articles to look like? I ask the same question for the cities/wards/towns/villages. I haven't seen a template for these lower municipalities. The Japanese Wiki has a template (including infobox) for these articles based on the prefecture template. Do we want to imitate the Japanese wiki's templates? Or am I asking this question too soon? Photojpn.org 08:45, 11 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I've seen very few articles (even prefecture articles) that aren't stubs. It should be possible to create a list of articles that aren't marked as stubs (with a custom database query). Perhaps if we had such a list we could pick an exemplary article of each type (I'd include district as well). I think it might be premature to add infoboxes for towns/villages (it's starting to seem unlikely that most of these will ever develop past stubs), but I'd favor doing this for cities. On the other hand, with an entirely arbitrary sample of non-Japanese cities (Denver, Colorado, London, England, Dusseldorf, Germany), none of these have infoboxes although Wikipedia:WikiProject Cities has a template for US cities including an infobox (curious). -- Rick Block 19:25, 11 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Not sure Tokyo's the best model for other prefectures, nor that it's in reasonably final form. It's rather long, and perhaps some things should be moved out into separate "main articles" like they are in Japan. For example, Tokyo in movies etc. (I did that for businesses with headquarters in Tokyo.) But in prefectures that get less world media attention, and have fewer headquarters, these topics belong in the prefecture article. The article has also grown organically, and could stand some organizing. Also, like most prefecture articles, it's strong on "the capital city" (in this case the most important special wards) and weak on the rest. Fg2 01:58, Mar 18, 2005 (UTC)

Looking at Kyoto Prefecture and Nara Prefecture, I like Nara better. It might make a better model for other prefectural articles. By the way, in the prefecture articles, I've made a point of trying to include photos from outside the prefectural capital. (Of course, pictures of scenes in the capital are also welcome, but they make most sense in the city article.) Fg2 03:41, Mar 18, 2005 (UTC)

Ainu

Can someone knowledgeable take a look at Ainu? Especially Ainu people#culture. A lot of the material is from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica, and I suspect it's several decades out of date. Fg2 08:21, Mar 30, 2005 (UTC)

Tokuyama

Hi! I am going through lists of articles that we do not have, and I found this place in the Yamaguchi Prefecture. It surprised me, because I thought we had most Japanese towns. Can anyone help with this? Thanks. Danny 11:56, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Tokuyama merged two years ago with other muncipalities to form Shunan city. Photojpn.org 13:33, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Rebun village the same as Rebun town?

I ran across a reference to 礼文村 in the Esashi, Hokkaido (Soya) article which was romanicized (in the article) as ???. I changed the ??? to a link to Rebun, Hokkaido, which I assume is the same place (town now instead of village), but I haven't been able to verify this. Can anyone help? Thanks. -- Rick Block 17:44, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC)

There may be no direct relation between Rebun, Hokkaido and Rebun village which once existed in Esashi district. Rebun, Hokkaido is an isolated island in Japan Sea, while Esashi district is a part of Hokkaido mainland which faces on Okhotsk Sea. Pitan 18:51, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Thanks. I've changed the text in Esashi, Hokkaido (Soya) to indicate Rebun village and town may not be related. -- Rick Block 22:02, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Sobetsu or Soubetsu?

The article on this town in Hokkaido is currently named Soubetsu, Hokkaido. I've run across references where the town name is romanicized as Sobetsu (quick google count shows something like 1500 references to Sobetsu but only 85 to Soubetsu). There should clearly be a redirect between these names, but should the article itself be Sobetsu, Hokkaido or Soubetsu, Hokkaido? -- Rick Block 18:42, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC)

The article in the Japanese Wikipedia has そうべつちょう as the pronunciation, so clearly the vowel in Japanese is "long." As to the title in the English Wikipedia, I think we should write "Sobetsu" by analogy with "Tokyo" and "Kyoto" and "Hokkaido." (No, the analogy is not on the basis of fame!) The vowel sequence "ou" is not Hepburn. Fg2 07:31, Apr 8, 2005 (UTC)

From the Japan-related Manual of Style: article titles must use short vowels and omit apostrophes after syllabic n since macrons are difficult to enter and proper use of apostrophes cannot be expected from people not familiar with Japanese CES 12:00, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I've moved the article to Sobetsu, Hokkaido. Soubetsu, Hokkaido remains as a redirect. Thanks. -- Rick Block 01:17, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Sakura

A user has proposed moving the article "Sakura" to "Cherry blossom." I've suggested alternate titles including "Cherry tree (ornamental)." If you have an opinion, please see the discussion page for Sakura and the Requested Moves page linked from there. Fg2 07:50, Apr 16, 2005 (UTC)

Meet-up in Tokyo

I was wondering if any Japanese Wikipedians ever organize any face-to-face meetings in Tokyo or elsewhere in Japan. If you do hold meetings, please invite me too. Otherwise, I'd like hold a friendly meeting in Tokyo. If you're interested, send me a note and tell me what days are best for you to meet. Photojpn.org 09:24, 19 Apr 2005 (UTC)

There were some meetups in Tokyo. If you can read Japanese ja:Wikipedia:オフラインミーティング would be helpful. If not, meetup.com can serve you. Or I recommend you to contact User:Suisui, one of active JA Wikipedians. --Aphaea* 03:00, 8 May 2005 (UTC)

new city in Oita

What should the article name be for 豊後大野市 (a newly formed city in Oita)? The city's website is http://www.bungo-ohno.jp/. I've added a link to Bungo-ono, Oita from Chitose, Oita, but before creating the article I thought I'd check what the name should actually be. Thanks. -- Rick Block 19:27, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I was about to say the article should be named Bungoono, Oita (Bungoōno outside the article title), when I realized that the name looks really strange because of the double o. On the other hand, I don't remember seeing any Japanese municipality articles that have hyphens in the city name (eg. Aizuwakamatsu, Kitaaizu). That said, I would go with Bungo-ono, Oita. I can't find anything in the Wikipedia Japan Manual of Style against the hyphen, and I feel it would be less suprising for most people looking for the article. Atsi Otani 02:12, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)

However, there is already a Bungotakada, Oita, without a hyphen. Bungoōno looks a little strange ... but we do have a precendent already with Bungotakada. CES 02:48, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Precedents aside, I'd suggest [[Bungo Ōno]]. Fg2 07:32, Apr 26, 2005 (UTC)

Sorry, I should not have put a macron on the article title. I suggest [[Bungo Ono]] instead. But in terms of precedents, there's also Hitachinaka, Ibaraki, and they spell it as one word on their web site. Fg2 11:24, Apr 26, 2005 (UTC)

I favor Bungo-Ono (hyphen and capital O), and have a redirect for Bungo-Ohno. But Wikipedia is inclined not to use a hyphen. This is another thing which I don't understand and disagree with Wikipedia. Hyphens should be allowed in place names. This is not even mentioned in the Style guide (obviously does not cover everything). I favor the way JR romanizes the train station names. They use hyphens. If there is a Bungo-Ono Station, try and find out how they spell it. Photojpn.org 10:32, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)

This would be my second choice after Bungo Ono. Fg2 11:24, Apr 26, 2005 (UTC)

Sorry, didn't know that you shouldn't use hyphens in article titles. I thought it would be alright since you frequently see hyphens in road signs. I guess if that's the policy, the article should either become Bungoono or Bungo Ono. Either way, we should definetely have redirects from spellings like Bungo-Ohno to make it less surprising for people. I personally find Bungoono nearly impossible to read correctly, but it should work with good redirects and would make it easier to avoid future similar debates, especially if no-hyphens/no spaces in Japanese municipality names becomes some sort of a rule.Atsi Otani 14:04, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)

For some strange reason, Wikipedia is not using hyphens. So for place names like this, I would add a note in parentheses in the first sentence saying "(also spelled as "Bungo-Ohno," "Bungo-ono,") etc. I think this would be picked up in searches and might be more efficient than creating redirect pages. The O needs a macron too. Photojpn.org 23:46, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Sounds good to me. Atsi Otani 08:23, 28 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Nagasaki, Kyoto, Hiroshima Page Move Proposals

A proposal has been made to move the article Nagasaki, Nagasaki to Nagasaki. The discussion is taking place at Talk:Nagasaki, Nagasaki. Please visit that article and make your opinions known. Fg2 01:58, May 2, 2005 (UTC)

The proposer has withdrawn the proposal, and instead, proposed to change the names of the articles Hiroshima and Kyoto to Hiroshima, Hiroshima and Kyoto, Kyoto. The discussions are now at Talk:Hiroshima and Talk:Kyoto. Fg2 04:19, May 2, 2005 (UTC)

Another user has again proposed the same thing for Nagasaki. Fg2 00:43, May 3, 2005 (UTC)

Tokyo article on Commons

The article on Tokyo on Wikimedia Commons needs organization. I invite suggestions on the talk page. Speakers of other languages are welcome to post similar invitations in the other Wikipedias and sister projects. Fg2 00:42, May 3, 2005 (UTC)

Kigo

I have recently done a bunch of changes and additions to the Kigo article. Although there are still a few more tweeks and formatting changes that I know I want to make, I think that it is close to being ready for submission to Peer review with the intent to then submit it as a Featured article candidate after the peer review. I would appreciate any comments, edits, etc. that anyone wants to make. Also, I am still looking for a few more good photos to illustrate some of the kigo in the article. BlankVerse ∅ 11:53, 4 May 2005 (UTC)

Naruto renaming

A user is requesting Naruto (manga) be moved to Naruto, and the current contents of Naruto be moved to Naruto (disambiguation). Please comment at talk:Naruto (manga). -- Rick Block 04:46, 5 May 2005 (UTC)

Vote closed, no concensus for it is moved. Thank you for your participation. --Aphaea* 07:25, 11 May 2005 (UTC)

Japanese COTW

I am trying to revive Wikipedia:Japanese Collaboration of the Week. If you are interest in expanding or newly submitting an article, please give a look. --Aphaea* 04:21, 7 May 2005 (UTC)

Hokkaido history

Does anyone object to the recent change added to Hokkaido Prefecture#History by user:Socrates999? Sounds POV-ish to me, but I know essentially nothing about Japanese history. -- Rick Block 17:01, 7 May 2005 (UTC)

That is similar to saying "the Europeans invaded and annexed the native American's homeland". I don't know whether it is POV or not. --Pitan 17:33, 7 May 2005 (UTC)

I don't opposed anyone who calls it invasion and annexation is a historical fact, though the word invasion would mislead our readers, because there were not so many military confrontations except some rebellions in the Edo period.

I noticed more "Starting in the Heian era, the Japanese have steadily invaded Ainu lands, driving them out." It is a POV because there is a dispute if "Emishi" in ancient documents and Ainu are identical; and "driven out" would be inacurate as for Toyoku, Southern Tohoku in particular. -Aphaea*

Got a bit bold and edited the history section based upon the Japanese wikipedia's article. The Japanese article may be pro-Japan, so it would be nice if anybody who knows their Hokkaido and Ainu history could check what I did. Atsi Otani 07:10, 10 May 2005 (UTC)

Informal name for former Mikata-cho

Can anyone add the romanization for the current informal name of Mikata, Hyogo? The towns that merged into Kami, Hyogo (Mikata) are known as -ku according to the Japanese wikipedia, but I don't know the transliteration of 小代区. Thanks. -- Rick Block 19:22, 7 May 2005 (UTC)

Ojiro-ku. The Japanese Post Office has a page for city-town-village mergers, and they indicate pronunciation there using katakana. It's here. Fg2 00:25, May 8, 2005 (UTC)

Japanese Imperialism

Together with Chinese Imperialism this was recently started by User:Socrates999. Neither is a complete or NPOV account. Rewrites and expansion are certainly welcome. -- ran (talk) 21:40, May 7, 2005 (UTC)

I've taken another look: perhaps the best option would be to reorganize a number of related articles like Empire of Japan, Japanese nationalism, and of course, the new article Japanese imperialism. -- ran (talk) 22:19, May 7, 2005 (UTC)

Destroyed Buildings

I apologize if this is not the right place to ask it, but I have been looking for a category on buildings or structures that are no longer extant. In the last few weeks, I have created articles for Ishiyama Honganji, Nagashima, and Hojujiden, all of which have been destroyed. I don't think they belong in the regular categories, such as Category:Buddhist temples, as that is not a historical category and implies, to my mind at least, that the buildings contained within it are still standing. Any thoughts? LordAmeth 17:51, 8 May 2005 (UTC)

Two thoughts:

1. make destroyed or unremaining so-and-so buildings like "destroyed Buddhist builings", "destroyed Japanese castles".
2. make "destroyed buildings" category and put destroyed ones into at least two categoreis like Jurakudai to "Palaces" & "Destroyed buildings" .

--Aphaea* 21:48, 8 May 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for your suggestions. I have created categories for Category:Former Buddhist Temples of Japan and Category:Former Castles & Palaces of Japan, both under Category:Former buildings and structures of Japan. Please feel free to add more sub-categories, or other categories for Former buildings of other countries. LordAmeth 22:53, 8 May 2005 (UTC)

You're welcome. Your structure seems fine and reasonable to me. I hope others agree on it. Happy Editing. ;-) --Aphaea* 23:51, 8 May 2005 (UTC)

Japanese etiquette

Is there a related article (I've searched by couldn't find one) and if not do people think one is needed? Exploding Boy 22:08, May 8, 2005 (UTC)

Japanese etiquette is clearly different enough from other countries that it warrants having its own article.--DannyWilde 01:19, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

Transliteration Kanmon Straits

I think in Hepburn style it should be "Kammon Straits". Am I wrong or it is better to rename it? --Aphaea* 05:41, 9 May 2005 (UTC)

You're right. The Hepburn transliteration is "Kammon." However, Wikipedia does not use Hepburn; it uses a modified system with "nm" instead of "mm." There are a couple of exceptions in the policy. See Wikipedia:Manual of Style (Japan-related articles)#Romanization. Fg2 07:56, May 9, 2005 (UTC) ... so, to change it would be wrong according to Wikipedia policy. Fg2 07:57, May 9, 2005 (UTC)

Where to link ja:クルミ

Hi all - what English page should ja:クルミ be linked to?
Currently it is at Walnut (the genus Juglans), but would it be better placed at Persian Walnut (Juglans regia; the photo on the page is of this species), or perhaps at Japanese Walnut (Juglans ailantifolia, the species of walnut native in Japan)? Unfortunately I can't read Japanese, so I don't know whether the Japanese page describes the genus as a whole, or just one species. - Thanks, MPF 12:48, 19 May 2005 (UTC)

I don't read Japanese either, but the article is marked as a stub, and seems to be describing the genus as a whole. I think Walnut is correct. BTW - google (and perhaps others) will happily translate. Translation for this page is available from google here. -- Rick Block 14:06, 19 May 2005 (UTC)

Thanks; the article as translated by google seems a little confused, with most of it about Persian Walnut (wrongly cited as 'English' Walnut, a US-derived inaccuracy), but the reference to walnuts in Nagano will probably refer to Japanese Walnut. Anyone want to tidy it up? - MPF 14:30, 19 May 2005 (UTC) . . . just added a Japanese Walnut photo to the page, I hope google translated the name correctly! ( 日本のクルミ ) - MPF 14:48, 19 May 2005 (UTC)

WP:JCOTW Tie break

Japanese collaboration of the week is currently in Tie break. Osaka Dome and Shinshukyo. Tie break vote closes tomorrow. Your vote will be welcome! --Larus.r 04:23, 22 May 2005 (UTC)

move Shouwa to Showa

I suspect uncontroversial - a user has requested the disambiguation page Shouwa be moved to Showa. Seems like folks from this board might want to comment on this proposed move, see Talk:Shouwa. -- Rick Block 14:37, 23 May 2005 (UTC)

• Doesn't MoS for Japan-related articles specify no long vowels in article titles? That makes it seem even less controversial. Fg2 20:48, May 23, 2005 (UTC)
  • Move has been executed. I rearranged the Showa disambiguation page slightly for readability. JeroenHoek 12:07, 24 May 2005 (UTC)

Photo galleries in articles?

Some articles have lots of photos --- Tokyo comes to mind. In addition to lots of photos, it has lots of supporting text. But some other articles have more photo than text --- Nikko is an example. I wonder if we should use photo galleries to organize the pictures? I tried an example in Meiji Shrine and am interested in opinions. Fg2 10:38, May 24, 2005 (UTC)

As long as an article has enough supporting text (like Tokyo does), I'd leave it how it is. But like your idea. Next time I do something that involves a lot of pics, I'll use the gallery option, and see how it looks... LordAmeth 11:43, 24 May 2005 (UTC)

Meiji Shrine looks good with the gallery. Doing the same for Nikko would be fine. Anything that makes the article look better is welcome. If there are enough images, a gallery would be especially useful for articles like "Flags of Japanese prefectures" or "Endangered species in Japan." Otherwise, I would prefer seeing the images inline with the supporting text. We should keep in mind though, that for most articles, the text should be the main and dominant content, not photos. The photos should complement the text, not vice versa (unless it's a travel wiki). Photojpn.org 03:28, 28 May 2005 (UTC)

Japanese Map Licensing

Hi, I've been having some trouble determining the licensing/legal status of the maps found on the municipality pages on the Japanese Wikipedia and could really use some help. Most of the maps I've seen are badly tagged, with no licensing info. According to this discussion, the maps are derived from a large original, which apparently covers Japan in its entireity. The original may be Japan_map.png, which says it's copyrighted by the Japanese Geological Survey Institute (also has various links to explanations of the image's origins). A user (Koba-chan) that's been providing many maps has explained the licensing/legal status of the maps, but I have trouble following the logic. The way I understand it: 1. The Japanese Geological Survey Institute gives Koba-chan permission to use images of "shapes that look like maps," which are derived from the Japanese GSI's data, under the "for education" clause in the School Education Law. 2. Koba-chan uploads the images to the Japanese Wikipedia. Although it appears to be in conflict with a rule that says "viewing images is permissible, but reuse is not permissible" (sorry, I can't figure out where this rule comes from), Koba-chan explains it's alright, because he has been given permission to use the maps. 3. Lots of users edit and create derivative works from the maps (coloring, write in new municipality borders, cut/splice to use in municipality/prefecture pages, etc).

What I would like to know is:

1. Can these maps be used on the Wikipedia?
2. If the maps can be used, how should the maps be tagged? Fair use? GFDL? As far as I know, Japanese copyright law does not have anything called fair use, although it contains similar concepts.
3. If the maps cannot be used, could anybody give me any advice on how to create my own maps?

Thanks, Atsi Otani 03:33, 25 May 2005 (UTC)

I cannot answer questions about Japanese Wikipedia since they have different copyright issues. You'll have to go back to them for clarification. But for question No. 3, you can make maps at this Web site:

http://aoki2.si.gunma-u.ac.jp/map/map.html

He says anyone can use his maps for anything. The person who made the original prefecture maps on the English Wikipedia used this site. The only problem is that the Okinawan islands, Amami islands, Ogasawaras, and Northern Territories are not included. (That's why I made a different map for those prefectures.) When you make a map using coloring, etc., then it's your map so you can upload it to Wikipedia under any license you want. Photojpn.org 02:44, 28 May 2005 (UTC)

Photojpn - Thank you!! The alternative you suggested is a relatively painless, and will really help if things don't work out. I've been researching Japanese copyright law and have asked a question at the ja.wikipedia - this has made me realize that the answer to my questions are going to be complicated. The main question will probably boil down to: "does the Japanese Geographical Survey Institute retain copyrights for the map images on the ja.wikipedia?" If the answer to this question is no, the maps can be licensed in a free form - the only person that can answer this question is the person who originally created the master map images from an GSI-copyrighted original. I'll be contacting him, once I figure out what I need to ask. I'll try to report the results here, because they may be useful to other people that are editing Japanese municipalities. Atsi Otani 14:37, 28 May 2005 (UTC)

Help! Late Hojo clan

Someone created an article, probably patent nonsense, with the title Late Hojo clan. It's the only contribution by an IP user, and has never been edited since its creation ten days ago. I'll take a first swipe at a real article; can anyone help? Fg2 05:24, May 26, 2005 (UTC)

It's actually a valid historical clan, and an important distinction from the earlier Hojo clan. When Ise Shinkuro began to conquer lands and build up his power in the 15th century, he wanted his lineage to have a more illustrious name, and chose Hojo, after the line of regents of the Kamakura shogunate. The Late Hojo, sometimes known as the Odawara Hojo after their home castle of Odawara, were not related to the earlier Hojo clan.

I would not oppose a merge if it were suggested, but I think it is alright as is. I shall make a note for myself to expand upon this page. LordAmeth 20:15, 27 July 2005 (UTC)

another uncontroversial move

user:William McDuff has requested Matsuyama, Miyagi (Shida) be moved to Matsuyama, Miyagi (which is currently a redirect to Matsuyama, Ehime). Please comment at Talk:Matsuyama, Miyagi (Shida). -- Rick Block 13:51, 27 May 2005 (UTC)

The Shōwa era

Some anonymous editor changed the dates on the Showa redirect page for the 正和 era, thinking it meant 昭和 period. I am changing it back to the proper dates, but I got a little confused along the way. Showa (era) says it ran from 1311 to 1312, but the following era Bumpo, starts in 1317. A quick Google leads me to lists that show 正和 as a period starting in 1312 and running into 1317. Checking the Wikipedia listed era's, I found ōchō and shōwa to be shifted one timeperiod, so I corrected it.

At least, I think I corrected it. Could someone confirm my edits are correct? I have only used these lists I ran into through Google, but they could be using the same erronous source for all I know:

• [1]
• [2]
• [3]

It seems to be correct now though. JeroenHoek 21:29, 28 May 2005 (UTC)

Thank you for your correction, Showa (in Kamakura period) started exactly in 1312 and ran into 1317. --Larus.r 02:40, 29 May 2005 (UTC)

Kanto

Hi, I've put a suggestion on Talk:Kanto that I'd appreciate comments on. Apologies if this isn't the right place to post this -- Kjlewis 11:34, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I guess you came to the right place ;-)

WP:JCOTW tie break again

Japanese collaboration of the week is currently in a tie break again. Onmyodo and Aomori, Aomori. Tie break vote closes tomorrow, 0:00 (UTC). Your vote will be welcome! ----Larus.r 00:46, 5 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Tainted blood scandal

I've been searching for an article on this but haven't been able to find one. If there's not one, there should be. What do people think it should be called? I'm leaning towards "Tainted blood scandal in Japan" or "Japan's tainted blood scandal." Any other suggestions? Exploding Boy 01:05, Jun 13, 2005 (UTC)

What is the tainted blood scandal? (All I can think of is the Minamata disease) JeroenHoek 11:23, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Although I'm not entirely sure of myself, I can think of two possibilities of what you're talking about. One involved HIV-tainted blood products, another one was about hepatitis C-tainted blood products. Again, I'm not sure of my memory. That said, you might want to throw in the name of the disease to clarify things. Atsi Otani 06:29, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I am sure that he Exploding Boy is refering to what is called in Japan "yakugai-eizu". I have never heard of the other one that you Otani pointed out. I have googled a bit, but I couldn't find any satisfactory name. According to [4], candidates are HIV-tainted-blood scandal, tainted blood scandal. SInce in wikipedia article titles don't need to be descriptive, we don't have to put "Japan" in the title. I am going to write very very short stub and redirects to sort out title issues. Feel free to rename them as needed. -- Taku 22:32, Jun 14, 2005 (UTC)

While it doesn't have to have "Japan" in the title, that may serve to distinguish that incident from, for example, a similar one involving the Canadian Red Cross. [5] [6]. Or maybe we just need one article that addresses all HIV-tainted blood scandals. The end of his article [7] has a list of such happenings in a dozen countries --Tabor 00:53, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I think it is better to start a general article rather than one about a specific event. Once the article gets longer, it can be splited it into more articles. -- Taku 02:58, Jun 21, 2005 (UTC)

Ok, I think I'm going to take out the second "-" in the first title, but it's a good start. We may wish to add (Japan), since I'm sure there've been/will be others. Exploding Boy 00:42, Jun 21, 2005 (UTC)

Fine. -- Taku

delete Japanese terms category?

There's an active vote on a proposal to delete category:Japanese terms (and the similar category for Cantonese terms) at Wikipedia:Categories for deletion. Just an FYI. -- Rick Block (talk) 18:26, Jun 13, 2005 (UTC)

English name for 鳳珠郡

Fugeshi and Suzu Districts in Ishikawa Prefecture apparently merged on 1 March 2005 forming 鳳珠郡. Can someone please let me know the proper name in English for the new district? Thanks. -- Rick Block (talk) 03:15, Jun 14, 2005 (UTC)

And can someone please verify that 能登町 is "Noboru"? Thanks. -- Rick Block (talk) 03:23, Jun 14, 2005 (UTC)

If you are refering 能登町 of Ishikawa pref., it's "Noto-chô". --Ypacaraí 03:47, 2005 Jun 14 (UTC)

Yes, from Ishikawa. But wasn't 能都町 also Noto-cho? And also please verify that 宝達志水町 is Hodatsushimizu and 中能登町 is Nakanoto? Thanks (sorry I'm so ignorant). -- Rick Block (talk) 03:55, Jun 14, 2005 (UTC)

According to the ja.Wikipedia articles, 鳳珠郡: Hōsu-gun (ほうす), 能登町: Noto-cho (のと), 能都町: Noto-machi (のと), 宝達清水町: Hōdatsushimizu-cho (ほうだつしみず), 中能登町: Nakanoto-machi (なかのと). Atsi Otani 05:59, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Domo! -- Rick Block (talk) 13:30, Jun 14, 2005 (UTC)

WP:VFD Japanese fascism

Japanese fascism is listed on VfD, Well I gave a look to this article ... if it survives or not, it need to cleanup (e.g. I can't figure why this editor listed "Bushi" or "Samurai" on the section "Thinkers & policy"). Also your vote and opinion will be helpful. --Aphaea* 04:20, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I wish to make some comment on articles like this one, (which is getting more and more problematic. Is that because of Koizumi's thoughtless comments and acts?) Obviously, the question is not simply whether those have to be deleted. There have long been a significant number of this kind. (See a very good list User:Charles_Matthews/Imperial_Japan). The best way to tackle this kind of problem (yes this is a big problem!, if you haven't noticed) is to write decent articles about controversial topics in the first place. In the above case, if there were a good enough article, there would have been no way for anyone to write such a patent nonsense. So I suggest any of you who is able and willing not waste your time in dealing with POV-minded people, but simply go ahead writing articles about modern Japan as quality and many as you can. I cannot stress more that the best defence is decency and accuracy, and with them no crap may creep into wikipedia. I know that, as I mainly study mathematics and computer science, I am really not good at writing history articles. But I will try, and I would like to beg, encourage and support you too to look into this matter. (Is this what the Japanese calls agibira?) -- Taku 06:42, Jun 18, 2005 (UTC)

NOTICE OF VOTE ON NAME - Tsushima Island/Islands or '???'

An appeal for immediate help!

There has been a large edit war going on around the article currently titled Tsushima Islands ( Talkpage (Very Long)) And help is needed to put out the flames. I'm trying to mediate a vote and stabilize the article, as I have no stake in the matter living outside Boston, but I seem to have accidently triggered the latest series of edits (70+ in just three days) with an innocent edit sans looking at the talk before hand.

• The issue called on the table is simply whether the article should be 'Tsushima', 'Tsushima Islands', or 'Tsushima Island', with the first listed being a compromise suggested early in the ongoing 'Comments On the Move Proposal' (Section Heading).
• I think the matter is starting to resolve itself, but there are at least two and perhaps three juveniles that would be benifit (i.e. — MAY Learn something about proper research and quotations with references!) by a strong vote one way or the other... and heck — it's Japans' Island, of which I am only a recent student.
• English language references are totally conflicted on the matter as you can see in the discussion yourself.
• The english grammer in the article can not be settled until the plural/singular nature can be stabilized, though the recent input by your fellow multi-ligual 'Atsi Otani', especially two pictures, and very recent refinding of the text that I innocently transformed into blatant warfare in it's proper context of a professor making a tounge in cheek joke (which sentence was copied directly into the text sans quotes by one of the juveniles) has broken the log jam over the actual physical nature of the Isle proper.

(One interpretation implied the island had been sundered by a 2km wide channel, THAT was a misinterpretation/misreading of what which is to later evidence, in reality just a canal.) (But the Fur Flew Far Fast and Furiously for a while!)

• Please take some minutes to cast your vote, culturally it's your turf, if only intellectually! These links should take you directly to the germane sections:
  • Discussion on Move (Multi-part)
  • (The Actual Vote section )
  • The Compromise Vote Discussion Section
  • The Compromise Vote Section

Thanks in advance for putting on a Fireman's Hat for this matter, and perhaps any further involvement you may care to volunteer to keep the fire out! If you Vote by Midnight 22 June (UTC) that should be in time. [[User:Fabartus|FrankB || TalktoMe]] 20:29, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)

---

Voting has begun

Voting on the issue of moving the article Tsushima Islands to Tsushima Island or Tsushima has begun. The discussion and voting are at Talk:Tsushima Islands. Fg2 July 5, 2005 11:28 (UTC)

Fumimaro Konoe

Noticed a small discrepancy in the article on Fumimaro Konoe, prime minister of Japan in the 1937-1941 period. The article and this list show only two terms as prime minister, but according to what I've read (Robert J.C. Butow's Tojo and the coming of war and the syllabus for a modern Japanese history class), he succeeded himself the third time (july 18th, 1941) with the most important difference in the cabinet lineup being the removal of foreign minister Matsuoka.

Are the Wikipedia articles wrong, or isn't his 3d term considered to be a term at all? I'll change the articles if no one finds fault with my findings. JeroenHoek 20:33, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)

According to [8] (Japanese government page), Konoe served three terms. So I think you are right. I wonder what information the article was written based on. -- Taku 23:06, Jun 20, 2005 (UTC)

I'm redoing that list now. There are a lot of errors in that list for some reason or another. :(

The official government list above seems correct as far as I can tell from the few dates I found, so I'm using that. JeroenHoek 13:54, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Nice work! -- Taku 00:24, Jun 23, 2005 (UTC)

My pleasure. JeroenHoek 11:43, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I've added the interim prime ministers from the Japanese Wikipedia as well, assuming that list is correct. The only thing bothering me now is the lack of macrons on the names of the prime ministers. Should these be added? A name like Tōjō is known as Tojo mostly in English, just like Tokyo and Osaka, but I don't think this is the case for all names in the list. Any opinions? JeroenHoek 11:43, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

My opinion is no macrons for prime ministers of Japan. In the US, newspapers, news magazines and other print media likely to discuss foreign leaders do not typically put macrons over names of Prime Ministers, every one of whom I suppose to have been in the press. So at least in the US the most widely known form of the name has no macrons. In the first line of the article on each individual, it's appropriate to write the Japanese pronunciation in parentheses, like this: "Junichiro Koizumi (小泉 純一郎: koizumi jun'ichirō) is the Prime Minister of Japan." However, in my opinion, the macron is not part of the name in English, but is a mark that indicates the pronunciation in Japanese. Fg2 01:15, Jun 25, 2005 (UTC)

Let me add that this is a discussion of style, and should be decided at Wikipedia:Manual of Style (Japan-related articles), not at the notice board. Fg2 01:17, Jun 25, 2005 (UTC)

Proposed merger of Tsushima pages

As part of the ongoing edit war in the Tsushima Islands article, someone has proposed merging articles such as Tsushima, Nagasaki, Tsushima Province and Tsushima Islands. If you have an opinion about whether articles should be separate or together, and which information belongs in which article, I encourage you to voice your opinions at the bottom of the discussion page. Fg2 01:05, Jun 25, 2005 (UTC)

Sorry for interrupting here - in relation to the Tsushima Islands article, I would like to (again) ask interested editors to vote on the move from Tsushima Islands to Tsushima Island, which has not achieved a consensus. You can vote here. I have voted support under the following reasoning (copied from the vote page).

• Japanese people, including locals generally call Tsushima an island. There are other similar examples elsewhere in the world. Pender Island is divided into North Pender Island and South Pender Island by a canal, but is often called an island (some people call it the Pender Islands or the Penders). Ono Island, Alabama is divided into several bodies of land by canals, but always seems to be called Ono Island. Merritt Island, Florida is also called an island despite it is technically not an island. Pine Island (Lee County, Florida) also has many canals towards the south that appear to separate the land into several bodies of land.

It's pretty obvious that I would appreciate support votes, but please vote what you feel. Thank you. 61.44.80.193 30 June 2005 16:21 (UTC)

Page move

Someone moved Kutchan, Abuta, Hokkaido to Kucchan, Hokkaido. Anyone want to try to move it back? Fg2 04:10, July 15, 2005 (UTC)

Burakumin Article

Hi everyone. I'm pretty new to Wikipedia so please forgive me if I have posted this in the wrong place. Anyway I noticed that there is a request to work on the Burakumin article and have added two sections on religious persecution - I hope that they are O.K. - ASB July 26, 2005

Hello!

Hello everybody! I was invited here by fg2, and I will do my best to edit articles. My concentration is on Japanese history as well as historical figures of noble, court, and military families. My concentration is on the Hojo, Fujiwara, Taira, and Tokugawa families.

I recently edited the article which needed to be improved on Emperor Daigo.

I will be heavily adding, renovating, and editing pages on the Hojo clan. I believe that the Hojo sections here on Wikipedia heavily needs to be improved. Af the same time I will be working on the Tokugawa clan. I need feedback. So far, I have edited the first eight TOkugawa shoguns and have ended edits at Tokugawa Yoshimune. Let me know how I have done so far. I will start work on the Hojo soon, and if you like my work, I will start work on the Fujiwara.

Email me at [email protected] or IM me at Hiroshi66.

WHAT I'M DOING NOW: Just finished Hojo Tokimasa and Hojo Masako. Now working on Hojo Yoshitoki.

Wikipedia:2004 Encyclopedia topics

Have you seen the page Wikipedia:2004 Encyclopedia topics? It links to nearly 30 additional pages, each having about 1000 article titles, mostly red links. Great ideas for new articles. I went through those pages and identified several that seem to be pertinent to Japan: Names of people and places, mountain ranges, performing arts, ceramic styles etc. I'm sure I missed some, and got some that won't turn out to be related to Japan, so I encourage anyone who's interested to look through the original list. My condensed list of Japan-related topics is here.

Merge proposal of Sado, Niigata and Sado Island

One is a city article and the other is an island article. However, history, geography etc. overlap since the city consists of the entire island. Sado City, by the way, is a new city formed by merging of local cities and towns. I would like some feedback on the articles' merger idea at Talk:Sado, Niigata. —Tokek 05:19, 31 July 2005 (UTC)

Template:Japanese tfd

I have filed a Wikipedia:Templates for deletion entry for Template:Japanese and it needs votes. The entry is similar to a previously discussed template but this one is slimmer and less obtrusive than the previous one. —Tokek 05:19, 31 July 2005 (UTC)

Requested move: Seppuku → Hara-kiri

There has been a request by User:Hottentot to move the Seppuku article to Hara-kiri (see Wikipedia:Requested moves#30 July 2005). I oppose this move. Even though a quick Google test shows that hara-kiri (plus harakiri) are more common than seppuku, as the article says, hara-kiri is considered "a colloquial and somewhat vulgar term". Thus seppuku is certainly the more appropriate title for an encyclopedia article. BlankVerse ∅ 11:40, 31 July 2005 (UTC)

Proposed for deletion

Let's make this a regular section of JaWNB. If you see any article connected with Japan on Wikipedia:Votes for Deletion (VfD for short), please notify the community here.

Iriya Yoshiaki

Author with three works in Aozora Bunko. I added a list of his works and a link to Aozora Bunko. If anyone knows anything about him, please add to the article; if anyone has an opinion, please express it and vote at Wikipedia:Votes for deletion/Iriya Yoshiaki. Fg2 08:16, August 13, 2005 (UTC)

• Aozora bunko does not host his works. In fact, all of his works are offline and never printed, it seems. When I googled, I could not find any comments about the contents of his works. —Tokek 23:06, 22 August 2005 (UTC)

Surrender of Japan

I've done some expanding of this article to distinguish it from Victory over Japan Day. It can still use more information, especially internal politics, and the events of August 10 -- 14. Also, there are some constructive suggestions on the VfD page. Fg2 12:08, August 13, 2005 (UTC)

It now appears safe from deletion. Wwoods did a "major expansion" which as an edit is about as radical as the MacArthur constitution is as an amendment to the Meiji document. An impressive exploration of the subject! Fg2 22:17, August 13, 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for what you did, Fg2. Certainly, I could have clarified the scope of the article when I created the article. -- Taku 03:13, August 14, 2005 (UTC)

Zeni

A user has nominated the article Zeni for deletion. Presently, the article is about a fictional currency in Dragon Ball Z but it should be about coinage in Japan, with a section on "Zeni in popular culture." Anyone interested? Fg2 21:09, August 8, 2005 (UTC)

Why don't we have simply coinage in Japan? That can cover historical and cultural topics broadly. -- Taku 01:22, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

Sounds like a good idea. I won't press too hard for keeping the existing article. Fg2 08:12, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

Regarding Japanese name footnotes

I've got a nice idea from WhisperToMe, which we might want to consider.

The French Wikipedia made a footnote for Japanese names (http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Nom_japonais) - Maybe we should try one for EN. The French link the footnote like this: ({{nom japonais inversé|純一郎 小泉}} WhisperToMe 23:06, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

Here is the English version so far: Wikipedia:Japanese_names (This page has a link to the "MoS") WhisperToMe 01:45, 15 August 2005 (UTC)

Portal for Japan?

If you're unfamiliar with Portals, you might be interested in Wikipedia:Wikiportal. We don't have a portal for Japan. If we did, it might look like Wikipedia:Wikiportal/United Kingdom or Wikipedia:Wikiportal/United States. It would make a nice project. Fg2 11:05, August 18, 2005 (UTC)

The portal is now live. It's at Portal:Japan. Fg2 11:08, September 6, 2005 (UTC)

Make Wikipedia's 700,000th article a Japan article

Wikipedia will probably reach 700,000 articles in a day or so. If you want to create the 700,000th article, you'll find some suggested topics here. Find a red link on a subject you know about, and click on it! Fg2 10:37, August 24, 2005 (UTC)

moves of emperor articles

user:Sjostrom has moved several of the emperor articles (for example, Kammu moved from Emperor Kammu of Japan to Kammu Emperor). Was this previously discussed in some forum I don't watch? I left a note suggesting Sjostrom look here for comments, although feel free to comment at user talk:Sjostrom as well. -- Rick Block (talk) 02:04, August 25, 2005 (UTC)

Rick, the discussion is at Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style (Japan-related articles)#Names of modern Japanese emperors. Please contribute your thoughts; I've always found your contributions valuable. LordAmeth 02:17, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

Discussed, but (to the best of my recollection) not decided (at least, not decided to move to the format "Kammu Emperor") so there's still an urgent need for comment from interested, knowledgeable Wikipedians. Fg2 03:13, August 25, 2005 (UTC)

The consensus is to move them all (except Hirohito and Akihito) to "Emperor X" without the "of Japan". I think there is only one person who opposes and prefers "X Emperor" and one person who (sort of) prefers to leave "of Japan". Anyway, the first 49 have already been moved, the rest to come shortly. -Jefu 09:08, August 26, 2005 (UTC)

Takashi Matsuoka / Nikkei writers

I came across an article about Takashi Matsuoka, an author I am unfamiliar with ... but the first two sentences of the article caught my attention because of an apparent contradiction:

Takashi Matsuoka is a American-born Japanese writer. He was born in Japan and raised in the United States.

which seems to indicate (to me at least) that he's actually a Japan/Japanese-born American writer. The user who created the article also put Matsuoka in the categories of "Japanese novelists" and "Japanese writers" as well as including him in the "Significant authors and works" section of the Japanese literature article (which seems a little bit of an over-enthusiastic endorsement in my opinion at least).

I think this is just a well-intentioned mistake, but before I "remove" Matsuoka's status as a "Japanese writer" I wanted to see what other people think.

Also, I noticed that there appears to be almost nothing on Wikipedia about Nikkei writers or Nikkei literature ... that might be an interesting project for someone to work on. I've read some books by Nikkei authors but I don't know enough to feel comfortable starting an article. And of course, there's always the tricky aspect of whether someone is (for example) a "Japanese-American" writer or should just be categorized an "American" writer. CES 17:53, 27 August 2005 (UTC)

Transcribing English to Japanese

I have performed an extensive rewrite and expansion of transcribing English to Japanese. I do not, however, know much Japanese, and based much of what I have written on what I learned in phonology class, from friends who know some Japanese, and from Google searches for various possible katakana strings. I would appreciate if people who know more Japanese than I could take a look, correct any errors, and leave any comments on talk: transcribing English to Japanese. Thanks! Nohat 21:39, 28 August 2005 (UTC)

List of Metropolitan High Schools in Tokyo

I started a list of Metropolitan High Schools in Tokyo at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education article. It is adapted from this list in Japanese: [9] WhisperToMe 02:46, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

Photo volunteer

I'm living in Japan now and have a fairly nice camera on my hands. Nothing happens in Saga Prefecture, or so the song goes, but if there are more general aspects of Japan or Japanese culture not specific to my little corner (which I hope to flesh out over the course of my time here) that people are looking for photos of, please feel free to drop me a request and I'll see if I can't oblige. Some already existing photos are up on my flickr site [10], if there's something there you can find a use for please let me know and I'll upload and re-license it here on Wikipedia. Cheers, --10:03, 9 September 2005 (UTC)MC MasterChef

Nice shot of Karatsu Castle! The beach sunsets are wonderful too. Why not upload them and put them in the article on the city where you took them? Or to the article on the prefecture, etc. Prefecture articles can usually use more photos. Yours would make great additions to the Wikipedia. I took a few photos in Saga Prefecture, e.g. Yoshinogari Iseki, the remains of a Yayoi-period village (which deserves an article). Nearby are Arita, Saga and Imari, Saga; the articles have no photos. There are kilns, clay mines, shops, potters... Also in northern Kyushu, we can always use more photos of Fukuoka, Kokura, Dazaifu, Oita, Hirado, Nagasaki, Shimabara, etc. Rivers, mountains, bridges. And we can always use illustrations for articles of general interest such as city hall, landmarks, statues, shrines and temples, highways, you name it. If you post your photos on Wikimedia Commons, then all the Wikimedia projects can use them. It's a thrill to see the French Wikipedia select my photo of Yoshinogari, and the Japanese Wikipedia took it from the French. Commons has made it even easier for other Wikipedias to use your photos. It's a pleaure to look forward to learning more about Saga Prefecture from your pictures! Fg2 11:47, September 9, 2005 (UTC)

P.S. The Portal presently has no pictures from Kyushu, so if you take some that are of wide interest, please feel free to add them there! Fg2 11:50, September 9, 2005 (UTC)

Duplicate pages

• The pages Japanese customs and Etiquette of Japan duplicate each other. I suggest merging them. Comments to Talk:Japanese customs please. --DannyWilde 05:36, 12 September 2005 (UTC)
• The pages Politeness and respect (Japanese language) and Japanese honorifics duplicate each other. I suggest merging them. Comments to Talk:Japanese honorifics please. --DannyWilde 05:36, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

Education in Japan needs your help

Mkill has been working hard adding information from the Library of Congress Country Studies about the Japanese education system, including pages on Elementary school in Japan, Secondary education in Japan, and Higher education in Japan. Unfortunately most of this information dates back to the late 1980s and is in sore need of updating. I've attempted to wikify some of the articles, but please consider making your own contributions for a more accurate portrayal of the contemporary education system. Thanks, MC MasterChef 09:13, 12 September 2005 (UTC)