Katakana Literary Work (Final)

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Since I made an advertisement for a stereo component, I used katakana mainly to push a "cutting edge" or "modern" image.  Since being up-to-date is important in electronics/appliances/etc, anything that will make the reader believe that you are modern is probably helpful, even if it has only a very minimal effect.  It was easy to include katakana in this advertisement because so many music-related words exist in Japanese as loan words, even when there's an equivalent native Japanese word.  Sound effects are also music-related and are written in katakana - though I wasn't really sure how to write a musical sound since the only examples of written sound effects I can think of are the ones we went over in class, so I just guessed.
Since my advertisement is a couple sentences rather than standout words or phrases, I was cautious about using katakana to write words which are normally written in hiragana or kanji even though some of the advertisements people used as examples did this as an eye-catching measure.  I thought it might look strange in the middle of a sentence or a paragraph, and would be more distracting than eye-catching.  Instead I decided to use loan words over their native equivalents (ミュージック instead of 音楽 for instance) because I thought it might look more natural.  I'm not sure if the other route would have been better, though!

Katakana Literary Work (Draft)

[Link]

Since I created an advertisement for a piece of stereo equipment, I used katakana because it may help to enhance a "cutting edge" or "modern" image.  Being up-to-date is always a big selling point for appliances and things like that, I think.  There are also a lot of music-related words which seem to be commonly written in katakana, so using these words was less of an intentional choice and more of a natural thing.

Katakana Analysis (Final)

Example 1: "Cool Factor"?
When "Tokyo Three Hawks Motor Club" is credited in this movie, their name is written in katakana (except "Tokyo" of course).  I think there are non-loan words in Japanese for everything in the name of the organization, so it must be a deliberate choice to use katakana/loan words and have a "western-sounding" name.  Since it's a motorsports club, it may be modeling itself after American motorcycle organizations and trying to call that connection to mind with its name.  A motivation this specific (naming something in an attempt to emulate or call to mind a Western archetype) wasn't really mentioned in the very brief overviews of katakana use we read in class, but it ties in to the idea that katakana can seem edgy and modern, something which was probably particularly true back when the club was founded in the post-war years.
I looked it up online and I think this club was still around in 2006 at least, even though the movie came out a long time ago.  Here is their website, which says the club was founded in 1957.  Here's what they say in their explanation of the team name:

Tokyo Three Hawks－英語だと、まぁなんとなくなチーム名ですが、日本語に訳してみてください。地名です。(爆)

Example 2: Personal Choice
The name of the singer is written in katakana in the title of this album.  As in the example we discussed in class, it's likely that this is just designed to make her name stand out or look interesting.  She is related to another singer who writes her name in the same way, カルメン・マキ, via a connection to notable avant-garde figure Shuji Terayama.  I think it's just a coincidence though, not that he was exclusively seeking to promote singers who spelled their name マキ.  浅川マキ's career began as a singer in American military bases during the late 1950s or early 1960s, so this foreign connection may also partially contribute to her motivation for using katakana.
I asked some Japanese people online about why a musician might choose to write their name in katakana.  But nobody really agreed. Somebody's response:

Katakana names look catchy and not stiff.
>Is there some sort of image that's cultivated by writing your name in katakana?
I think you would be right. Katakana names look cool for the young.

This would fit with some of the textbook explanations of katakana, and would explain why singers sometimes choose to write their names in katakana to seem hip or distinguish themselves from the norm.  But other people got mad at the guy who said that and called him an idiot, so I don't know if he's right or not.  Someonse else said "I think Kana name gives foreign atmosphere," which the textbooks we read also agree with.  There wasn't really a single conclusion that people came to.  It does seem like there's at least some sense of katakana being used as a personal choice to seem interesting, at least.

Katakana Analysis (Draft)

Example 1: "Cool Factor"?
When "Tokyo Three Hawks Motor Club" is credited in this movie, their name is written in katakana (except "Tokyo" of course).  I think there are non-loan words in Japanese for everything in the name of the organization, so it must be a deliberate choice to use katakana/loan words and have a "western-sounding" name.  Since it's a motorsports club, it may be modeling itself after American motorcycle organizations and trying to call that connection to mind with its name.
I looked it up online and I think this club was still around in 2006 at least, even though the movie came out a long time ago.  Here is their website, which says the club was founded in 1957.  Here's what they say in their explanation of the team name:

Tokyo Three Hawks－英語だと、まぁなんとなくなチーム名ですが、日本語に訳してみてください。地名です。(爆)

Example 2: Personal Choice
The name of the singer is written in katakana in the title of this album.  As in the example we discussed in class, it's likely that this is just designed to make her name stand out or look interesting.  She is related to another singer who writes her name in the same way, カルメン・マキ, via a connection to notable avant-garde figure Shuji Terayama.  I think it's just a coincidence though, not that he was exclusively seeking to promote singers who spelled their name マキ.
I asked some Japanese people online about why a musician might choose to write their name in katakana.  But nobody really agreed. Somebody's response:

Katakana names look catchy and not stiff.
>Is there some sort of image that's cultivated by writing your name in katakana?
I think you would be right. Katakana names look cool for the young.

This would fit with some of the textbook explanations of katakana, and would explain why singers sometimes choose to write their names in katakana to seem hip or distinguish themselves from the norm.  But other people got mad at the guy who said that and called him an idiot, so I don't know if he's right or not.  Someonse else said "I think Kana name gives foreign atmosphere," which the textbooks we read also agree with.  There wasn't really a single conclusion that people came to.  It does seem like there's at least some sense of katakana being used as a personal choice to seem interesting, at least.

Katakana Examples

Example 1: "Cool Factor"?
When "Tokyo Three Hawks Motor Club" is credited in this movie, their name is written in katakana (except "Tokyo" of course).  I think there are non-loan words in Japanese for everything in the name of the organization, so it must be a deliberate choice to use katakana/loan words and have a "western-sounding" name.  Since it's a motorsports club, it may be modeling itself after American motorcycle organizations and trying to call that connection to mind with its name.

Example 2: Personal Choice
The name of the singer is written in katakana in the title of this album.  As in the example we discussed in class, it's likely that this is just designed to make her name stand out or look interesting.  She is related to another singer who writes her name in the same way, カルメン・マキ, via a connection to notable avant-garde figure Shuji Terayama.  I think it's just a coincidence though, not that he was exclusively seeking to promote singers who spelled their name マキ.

Extended Self-Introduction / Things I Like

こんにちは。マイケル・マイヤーです。いま私はニューヨークにいます、コロンビア大学でべんきょうしますから。ニューヨークはとてもおもしろいとしとおもう。コンサートがよくあります。それはとてもいいです、おんがくが大好きだから。
たぶん私のいちばん好きなおんがくはジャズです。でもジャズ・コンサートがあまり見ません。ジャズのコンサートはたかいですから、たいへんです。ジャズの中に、私はフリー・ジャズが大好きです。ビバップやハード・バップも好き、でもビッグバンドやスムーズジャズはあまり好きじゃありません。私のいちばん好きなジャズのミュージシャン日本からは白石民夫（しらいしたみお）です。フリー・ジャズのサクソフォンそうしゃです。

白石さんの地下鉄コンサートのビデオ

日本人ですけど、いま白石さんは日本にいません。ニューヨークにいます。まいげつちかてつにコンサートがあります。そのコンサートほんとうに大好きですよ。だからいつも行きます。とてもいいとおもう。

PS 白石さんのちかてつコンサートはむりょうです。本当にフリー・ジャズですね（笑）

じこしょうかい

はじめまして。わたしのブログへようこそ！
わたしのなまえはマイケル・マイヤーです。コロンビア大学のさんねんせいですが、にほんごのにねんせいだけ。だからわたしはにほんごがまだへたです。でもがんばりますよ。
わたしはおんがくがすきです。わたしのいちばんすきなバンドにほんからは「はだかのラリーズ」です。ほんもすきです。萩原朔太郎（はぎわらさくたろう）や吉増剛造（よしますごうぞう）がとてもすきです。ふたつはにほんじんですが、もちろんえいごでよみます。きょねんわたしはブルックリンで吉増剛造のパーフォーマンスをみました。とてもおもしろかったです。
よろしくおねがいします。