[YuriTokoro]

Originally Posted by sarvodaya

Broadly speaking, yes, but take note of the examples I gave and remember the phrase "When you are talking about the general case, say 'when', but while she was speaking about a particular case, she said 'while'."

Yes. I will study what you wrote carefully.

I don't think the word "accuse" is what you intended here. Perhaps "discriminate against"?

I didn’t know the word. Thank you!
Yes, that’s “racial discrimination”.

When you can't say "no", it is often because you are "too polite".

When my mother was a little girl her father would offer her the last biscuit. She would say "no" out of politeness, despite the fact that she wanted it. He would then say "Are you sure? Go ahead." Then she would eat it. One day, to teach her a lesson, he offered her the last biscuit again. When she said "no" he gobbled it up. She expressed her surprise and he explained that you can be too polite, so of course she learned the lesson!

Sorry, I don’t see what her father’s idea.
Did he mean being too polite did not pay?
In Japan, being too polite is very good, and most people like too polite people.

We can also say people are "too polite". People are always telling me I'm too polite. Usually politeness is considered a virtue, but by saying "too polite" you can indicate that it is too much of a good thing, which can be a foible.

他人行儀（たにんぎょうぎ）？

A friend of mine in school was also very polite and considerate. He used to say "Nice guys always come last." To which I would reply "Yes, that's true, but it's worth it!"

You mean being polite is good?

Ah, this is similar to the way of some Hindus.

覚さん、Saying ”Our Gods are only approximately eight million real Gods.” is ,I think, “hyperbolic ironic seriousness”, isn’t it?
Wasn’t that hilarious?

I watched the スタジオジブリ version of "Tales from Earthsea". I have not read the originals, although I intend to. I noticed a comment made by Ursula K. Le Guin on her website:

I too had noticed that a lot of anime characters seem to be what I would call "white" or "Caucasian" if I had to put a label on it, which seems curious to me given that, to put it plainly, that doesn't seem to reflect the natural range of skin tones indigenous to Japan.
...

I have read the first three books of Ged.

A lot of anime characters? Which ones?
I think most of them are yellow and same as Japanese.
The author of Naruto has told that he had made Naruto to be white with gold hair, because he wanted the films popular in the U.S. He had thought American children would like a hero with blue eyes and gold hair.
I think some anime films have white characters to attract western viewers. However, most anime characters are yellow, and the color was seemed to be white to Le Guin.

These characters are all Japanese.

Equally I know nothing of this issue or whether this even is an issue in Japan, but given what you say I see there must be no such prejudice. The trouble in the West is that these prejudices have such historical resonance and are so visible that they can cause tensions. Having said that, the majority of developed nations have now overcome such prejudices for the most part.

You have overcome the issues? Really!?
From the Japanese viewpoint, many western people always say the skin colors. Many people PM me, and write that they don’t mind my skin color. If they don’t mind it, I believe they can forget it.

However, at least you have something to show for your deficit. We have bailed out banks that were collapsing due to their own irresponsible and greedy conduct. To add insult to injury, those same banks now refuse to lend that money back to us and yet continue to pay themselves ridiculous bonuses. This is very demoralising.

Thank you, now I know that Japan is not only one foolish and pitiful country.

Bear in mind also that Japan has a solid export market to rely upon. In the list of sovereign states by current account balance, Japan is 2nd while the U.K. is 175th! I think this is related to Japan's magnificently strong skill-base.

I didn’t know the order. I had thought the economy of the UK was much better.

You see, the war took a lot out of our country. To put it bluntly, in economic terms we paid for the war and the U.S. profited from it. To make things worse the economy was subsequently mismanaged and all the while the U.S. showed no mercy. The Thatcher administration made some huge gains and put the economy back on its feet, but in the long-term we are left with a swathe of poorly privatised industries and an economy over-reliant on financial services. The recovery during Thatcher's administration was less a result of her particular brand of Reaganomics and more to do with simple competency.

What’s “simple competency”?

A major problem of Blair's government was figure-fiddling, both amongst large businesses and within the government itself. Now you have some insight into our current economic state.

I thought that the UK is a country of gentlemen and there is not any figure-fiddling there.

ゆりさん! You read my mind!

Everyone knows!!

Well, at least if I go on holiday there now I know to try the Japanese rice!

They called the rice “sushi rice”, and that tasted delicious Japanese rice.
Actually, the rice was Canadian, but I believe that the rice was a Japanese strain.

I’ve been to Canada twice.
Of course, I’ve been to the UK twice, too!

They are not incomplete sentences. They are grammatically correct. They represent incomplete thoughts. What they do is give the impression of an incomplete thought. This is because the copula, as the name implies, is used to link things. Most commonly it links a subject and a predicate, as follows:

"Grass is green."

"I'll be alright."

"You seem happy"
However, in these cases...


...the verb "to be" appears in an apparent copular role, but the second part of the link is missing. Thus time and behaviour are not linked to anything. This is because the speaker expects the listener to give the missing partner in his/her answer. Do you see how the unpaired part of the copular expression creates the expectation of more information to complete the pair?

Thus the completed thoughts are:

"The time is six o'clock."

"Morally correct behaviour is most easily characterised by mindfulness of the consequences of one's actions."

To be honest, I can’t say I understand completely right now.
I will read what you have written many times. Thank you.

<Englishman> <Kaku>, <Japan(to)> <to move house> <he came>
Kaku the Englishman came to move house to Japan.

Kaku the Englishman has moved to Japan.

<next door(of)> <house(in)> <lives> <Sashimister(to)> <to say hello> <he went to>
He went to say hello to Sashimister who lives in the house next door.

The Japanese sentence has 家, but you don’t need to say “in the house”. When you speak English, I think you would say “…Sashimister who lives next door”, wouldn’t you? (Would you say “in the house next door”? I’m not very sure.)
In the same way, when you translate English into Japanese, “Sashimister who lives next door” is not “次のドアに住むサシミスター”! This is crazy! (I think you already know it, but just in case…)

When we say “隣の家に住む刺氏さん”, “家” isn’t important. We also say “隣に住む刺氏さん”. Both are same in meaning.

"<How do you do?> <next door(in)> <to move house> <I came> <Kaku> <I am>. <pleased to meet you>"
"How do you do? I'm Kaku; I've just moved in next door. I'm pleased to meet you.

Yes!!

"<pleased to meet you> <Sashimister> <I am> <assistance> <if> <call> <please> <it is I who should say so> <nice to meet you>"
"Pleased to meet you. I'm Sashimister. If you need assistance please call. It's nice meeting you too."

Actually, I meant that 助（すけ）was Sashimister’s first name.

How is my translation? I have tried to put the literal meanings (with postpositions in brackets) on the first line, and then a more natural rendition in English below that. Is it correct?

Yes, almost. The name seemed to be confusing.

My head hurts...
but I think I understand...

Don’t rush.