Tattoo help!
 

Hey everyone, I know there are a million tattoo threads already. I have a very specific question though. I'm getting a tattoo soon, and I need help figuring some stuff out.

I want to get a quote by Haruki Murakami from Sputnik Sweetheart. The quote is: “I dream. Sometimes I think that's the only right thing to do.”

But I really want to get it in the original Japanese text, as Murakami himself wrote it.

I am a huge fan of his work, and this has always been one of my favourite quotes.

Could someone help me to:
A) find out how it was originally written
B) tell me the differences in the translation. I don't know how accurate the english version of this quote is. And I realize that it could be completely different.
C) A general idea of what a Japanese person might think if they saw this quote tattooed on me. I don't want to get a tattoo that I love, but to a native speaker seems silly/stupid/offensive/etc...

I'll try to figure out what chapter the quote is in.

Why not just have it in English? Why use a foreign language that you can't read/understand?

I have been considering that from the start. But I'd like it to be faithful to the author. And the best way to do that would be to have it in his original words. There's always something lost in the translation.

P.S. I believe the quote is in chapter 16. just before Sumire calls. If that helps anyone.

In short, if you tattoo yourself with computer font, you will look like any other freak of nature. I like that quote, and calligraphy in cursive may look nice.

Your quote goes as follows: 私は夢を見る。時々私は何にのみ正しいことだと思う。

If you are interested in calligraphy work, send me a PM.

haha, don't worry. I wasn't planning on getting it done in a computer font. I'm just having a really tough time finding the original japanese text.

Oh, you found it? That's not directly from the book though is it?
Since it's a quote, I'd like to get it word for word, the way it was first written.

You will need to wait for the native speakers to confirm this, or anyone that has the original in Japanese with them, as i don't.

okay, thank you.
Hopefully someone out there owns a copy. I can't seem to find the quote in japanese online using my limited knowledge of the language.

lol That is NOT how Murakami writes at all. The part in red does not even make sense in Japanese, either.

The original reads:

「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。」

Google it for verification.

A) As above.

B) Very close. Probably could not get any closer in English, in which language 「思える」 is simply not said. Its nuance is "It appears that I think ~~" rather than the plain "I think".

C) Though I do not represent the rest of the country, I would think it was a pretty sissy line for a tattoo if I saw it.

One reason I didn't even dare try to re-Murakami that English. Ah, ...それがただひとつの正しい行為であるように思える sounds so lovely.

Brings me to a point: Who are the preëminent writers in Japan today? Murakami is quite famous. I am aware of Banana Yoshimoto. But sometimes I wonder if they're not just the Ken Follett/Stephen King/JK Rowling/Neil Gaiman of Japan.

Not to cast aspersions on the people I just mentioned, but our great living literary writers of English are people like Ian McEwan, Thomas Pynchon, Tom Wolfe, Kazuo Ishiguro, and maybe Cormack McCarthy.

Note: I adore all the "non-literary" authors I mentioned above, particularly Gaiman and Rowling. But, let's face it, the literati of the West don't consider them as worthy as Ishiguro, Wolfe, Pynchon, etc. Heck, maybe they don't even consider McEwan a great, but his work is just so magnificent I had to include him in my little list.

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?).

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'.

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 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.

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.



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. :)

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.

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

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:



or maybe:


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.　

I do like the look of vertical the most. Should they all be aligned to the top? I don't know how to properly write vertically on a computer, but it would be something like this right?

正とぼ
しきく
いどは
行き夢
為ぼを
でく見
あにる
るは 。
よそ
うれ
にが
思た
えだ
るひ
。と
つ
の

Edit.. Ahh... the alignment for the tsu and no characters at the end got messed up... like i said, don't know how to write vertically on a computer..

Align at the top.

There is no way one can type vertically on JF. Let me mention only what you need to know to write these 3 particular lines, which is the positioning of the period.

Open this for an example.
縦書き文庫 | いつもの日曜(ねじ)

The 「。」　must be positioned at top right of the square space. (It's bottom left in horizontal script as you can see here.)

Awesome. Thank you so much masaegu. You've been a huge help through all of this. :)

ONE LAST UPDATE!
So, I'm all ready to go get my tattoo. Getting it next week, I have an image of what I want it to look like, I just wanted to post it here first and ask for someone to give it one final look to make sure there aren't any terrible mistakes. How does it look?



1000 thanks to everyone that helped me out with this. Special thanks to masaegu :)

There are no mistakes.

My final word is that I answered whatever I answered as a language question. It does not reflect my thoughts on tattoos in general or tattooing these particular phrases.

I understand. Thank you.