I rang in the New Year and I chose the biggest-ever battleship Yamato as the topic of my first entry. Two battleships were built of the same size just before the Greater East Asian War; one was Yamato and the other was Musashi. Far bigger battleships than them would never be built any more, because the role of battleships in war decreased. Both Yamato and Musashi were attacked by airplanes and torpedoed. The end of Yamato was more tragic than that of Musashi, so Yamato remains in Japanese minds even now as the symbol of the tragedy of the war. Testifying to the popularity of Yamato, Yamato was featured in a Japanese anime and it was exported as "Space Battleship Yamato", also known as "Star Blazers" in the U.S. I'll cite the description from Wikipedia about Star Blazers;
Star Blazers is an American animated television series adaptation of the Japanese anime series, Space Battleship Yamato l (1974), ll (1978), and lll (1980). Star Blazers was first broadcast in the United States in 1979. Significantly, it was the first popular English-translated anime that had an overarching plot and storyline that required the episodes to be shown in order. It dealt with somewhat more mature themes than other productions aimed at the same target audience at the time. As a result, it paved the way for future arc-based, plot-driven anime translations.
Returning to the topic, I will build my thoughts about the last war around the battleship Yamato. This topic will need ten or more entries, but please keep subscribing.
Yamato headed out for Okinawa with only enough fuel for one-way and without any defence force by fighters in April 1945, when the Greater East Asian War was near its end. It meant that the crew were going to throw away their lives. Some people referred to this action as a reckless plan, but is that so? Actually, Yamato sank in the East China Sea on the way, receiving air assaults by numerous aircraft and being torpedoed by submarines. Was Yamato foolhardy? I feel like this action included an invisible and monumental intention.
Temporarily, the allied forces would feel on top of the world. The pilots of military aircraft would be in ecstasy, attacking and sinking the world's biggest battleship! They must have had a boisterous party.
However, when the fever of victory fades away from the winner's mind and the grief of losers diminishes after a certain span of time, and both winners and losers obtain understanding, some surely put on their thinking caps. The last voyage of Yamato might suit the purpose of such people who can see history through neutral eyes. Is it still too early to think about the causes and effects of the war serenely, beyond a dichotomy between winners and losers?
As Voltaire said in his Letter to Frederick the Great; History is truly written only in nations with freedom. I'm writing about Yamato in the following several entries. Link to Next
Star Blazers Intro (English)
Star Blazers
(Vocabulary)
ring in the New Year 新年を迎える
testify to sth ＜…＞を明示［証明］する
an animated movie アニメーション映画
adaptation [C] 改作, 翻案, 脚色
television/film/stage adaptation テレビ［映画，舞台］用の脚色
significantly 《文修飾》 重要なことは
overarching 全体にわたる, 包括的な
a target audience/group/market 対象となる視聴者［グループ，市場］
The target audience for this magazine is women aged 25-45. この雑誌が対象とする読者は25歳から45歳の女性だ．
audience 1 (コンサート・講演・映画などの) 聴衆, 観衆, 観客; 2 (テレビの) 視聴者（層）, (ラジオの) 聴取者（層）, (雑誌・本などの) 読者（層）
a captive audience とらわれの聴衆
Advertisers make use of the fact that they have a captive audience on trains. 広告主は電車の中にとらわれの聴衆がいるという状況をうまく利用している．
[!] There were about 200 people in the audience (×200 audiences). 観客はおよそ200人ほどいた．audienceは集合名詞なのでaudiencesは不可．
build stories around ～を中心に据えて物語を作る
assault [C] (軍事的な) 攻撃, 急襲
a military/an air/a ground assault 軍の［空からの，地上］攻撃
foolhardy 無謀な, むちゃな, 向こう見ずな
monumental 《通例[名]の前で》とてつもない, とんでもない
a monumental task とてつもない任務
in ecstasy 歓喜して
put on your thinking cap (informal) じっくり考える, 熟考する
dichotomy (formal) 二分される違い, 二項対立 [＋dichotomy between]
serenely (人・表情などについて) 穏やかに, 安らかに; (場所・景色などについて) 穏やかに, のどかに
Letter to Frederick the Great; ヴォルテール ｢フリードリヒ大王への書簡-1739/4/27｣ 歴史は自由な国においてのみ真実に書かれうる。
日本海軍が作った当時としては世界最大最新鋭の戦艦、大和と武蔵。戦艦の価値が下がった今、これ以上の船が造られることはあるまい。大和は同型艦武蔵と比べ、より悲劇的な最後だったため日本人の心に今でも残っている。大和は宇宙戦艦ヤマトというアニメにも登場し米国にも輸出された。なぜか名前はスターブレイザーと変えられているが、これはもしかしたら大和という戦艦を米国民に知られたくないのかもしれない、、、戦艦大和の最後の任務と宇宙戦艦ヤマトの任務と重なっていることが米国の子供達には隠されている。確固としたストーリーを持つアニメは米国ではこれが最初だという。大和は片道分の燃料だけで航空機の護衛もなく出撃し、東シナ海に沈んだ。これは無謀な攻撃だろうか。沈めた方はどんちゃん騒ぎをしたことだろう。沈められた方は悲しみに沈んだだろう。しかし、時が経ち、勝者と敗者の興奮と悲しみが薄れ冷静に歴史を見ることができるようになったとき、大和の出撃はどのように評価されるのだろうか。
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