【Text Translation and Romaji】 RADWIMPS, originally released to Youtube on March 11, 2020; collected in 2+0+2+1+3+1+1= 10 years 10 songs
RADWIMPS ／ 2+0+2+1+3+1+1= 10 years 10 songs
1: 『白日』 (Hakujitsu)
2: 『ブリキ』 (Buriki)
3: 『カイコ』 (Kaiko)
4: 『あいとわ』 (Aitowa)
5: 『春灯』 (Shuntou)
6: 『空窓』 (Soramado)
7: 『夜の淵』 (Yoru no Fuchi)
8: 『世界の果て』 (Sekai no Hate)
9: 『かくれんぼ』 (Kakurenbo)
10: 『あいたい』 (Aitai)
RADWIMPS has posted another song to Youtube this year, titled “Sekai no Hate” (which I would translate as “The World’s End“). The official English translation of the lyrics can be found here.
UPDATE 2020-03-19: Given the times we live in, this song is kind of a downer. While not part of the 3/11 series, if you need something a bit more uplifting, RADWIMPS has just released another new song, “Light The Light“. (The band’s blogpost for the song already has English commentary.)
Comments from Yojiro Noda, translated by me from the video description:
Nine years later, I’ve made a song again this year. Unexpectedly, in our present day of March 11, 2020, the world faces the societal crisis of a virus. It feels like we’re inundated with information, overflowing with twisted emotions. There are also moments where I feel like humans themselves pose more of a threat than the actual virus. There’s this tense feeling, like one event might just bring everything crashing down at once. Even so, or maybe precisely because of that, I thought about things like I always do on this day, and I decided I wanted to mix that atmosphere of our “now” into a single song. I went through this as true and honest to myself as I could, and this kind of song was the result. While there is a feeling of despair, personally, I also felt something gentle and nostalgic about it. I’m sure there will be many voices and perspectives, but I’d be glad if you’ll receive this song.
Memories, growing dimmer year by year. Wounds that don’t heal, regardless of that. Newly emerging disasters. We might be living through an era where if we try to face the entirety of our pain, our hearts simply have no way to catch up to it. I’d like to live without forgetting to look toward the small pieces of happiness in our days.
Once again, I asked for the help of Sugai-san for recording and Shimada-san for the video this year. Thank you.
Next year will be a full decade since the earthquake, a key milestone. I think that year will really be something for each of us to face, all of us who have lived a decade of our lives in this country.
“How have I been living my life since then?”
I intend to live in a way that will allow me to look that question in the eye and give my answer.
For all the lives that were lost in the Great East Japan Earthquake nine years ago, and for all of those who continue to suffer even now, a prayer.
Yojiro
Lyrics
Japanese: https://radwimps.jp/sekainohate/lyrics/
English: https://radwimps.jp/sekainohate/lyrics/en/
—
I have a few notes on the English translation I’d like to bring up:
・ I don’t actually know who made this translation, but it’s entirely possible that Yojiro Noda wrote it himself. That would have a multitude of implications: it’s possible that he might be implying things he didn’t mean to imply in English, but he could also very well be deliberately introducing differences in wording or tone for reasons known only to him. It’s also possible that my own understanding of the song may be incomplete for language-related reasons or otherwise (though naturally I don’t think it’s the former, not that it means much when I say so myself). Please keep all that in mind while considering my remarks below.
Stanza 1 Lines 3-4 「誰一人もわからんなら／考える価値もないのか」
(“Nobody knows / But who’s to say that it’s not even worth thinking”)
・ To me, this line seems slightly less rhetorical and slightly more reflective in the Japanese, something more like, “If nobody knows the answer, is it not even worth thinking about?”
Stanza 2 Lines 2-3
「呑気に言ってられないよな／気が触れずに笑えんのか」
(“Even an optimist can’t laugh, you know / Can we? Without not losing our mind?”)
・ I’d have put this as, “It’s not something that can be said thoughtlessly / Can we laugh without losing our minds?”
Stanza 6, Line 1 「乗り違えたようで降りる駅を間違えたそんな僕らが」
(“Though we got on the right train we missed our stop”)
・ I think this should be, “We’ve gotten on the wrong train and missed our stop”
Stanza 7, Line 1 「この世界の淵から」
(“I’m jumping off the edge of the world”)
・ No issue here, just some more evidence that I was wrong last year and Mr. Noda knew exactly what he meant in using the kanji 淵 for ‘edge’.
Stanza 8, Lines 1-2 「海風にかき消されない／波に飲み込まれない」
(“Abiding winds from the sea / Abiding waves of the ocean”)
・ More clearly, I believe this line would be closer to, “I won’t be drowned out in the winds from the sea / I won’t be swallowed by the waves”
Stanza 10, Line 2 「見つけたのと同じようにたやすく たどり着くから」
(“I will easily find you like I found you in this world”)
・ I think this should be, “I will easily reach you like I found you in this world”
—
And finally, the romaji, since I believe there are learners out there who find it valuable to their process of understanding. (I choose not to copy/paste the original Japanese this time like I did with Aitowa, but if you for some reason need to for personal reasons, I recommend the use of your browser’s inspector tool.)
Sekai no Hate
Ashita moshimo kono sekai ga owan nara
Sore wa jigoku na no ka wandaarando
Dare hitori mo wakaran nara
Kangaeru kachi mo nai no ka
Sate sate saigo no bansan wa nani ni shiyou to ka
Nonki ni itterarenai yo na
Ki ga furezu ni waraen no ka
Shoujiki jishin wa nai yo na
Sore nara boku wa iku yo
Kimi no moto e iku yo
Semete boku no ude no naka ni wa kimi no kao wo uzumete
Osoikakaru sono owari no
Kimi no shikai wo ooi
Wandaarando made no mijikai ichibyou dake “sayonara” wo
Toki ga tatsu ni tsurete jojo ni minasoko ni
Yukkuri to shizunde iku ka no
You ni kimi no kao mo oboroge ni
Natte itte shimau no wa naze
Norichigaeta you de oriru eki wo machigaeta sonna bokura ga
Wandaarando de deau ni wa
Dono bin ni noreba ii n darou
Doko de orireba ii n darou
Kono sekai no fuchi kara
Ichi, ni no san de tobu kara
“Ima da” to sakende yo ude wo futte yo chikara no kagiri
Umikaze ni kakikesarenai
Nami ni nomikomarenai
Hitosuji no anata no koe wo inochi no ito ni musubu yo
Kimi no moto e iku yo kanarazu ya mukau yo
Kimi no sugatakatachi iro to ka nioi no subete naku to mo
Shinpai sezu ite yo kono sekai de kimi wo
Mitsuketa no to onaji you ni tayasuku tadoritsuku kara
...VOICE 