Ah, sorry, didn't notice this in time. But unfortunately my written Japanese isn't on the level I'd like it to be to take on this kind of work, and the only Japanese translator friend of mine translates from German...

But thank you for thinking of me! It means a lot to me.

That's an excellent bonsai garden (I've been there twice for TV shoots). Rather than visiting another bonsai museum, I'd recommend walking around a few residential neighborhoods in the eastern part of Tokyo and look for bonsais and potted plants people tend to outside their homes.

That's absolutely terrible to hear.

so, really not that great. happy to be in a t&h book, but not happy how they basically take what they want, offer a sum of money they decided without consulting me, and do it in a "look how nice we are to pay you at all" kind of way.

actually not happy how the process went btw. they used the texts without asking first, then i got an email offering me some money "as a gesture of appreciation". they said they used excerpts, but having seen the book today, they used two entire texts (each a couple of pages long).

I love how much fun DeVito (80 yrs old) still has with the series

it's a bit crazy how consistently funny they are.

I found out because I'm sometimes facing similar questions (how to deal w Japanese terms & concepts the reader may not be familiar with) & liked Rubin's head-on solution. Was surprised when I checked Akutagawa's original & learned it was entirely an addition. It doesn't feel out of place at all.

Noteworthy here is that the entire second line, from "Never mind" to "nose of his," is Rubin's addition; there's no such explanation in Akutagawa's original. I find it an elegant and effective solution.

I don't really know if my parents had much of a chance to see their movies in East Germany in the 1980s.

Robert De Niro!

one element worth pointing out is the humour. it's neither acidic nor lighthearted, not arrogant or there to impress, neither is it compromising the depth of the work. more a general approach that underlies the piece. really well executed. maybe somewhat similar attitude to Bunpei Kado.

I just think the internal monologue/voiceover, the Hitman-style game structure, the character looking a bit like Tom Cruise, the whole airport/plane sequence etc. give off a strong M:I vibe.

We're going back to blogs and reasonable distances.

I only wish it had a Mission Impossible license instead of the Bond one, but yes, looking very promising.