>Holland was the only European country with which Japan had trade relations >between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. >As a consequence, a large number of Dutch words came into Japanese. >17世紀から19世紀まで、日本はヨーロッパの国としてはオランダとのみ貿易していたため >オランダ語からきたものも多い。)
>As the first European visitors to Japan were from Portugal, >Japanese has adopted many Portuguese words. >(日本に初めて来たヨーロッパ人がポルトガル人だったため、ポルトガル語からも多い。)
>Although an exceedingly large number of words have entered Japanese from Korean, >only very few of them can presently be labeled loan words as distinguished >from true Japanese words.(韓国語からきた言葉は極めて多いが、 >現在外来語として、日本語と区別できるものは少ない。)
Although these illegal laborers might be illegal, that is just because they are not recognized by the law. (不法就労はいけないと言っても、今の日本の法律がそれを認めていないだけのことでしょう。)
The Korean Children's Choir, winner of the top award in the amateur choir content (sponsored by BBC), will come to Japan. (世界アマチュア合唱コンクール(イギリスBBC主催)で第1位になった韓国宣明会児童合唱団が日本に来ます。) This contest is the most authoritative in the world, and they are the only Asians who won the highest award in it. (このコンクールは世界で最も権威があります。アジアの国の合唱団の中でもこのコンクールで1位になったのは宣明会だけです。) They are invited to 21 countries in Asia, N-America, Europe and Oceania. (宣明会は世界各国から呼ばれ、アジア、アメリカ、ヨーロッパ、オセアニアの2カ国で歌っています。) Their concert is at Shinjuku Bunka center on January 26. (1月26日新宿文化センターで彼女たちの美しい歌がひびきます。)
It's said that in America a rape occurs once every 3 minutes. (アメリカでは3分に1件の割でレイプ事件が起きているという。) In contrast to this, there are less than 100 cases of rape reported in a year in Japan. (それに対し日本では、年間100件足らずが報告されているだけだ。) As maybe clear from these numbers, Japan is the safest country in the world, where there are few heinous sex crimes and where it's safe enough for a female to walk alone at night. (この数字からも明らかなように、日本は女性が夜一人歩きをしても大丈夫だといわれるほど、凶悪な性犯罪の少ない世界一安全な国である。) While there may be few horrendous sex crimes, however, there is probably in place of that, the world's highest number of secretive "chikan" incidents. (だが、凶悪な性犯罪が少ない代わりに、陰湿な痴漢行為の件数は多分世界最高ではないだろうか。)
"Until the Japanese government demonstrates a good faith attitude, we are not returning alive to our country," said the "harumoni." They wore a small dagger, known in Korean legends as "unjandu", around their necks.