The power of 思い出 OMOIDE (Memory)：thoughts on NHK’s Small island, Big Send offs

NHK World has a huge range of free programs to watch online. The programs are narrated in English, but the voices of Japanese speakers are subtitled.

NHK World is a priceless resource for hearing native Japanese, and for learning all sorts of things about Japanese culture.

Yesterday I watched ‘Small island, Big Send offs’ (Available until March 15, 2022)

The program is set in a ferry terminal on the remote island of Fukue.

The focus of the program is 見送り MIOKURI (sending someone off); this saying goodbye is one of the most emotional moments in many people’s lives

The island appears vibrant in the program but shares some the problems seen across the country such as 高齢者が多い　KOUREISHA GA OOI (there are many old people).

There are fewer opportunities for young people in places such as Fukue.

One teenager leaving for University says 就職は あっちで したい SHUSSHOKU WA ACCHI DE SHITAI (As for getting a job, I want to do that on the mainland) {ACCHI is short for ACHIRA - that place over there}.

就職 SHUSSHOKU (getting a job) is a huge moment in someone’s life.

Getting a job on the mainland means leaving his life on the island behind, possibly forever.

The program is set in the start of spring, when school starts and job transfers traditionally take place. Some passengers are moving to the mainland for 進学 SHINGAKU　（advancing to the next stage of education) or　転勤 TENKIN (job transfer).

Teachers in public schools are required to transfer regularly. Students at the terminal are interviewed while seeing off one such teacher.

先生との思い出とかありますか　SENSEI TO NO OMOIDE TOKA ARIMASU KA (Do you have memories with the teacher?)

After much giggling, one student manages to say:

しっかり 教えてもらって うれしかった です。SHIKKARI OSHIETE MORATTE URESHIKATTA DESU (I was happy to benefit from his thorough teaching )

Using the てもらう for receiving benefit from someone’s actions is something we have looked at in group classes recently. It is great finding examples of sentences like this in the wild.

Seeing the students discuss their OMOIDE, made me think of my own OMOIDE.

One of the richest experiences I have had in Japan was teaching for 2 and a half years in a High School in JapanSeeing the close relationship some teachers develop with students can be really touching, in some cases they might spend up to 7 days a week, and up to 12 hours a day together.

When I came to leave, I found saying goodbye was much harder than expected. So much so that while making a short speech to teachers on my last day I unexpectedly started crying. The special space that is made for these moments of parting, and the warmness of the teacher’s reaction caught me off balance. 　

A couple of people in the terminal used the word さびしい SABISHII (sad/lonely/to miss).

It’s a tricky word to translate. Rather than an inadequate translation, it is perhaps better defined as an unsatisfied feeling from the absence of something or someone.

My favourite comment was from a middle-aged Fukue-born teacher who had been to the mainland as a youngster dreaming of making his name as a musician, but had returned to Fukue to settle.

やっぱりいいですよ、島は。YAPPARI II DESU YO, SHIMA WA (After all, the island is great).

やっぱり YAPPARI (after all / eventually) is a common conversational word used to when the result of something is the same as it was, or the result is the same as expected. In this case, after some thought and after experiences elsewhere, YAPPARI (after all) the island is great.

I like this sentence also because he mentions the topic of the sentence at the end: 島は SHIMA WA.

Topics are commonly introduced at the start of sentences in textbook Japanese. Textbooks provide guides to likely speech patterns, but they don’t cover all different ways of saying something. The sentence is a reminder grammar is a guide not the law.

The topic marker WA is added at the end of the sentence, after a short pause, to clarify what he has just been describing as good.

He could equally have said the sentence in a more textbook manner: やっぱり 島は いいですよ。YAPPARI SHIMA WA II DESU YO with the same meaning.

Interesting, the subtitles translate the sentence much more naturally as “I love it here”.

Direct translations can highlight meanings missed, and also act as a bridge between the original Japanese and a more natural translation.

やっぱり　面白いですね、日本語は　YAPPARI OMOSHIROI DESU NE, NIHONGO WA (After all, Japanese is interesting isn’t it?)

Have you seen any programs you like? Please write them in the comments.