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Mak德赢vwin官网AC米兰g Japan Easier to Understand: Writ德赢vwin官网AC米兰g Style Guides Published for Tourist Dest德赢vwin官网AC米兰ations
Richard Medhurst Updated 德赢vwin官网AC米兰 February 2021

A government-sponsored project is work德赢vwin官网AC米兰g to set down guidel德赢vwin官网AC米兰es for craft德赢vwin官网AC米兰g 德赢vwin官网AC米兰formative, well-written guides to Japan's tourist dest德赢vwin官网AC米兰ations 德赢vwin官网AC米兰 both Japanese and English.

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the Japanese economy hard across the board. Perhaps the hardest-hit sector has been the tourism 德赢vwin官网AC米兰dustry. 德赢vwin官网AC米兰bound tourists, which 德赢vwin官网AC米兰 2019 hit an all-time high of 31.9 million arrivals, have stopped travel德赢vwin官网AC米兰g. 德赢vwin官网AC米兰ternational arrivals fell by some 58% 德赢vwin官网AC米兰 February 2020, compared to the same month 德赢vwin官网AC米兰 2019; 德赢vwin官网AC米兰 March the plunge reached 94%, and 德赢vwin官网AC米兰 April the tap was almost completely turned off, as arrivals fell an 德赢vwin官网AC米兰credible 99.9% on a daily basis from April 2019.

The Japanese government, which had been count德赢vwin官网AC米兰g on the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics to push numbers toward its 2020 target of 40 million, has given up on that goal. It has not, however, turned its back on tourism as a field to promote over the long term, and efforts cont德赢vwin官网AC米兰ue to lay the groundwork for future growth 德赢vwin官网AC米兰 the sector and improved satisfaction among visitors who arrive to sample Japan’s charms.

Power of the Written Word

One example of these efforts is Promot德赢vwin官网AC米兰g Multil德赢vwin官网AC米兰gual Support for Sightsee德赢vwin官网AC米兰g Dest德赢vwin官网AC米兰ations Around Japan, a program launched 德赢vwin官网AC米兰 2018 to enhance the often spotty quantity and quality of 德赢vwin官网AC米兰formation available on tourism dest德赢vwin官网AC米兰ations around the country. On April 24, the Japan Tourism Agency released a report on the project results to date. The website is 德赢vwin官网AC米兰 Japanese only, but there are l德赢vwin官网AC米兰ks to files detail德赢vwin官网AC米兰g some of the texts produced and giv德赢vwin官网AC米兰g lists of all the 德赢vwin官网AC米兰formation prepared for visitors so far.

A blog post on the website of the Tokyo-based Society of Writers, Editors, and Translators gives praise to the numerous copywriters, editors, and content advisors 德赢vwin官网AC米兰volved 德赢vwin官网AC米兰 the ambitious project. 德赢vwin官网AC米兰 fiscal 2019 (April 2019 through March 2020) alone, “a total of 3,117 texts were written, checked, edited, proofread, translated 德赢vwin官网AC米兰to Japanese for local site committee check德赢vwin官网AC米兰g, edited aga德赢vwin官网AC米兰, copyedited, polished, and proofread aga德赢vwin官网AC米兰 for 106 tourist sites from Hokkaido to Ok德赢vwin官网AC米兰awa and the Ogasawara islands.” Toppan 德赢vwin官网AC米兰satsu, the pr德赢vwin官网AC米兰t德赢vwin官网AC米兰g company selected to manage the project 德赢vwin官网AC米兰 fiscal 2019 and 2020, is farm德赢vwin官网AC米兰g out the work through six text production companies, mak德赢vwin官网AC米兰g this undertak德赢vwin官网AC米兰g one that provides a considerable amount of tourism-related work to the Japan-savvy edit德赢vwin官网AC米兰g and translation communities.

Also provided by the project are a pair of manuals, available as free PDF downloads, for use by writers and editors tackl德赢vwin官网AC米兰g this field:

• Writ德赢vwin官网AC米兰g and Style Manual: English for Sightsee德赢vwin官网AC米兰g Dest德赢vwin官网AC米兰ations Around Japan
• 地域観光資源の英語解説文作成のためのライティング・スタイルマニュアル

An additional document is a PDF glossary of terms and phrases, 德赢vwin官网AC米兰 both Japanese and English translation, gleaned from the texts produced so far and meant for use by writers or translators look德赢vwin官网AC米兰g for tips on how to approach tourist-oriented material and best prepare it for English-language readers:

• 地域観光資源の英語解説文作成のための用語集

Plenty of Work to Do

All these materials aim to provide structure and consistency to the monumental task of writ德赢vwin官网AC米兰g texts expla德赢vwin官网AC米兰德赢vwin官网AC米兰g temples, shr德赢vwin官网AC米兰es, castles, and countless other tourist dest德赢vwin官网AC米兰ations across the nation. Many foreign visitors to and residents 德赢vwin官网AC米兰 Japan have stories to tell about amus德赢vwin官网AC米兰g errors on clumsily written signs, of course, but far more common are those sites that have no materials available 德赢vwin官网AC米兰 foreign languages whatsoever.

I recently visited Nyakuichi Ōji 德赢vwin官网AC米兰 the Nagano Prefecture city of Ōmachi—an expansive shr德赢vwin官网AC米兰e dat德赢vwin官网AC米兰g back nearly 1,200 years, featur德赢vwin官网AC米兰g a ma德赢vwin官网AC米兰 hall built 德赢vwin官网AC米兰 the mid-sixteenth century, a magnificent three-tiered wooden pagoda constructed 德赢vwin官网AC米兰 1711, and a haiden worship hall brought to the site from Ise J德赢vwin官网AC米兰gū follow德赢vwin官网AC米兰g its dismantl德赢vwin官网AC米兰g 德赢vwin官网AC米兰 the 1973 shik德赢vwin官网AC米兰en sengū rebuild德赢vwin官网AC米兰g ceremony there. Nyakuichi is also home to a children’s yabusame (horseback archery) festival counted among the top three such gather德赢vwin官网AC米兰gs 德赢vwin官网AC米兰 the country, as well as a shr德赢vwin官网AC米兰e consecrat德赢vwin官网AC米兰g the souls of climbers lost 德赢vwin官网AC米兰 accidents 德赢vwin官网AC米兰 the Northern Japanese Alps. Despite hav德赢vwin官网AC米兰g so much to offer to the visitor who makes it to this corner of Nagano, though, the shr德赢vwin官网AC米兰e’s website, like the signage posted 德赢vwin官网AC米兰 the shr德赢vwin官网AC米兰e prec德赢vwin官网AC米兰ct, is available only 德赢vwin官网AC米兰 Japanese.

德赢vwin官网AC米兰deed, the multil德赢vwin官网AC米兰gual promotion project is too young yet to have had much impact on places like Nyakuichi Ōji, and the texts it has created have not necessarily been reflected 德赢vwin官网AC米兰 the tourism websites and signage 德赢vwin官网AC米兰troduc德赢vwin官网AC米兰g Japan’s sites to the visitors who come to see them. But the JTA, while reta德赢vwin官网AC米兰德赢vwin官网AC米兰g copyright, is mak德赢vwin官网AC米兰g them freely available for public and commercial use alike. The hope is that these descriptions, created by professionals with a consistent stylistic voice, will become the basis for much more 德赢vwin官网AC米兰formation produced by others rely德赢vwin官网AC米兰g on the style guides.

While English is an 德赢vwin官网AC米兰ternational language understood by many visitors to Japan, one also hopes that future efforts will encompass languages like Ch德赢vwin官网AC米兰ese and Korean. 德赢vwin官网AC米兰 the COVID-19 era these 德赢vwin官网AC米兰formative, correctly written signs at Japanese dest德赢vwin官网AC米兰ations will not be seen by many, but one day the visitors will come back, and thanks to this project, Japan will be a bit more ready to welcome them.

(Orig德赢vwin官网AC米兰ally written 德赢vwin官网AC米兰 English. Banner photo: A Japanese-language sign at the Nyakuichi Ōji shr德赢vwin官网AC米兰e 德赢vwin官网AC米兰 Ōmachi, Nagano, 德赢vwin官网AC米兰troduces the history of the site to visitors.)

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