Richard Medhurst
What is the essence of 下町 (shitamachi)? Literally low-lying, technically traditionally working class. But also I'd say Japanese writers often use the word to signal nostalgia and retro appeal. Depends on the context, so need to identify what the writer wants to say.
#japanese
Aug 9, 2023 at 7:25amWeb
Show threadsemisaraAug 9, 2023

@richardmedh Funny you mention this, as I'm currently reading a mediocre translation of a Murakami book (アンダーグラウンド) and one of the people in it says something like "I'm a downtown girl, so I know that fish comes wrapped in paper."

Can imagine that's quite puzzling if you don't get the idea behind 下町..

Show threadRichard MedhurstAug 10, 2023
@semisara Yes, I think "downtown" suggests office buildings and so on. I'd avoid it personally though as a non-US English speaker, I can only say perhaps there's more to it than that, given how hugely popular it is as a translation term for shitamachi.
Show threadAntho Derv 🏳️‍🌈🇦🇺🗾🎶🕺💕Aug 10, 2023
@semisara @richardmedh
Working-class suburb?
Where I grew up (Adelaide), we referred to the city centre simply as "town" but the Petula Clark song "Downtown" made downtown sound like an appealing place to go:
"When you're alone and life is making you lonely. You can always go downtown ... The lights are much brighter there
You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares."
This is definitely NOT 下町.
Show threadRichard MedhurstAug 10, 2023
@DervPerv @semisara Certainly that song doesn't sound like shitamachi! On the other hand, I'm getting flashbacks to Billy Joel's Uptown Girl, in which he calls himself a "downtown man."
Show threadsemisaraAug 10, 2023
@richardmedh @DervPerv I always think of "Uptown Girl" too😅 But it all just goes to show how the word means different things from person to person, and it's a bit lazy to translate 下町 without thinking about why or in what context the word is being used
Show threadAntho Derv 🏳️‍🌈🇦🇺🗾🎶🕺💕Aug 10, 2023
@semisara @richardmedh
"Downtown" being a song from England, "Uptown Girl" from the US is maybe a case of 'England and America are two countries divided by a common language'.
But 100% clear warning against lazy translation!!