Category: English

Articles written in English

With all due deference, but …

he entire human race uses “language”, with the exception of the comparatively few people suffering from some sort of impairment, as a matter of course. Although there are differences regarding region/land and historical time, people in a specific location and at a specific time take the use of their “native” language for communication with other people of the same time and region for granted. While there are differences among different languages in the way how certain things/concepts are handled, the basic idea of conveying information between people is probably everywhere the same. 

To quote from the Wikipedia(1):
“(language as) A tool for communication
Yet another definition defines language as a system of communication that enables humans to cooperate. This definition stresses the social functions of language and the fact that humans use it to express themselves, and to manipulate things in the world.”


Again from the Wikipedia, pertaining to communication(2):
“Human communication
Human spoken and written languages can be described as a system of symbols (sometimes known as lexemes) and the grammars (rules) by which the symbols are manipulated. The word “language” is also used to refer to common properties of languages. Language learning is normal in human childhood. Most human languages use patterns of sound or gesture for symbols which enable communication with others around them.”


Problems arise, when people of one specific region try to communicate with people in or from other regions. These problems arise already during communication related to common things like food, housing, directions etc., occasionally even among speakers of different dialects of the same language, but become much more complex in areas of high specialization. Oriental medicine is one such area. Even if one assumes, that the people who try to study and/or communicate about oriental medicine are already experts in their field, communication of specific concepts using different languages may represent a very challenging task. Assuming that there is a wealth of valuable information, which I will define for the sake of this discussion as information originating in Japan, this is and remains of very little use. That is because it is (encrypted) in Japanese, which mainly precludes access to it by most people of the world and information becomes only then really useful, if it is made available/accessible. 

I am not a scholar and do not speak on behalf of any particular group of people or organization, but would like to formulate a few of my personal concepts related to this topic. In particular I would like to focus on aspects of the Japanese language, how it seems to be currently handled and understood in this field of learning and what potential future students of oriental medicine might expect or would like to see.
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As stated above, language is used to convey concepts among people. This is an extremely simplified statement, but since I do not want to/can delve into all the complexities of research into language, communication and information exchange, I would appreciate, if you will permit me to leave it standing as it is. 

The Japanese language is quite different from both English or other European languages and other oriental languages like Chinese. It does not use articles, rarely distinguishes between plural and singular and handles nouns and verbs differently from the way this is done in English for example(5). This may contribute to the impression, that Japanese is complicated and so difficult to learn, that most foreigners are not expected to have much success. Yet, Japanese is a highly developed, delicate and elegant language. Examples of highly refined typical Japanese literature like the “Genji Monogatari” for example, even though they use the writing system imported from China, antedate comparable works sometimes almost by centuries. 

Yet, the Japanese people themselves seem to suffer from an inferiority complex about their language precisely because it seems to be so difficult and inaccessible. In a very illuminating book written by the linguist Suzuki Takao “The World of the Closed Language Japanese”(8) the author points out, that Japanese is actually one of the top 10 most spoken languages of the world. In his book he cited Japanese to be on rank 6, but while the rank has dropped to “9”(6) since its publication 30 years ago, it still remains among the most frequently, widely spoken languages of the world. There is nothing to be ashamed (shame is also a concept of special cultural significance in Japan) of. Rather on the contrary: I firmly believe that Japanese people should take more pride in their language and their achievements, which are largely expressed through this language. This in turn suggests, that materials explaining these achievements should be made assessible to the world through translation. 

However, because of their fear, that other people/languages may be superior to their own and in conjunction with the aggressive promotion of a “standard TCM terminology” by the Chinese through the WHO(7), the Japanese have adopted a quite restrained behavior of promoting/displaying their own concepts and practice of oriental medicine through the use of Chinese dominated language. The result is an almost unbearable mixture of expressions, circumscriptions etc. that make even comparatively simple ideas almost unintelligible for many students of the matter throughout the world. I will try to illustrate with a few examples.

Occasionally I translate Japanese articles meant for magazines etc. that have the purpose of promoting the Japanese concepts pertaining to the use of Chinese herbal medicine, called Kampo, as well as research into acupuncture and oriental medicine in a wider sense. 

Yet, while the use of Chinese herbal medicines in the Japanese way = Kampo should be considered an original Japanese application, editors sometimes/often cling to the Chinese form of an alphabetical notation of the relevant terms. For example, certain editors follow the recommendations by an authoritative academic (Japanese) society for the research into Kampo medicine and thus demand from me, that I write the name for prescriptions as ONE word, appearing in third place after English and Chinese like:
* Cassia Twig and Tuckahoe Pill plus Coix Seed 
* Gui-Zhi-Fu-Ling-Wan-Liao-Jia-Yi-Yi-Ren
* keishibukuryoganryokayokuinin

Here I can understand the use of an English translation. That certainly facilitates access to this information. The Chinese notation at least shows the breaks between individual characters, facilitating search in dictionaries and possibly also provides clues about the pronunciation. While the Japanese … (12)

The above shown Japanese “word” has 29 (!) characters. There are even longer ones, like for example “yokukansankachinpihangegotokishakuyakusan” with no less than 41 characters. And, while the English and Chinese terms are treated as proper nouns and thus capitalized, in the example above the Japanese term appears only in lower letters, as if it were no proper noun.

I once asked a scholar about the necessity of expressing the Japanese terms as single words. The answer was, it would be very difficult to decide where to put any possible breaks. Again, I have great difficulties in believing, that the current approach will facilitate the declared purpose(9) of disseminating relevant information. 
For example, one could easily break down the expression for the prescription called “Keishikaryukotsuboreito” in the following way:
* Keishi = drug name
* Ka = processing instruction
* Ryukotsu borei = names of TWO drugs
* To = drug form.

Not even Japanese persons would consider Keishikaryukotsuboreito” to be ONE word, even if it is ONE name. For a Japanese person the term becomes immediately intelligible by looking at its elements, in particular since the Japanese know the associated Chinese characters for this term. This latter information and the underlying structure is presumably NOT available to many possible students of the material, unless they have previously acquired a considerable knowledge of the Japanese language, and thus makes comprehension very difficult, it not impossible. This includes also the difficulties encountered during attempts of looking up the term in dictionaries, that are newly created by this notation.

When I showed terms like “ryokeijutsukantogotokishakuyakusan” to Japanese people and asked them to read that for me, ALL were struggling very hard or could not figure it out at all, although they could read, naturally, the term when it is written in Chinese characters.

A little search about the use of long words in the English language showed, that the longest non-coined and nontechnical word is “Antidisestablishmentarianism” with 28 characters and the longest word in Shakespeare’s works is “Honorificabilitudinitatibus” with 27 characters(4). So, for any “reasonable” discussion words of less than 20 characters should be suitable/comprehensible. “yokukansankachinpihangegotokishakuyakusan” (41 characters) is simply incomprehensible. The use of notations like “Thisisalonggreenhouseattheroadside” or “Lelangageestunsystme de signesidentifis permettantunecommunication entreune ouplusieursentits” would NOT help any learner of English of French respectively. Further, I believe that MOST people will have difficulties pronouncing the English word “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” with 34 letters, that was in the song with the same title in the Disney musical film Mary Poppins(10), without any practice. 

Following the same argument, I think it would help both foreign students as well as ultimately also the Japanese practitioners, if terms related to acupuncture like “Seppi”, “Hinai Shin” etc. were left in Japanese and maybe provided with a descriptive English translation. In a similar fashion the technical terms related to Judo or other forms of martial arts are used WITHOUT translation. If the provision of such word pairs is too difficult to integrate into every text, it should be no problem at all to set up a frequently updated online database with the relevant terms.

After all, anyone who starts learning a certain subject, here oriental medicine, or a particular language, here Japanese, WILL have to refer to dictionaries and other reference materials. In this respect, with all due deference, I am under the impression that the highly educated scholars who have apparently been working on the above mentioned standard terminology or are representatives of the academic societies that strive to study oriental medicine and disseminate the relevant information, may have lost touch with basic problems learners have to face. In particular regarding the use of terminology, I firmly believe that the currently used Japanese approach is wrong.

Let’s consider the use of dictionariess for an attempt to find out more about “keigairengyoto” = Jing-Jie-Lian-Qiao-Tang.
If you use a Chinese-English dictionary that provides alphabetized entries, you will know, that you are looking at a term consisting of 5 characters and can look up each according to its reading. However, there are naturally a large number of characters reading “Jing” and in ordinary language most probably no combination like “Jing-Jie”. For that purpose you need a special dictionary.

The Japanese is worse, much worse. Here you are offered only ONE term. Even if the learner suspects, that this term consists for more than one character, HOW should this learner look for the relevant characters? The term could be split like:
*   ke iga iren gyo to
*   kei gairen gyoto
*   keiga iren gyoto
*   keigai rengyo to etc.
That gives the student many possible dictionary entries to look up – a largely futile effort. 

For anyone who does not know the language (Japanese), all of the listed divisions are equally possible. Depending on how the individual terms/characters are listed in the particular dictionary, this may render a search almost impossible. If the particular dictionary does NOT provide alphabetized notations, most foreign readers are denied access to this information right from the start. I have experienced this myself many times. Unfortunately, to my knowledge there are, with one little exception(11), no proper dictionaries that would help foreign students getting access to the required information. The shortest, and only, way would always require the combined use of several Chinese-English, Chinese character, Japanese-English dictionaries. Occasionally more than one of each type.

Apart from the standard dictionaries there are a number of special dictionaries for oriental, in this context mostly Chinese medicine. Sometimes the tycoons in the field publishing those dictionaries then argue about who has the “right” translation, which will invariably be different from what is found in dictionaries published in China and among the latter ones again, each gives something different and here the English rendition itself more often than not appears to be rather dubious. What the WHO has published recently as the “agreed upon standard terminology” still feels in many instances not right, at least to me. And, naturally, that terminology assumes that everything must be based on Chinese concepts. 

Since people are basically dealing with “Chinese medicine”, this consensus is of course not wrong, but what happened to the Japanese view and all those aspects special to Japan? The basic concepts of acupuncture and herbal medicine have been brought to Japan about 1,500 years ago and over centuries after that through books and by practitioners. Yet, that is a long enough period for some original, independent developments to take place. Take for example the use of guiding tubes for acupuncture: a purely Japanese invention. In conjunction with the cultural differences, climatic and geographic differences and not least the mentality of the people this period of 1,500 years of development has led, I believe, to the establishment of conceptional systems and practical applications that are clearly distinct from the Chinese form ? even though many Japanese practitioners strongly assert, that they are practicing CHINESE medicine. 

In spite of the thus historically formed system of a typical Japanese approach to oriental medicine, the insistence of the people in charge to NOT make this information publicly known, or to choose deliberately expressions/notations that are/will be incomprehensible for many/most non-Japanese persons, is a waste of very valuable resources. 

I do hope, and possible can help to stimulate the process to adopt a more enlightening approach to the “dissemination of information”, so that the mountains of intellectual treasures currently hidden behind the veils of the Japanese language can be more easily assessed by the people of the world.



References:
(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language
(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication
(3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information
(4) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longest_word_in_English 
(5) An Introduction to Japanese Syntax, Grammar & Language
    by Michiel Kamermans; grammar.nihongoresources.com
    http://grammar.nihongoresources.com/doku.php
    http://www.thejapanshop.com/
(6) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers
http://www.photius.com/rankings/languages2.html
(7) WHOIST
WHO International Standard Terminologies on Traditional Medicine in the Western Pacific Region
(8) 鈴木孝夫: 閉ざされた言語・日本語の世界 (Suzuki Takao “The World of the Closed Language Japanese”)

(9) From the JSOM HP:
“Objective:
The intention of the society is to hold research presentations and seek communication, tie-up and promotion concerning oriental medicine and contribute to the progress and dissemination of oriental medicine, and thus contributing to the development of scientific culture.”
(10) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious 
(11) Japanese-English Dictionary of Oriental Medicine; written and compiled by JONG-CHOL CYONG M.D. & Ph.D.; Oriental Medicine Research Center of the Kitasato Institute, Tokyo; ISEISHA

(12) Comment pertaining to: “WHO International Standard Terminologies on Traditional Medicine in the Western Pacific Region”:
* In this dictionary the items are listed in the order “Code ? Term ? Chinese ? Definition/Description”. “Term” represents the column with the English terms and “Chinese” lists the corresponding Chinese terms ONLY in Chinese characters. That means, users cannot search the dictionary according to reading/pronunciation of Chinese terms and MUST know, what they are looking for in English. Or else they have to read through entire sections of the book.
* The only section, that provides “pronunciation” is the one listing classical medical texts. However, this too looks to users who are NOT very familiar with the different involved languages like a deliberate attempt at making things as incomprehensible as possible:
Chinese: 素問玄機原病式 = Suwenxuanjiyuanbingshi
“Suwen” may be known well enough, but xu-an-ji or xuan-ji?
Japanese: 百腹圖説 Hyakufukuzusetsu
Should it be “pronounced” Hyakufu kuzu setsu or Hya kufu ku zusetsu?
萬安方 Man’ampo ? the approstrophe is almost a relief and very helpful!!!
Korean: 鄕藥救急方 Hyangyakgoogeupbang ? I have no idea at all how this is supposed to be pronounced!
Vietnamese: 保嬰良方 Bao Anh luong phuong ? even though I do not know how to pronounce that, I can clearly infer, that the term is made of 4 characters and look up their respective meaning, if I have Vietnamese dictionary (with alphabetical notation).

Even if the above are ‘single terms’, I am convinced that native speakers of the respective language pronounce these terms with certain intonational structure, revealing the listener clues to the makeup of the relevant terms. Without these clues, in the above example the apostrophe shows the listener/reader, that there is a break after “Man” and the term is not read Manam Po. Considering that even native speaker among themselves use these intonational structures, imagine what will happen, if someone who does not know the proper pronunciation of the relevant languages tries to read those terms / pronounce them / use them during communication with other practitioners.

翻訳の不思議色々

(http://transcurio.blogspot.jp/) 参照

1.    翻訳者 ― お任せするぞ

最近ある仕事をしている中(役所の文章)に色々意味不明の表現あった。

例えば補助金の制度が説明されている所で「最大30億円以上」が出てくる。

「最大」とは⇒ 「これより上はない」と言う意味のはず。

なのに数字に続いて「以上」が来る。

それと「近年は特に健康予防医療・・・」が出てきた。これは「健康/予防医療」であるべきだろう。それに相当する英文において翻訳者は既に適切な区切りを入れた。そうでなければ**健康を予防する医学**=医療を用いて人はなるべく健康にならないように努力する。凄いですね!(参考に「感染予防医療」を考えてください。)

これはどのように解釈すべきかを翻訳会社に問い合わせてみたら:「クライアントに合わせたら、これはネイティブの方(翻訳者)のご判断にお任せする」という返事が来た。

翻訳者は本来原文に「何も足さない、何も引かない」筈なのに・・・・・

私は昔からこのような不備の原稿を見て最初から「筋が通る」文章に仕上げるように翻訳する。その分の支払いは上乗せすべきでしょうが、「時代に合わせてレートを下げる」との要求ばかり。

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今度は「英語」の例。これは日本語の原文が英訳されたものだ。私はそれをドイツ語に翻訳する必要あった。

Remove the [1] screw at 2 places at the top of both sides of the touch panel controller.

⇒ 上記の文章ではネジ一個が2箇所で止める指示になる。一枚の板の前後ではなく、パネルの左右に。私は考えられる範囲内では略不可能だと思う。 次に同じ原文から。元の日本語も変な国語だったから下記の結果を招いた。

Do not use the unit for special purposes, such as storing food, raising animals, growing plants, or preserving precision devices or art objects. It can degrade the quality of the preserved or stored objects.

タッチパネル=エアーコンを操作するための電子機械。”use the unit for” と言うのは「その機械は○○に使わないで下さい」を意味していると思います。→”use the unit (panel) to store food / use the unit to raise animals ….” それはどのようにするのだろうか。

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「プルーフリーディング」 は気楽に頼まれる事がその正体はよく理解されていない(勘違い)様な気がする。「校正」及び「編集」の違いについて(英文、ネットにあった):

Editing(編集): Requires subject-matter expertise. Post-translation critical evaluation of the author’s (or translator’s) understanding of the material and/or use of terminology or concepts in the text. Includes also correction of obvious errors.

Editors are not proofreaders, although reading proofs is often part of the job description. Proofreaders check written material, usually as the final step before it is set into type, to correct errors in grammar, spelling, usage and style. Editors are expected to be fully qualified professionals, ex: a medical editor should have an excellent knowledge of medicine.

The term proofreading is sometimes used incorrectly to refer to copy-editing. This is a separate activity, although there is some overlap between the two. Proofreading consists of reviewing any text, either hard copy (on paper) or electronic copy (on a computer) and checking for typos and formatting errors. This may be done either against an original document or “blind” (without checking against any other source). Many modern proofreaders are also required to take on some light copy-editing duties, such as checking for grammar and consistency issues.

Proofreading: Requires target language knowledge of grammar, spelling and an ability to identify obvious mistakes and omissions. Post-translation checking of grammar, spelling, completeness of the text and correction of obvious errors. Proofreading means the critical revision of a text. In translation, this task mainly consists of checking aspects of spelling, grammar and syntax plus the general coherency and integrity of the target text. Proofreading constitutes the translator’s quality assurance; a factor that is always necessary within a purely human procedure. Proofreading should always be carried out by an experienced translator. OR: Proofreading is the procedure of checking composed material against the original manuscript for the purpose of locating errors before the newsletter is published or printed.

Client obligation!

As a translator I am ALWAYS asked to transform some meaning from one language into another. That’s what I am paid for. And clients therefore EXPECT me to provide “perfect” translations. However, this may not always be as simple as it sounds (or some dictionaries try to make believe). For example, the other day I was asked to translated some materials for a company intern presentation. I just got a list of words, no context. And the terms are “insider jargon” that cannot be understood without additional explanation and, naturally, do not in any dictionary. A while AFTER I submitted my translation WITH a number of questions, the client provided some of the required specific information and a few links to relevant websites. But before I obtained this information, the agency asked me to go over the text again and “carefully consider” the selection of tranlation terms. I wrote them back that I am always carefully considering what I do AND can rely on 20 years of experience. Yet, that does not mean that I can always decide all by myself what is the “most appropriate” translation for certain terms. The agency then continued “We can understand your feeling of confusion regarding the lack of sufficient background knowledge …” Yet, this is NOT a matter of feeling. Clients are trying to communicate = share meaning with other people. My job is it to help them, but use ONLY THE WRITTEN WORD. That means, there is no gesturing, body language, voice pitch etc. Maybe  a few graphics or even pictures. Still, the written text carries most of the message (as opposed to spoken language!). In that case the words MUST have a well defined meaning readily understood by both parties. If those meanings are left mostly or entirely to assumption(s) by the various parties that try to share the information, a meaningful communication is close to impossible. It might be of interest to hear what specialists like cyberneticians, computer scientists or just plain linguists would have to say about this matter. (Scientists like to DEFINE everything they are going to do/say, in order to eliminate ambiguity.) By the way, this very foundation of information exchange had already been established and of pivotal importance in ancient Greek philosophy! If the source text / material is not clear, people should NOT blame the translator for doing a poor job, because s/he can work only with the material provided. (Actually, in my special fields I provide a lot more, even correct errors of the manuscript during the translation.) So, if the original material is ambiguous or of poor quality, you cannot really expect anything but a poor quality translation or even outright nonsense. A carpenter cannot build a nice house with rotten wood! In the document mentioned above almost none of the problems encounter could be solved by using dictionaries, because it was INSIDER LANGUAGE that does not appear in any dictionary! It needed the topic specific information from the client – first hand!  So, I think it would be only fair that a translator can demand of the client (through the agency) to provide clear (both in meaning AND visual appearance) source texts AND whatever subject specific information they have. This is an obligation the clients have, when they wish to obtain translations that are well received by the people for which they are intended!

日本と情報

Information is passed along in many ways  

旅行するたび、又は外国人の友人あるいはお客さんとの話においていつも一つ妙なことに気付きます。日本は世界中から膨大の情報を取り入れ、国内にあらゆる形で分配します。どの小さな街角の本屋さんにも世界各国の本の日本語版の本を多数が置かれています。しかし、その反面諸外国において本屋さんに日本語の文学、あるいは他の分野(これに関して特に私の専門分野の東洋医学について詳しい)の翻訳文非常に乏しい
先日ドイツの大きいな本屋さんを訪れ、置かれていた日本語の翻訳本片手で数えられるようなものでした。
1200年あまりの伝統に恥をかかせるものも見掛けた事もあります。

Thus, because other countries are not really looking, and Japan itself does not actively provide this information, Japan seems to be still a sort of “undiscovered island”
along the so-called information highway!

I would gladly offer my services to anybody (publishers, companies, etc…). Maybe in this way I could also help a large portion of the world population finally get access to a large body of valuable information on Japan.

The famous “common place” is NOT common

“Translation is not about words – translation is about what the words are about.” 

Throughout modern history a lot of things have been termed “common place” and been referred to uncountable times. Common place means that something is common, natural and understood by everybody. Yet, by definition that has to be restricted to specific people, cultures and times. Given this common place background, it might be worthwhile to think a little about the translator’s job. S/he has to transfer material, usually present in written form, from one language to another. Doing so in some specialized area with heavy use of technical terms can be a rather clear-cut endeavor, precisely because of the technical terms. Mostly they define in very succinct ways what there is to be said among specialists who know what they are talking about. Admittedly, this form of straight communication may at times be endangered the very nature of the “specialists”, who are so good at what they are doing / researching that their minds sometimes jump ahead of their writings, leaving the translator (and reader) wondering how to fill in the gaps. The real problems start, when you are talking about something considered very simple, namely common place concepts. So, if I as a German in Germany for example call to my family “let’s sit down to dinner”, it would be natural, or common place, to think of people sitting on chairs around a table. Yet, that may not be true for regions outside Europe and America. Here in Japan, if I use the same words to ask my family to sit down, that would mean sitting with legs tugged under on the floor. The same person uses the same words and they still mean different things. Please observe that “common place” refers to a place, where people share “common ground“. Elsewhere in the world people may sit down to dinner, but do neither really sit on the floor or chairs nor use a table. This is the time when the “common sense” and finesse of the translator kicks in. S/he has to decide where the source material originated from, where it is headed and what it is being used for. Often the translator does not have all this information. Also, if a person/translator has a working knowledge of the target language, but does not live or has been living in the region where the particular language is spoken, s/he may not be completely aware of all the aspects of sometimes verbally not expressed common places.

Trek bikes

Trek bikes & quality
Last month my four children pooled some money and bought me a new Trek FX 7.7 bicycle for my 60th birthday. That is because the “60th” birthday is based on Buddhistic concepts something very special here in Japan, but I am not going into that now.
So, I got that new bike. For “safety reasons” I did not ask or check its price. If I did, I might get a heart attack! But I am sure it is quite some “luxury bike” – at least for me.
The frame is made of carbon fiber, but there are naturally bolts, nuts and other metal parts all over it. After only FOUR WEEKS (4! weeks) a major portion not only of those bolt and nuts, but also the other metal parts are covered in rust! Being covered in rust after only 4 weeks, I am forced to expect those bolts and nuts to fail within the year. Rotten! The only explanation for this phenomenon I can think of is the use of cheap, inferior quality Chinese products. After all, all those shiny metal parts on a product designed for OUTDOOR USE should NOT rust in only a few weeks.
I took the liberty of following the invitation “Contact us” on the Japanese Trek website to describe this very poor quality.
The computer returned an automated message and a little later my wife at home got a phone call from Trek Japan, telling her (I was not at home) that the company Trek DOES NOT DEAL WITH / DOES NOT CARE ABOUT this kind of problem. I am supposed to speak to the retailer. I VERY MUCH doubt, the retailer chose those metal parts!
Since Trek Japan (I live in Japan) did not care, I tried the same thing via “Contact us” on the American Trek website. Here I got ONLY the automated message.
In the brochure that comes with the bike the founder of the company, Mr. Burke, invites people to write to him personally, if they are not 100% satisfied. I DID write him, but so far have not received any answer.

Greetings

My name is Thomas and I am a native German.   
I spent more than half of my life, namely 37 years, in Japan and can by now look back on  +30 years of “clinical experience” as an acupuncturist here.  Since 1995 I do run my own VERY LITTLE acupuncture clinic. “Thomas’ Acupuncture CLinic” (in Hayama, ca. 50 km from Tokyo)                  Email: thoall@tmail.plala.or.jp

***  MY Choice ***

As a therapist I am VERY reluctant to say this, but as a father of 4 children feel obliged to do so:
I
DO NOT help Trump supporters! I am not willing (and under no obligation) to help people who support someone,
who publicly declared his intention to kill my four children – as well as the future of my yet unborn grandchildren.
That is MY personal decision.