VERSION 2
ETSUKO'S
WHITE KURO
The original title of Etsuko's White Kuro was
Etchan's White Kuro. Etchan is the nickname for Etsuko. The chan
is a suffix used for children and other lovely people in
Japanese. So I used to be called Eichan by my friends when I was
a child, although I was not such a lovely child.
By the way, sometimes people ask me how my name eij
is pronounced. I answer they may pronounce it as they like. I
know it's strange to pronounce eij according to its spelling. My
first name is pronounced ei-ji in Japanese. It's two characters
when you write my name in kanji, three characters in hiragana or
in katakana (Those are phonograms in Japanese.) and four letters
in the English alphabet. I use those signatures appropriately as
the occasion may demand in daily life. I like things simple.
Privately its OK to write only e. But I was bound to give up this
idea because it was already used by Microsoft's browser.
I have a friend named Katsuo, that isn't an uncommon
male name in Japan. Unfortunately he will not be able to travel
in Italy. They say he will be laughed at by customs officers,
clerks of a souvenir shops, and whenever checking into a hotel.
it's because his name sounds like something funny in Italian. I
don't know how Etsuko and eij sound to foreign people. Etsuko is
comparatively popular as a female name in Japan, although it
sounds a little bit old-fashioned for the present day. Names
distinguish us from one another. But some names are very common
in this world. A name can have a special image irrespective of
particular people. Here is a Japanese children's song. I don't
remember its title, but the meaning is as follows:
Etchan's
name is Etsuko.
She is so little that she call
herself Etchan.*
How lovely Etchan is.
Most people know this song.
Etsuko is a lovely girl's name in Japan.
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*Here It means, for example,
she says "Ettchan likes cats." instead of saying
"I like cats."
This usage of ones own name instead of "I" is
sometimes seen among little children in Japan. I don't know if it
is common among children, or if there are similar cases in
foreign countries. Is it peculiar to Japan? If it is common in
your country, there is no problem. If not, it will be hard to
translate this verse. That may be the issue of culture and
language. As you may know, we Japanese hardly use "I"
and "you" in daily conversation. We judge "the
subject" from intonation or the conjugation of verbs.
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* * *
Three years has passed since I released the first version of CatsEyeView vol.4. In the meantime, the world has been moving and my own life has changed. I have improved the interface of my old movie, retouched the images and added sound effects (You'll find them in Etsuko's story by clicking here and there). I also changed all images to 8 bit color to reduce file size. Which means you can view this movie on 8 bit color, but you need the minimum of 16 bit color and a 14 inch monitor to view it properly.
COPYRIGHT
The Cat's Eye View series is freeware. So you are
free to use them for your own personal use. You're also free to
redistribute them on commercial CD-ROM's, provided that they are
in its original form. All rights concerning my movie are
reserved. So please e-mail me. I would be happy if you let me
know what you think about my cats.
eij
E-mail
: eij@ratio.co.jp
Cat's Eye View web page : http://www.questions.gr.jp/kato/indexE.html