The official English translation of Japan’s new era name is an anime porn game theme song

Japanese government attempts to beautify the English interpretation of Reiwa, gives us an eyeful of something else entirely.

On Monday, the Japanese government announced that the reign of Japan’s next emperor, which will begin on May 1, will be known as the Reiwa period. When written in Japanese, Reiwa is composed of two kanji characters: 令和.

The first kanji, 令, is most commonly used to mean “order,” and many English-language media outlets initially interpreted Reiwa to mean “orderly harmony.” However, 令 also has a somewhat esoteric, tertiary meaning of “beautiful,” and that’s the one the government was going for, according to an official statement put out by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on April 3, in which it has asked that Reiwa be defined, in English, as meaning “beautiful harmony.”

“Beautiful harmony” certainly has a more poetic and liberating feel to it. However, it turns out that this isn’t the first time creative types in Japan have been enamored of that specific combination of English words. Back in 2006, anime voice actress and vocalist Yui Sakibara recorded a song called, yep, “Beautiful Harmony.”

As you might have guessed from the above video’s artwork, “Beautiful Harmony” is the opening theme for something called Buraban! -The bonds of melody-. A video game from developer Yuzu Soft (which can be purchased through Amazon here), Buraban sees the player transferring to a new school and helping the female members of the brass band (“buraban” in Japanese slang) improve their musical skills.

▼ Opening animation for Buraban! -The bonds of melody-

Oh, and sometimes this leads to the girls sucking on the player’s fingers or penis, or him pressing his fingers firmly into their butts or crotches, undoubtedly all in the interest of teaching them proper tongue technique and finger placement for the instruments they play.

▼ So now Reiwa has two connections with Japanese video game music.

▼ Even Sakakibara herself was surprised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’s statement, tweeting “I can’t believe ‘Reiwa’ has been designated ‘beautiful harmony!’”

まさかの「令和」の英訳が「Beautiful Harmony」に…っ❗✨ そして皆さん↑と言えば榊原ゆいの曲と気づいて下さってるw❗ ありがとうございます✨ 「Beautiful Harmony」は、私の持ち曲の中でも、今でも人気… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

—
榊原ゆい (@YuiSakakibara) April 03, 2019

So yes, the Japanese government is insisting that if you’re discussing the meaning of the country’s new era name, you use a translation that, when Googled, spits back the theme song of an anime schoolgirl porn game as its top result…

…which, as a problem that could only exist in our modern world, sort of makes Reiwa/beautiful harmony all the more appropriate as the name of the new era.

Sources: Otakomu, Livedoor News/Jiji, Yuzu Soft
Top image: Yuzu Soft
Insert images: Yuzu Soft, YouTube/Burushou, Google
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