Koda Kumi shocking interview on YouTube

[Dreamland]

Originally Posted by Alessia_Tateno

I agree =)

I second that

but IMO I could give two ***** anymore if they call her **** or easy cause they dont know her and have no idea. All these people that call her names probably never met her before and never had a conversation with her that lasted more then 2 seconds but soon as they see her they automatically deem her **** or easy. Get to know her first before you write a book about her life.

too bad she cant leave avex cause they are just the supreme evil to me


cause you know satan comes in all shapes and forms

[andre2907]

Originally Posted by Dreamland

I second that

but IMO I could give two ***** anymore if they call her **** or easy cause they dont know her and have no idea. All these people that call her names probably never met her before and never had a conversation with her that lasted more then 2 seconds but soon as they see her they automatically deem her **** or easy. Get to know her first before you write a book about her life.

too bad she cant leave avex cause they are just the supreme evil to me


cause you know satan comes in all shapes and forms

Calm down. Believe me, nobody called her names. They just said she used GYARU slangs (and that isn't a classy thing to do) and talked some not-so-classy things about dating and men. Nobody is a hater, they just told what was in the interview. GYARUS are associated to easy girls and it isn't a classy thing to use their slangs, but Koda Kumi use them. Does that mean she is a w*ore? Not really, but I suppose the "ero-kakoii" image isn't only on her looks but also on the way she talks.

[Dreamland]

Originally Posted by andre2907

Calm down. Believe me, nobody called her names. They just said she used GYARU slangs (and that isn't a classy thing to do) and talked some not-so-classy things about dating and men. Nobody is a hater, they just told what was in the interview. GYARUS are associated to easy girls and it isn't a classy thing to use their slangs, but Koda Kumi use them. Does that mean she is a w*ore? Not really, but I suppose the "ero-kakoii" image isn't only on her looks but also on the way she talks.

trust and believe I am very calm and happy.

sorry if I came out that way I was jus speakin in general after I read a few of these comments in this thread

[Terri]

This whole 10 pg thread is about success and making it into the real world, because what Koda went through, many have to go through. This is nothing out of the ordinary, it's just life.

You can't always get what you want, you can't run the show yourself. Following rules and "standards" show your responsibility and maturity. She sacrificed herself for a goal which she very much achieved.

We shouldn't feel "bad" for her, she is successful and she is building stability (career wise) for whatever plans she has for the future.

Also, Max isn't the bad guy. He is the money maker, he is the one who brings to us all of our favorite artists. He is not mean or nasty, he is honest. Honesty is a good virtue. If he hadn't told Koda to loose some pounds, I doubt we'd even know her name by now.

Business is business and what sells sells. Nobody can change that but society and I doubt that will happen anytime in our generation, or the next...or the next

[andre2907]

Originally Posted by Terri

:Also, Max isn't the bad guy. He is the money maker, he is the one who brings to us all of our favorite artists. He is not mean or nasty, he is honest. Honesty is a good virtue. If he hadn't told Koda to loose some pounds, I doubt we'd even know her name by now.

Oh well, he don't need to call her fat on national TV. This is rude. Anyway, we don't know Max, so we don't know if he's honest.

[Terri]

Originally Posted by andre2907

Oh well, he don't need to call her fat on national TV. This is rude. Anyway, we don't know Max, so we don't know if he's honest.

well, i would assume he's honest or he wouldn't have called her fat

But, it is rude, I didn't know it was on national tv

[truehappiness]

I don't think she even gives a dang whether or not anyone says crap about her, so.. whatever o_o;

If she saw how people got all 'EWWWWW AYUUUUUUUUU KODA BEAT HER NOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW', she's probably be all like "Oh, you guys are just being rude >>" or something.

Originally Posted by andre2907

OK, according to Uwasa, the brazilian site that did the first recap, first reported about the special and is now posting it in YouTube, Koda Kumi talks alot about man in this part of the special (I guess it's for the school girls, but I'm not 100% sure) and she said some not very classy things about them (mostly about how the girls need a man or something like that, they didn't specify what she said and I can't translate to English because what the site said was very misleading if translated to english) and used lots of "gyaru" (gals) slangs (and to japanese people, gyaru = easy girls).

I know that you are just relaying what Uwasa said, but I want people to know that the most provocative the conversation ever became was when Kumi said quickly that she was a "cherry girl" and a virgin. I don't know if she was joking or not, I'll have to watch it again. Either way, If the "cherry girl" comment was a 10 on the "un-classy" scale, the entire rest of Part 3 (and Parts 1 and 2 for that matter) was a 3. She said nothing crude or off-color at all. The conversation was kept very casual, but that's because she was talking to a bunch of teenage girls from her alma mater. To give an idea of how comfortable and casual it was, one of the girls was so forward as to ask if Kumi was wearing a bra.

She also didn't say that women need men. She said throughout the episode that the reason people are seen as attractive, is because they are surrounded by people who love them. For her, she said, it would be her fans. She said if you have a reason to say "thank you" or give someone a reason to say it, the happiness it creates makes you seem more attractive. She says that is why everyone thinks celebrities are so beautiful, because they have such a greater scale of people who support them. She says that women are like diamonds: they are all beautiful, but when someone picks them up and polishes them, their true shine comes out. For example, girls who are in love shine to other girls, because they feel they have a reason to basically get out of bed and polish themselves up.

I wouldn't trust this Brazilian site very much. The things they said previously were inaccurate, as well. For example, Kumi did not confirm that she had eye surgery. In fact, she did the exact opposite: she gave the schoolgirls her make-up tip, which she uses instead of having surgery. She even writes "NO cosmetic surgery" on the chalk board for humorous emphasis.

[kayokyokufan]

Originally Posted by xiaou-xijiang

I'm surprised, the quality didn't come out as bad as I thought it would!

for Alessia_Tateno:
part one

part two

part three

part four

part five

Could someone please reup these Koda Kumi interview rips?

[andre2907]

Originally Posted by evolusean

I know that you are just relaying what Uwasa said, but I want people to know that the most provocative the conversation ever became was when Kumi said quickly that she was a "cherry girl" and a virgin. I don't know if she was joking or not, I'll have to watch it again. Either way, If the "cherry girl" comment was a 10 on the "un-classy" scale, the entire rest of Part 3 (and Parts 1 and 2 for that matter) was a 3. She said nothing crude or off-color at all. The conversation was kept very casual, but that's because she was talking to a bunch of teenage girls from her alma mater. To give an idea of how comfortable and casual it was, one of the girls was so forward as to ask if Kumi was wearing a bra.

She also didn't say that women need men. She said throughout the episode that the reason people are seen as attractive, is because they are surrounded by people who love them. For her, she said, it would be her fans. She said if you have a reason to say "thank you" or give someone a reason to say it, the happiness it creates makes you seem more attractive. She says that is why everyone thinks celebrities are so beautiful, because they have such a greater scale of people who support them. She says that women are like diamonds: they are all beautiful, but when someone picks them up and polishes them, their true shine comes out. For example, girls who are in love shine to other girls, because they feel they have a reason to basically get out of bed and polish themselves up.

I wouldn't trust this Brazilian site very much. The things they said previously were inaccurate, as well. For example, Kumi did not confirm that she had eye surgery. In fact, she did the exact opposite: she gave the schoolgirls her make-up tip, which she uses instead of having surgery. She even writes "NO cosmetic surgery" on the chalk board for humorous emphasis.

I can assure you it's a reliable site. The webmaster is part Japanese and it's fluent on the language and neither of them are stupid, half of them are studying in Japan by a very difficult program. They wouldn't post un-reliable news and you're not in the position to judge, anyway. Plus, they were the first to report it about it when nobody in US (well, anywhere, I believe) have any idea of the special and you wouldn't be seeing it if they weren't posting it on YouTube. So yes, they are a pretty reliable source for translations, believe me and I don't trust your translation more than the Uwasa one.

And she did confirm the surgery, it isn't in this part of the special, but if you search the other parts, you'll probably find.

But thanks for the translation. I believe in what Uwasa said and they even gave examples of the slangs she used, like "menzai" (do you know what that mean? o.o). I don't think that you can judge a website if you never read any text of it but I appreciate your help.

(and I know she never said woman needs a man, she said something about what type of man woman needs and I couldn't translate it exactly).

[Psychotic_X]

^ errr what makes you think this translation they did is more accurate than the previous ones they did... some of the stuff they translated in the other previous specials weren't mention or exaggerated...

i don't think evolusean would make this stuff up... Obviously he understands and knows Japanese for him to make a recap like that...

Actually in the previous parts, there are other posters on JPM who confirmed that it wasn't mentioned at all... Even this one she showed the girls how to use makeup to give an illusion that your eyes are bigger....

Originally Posted by andre2907

I can assure you it's a reliable site. The webmaster is part Japanese and it's fluent on the language and neither of them are stupid, half of them are studying in Japan by a very difficult program. They wouldn't post un-reliable news and you're not in the position to judge, anyway. Plus, they were the first to report it about it when nobody in US (well, anywhere, I believe) have any idea of the special and you wouldn't be seeing it if they weren't posting it on YouTube. So yes, they are a pretty reliable source for translations, believe me and I don't trust your translation more than the Uwasa one.

Whoa! Come on the offense, why don't you? Why are you coming off hostile? I completely absolved your name from Uwasa's unreliability, as you were only reporting what they had said.

I didn't provide a translation of the special, so don't talk to me as though I am competing with Uwasa's translation. And why am I in no position to judge? I speak Japanese... I lived in Japan... I watched the special. That's requirement enough, I think.

Translations are a dangerous thing, because they can shift a persons words incredibly, depending on how something is worded in a new language. Most translators SUCK at this. They also have a tendency to exaggerate and drop important information. I want everyone to know that, because I don't want anyone to be the victim of a bad translation. Bad translation = misleading information = hostility and wrong conclusions.

I don't care if a 100% native Japanese person offered translation information. If they don't have a feel for the vibe and rhythm of both languages in question, their translation will suffer.

Originally Posted by andre2907

And she did confirm the surgery, it isn't in this part of the special, but if you search the other parts, you'll probably find.

As far as this TV special is concerned, Kumi flat out DENIED having surgery. At one point in the classroom, she draws eyes on the chalk board, says she was born with a single-eyelid, and repeatedly says that she is: "MUSEIKEI". That means "WITHOUT PLASTIC SURGERY". The Kanji are 無整形. Then she writes the character 無 ("NO") on the board, and puts a big circle around it. It is plain as day, I don't understand how it could be any clearer. It makes me think Uwasa is unreliable to miss this.

If Kumi confirmed plastic surgery somewhere else, that's irrelevant.

Originally Posted by andre2907

But thanks for the translation.

Again, I never provided a translation.

Originally Posted by andre2907

I believe in what Uwasa said and they even gave examples of the slangs she used, like "menzai" (do you know what that mean? o.o). I don't think that you can judge a website if you never read any text of it but I appreciate your help.

(and I know she never said woman needs a man, she said something about what type of man woman needs and I couldn't translate it exactly).

I am judging the summary of Uwasa's site that was provided earlier in this thread. It said things like Matsuura stated that Kumi was "VERY fat" and "VERY ugly", when no words like "VERY" or even "ugly" were in anything Max Matsuura said. It's a simple issue of vocabulary. It's not even a question. (And this, of course, is even kindly disregarding the fact that the name of this site means "rumors" "gossip" and other kinds of US Weekly-esque water-cooler chat.)

As far as her use of Gal-go, well... yeah, derr. She flat out says in the interview that she has considered herself a gal. What I said was that Kumi never said anything uncouth or un-classy (i.e. trashy) other than the "Cherry Girl" comment. Of course you wouldn't use any slang PERIOD if you were in a situation of ultimate class and reserve. But this wasn't the case... she was with a casual celebrity TV host who was just was kooky as she was, and a room full of teenage girls just like she was. Looking at it subjectively, as is the case, Kumi was hardly out of line.

I'm sorry, but unless I am completely crazy, and every ounce of Japanese in my bones has suddenly shattered without my awareness, the claims that have been made about this special are misleading. The purpose of my entire previous post was to make sure that people didn't take it for gospel and start smearing the names of people involved in the special for things they didn't say.

[andre2907]

Originally Posted by evolusean

Whoa! Come on the offense, why don't you? Why are you coming off hostile? I completely absolved your name from Uwasa's unreliability, as you were only reporting what they had said.

I didn't mean to come off hostile. But... anyway, the point is, I'm sick of people saying the site is unreliable, because they almost always point out things that are wrong and she did end up saying this things.

I didn't provide a translation of the special, so don't talk to me as though I am competing with Uwasa's translation. And why am I in no position to judge? I speak Japanese... I lived in Japan... I watched the special. That's requirement enough, I think.

Competing with Uwasa's translation? Mm... k... anyway, not it isn't, unless you can read the site, you can't judge it.

[Translations are a dangerous thing, because they can shift a persons words incredibly, depending on how something is worded in a new language. Most translators SUCK at this. They also have a tendency to exaggerate and drop important information. I want everyone to know that, because I don't want anyone to be the victim of a bad translation. Bad translation = misleading information = hostility and wrong conclusions.

I don't care if a 100% native Japanese person offered translation information. If they don't have a feel for the vibe and rhythm of both languages in question, their translation will suffer.



As far as this TV special is concerned, Kumi flat out DENIED having surgery. At one point in the classroom, she draws eyes on the chalk board, says she was born with a single-eyelid, and repeatedly says that she is: "MUSEIKEI". That means "WITHOUT PLASTIC SURGERY". The Kanji are 無整形. Then she writes the character 無 ("NO") on the board, and puts a big circle around it. It is plain as day, I don't understand how it could be any clearer. It makes me think Uwasa is unreliable to miss this.

If Kumi confirmed plastic surgery somewhere else, that's irrelevant.

Of course it isn't. You're saying she denied it, so if she confirmed it, it is relevant.

I am judging the summary of Uwasa's site that was provided earlier in this thread. It said things like Matsuura stated that Kumi was "VERY fat" and "VERY ugly", when no words like "VERY" or even "ugly" were in anything Max Matsuura said. It's a simple issue of vocabulary. It's not even a question. (And this, of course, is even kindly disregarding the fact that the name of this site means "rumors" "gossip" and other kinds of US Weekly-esque water-cooler chat.)

Why are we still discussing the Max Matsuura line?! There's a better translation, later, so just read it because I corrected it. He didn't say she was very fat and very ugly. But he did say he was fat AND ugly.

And are you judging a site by it's name?

As far as her use of Gal-go, well... yeah, derr. She flat out says in the interview that she has considered herself a gal. What I said was that Kumi never said anything uncouth or un-classy (i.e. trashy) other than the "Cherry Girl" comment. Of course you wouldn't use any slang PERIOD if you were in a situation of ultimate class and reserve. But this wasn't the case... she was with a casual celebrity TV host who was just was kooky as she was, and a room full of teenage girls just like she was. Looking at it subjectively, as is the case, Kumi was hardly out of line.

.
OK, I guess people can have different judgement about that. The ameblo recap also said she said rude things, so maybe you didn't tought she wasn't classy, but lots of people did? It wasn't just a line, it was the vocubalary, etc.

So their translations never were wrong and I don't believe they are now. They're always translating stuff (they translated lots of Interviews, a BoA SP, etc, and I never saw anyone complaining about it being unreliable. I don't know why you can, seeing how you never read the site, but...) and now they're even doing a scene-by-scene translation, with screencaps of every scene and even translating the subtitles on the screen because they're are sick of foreign in boards saying their translations are wrong and they are lying, etc (when they aren't).

[truehappiness]

But evolusean really isn't just a foreigner.

He knows the language. I think that someone who understands the Japanese well as well as English is a LOT more reliable than a Japanese => language => English 'translation'...

[Dustie]

Well, evolusean is one person you shouldn't fight with over translating... No matter how jelous you can be of his skills (I am, you can't even imagine how...), there's no sense in denying [sp?] them. Besides, he provided us valuable info -- I also wondered about the eye surgery thing, when she explained on the blackboard how her makeup is done to make eyes look bigger -- and a lot more of it then in Uwasa's comments.

Not to discredit anyone, we have the footage from Uwasa and explainations from evlousean, can it get any better?... [line-byline translation anyone? ]

[Psychotic_X]

andre2907 - take it easy...

like evolusean said, translation is a bad thing... things get lost in translation and it all goes down to the person's understand of the context and then how they interpret it...

Also you clearly said that Kumi mentioned in the specials that she confirmed she had eyelid surgery... On all translation notes I've read and the parts I've understood, I haven't seen her "confirm" anything! evolusean even proved it with his understanding of the language by providing the word and everything....

Also Max never called her ugly.. this is a direct translation of the line where he calls Kumi fat... I got it translated TWICE by two different people... A Native Japanese person and my Japanese teacher...

"She sings well, but she is fat* that we can't say alot about her looks."

*the actual word is fat, but you would never say it in that manner, so it's interpreted as "chubby".

I don't see why you're getting so defensive about this site and you'd rather trust this website than someone who is actually fluent in the language... Yes so the webmaster is fluent in the language but they didn't translate it directly to english... It got translated to another one and that's where you translated it into English... stuff can get misinterpreted, exaggerated, missed etc...

There's nothing wrong with getting some parts of the translation off... It's called "human error"... so its ok.. Even if you are 100% Japanese and extremely fluent in the language still doesn't mean you can't make mistakes... I make mistakes in things I do, you do too.. Everyone does... My teacher gets corrected by students in class... so its not big deal if there were some parts that were off in the translations....

But I think the fact that you said that they "NEVER" get it wrong is just a load of bull******.. no offense... noone is perfect... there will always be some kind of error in something that you do...

[andre2907]

andre2907 - take it easy...

like evolusean said, translation is a bad thing... things get lost in translation and it all goes down to the person's understand of the context and then how they interpret it...

Also you clearly said that Kumi mentioned in the specials that she confirmed she had eyelid surgery... On all translation notes I've read and the parts I've understood, I haven't seen her "confirm" anything! evolusean even proved it with his understanding of the language by providing the word and everything....

OK, I won’t search for you, but I’m sure it’s there. In the first or second part, her mother advices her to do it (because she never pass the auditions because she isn’t kawaii enough).

The only reason nobody translated this that I can think about, it’s because she don’t speak it in usual Japanese, only in Kansai-ben, so unless you’re a native or very fluent you’ll understand. Anyway, it’s there, believe it or not, and you’re just making yourself look dumb by saying this isn’t true.

Also Max never called her ugly.. this is a direct translation of the line where he calls Kumi fat... I got it translated TWICE by two different people... A Native Japanese person and my Japanese teacher...


"She sings well, but she is fat* that we can't say alot about her looks."

I know she didn’t called her ugly!! I translated the line too, he says he was in the judging committee and she had the best voice by far, but she was fat. I translated what he said from Portuguese, it’s somewhere in the locked topic. I know what he said, so can people stop using the original thing I translated. Uwasa did the translation right, I translated it wrong, but I corrected myself. And anyway, there isn’t the “chubby” word in Portuguese and that was the language I translated .

I don't see why you're getting so defensive about this site and you'd rather trust this website than someone who is actually fluent in the language... Yes so the webmaster is fluent in the language but they didn't translate it directly to english... It got translated to another one and that's where you translated it into English... stuff can get misinterpreted, exaggerated,
missed etc...

OK, it was like this SPECIAL AIRED à UWASA posted a recap à I translated parts of it.

I [b/know[/B] the webmasters, that’s why I trust it. And anyway, how can you say that “why I chose to trust this site”?! That’s just absurd, because you never read the site and don’t know anything about it. Plus, the mods are obviously more fluent than this guy because they understand Kansai-ben and can translate things that he can’t, like her mother advicing her to do the surgery.

(And btw, why would I believe evolusean more than I believe UWASA? I know they are intelligent people, who speak Japanese fluently, lives in Japan, post reliable translations, etc. I don’t know anything about evolusean, just that he knows Japanese and lives in Japan).

But I think the fact that you said that they "NEVER" get it wrong is just a load of bull******.. no offense... noone is perfect... there will always be some kind of error in something that you do...

Obviously they’re not always right, this wasn’t my point. I was just saying that the translation is reliable (and anyway, why would they lie in a recap if they would post the video on YouTube?).

So yes, she confirmed the plastic surgery. Just watch the first 2 parts and you’ll understand if you’re fluent in Japanese. That’s one of the reason Uwasa translation is by far the best: because they are really fluent in Japanese, aren’t fanatic of any artist (therefore, they don’t have afraid of not being nice or translating things and texts fans wouldn’t like. That’s not the case of this special, anyway) and they understand things that apparently no one e1se does (but it’s there, I assure you).

And yes, he didn’t call her “ugly” (it was implicit) and I translated exactly what she said on the locked topic. Yes, the translation isn’t perfect because it’s not a direct translation and I didn’t post it to cause any drama, just to be helpful because when Uwasa reported about the special, nobody never heard about it and it was so unknown that I was accused of lying about the special. But yes, it’s a reliable site so please, don’t say this type of thing or affirm they are lying (I know people will, anyway. But probably one day they’ll find out it was true, like the people who called me a liar about the special because they never heard of it and was IMPOSSIBLE that any English site didn’t report it about it… ha ha)

[Psychotic_X]

^ mg... I'm not gonna get into an arguement about this..
Just because you read the site doesn't mean its correct... Just because they know the language doesn't mean they're correct...

Like I said earlier.. lots of stuff is lost in translations.. I would rather
Japanese -> English,
like some posters here have done or recapped partially.. than
Japanese -> Portuguese -> English

Before you start calling people dumb and that they have no right to make a judgement on the translation (eg evolusean), do you understand Japanese??evolusean does!

I don't see why you're getting so defensive about it anyways... It's just a little video about Koda Kumi... Big deal if we don't believe you or if we do...

Jeez, this is going way out of hand... I might just download the clips from youtube and burn them on CD for my friend and ask them to translate it....

Also, there is no implication with her being ugly... being fat doesn't make you ugly... Also you said you never said she was ugly... When i first came across that original translation... I remember "Max Matsuura saying Kumi was VERY fat and VERY ugly"...

but anyways... let's just leave this thread well alone... you can continue to believe that you are correct and those who do have an understand of Japanese can provide those who have no Japanese skills with their translations ok?!


EDIT
I found that part where supposedly Kumi confirmed plastic surgery.... Tinkerbell at JPM was kind enough to translate for me.
Tinkerbell is currently in the 4th year of Japanese at University... I mean i think he/she would have a clue what's being said...
PLUS this section was away from the "dramatised" re-enactments... This is between Kumi herself and one of the other guests on the panel that day....

Originally Posted by tinkerbell @ JPM

At the very very end of the second part the interviewer talks briefly about how little Kumi's face is and how big her eyes are, is this the part where she supposedly admits to plastic surgery? Because if it is, it is complete and total BS. Here's what they're saying--

Interviewer: You're so little in person!
Kumi: Haha, really?
I: Yea.
K: How so?
I: You have a little face.
K: No I don't.
I: Small face, big eyes.
K: My eyes have been made to look big.
I: No, no.
K: It's because of what my make up artists did!*
I: Modesty, modesty.
K: That's why they're big. They have to look big...

*What she literally says here is just "pro / プロ" -- but I think it's safe to assume she's refering to her make-up artists, not a plastic surgeon.

I think it's quite safe to say that this confirms that Kumi DID NOT have plastic surgery on her eyes...
I asked tinkerbell myself via PM what his/her Japanese levels are at... 4th year for Japanese in Uni... Also he/she tries to make the most correct translation possible...

Jeez I'll even post the PM

Originally Posted by PM from tinkerbell to myself at JPM

I'll be starting fourth year Japanese at the U of MN next month, and I have a 4.0 in my foreign language classes.

But I'm definately not a perfect translator or anything! I try to do my best to make sure things aren't getting skewed too far from their original meanings. I'm probably a little biased towards Koda, but I really do try to make sure that if I'm saying that "this is the translation" that that's what they really said, you know?

If this doesn't bring this case to a close then jeez I dunno what will

[ayu_fan929]

I'm just curious. Is Uwasa fluent in English and/or are you (andre2907) fluent in Portuguese?

[xiaou-xijiang]

Originally Posted by Psychotic_X

If this doesn't bring this case to a close then jeez I dunno what will

the mods maybe?

its getting a bit hot under the collar in this thread.
kayokyokufan: I'll try to re-uplaod for you soon.