L. Navid Osbert (東京)
27 June, 2009
Almost week two. What have I done?
I did as I said I would and cracked the first box open. The first document is a folder of type-written pages with handwritten notes scribbled on them that appears to be the work of my predecessor. It doesn’t seem that he or she made any preparations to pass the work off – there’s nothing by way of explanation to the unfamiliar in it anywhere. But it looks like an English-translated version of some primary document, The Epic of Eiji Daitokai.
Primary document, though? Who are these people? Where is this? Other than the Japanese personal names, I don’t recognize a single proper noun in here at all. What is Kolsiv? What is Meihon? Hansilla? Who is the Shin Emperor? I’ve spent a few hours pouring through a chronology of the Japanese Imperial line and I couldn’t find any substantial hints.
Moreover, the text explicitly mentions guns, which should narrow down the possible time period substantially – especially in Japanese history. On the other hand, it mentions an Old Meihonese language, which is a little troublesome. I can’t find any reference to a language or even a dialect with this name having ever existed in Japan. It might make my search a little more productive if I knew how “Meihon,” was written in kanji, but so far in the text I’m looking at it’s all Romanized. It might turn up sooner or later in this box.
On the other hand, 木村 and 大都会, Eiji’s last names, do mean more or less what the text says they mean, in very straightforward modern Japanese.
What do I make of this?
Didn’t get very far this week, but it’s not Monday yet. I’m pretty exhausted for now.
