おなかがすきました！

あしたはきんろうかんしゃの日。わたしはりょうしんとおとうとにひとりあります。ははのたべものをたべましょう！　いってまいります。

カタカナ Final Literary Works

I have intentionally allowed my syllabic structure to break from the traditional senryu structure in my first two senryus.  In ”ゴミ”, the middle line is longer than traditional because the emphasis on negating the presence of ”ゴミ” outweighs the desire to follow traditional hiragana/katakana rules, so this statement in my poem also break the traditional structure in order to emphatically negate.

Because the last poem focuses on being tired and wanting to rest, the intellectual integrity of the speaker is compromised.  This lends itself to a sloppy structure to mirror the mental state of the narrator.

”ゴミ”

にほんには

ゴミがありません。

いこくです。


"Trash"
In Japan,
There isn't any trash.
It's foreign.

”きんろうかんしゃのひ”

いそがしいです

でもいまココ

やすみます。


"Thanksgiving"
I'm busy.
But now, here,
I rest.

”すごいですね”

ユニクロは

よくたかいです

がすきです。

"Wow"

Uniqlo is

very expensive

but I like it.

と川柳（せんりゅう）(Katakana Literary Works)

”ゴミ”

にほんは

ゴミじゃありません。

からのです。

”きんろうかんしゃのひ”

いそがしい

でした。いま、ココ

やすみます。

”すごいですね”

ユニクロは

よくたかいです

がすきです。

さくぶん に

やまださんへ、

こんにちは。ロウェルケイトリンです。コロンビアだいがくのがくせいです。コロンビアだいがくはきれいなだいがくです。コロンビアだいがくんおクラスはむずかしいですが、おもしろいです。ニューヨークはあまりしずかじゃありません。いま、コロンビアだいがくはさむいです。まいばん、へんきょうします。わたしのへやはあまりきれいじゃありません。しち月ここのかににほんへいきます。

よろしくおねがいします。

ロウェルケイトリン

Katakana Analysis Draft

ユニクロ was the first word I thought of that was clearly in カタカナ that couldn't be categorized as a loanword.  It's the name of the Japanese clothing store Uniqlo, which is essentially the Japanese equivalent of the Gap (sidenote: bought $10 jeans there on Saturday!)  The name is written in カタカナ because it's a store, and store names are usually written in カタカナ.  Additionally, カタカナworks well with ユニクロ's logo, because it is based off of squares, and the katakana in ユニクロ has a highly geometric effect.

A confusing katakana word that I found is ゴミ, or the Japanese word for "trash".  It's not a foreign word, so it's peculiar that it's pretty much always written in カタカナ.  My best guess is that it is since ゴミ falls under the category of words that are used for emphasis.  I ended up doing research online, and there was an explanation that referred to a sense of Japanese pride--essentially, Japanese people would prefer to act as though trash is not of Japanese origin, and therefore they use カタカナ to separate it from their native culture.  Additionally, if you search online there is a scathing てがみ that someone wrote to a にほんごのしんぶん that stated that "gomi" is supposed to be written in hiragana, and newspapers only write it in katakana for the shock value.  It's certainly an interesting insight into Japanese culture!