I came across a folder with copies of the special introduction issue of Zasshi, a magazine that never got off the ground. Around 1984, I was in charge of Creative Typographics, a European-language photo-typesetting company. Our office was a small apartment in Shibuya, right next to Aoyama University. At that time, Ryuko Tsushin, publishing arm of Hanae Mori International wanted to create an “international magazine from Japan.” It was, after all, the 80s, and there seemed to be no end to the bubble in Japan. Money was not even a point of discussion.

I remember that Mary Lord (now U.S. News and World) was running the editorial side of things. Mona Meyer, an acclaimed graphic designer who had put her stamp on the Japan Air Lines in-flight magazine Wings, was art director. And Johan Vis, a Dutch-born printing expert, headed the production team. I had met Johan several times before through mutual friends, and on the strength of this connection we were asked to do the typesetting and art work for the dummy version of the magazine.

The name for the magazine was to be “Zasshi” (雑誌 meaning “magazine”), but in Japanese it was to be written ザ誌 as if the “Za” were the English article “the.” The team worked out of an annex to the Hanae Mori Building on Omote-sando, within easy walking distance from our office. Halfway between the two, in a basement just next to the Kinokuniya supermarket on Aoyama-dori, was a French restaurant, Chez Pierre, and Johan and I started to go there for lunch on an almost regular basis.

During the next few months I learned a lot about print production and type – and also about Johan’s amazing life story. We became good friends with Pierre and his wife, whom Johan insisted on calling Pierette. Sadly she suddenly died not too long afterwards.

Pierre moved his restaurant to larger premises right next to the west exit of Nogizaka subway station, and he is still going strong and doing well by all accounts. The magazine, unfortunately, did not do so well. Whether for reasons of money or politics, Ken Mori, the chairman of Hanae Mori International lost interest. The project was passed on to another publisher in Gotanda, and for a few months the crew lingered there … and that was the end. Mary is back in Washington, DC, and I see her byline now and then. Mona seems to have disappeared completely. And Johan just sent me his last book, self-published. He is now 87 and writing down what he can still remember.

The 44th Annual Conference of the American Translators Association will be held in Phoenix, Arizona, from November 5 to 9, 2003. Early-bird registration fees ($245 for members, $335 for non-members) are available until October 1, 2003. Check out the program and register before Wednesday. For on-line registration or to download a registration form, go to http://www.atanet.org/conf2003/registration.htm.

Wie Zwiebelfisch im Spiegel feststellte, hat sich seit einiger Zeit im deutschen Sprachraum eine Phrase breit gemacht, die auf die alte Frage nach dem Sinn eine neue Antwort zu geben scheint. Mit ihr feiert die Minderheitensprache Denglisch ungeahnte Triumphe, grammatischer Unsinn „macht“ plötzlich Sinn.

Vielen kommt die Phrase wie gerufen, weil sie modern und hemdsärmelig-zupackend zugleich klingt: „Das macht Sinn“ ist prima geeignet, um über ein mangelndes Profil oder fehlende Sachkompetenz hinwegzutäuschen und von politischen Missständen abzulenken. Da wird von „machen“ gesprochen und gleichzeitig Sinn gestiftet! Das ist der Stoff, aus dem große politische Reden geschrieben werden: „Ich sag mal, das macht Sinn, das ist so in Ordnung…“

„Sinn“ und „machen“ passen einfach nicht zusammen. Das Verb „machen“ hat die Bedeutung von fertigen, herstellen, tun, bewirken; es geht zurück auf die indogermanische Wurzel mag-, die für „kneten“ steht. Das erste, was „gemacht“ wurde, war demnach Teig. Etwas Abstraktes wie Sinn lässt sich jedoch nicht kneten oder formen. Er ist entweder da oder nicht. Man kann den Sinn suchen, finden, erkennen, verstehen, aber er lässt sich nicht im Hauruck-Verfahren erschaffen.

On a personal note: It is not often that I remember my dreams. When I do, they almost always take place in Tokyo, although the stories are mostly unrelated to Japan. Anyone who lived in Edo has spent huge chunks of time on trains and in train stations. My office was at the bottom of Gonosuke-saka right next to the Meguro river (such as it was), and I used Meguro station, both for the Yamanote-sen as well as for the Mekama-sen, sometimes several times a day. Inevitably, Meguro-eki will come up as a dream location, and when I wake up, I can still hear the announcements… all aboard!

Today, the European Day of Languages will be held for the third time in Europe to celebrate linguistic diversity and promote language learning. On a related web site, the BBC presents a snapshot of 35 main European languages as well as the European Union’s official definitions of language, majority language, minority language and community language.

I heard this morning that Robert Palmer died of a heart attack. He was 54.

This is a really bad year for celebrities it seems. And it seems to hit a lot of people (famous or not) in my age group. Makes you think….

The world’s first environment-friendly optical discs made from corn will hit the market from December this year, a Japanese manufacturer has announced.

Officials of Sanyo Mavic Media Co., a subsidiary of electronics giant Sanyo Electric Co., said they have found a way to manufacture 10 high quality compact discs from a single corncob.

This news should give new hope to thousands of corn growers in the mid-West.

“Two men whose names you see a lot on air-conditioner dials: Norm and Max.”

… in the words of the immortal George Harrison. According to the Associated Press, Sharman Networks, the company behind the infamous KaZaA file-sharing software, is suing entertainment companies for copyright infringement. How is that possible, you ask. Well, Sharman alleges the companies used unauthorized versions of its software to snoop on users in their effort to battle piracy.

One way to stomp out piracy would be to offer songs in top recording quality for downloading at a low price.

The American Library Association (ALA) is celebrating “Banned Books Week” from September 20 to 27, 2003. If you would like to find out what the 100 most frequently challenged books of the decade 1990–2000 were, visit this address. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou is high up on the list. Challenges to “sexually explicit” material topped the reasons with 1,607 cases.