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Old 2009-05-18, 21:41   Link #4083
mike_s_6
Senior Member
 
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
I just noticed another thing about that image, but it's a bit difficult to explain, and I'm not sure if I understand it completely either.



In Japanese texts, sometimes the kanji has katakana/hiragana beside it called "furigana", and this is usually used tell kids how to read the kanji. But, in the image, the word "鼓動/kodou/beat" in the phrase "Beat of life", has the furigana "うた/uta/song". For those people who can't read the Japanese text, 鼓動 does NOT translate to "uta".

I've encountered many instances where kanji are written with furigana that isn't the real translation, and from my experience, they're used to "clarify" what the kanji means. So in this situation, they said "Beat of life, beat as in song beats".

So why am I pointing that out? Because "鼓動/kudou" does not just translate to beat. It translates to anything that pulsates, and is sometimes used in a sexual context. Putting it in the phrase "beat of life" is even more suggestive. They just, ahem, clarified that they're referring to song beats.
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