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Saw this photo of Saudi prince Mohd. b. Salman being received by the Heisei emperor, in his Tokyo office, from a couple of years ago, and I'm just thinking about that Arabic↔︎Japanese translator! How much practice does he get, how does he stay in shape, what his practice regimen is, etc. (Others have noted the sparse Japanese aesthetic, which Alex Kerr discusses at length in his *Kyoto* book.) https://octodon.social/media/QIGgwG0HwNEud3fDn_A
Though if I was more culturally aware I’d have first wondered if the Saudi visitor spoke English or French or something, and if the translator was working with that language. I remember the time Umberto Eco was on a panel with Frenchman Pierre Bayard, who responded to questions in English but also had a translator to ensure he understood the English discussion, and at one point Eco got so animated he translated the moderator’s question into French himself 😚 (he’s Italian). RIP Umberto 😢.