Did someone ask for more scans? No? Too bad, have more scans.
Emmy's letter to Professor Layton, post-Curious Village. The fabled letter, which can only be accessed properly if you rip open your copy of the Japan-exclusive Azran Legacy Guidebook (more or less).
Years ago, there were photos and a fan-translation floating around on tumblr. Now, I give you the new and high quality version, as well as a full transcript. You're welcome :>
It's been literally eight years since your post, but since your tags say that you wanted to be warned if a better scan were to be made, well... Here you go @puzzilitis x) I'm also tagging @the-azran-legacies, but I'm pretty sure your blog is completely dead since this translation post seems to be its latest sign of activity, and that was ten years ago.
Seriously though, just in case you get to see this -- thank you both so much for what you did all these years ago. Without your posts, I might never even have heard that this letter existed in the first place! Or, well, I likely would have heard of it by now given the fact that I've been documenting every single Layton media I can find -- but I would have lived through an entire decade of ignorance by that point.
The translation below has been done exclusively with DeepL because my free time is limited, sorry for that ^^' If you want another one in order to compare, you have the one linked above, and I will likely make another one later (much later).
みんなのエピソード21|レミからの手紙
Everybody's Episode 21: A Letter from Emmy
親愛なるレイトン教授へ
Dear Professor Layton,
あれから数か月になりますが、教授、お元気ですか?
It's been a few months since then. Professor, how are you?
一緒に仕事をしている仲間からレイトン教授が遺産相続騒動を解決したという話を耳にして思わず手紙を書いてしまいました。
When I heard from a colleague I work with that you had solved an inheritance dispute, I couldn't resist writing to you.
タージェントから世界を救ったあのレイトン教授が単なる遺産相続のナゾトキの依頼を引き受けるなんて。まさか…と思いましたが、ナゾには目がない教授ですし、きっと知的好奇心を刺激される不思議な出来事だったんでしょうね。
How could the very same Professor Layton who had saved the world from Targent, now accept a mere inheritance puzzle request? I could not believe it… But you always had a penchant for puzzles, so I am certain that it had to be a mysterious event which truly stimulated your intellectual curiosity.
ルークはしっかりと役目を果たせたでしょうか?
Has Luke fulfilled his role well?
実は…私はいま、ワールドタイムズでカメラマンをしています。教授の活躍を教えてくれた仕事仲間って、ボストニアス号で世界を旅したときに出会ったドリスさんなんですよ。
By the way... I am now a photographer for the World Times. The colleague who told me about your activities is Doris. We met her when we were travelling around the world on the Bostonius.
教授のもとを去ってから私がワールドタイムズで働き始めたきっかけは、教授との旅がとても楽しかったから。
I started working for the World Times after I quit my job as your assistant, since I enjoyed the journey with you so much.
世界各地でのいろんな人との出会い、見る者を虜にする美しい景色…。それを世界中の人々に伝えたい、いっしかそんな気持ちになって、自然とワールドタイムズ編集部に足を運んでいました。
Meeting all kinds of people in different parts of the world, finding beautiful and captivating landscapes… I wanted to tell people all over the world about these experiences, and this is how I naturally came to visit the World Times editorial office.
今の仕事は、本当に楽しいです!
I really enjoy my current job!
ムスロッホでリボの滝と鍾乳洞の取材をしていたら、長老のシメジイさんから気になるうわさ話を聞いたんです。
While I was reporting for the Ribo Waterfalls and the limestone caves of Musloch, I heard interesting rumours from the elder, Mr Simejii.
そんな話を聞いたら、調査をするしかありませんよね!
After hearing such a story, I simply could not resist investigating!
村人たちの情報を頼りに鍾乳洞の奥を突き進んでいったら…幻の「神秘の密林」を発見しました!
After going deeper into the limestone caves, by relying on the information the villagers gave me… The fabled "Mystical Jungle" has been discovered!
ワールドタイムズの大スクープとして一面に大きく取り上げられたので教授もご存知かもしれませんが、これは私の初スクープなんですよ。
You may have already known of it since it was featured as huge news on the front page of the World Times, but this was my first scoop.
記事には書きませんでしたが、密林の奥には古代遺跡が隠されていました。
We did not mention it in the article, but there were ancient ruins hidden deep in the jungle.
ここにもたくさんのナゾが隠されているはずなので、いつか教授にナゾを解いてもらいたいなぁ。
There must be a lot of puzzles hidden there. I hope you will solve them one day.
もしかして、アスラント文明とは別の考古学史上に残る大発見がある…かも?
Maybe there is another major discovery in the history of archaeology that is unrelated to the Azran civilisation… maybe?
そんなスクープを追いかけて世界中を飛び回る毎日ですが、いま追いかけているのは、スラム街に現れた「ナゾのマスク男」です。この話、知的好奇心をくすぐられませんか?
I spend my days travelling around the world, chasing this kind of scoop. What I am chasing now is a "Puzzling Masked Man" who has appeared in the slum quarters. Doesn't this story tickle your intellectual curiosity?
お金持ちから金品を盗み、スラム街の子供たちにお金を与える現代の義賊「マスク男」。
The Masked Man is a modern-day righteous bandit who steals money and goods from the rich and gives it to the children in the slums.
最初は、この「マスク男の正体」をスクープするためカメラ片手に追いかけていましたが、スラム街の子供たちを見ているうちに、1人の記者としてそこに暮らす人々の現状もじっくりと取材したい、と思うようになりました。
At first, I followed this "Masked Man," camera in hand, in order to get a scoop on his identity. But as I watched the children in the slums, I began to think that, as a reporter, I should rather take the time to cover the current situation of the people living there.
スラム街にはたくさんの孤児がいます。私たちを無垢な笑顔で迎えてくれる子、まったく目を合わせてくれない子など、いろんな表情を見せてくれます。
There are many orphans in the slums. We see many different faces, from those who greet us with innocent smiles to those who don't make eye contact at all.
そんな彼ら��姿を見ているうちに、昔のことを、ふと思い出してしまいました。
As I watched them, I suddenly remembered something from the past.
私も子供のころ父を失い、孤児になってしまうところでした。しかし、それを救ってくれたのは、おじさまだったんです。
I lost my father as a child and almost became an orphan. But Uncle Leon saved me from that.
あの頃、父を失った私をおじさまはまるで娘のように育ててくれました。
Back then, I had lost my father, and Uncle Leon brought me up as if I were his daughter.
だから、あの場所でおじさまを裏切るわけにはいかなかった。優しかったおじさまを裏切れなかった…。教授に嘘をついていたことは、申し訳ないと思っています。
So this is why I couldn't betray him in that place. I couldn't betray my kind Uncle Leon... I truly am sorry that I lied to you, Professor.
でも、こういうことがあったからこそ、教授に出会えた。人の運命って不思議ですね。
Still, it was because of these things that I met you. The destiny of people is a curious thing, isnt' it?
あ…、今の私を伝えたいと思ってこの手紙を書いたのに、過去の話になっちゃいましたね。私の話は、また教授に会ったときにお話ししますね。
Ah... I wrote this letter in order to tell you how I am now, but all this is about the past. I will tell you my story when we meet again.
というわけで…今は楽しく仕事をしています!
So, all that to say... I really am enjoying my work now!
そうそう、長かった髪を思い切ってばっさり切りました!
Yes, I also cut off my long hair in a very drastic way!
これまでタージェントの一員として生きてきましたが、いま、ワールドタイムズでカメラマンとして働く普通の女性として歩み出すことができた、そんな気がしています。
I have lived my entire life as a member of Targent. But now, I feel that I have been able to step forward as an ordinary woman, who is now working as a photographer for the World Times.
きっといつか、あなたにまた会える、その日まで。
I am sure that one day, we will meet again. Until that day.
PS.取材中の写真をドリスさんに撮ってもらいました!あっ、後ろにマスク男が…!
P.S. Doris took photos during the interview! Ah, the Masked Man is in the background...!
Emmy Altava
Important translation note: Emmy calls Bronev "oji-sama," all in hiragana, which makes it unclear whether she is related to him by blood or not (おじ means "uncle," but can also just mean "man who is older than the speaker" (at least from what I know)).
The Eternal Diva novel introduces Emmy as "a beautiful woman of Asian lineage" (and yes, I know, Asia is huge with a lot of different lineages, and I don't know either which corner of Asia is being talked about here), so make of that info what you like. In order to leave it as ambiguous as I could, I replaced all instances of "oji-sama" with "Uncle Leon."
There might be a few other translation changes I made, but I think this was the most important one to take note of.
By the way, I actually scanned the whole guidebook, and I will share it when I can (though don't hold your breath, as you probably know I am currently juggling between way too many projects). The scans aren't ready to be shared yet because they were basically done with me not really caring whether the pages would be perfectly straight, upside down, etc, and as such they need some editing.
(I checked and the resolution of the scans is high enough to make it so that editing doesn't hurt the quality in the slightest. I swear that when the scans are finished editing, you won't even realise it and they'll look just as good as what you're seeing above with Emmy's letter).
The editing also includes linking the pages together for aesthetics purposes. Some pages have artworks that spread over both pages, so I'm doing my best to make it look seamless! Here, have an example for the first double page in the book that really does it:
As you can guess, editing each of the 128 pages in order to get this result is time-consuming, and translating that is going to be a doozy. But let's just appreciate how awesome it will be once it's done, eh? :D
Anyway, next up on the blog is going to be the Eternal Diva novel translation. I'm still working on getting some buffer done, but hopefully the first "chapter" will get out soon! I'd like to post on Saturdays. Let's cross our fingers for tomorrow. Or next week, if today's translation is enough to satiate you all for now!
“Death of a king in his waning 6 months - The Celtic Tree Calendar (Ref), the end of the beginning, the beginning of the end ...”
Colour: dark green; Star: Saturn; Gemstone: olivine; Gender: female; Metal: lead, Element: earth; Patron: Banba, Hecate; Symbols: resurrection, death + rebirth, eternity, path to meet ancestors + land of the soul
Today is the winter solstice, also called the hibernal solstice, the day in the northern hemisphere when the sun is at its lowest altitude in the south and day is shortest and night longest during the year (reversed in the southern hemisphere).
Yew is an evergreen tree with dark green leaves and red berries. The yew is a robust tree with a thick girth and an extremely long life. It is probably the longest lived of all trees.
As soon as the downward reaching branches reach the ground, the tree begins to grow strongly, as if it has been reborn as a new tree. The eldest living yew tree is in Europe is said to be the Fortingall Yew, in Perthshire, Scotland, and it has been estimated between 3000 to 9000 years old.
In addition, the yew's hollowed-out heartwood, especially when wet, looks like a flayed animal, and when cut it appears to bleed, so the yew is increasingly said to be a sacred tree. Yew sticks were believed to be able to divine the future, and yew sticks were used as 'writing pillars' to engrave the Ogham script, as they could be preserved almost forever.
As the druids believed the natural law of reincarnation, where the soul becomes reborn as another person, the yew was seen as a protector of the soul during the journey to the Otherworld. Some believe that the road to the Otherworld is shaded by rows of yew trees. Furthermore, the yew is said to stop any obstacles caused by evil spirits from the other world.
As a sacred 'tree of immortality', believed to protect and purify the dead, yews are often planted in cemeteries, many of which are as old as the church or much older.
Sean bienvenidos, japonistasarqueologicos, al tercer capítulo del Japón prehistórico y seguir recorriendo sus lugares mitológicos y mágicos, una vez dicho esto póngase comandos que empezamos.
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Para continuar nuestro viaje, más vale tarde que nunca, pero despacio y con buena letra. Nos trasladamos al yacimiento arqueológico de Sannai Maruyama en la prefectura de Aomori, localizada en la región de Tōhoku.
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La estructura, de madera, data del periodo jomon, es una estructura que funcionó como un gran calendario, ya que algo común que tienen todas las culturas en el mundo es adorar a las estrellas en lo que respecta a la prehistoria. El yacimiento data del 3900 a.c localizado a lo largo del río Okidate en la punta de una suave colina que se extiende desde las montañas Hakkoda.
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En la década de 1992, tuvieron lugar las excavaciones que han desenterrado los restos de viviendas en pozos, tumbas de adultos, niños y los pozos de almacenamiento, entre otros rastros de la vida cotidiana. Además de una hay una gran cantidad de herramientas de loza de piedra. Se han excavado una gran variedad de huesos de pescado y de animales que indican hábitos alimenticios de aquella gente, también fueron encontrados frutos secos: como castañas y nueces. Además, se han desenterrado muchas reliquias orgánicas, como productos de madera, herramientas de hueso, canastas tejidas, así como artículos comerciales como jade, obsidiana de áreas remotas y asfalto. Hay una teoría: en Iwate se crean estructuras similares para realizar la danza de los ciervos ¿Qué opinan al respecto?
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Espero que os haya gustado y nos vemos en próximas publicaciones mis amantes del mundo japonés, que pasen una buena semana.
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考古学者の日本主義者の皆さん、先史時代の日本の第 3 章へようこそ、神話と魔法の場所を旅し続けてください。 - 旅を続けるには、遅刻しないよりはマシですが、ゆっくりと上手な字で。 東北地方にある青森県の三内丸山遺跡へ移動します。 - この木造建造物は縄文時代にまで遡り、先史時代から世界のどの文化にも共通して星を崇拝しており、偉大な暦として機能していた建造物です。 この遺跡は、八甲田山系から続くなだらかな丘陵の先端、沖館川沿いに位置し、紀元前 3900 年に遡ります。 - 1992 年代に発掘調査が行われ、井戸内の住居跡、大人、子供の墓、貯蔵穴、その他の日常生活の痕跡が発掘されました。 1 つ以外にも多数の石器の道具があります。 当時の人々の食生活を示す魚や動物の骨が多数出土しており、栗やクルミなどの木の実も出土しています。 さらに、木製品、骨道具、編んだかごなどの有機遺物や、翡翠、辺境の黒曜石、アスファルトなどの交易品も発掘されています。 岩手でも鹿踊りをするために同じような建物が作られているという説がありますが、どう思いますか? _ 日本の世界を愛する皆さん、良い一週間をお過ごしください。
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Welcome, archaeological Japanists, to the third chapter of prehistoric Japan and continue touring its mythological and magical places. Having said that, put yourself in command and let's begin.
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To continue our journey, better late than never, but slowly and with good handwriting. We move to the Sannai Maruyama archaeological site in Aomori prefecture, located in the Tōhoku region.
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The wooden structure dates back to the Jomon period, it is a structure that functioned as a great calendar, since something common that all cultures in the world have is worshiping the stars in regards to prehistory. The site dates back to 3900 BC located along the Okidate River at the tip of a gentle hill that extends from the Hakkoda Mountains.
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In the 1992s, excavations took place that unearthed the remains of dwellings in wells, graves of adults, children and storage pits, among other traces of daily life. In addition to one there are a large number of stoneware tools. A wide variety of fish and animal bones have been excavated that indicate the eating habits of those people. Nuts such as chestnuts and walnuts were also found. In addition, many organic relics have been unearthed, such as wooden products, bone tools, woven baskets, as well as trade items such as jade, obsidian from remote areas, and asphalt. There is a theory: in Iwate similar structures are created to perform the deer dance. What do you think about it?
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I hope you liked it and see you in future posts my lovers of the Japanese world, have a good week.
"Do or do not. There is no try." 「やるかやらないかだ。挑戦などない。」
"Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." 「恐れは暗黒面への道。恐れは怒りを生み、怒りは憎しみを生み、憎しみは苦しみを生む。」
"Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you?" 「大きさなど問題ではない。私を見るがいい。私の大きさで判断するか?」
"When nine hundred years old you reach, look as good you will not." 「900年の歳月を経たら、お前もこんなには見えないだろう。」
"The greatest teacher, failure is." 「最も偉大な師は、失敗である。」
"Always pass on what you have learned." 「学んだことは常に伝えるべきだ。」
"Patience you must have, my young Padawan." 「忍耐が必要だ、若きパダワンよ。」
"In a dark place we find ourselves, and a little more knowledge lights our way." 「私たちは暗い場所にいるが、少しの知識が道を照らす。」
"Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is." 「本当に素晴らしい、子供の心は。」
"A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack." 「ジェダイは知識と防御のためにフォースを使う。決して攻撃のためではない。」
"Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future." 「見えにくいものだ。未来は常に動いている。」
"Named must your fear be before banish it you can." 「恐れを追い払う前に、その恐れを名付けなければならない。」
"Much to learn, you still have." 「まだ学ぶべきことが多い。」
"The dark side clouds everything. Impossible to see, the future is." 「暗黒面がすべてを覆う。未来は見えない。」
"Adventure. Excitement. A Jedi craves not these things." 「冒険や興奮。ジェダイはこれらを渇望しない。」
"To be Jedi is to face the truth, and choose. Give off light, or darkness, Padawan. Be a candle, or the night." 「ジェダイであることは真実に直面し、選択することだ。光を放つか、暗闇を選ぶか、パダワンよ。ろうそくであれ、夜であれ。」
"On many long journeys have I gone. And waited, too, for others to return from journeys of their own. Some return; some are broken; some come back so different only their names remain." 「多くの長い旅をしてきた。また、他の者が自分の旅から帰るのを待ってもいた。帰ってくる者もいれば、壊れてしまう者もいる。名前だけが残り、まったく違う者として帰ってくる者もいる。」
"Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them do not. Miss them do not." 「死は生の自然な一部だ。フォースに変わる周りの人々のために喜べ。悲しむな。惜しむな。」
"Powerful you have become, the dark side I sense in you." 「力強くなったな、君の中に暗黒面を感じる。」
"Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose." 「失うことを恐れるすべてから手を離す訓練をしなさい。」