" AULD LANG SYNE”

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21336, 6 February 1941, Page 3

" AULD LANG SYNE”

JAPANESE VERSION In case anyone would like to sing “Aulcl Lang Syne” in Japanese, the following may be taken as an officially approved version of the words: "Hul." - ii no Jiikari yukG. It'.'ushitk.i iiisliimo >ngiuo town AkrtP/.o Jiosawa wakim; vuku. It takes a bit of practice but once one gets the hang of the syllabic divisions, as they key in with the music, the thing can be done —as a group of foreign correspondents discovered on the occasion of a farewell party for the Japanese diplomatic spokesman, Ken Tsurumi, before the latter departed for his new job of Consul General at Singapore. The party was given by the correspondents, but their Japanese guests produced slips of paper on which the song was written by way of a little surprise and the familiar ditty—with unfamiliar words rang out with gusto at the conclusion of a farewell speech by Mr Tsurumi. It was explained that the Romanisation was for the convenience of the foreign hosts, not in the new style which has recently been adopted in Japan to the considerable bewilderment of foreigners who find the name of Mount Fuji now spelled “Huzi” and so on. Even though this scheme has been adopted by the Japanese Government, the Japanese guests confided, few Japanese like it and they decline to inflict it on friends at an informal occasion.