Sakigake!! Otoko Juku 17

Otokojuku students have faced problems and challenges from all over from the moment they attend from their fellow students to their stubborn staff! But in the matter of a phone call, their most obvious of enemies may finally be showing up...

Chp. 17: The America Challenge
(TN: “America” in this title is actually read correctly using the kanji for the reading)

176.
Edajima: I am the principal of Otokojuku, Edajima Heihachi.
(TN: I missed that in the last arc)
Edajima: Oh, it’s you. It’s been a while. Fufufu, it’s been extremely busy.
Onihige: Ossu, pardon me. We’ll start on this morning’s head-polishing work!
(TN: Sort of couldn’t quite figure out what he’s saying here)
Edajima: So what business do you have…………
Hikouboshi: Cover it with Bravas Hair Liquid and MG5 Skin Cream!!
(TN: “Bravas” is a Japanese-brand of hair tonic, while MG5 is a brand of Japanese hair liquid)
Onihige: Rodger, covering with Bravas Hair Liquid and MG5 Skin Cream!!
Hikouboshi: Cover with Eroica Aftershave Lotion at the same time.
Onihige: Rodger, covering with Eroica Aftershave Lotion!!
(TN: “Eroica” is a brand of aftershave produced by Japanese company Kanebo)
Edajima: Fufufu, understood. What can I do? It’s your favor, I can’t say no.

177.
Hikouboshi: Rub him down with a dry towel and finish it by covering it with Furourin Hair Tonic!!
(TN: “Furourin Hair Tonic”, or “Youmouzai Furourin”, is a notable hair growth tonic in Japan)
Onihige: Rodger, rubbing him down with a dry towel and finishing by covering with Furourin Hair Tonic!!
Edajima: So will it be popular at this time!? Fuahhaha, popularity is life to politicians and manga artists. Well, have some diligence.
(TN: A bit of reminder: most manga magazines, particularly “Weekly Shonen Jump”, is driven by the popularity of series to determine if the series within stay around for more of its story to be told. Thus you can say a manga artist is like a politician in using popularity to their advantage)
Onihige, Hikouboshi & “Helmet”: Ossu, that is all: your morning head-polishing work is complete!!
Edajima: Thank you very much.
Onihige: Principal, who was that on the phone just now? Whoever it was, it sounded like a politician.
Edajima: Aah, it was Naka-chan.
Hikouboshi: Na…Naka-chan………!?
Edajima: What, you don’t know? That is the Prime Minister of your country……………
(TN: “Naka-chan” is in reference to Yasuhiro Nakasone, the prime minister of Japan at the time of this chapter [1985], ruling Japan between 1982-1987)
Hikouboshi & Onihige: The…Prime Minister……………

178.
Edajima: He was a classmate back when I went to the Imperial University……the guy who would loiter around in front of the girl’s bathroom during break time is now our country’s Prime Minister. Fufufu, humans are creatures that can’t be understood.
(TN: The “Imperial University” that Edajima refers to is the original name for “Tokyo University” from founding in 1877 through the end of WWII)
Edajima: We held a conversation about here in meeting desperation by chance at a Japan/America Summit Meeting last month. Understanding the trade friction between Japan and the US, somehow they had to learn in person the secret to the success that has been only criticized in agreement of Japan’s miraculous growth………!!
(TN: A bit of background: the Japanese “economic miracle” was still going strong in 1985 due to the cooperation between the companies and government leading to many problems between the US and Japan, particularly with Japanese corporations moving into and taking American jobs in this period)
Hikouboshi: The principal is starting to really rant on and on again…………
Onihige: He really goes on an on at times……
“Helmet”: Hii hii
Edajima: We’re receiving thirty soldiers chosen from Annapolis in America.
(TN: Though Edajima makes comment of “Annapolis in America”, it is obviously in reference to the US Naval Academy, the university tied to the Navy…though considering Otokojuku is a high school, it’s weird they’re taking university students)
Edajima: Gather all the first-years. We’re breaking the ban we’ve had for 300 years since Otokojuku’s founding: we’re taking in foreign students!!

179.
(TN: No dialogue at this time)

180.
Togashi: Damn, what’s with this mass of national consciousness? Our school is having foreigners enter.
Tazawa: It seems somehow this is a request of a high political level protected by the US-Japan Security Treaty.
(TN: The “US-Japan Security Treaty”, also fully known as the “Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan” is a treaty established in 1960 during the Cold War allowing the Americans to hold bases in Japan to protect them from enemy threats in response to their removal of military after the end of WWII)
Student: I don’t understand this, but they’re crossing the ocean and we especially don’t know what they’re coming to say.
Onihige: Well, all of you won’t be putting down those foreigners!! You’re speaking as if you have a foreigner complex, but now we Japanese boys, the greatest in the world, will completely conquer them.
Onihige: We may be on the verge of losing, but our durability of shiny-color hardness will completely overwhelm those Western males.
Student: He’s talking in a way we can’t understand again. Doesn’t he misunderstand who has the complex?
Onihige: Somehow if there’s a chance you are defeated, you will commit harikiri right here…………… ……………………………………………..
Students: ………………………………………

181.
First-Years: Waaa, wh…what’s that----!!

182.
First-Years: Uo!! It’s coming at us again---!!

183.
First-Years: Wh…what! They’re releasing bombs this time!!
First-Years: Pa…Parachutes!!

184.-185.
Edajima: Fufufu, I am the principal of Otokojuku, Edajima Heihachi!
American: HELLO, PEOPLE OF JAPAN!!

186.
American: What’s wrong, everyone? Aah, it’s that? You shouldn’t be surprised by that at all. That’s the Hercules, the newest form of jet transport that’s the pride of the American military.
(TN: The “Hercules” referred to here is most likely the C-130 Hercules, a transport jet which actually was in production in some form or another since the 1950s)
Togashi: Don’t joke with us. Where is there anyone who wouldn’t be surprised in riding an airplane onto campus---!!
Matsuo: Ca…calm down, Togashi, this is an American-style flashy production method.

187.
American: Ooh, right. As proof of our friendship, we’re using presents today. Well, give them to everyone.
Subordinate: OK, Keith.
Keith: Well, here you go.
Student: We…well how courteous.
Matsuo: The American’s are sensible as expected.
Togashi: Yep, they’re quite talkative people…………
Togashi: Wh…what is this?
Togashi: Chewing gum……………!?

188.
Keith: I’ve heard this from my father who was stationed in Japan after the war: Japanese children loved chewing gum and begged them for it. My heart became terribly pained hearing that.
“Children”: GIVE ME…
First-Years: ……………………
Keith: Thus in this case, I’ve brought it for all of you.
(TN: It’s true: during the American occupation of Japan in the late 1940s, Japanese children would receive candy and gum from the soldiers stationed in the nation)
Togashi: Wh…what is this guy, is this some sort of joke---!! Who’d be happy with this these days---!!
Hidemaro: Ho…hold on, Togashi. This…may really be a misunderstanding.
Onihige: Give me, can you give it to me?
Onihige: N…no, that was a spontaneous release of old habits.
Hikouboshi: Wh…what were you thinking?
Glasses: Hehheeh.

189.
Keith: Somehow you seem like the grade leader.
Keith: Keith Jackson. Nice to meet you.
Momotarou: Tsurugi Momotarou……………Aah, it’s a pleasure.
“Voice”: I’ll greet him too, Keith.
Momotarou: !!

190.
Kong: I’m Mick Kong, nice to meet you.
Kong: Fufufu, do you know what they call you Japanese in our country?
Kong: We call you “Bananas”. In short, you were yellow on the outside, but white on the inside. Thus, you act like whites.
Momotarou: How do you know human language?
Momotarou: Gorilla-man?

191.
Student: That’s an extremely heated handshake.
Tazawa: U—m, this is really the form of Japan/US Friendship.
Keith: Fufufu, he’s already charged forth, that Kong.
Kong: I vomit looking at you Japanese. U—m? Well? What can you say? Aren’t you pained by that?
Momotarou: Fufufu, is that all you’ll say? When you come to a stranger’s house, a person who strikes with a big mouth doesn’t live long.
Momotarou: If you cross the ocean to sell a fight, then you’ll always get one.

192.
Kong: Fufufu, what, is that the power you plan to bring? That won’t work at all.
Momotarou: Let me teach you a Japanese proverb: Folly stops before regret.
Togashi: But, then, isn’t that really getting a bit heated?
Tazawa: No, when this thing called a handshake is grasped strongly, then the grasp is a proof of friendship.
Kong: Fufufu, what are you saying?
Kong: How’s that? You won’t use this hand for the rest of your life!!

193.
Kong: Uooo---!!
Kong: Kuu!!

194.
Kong: Wha!!
Kong: UGYAA----!!

195.
Kong: Uoo---!!
Tazawa: Ooh, Japan/US friendship is overflowing, thus it’s writhing while it’s delighted. You rarely ever see such an emotional handshake. We—ll, the Japan/US friendship is happy, simple enough.
Keith: Kukkku, that idiot Kong, the Japs are making fun of us.
Momotarou: Fufufu, these terrible foreign students have come.
(End of Volume 2)

TN: Let me just start off with this: those first two pages were probably one of the longest, hardest sections I've done in any manga in a really long time...and most of it was about shining Edajima's bald head! With some of the bizarre language being thrown about and references to all sorts of hair-and-head care products being thrown about by the staff while Edajima is talking to the Prime Minister on the phone, it's no wonder I didn't go crazy. OK maybe make it three pages, considering the part where Edajima explains his university days with the PM was a bit strange as well as was the sudden revelation of Otokojuku being around for 300 years. But luckily once the chapter really got rolling, the characters and Miyashita finally got to what they did best: making fun of Japanese nationalism by bringing in the obvious antagonist: bull-headed, idiot Americans! I really don't quite get how these guys from "Annapolis" (which means they would be college students, not really an age to be going to Otokojuku but...soon enough we'll see that students may stay at this place way longer than a typical high school) would be there, but seeing their interactions, from Momotarou's handshake duel (and Tazawa's hilarious commentary about it) to Onihige begging for gum made it all worth it! Strangely though is that "he" isn't among the Americans at this point...but we'll be meeting "him" soon enough...