ibuki

  • Anzac: The Legend That Started With Soldiers

    Some Australian words carry considerably more history than their five letters suggest. Anzac began as a practical military abbreviation. Australian and New Zealand forces in Egypt were grouped into the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, and “ANZAC” became the convenient shorthand. The word soon escaped its bureaucratic origins and became the name by which the soldiers themselves were known, particularly in connection with the Gallipoli campaign. More than a century later, Anzac remains deeply embedded in Australian and New Zealand public life. Meaning 「Anzac」はもともとAustralian and New Zealand Army Corpsの頭文字から作られた言葉です。第一次世界大戦中、とくにGallipoliで戦ったオーストラリアとニュージーランドの兵士を指す呼び名として広まりました。 現在では「Anzac Day」「Anzac biscuit」「the Anzacs」など、戦争に参加した兵士だけではなく、両国が共有する歴史や記憶に関係する言葉としても使われています。ただし、ANZACを大文字で書く場合は、もともとの軍団そのものを指す場合に使うのが基本です。 “Anzac” began as an abbreviation for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. It became widely…

  • The Lucky Country

    Australia is often referred to as “the lucky country,” which most people use favorably, but was actually a derogatory term coined by journalist Donald Horne in his book of the same name, and with April 25 a landmark date in Aussie history now called ANZAC Day, it got me thinking about fortune and the role it plays in lives. Australia had the misfortune to fight its first day of war as an independent, federated country on April 25, 1915, and thousands of young men were brutally mowed down in meaningless slaughter in the ill-fated Gallipoli campaign of World War I (having been escorted to the battlefield by our erstwhile Japanese…

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    Japan and the ANZACs

    Japan is one of the many forgotten contributors to ANZAC Day, a day that has assumed legendary status in Australia and New Zealand. ANZAC Day commemorates the landing of Australian and New Zealand troops at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915. Thousands of young men would be cut down in their prime during the vain campaign that ended in an embarassing defeat at the hands of the Ottomon Empire forces, but Gallipoli has since become a hallowed reminder of people’s willingness to commit their lives for their country. The ANZACs, diggers from the Australia New Zealand Army Corps, are now almost deified in an Australia where nationalism has come into vogue…

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    Lest We Forget Japan’s Role in Creating the ANZAC legend

    ANZAC Day, April 25, has become an almost holy day on the Australian calendar in the early 21st century as the country celebrates the efforts and sacrifices of its military personnel since it first went to war as a nation at Gallipoli in 1915, but few remember Japan was an ally that played a vital role in creating the ANZAC legend. 　21世紀初期現在、ANZAC Day（4月25日）がオーストラリアでは、1915年に国として初めて戦争を体験したガリポリをはじめ復員兵などの努力や犠牲を称える聖なる日のような存在となっているが、そのＡＮＺＡＣ伝説づくりに味方としての日本の大きな貢献がほとんど知られていないのだ。