[My Address]

September 16 , 2002


Ms. Philippa Boyens
Wingnut Production
PO Box 15-208
Miramar , Wellington
New Zealand


Dear Ms. Boyens,

This is a petition from a Japanese fan of your film "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring", concerning its Japanese subtitles.

No praise can express how I admire your script, the miracle you and Mr. Jackson have worked for the world to see. Unfortunately however, my friends and I strongly believe that inaccurately translated subtitles distort what you and ultimately what J.R.R. Tolkien have created. I ask you to refer to the list of most serious errors attached at the end of this petition.

We learned that you spent two to three years with Mr. Peter Jackson to complete the script of "The Lord of the Rings" with due and profound respect to the Tolkien's work. Nevertheless, the Japanese translator, who is a well-known subtitler for foreign films, but who admits she has hardly read the original, has been allowed to spoil your endeavour. Some of the Japanese subtitles are not true to your script, and the errors are unrelated to the number-of-letters restriction (Japanese subtitles have limits on the number of letters per length of each scene). Unavoidably, in significant parts of the film, wrong interpretations of the storyline and the character-settings are forced upon the audience. Yet the fact remains that most Japanese rely on subtitles when they watch foreign films.

As soon as "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" was released in Japan, concerns were raised that downright and inexcusable errors in the subtitles should be corrected. These resulted in 1281 signatures for a petition on the Internet, which were sent to Nippon Herald Films Inc., the Japanese distributor, late in May. The reply, or rather a notice, was then posted on the Japanese official website of the film in early June. We found this announcement unacceptable: it did not contain a single word of apology for mistranslation, and nowhere was expressed any intention to correct the errors. It merely mentioned that the subtitles in DVD/VHS would be revised, reasoning that some minor changes would be possible this time out of simple technical reasons, the number-of-letters restriction being less strict in these media. To our great disappointment, we found that they decided to hire the same translator for the forthcoming "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King".

This petition was prepared to bring this deadlock to an end. It is now obvious that Nippon Herald will not admit their fault, despite the criticisms from the audience. We sincerely hope that a translator who honours your achievement and Tolkien's original work, and an authorized supervisor for translation are hired for the Japanese subtitles of the succeeding two films, "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King".

We are also sending the petition to Mr. Peter Jackson along the same line. If you would talk to him on this matter, we should be most grateful.


Sincerely yours,

[My Signature]
[My Name]

p.s.
A group of people, faithful readers of Tolkien and admirers of your film, have worked on this petition. They allow anyone who agrees with them to send the same petition individually, in the hope of drawing your attention.
I have loved the original books since I was a child (in Japanese translation). Many years I dreamed of the day this wonderful story would be visualized in a film.
I appreciate your brilliant achievement which has made it come true. Therefore I do personally wish to see a proper translation for your "The Lord of the Rings" films, and I took the chance to do something myself.

＃この後ろに誤訳リストが付きます

＃封筒の表書き
Ms. Philippa Boyens
c/o Wingnut Production
PO Box 15-208
Miramar , Wellington
New Zealand (New Zealand に下線）
（朱筆で）Par Avion　

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