The Disclosed English Translation of the Article Kyoto City is Currently Refraining from Publishing from "京都 Innovation Studio Session Vol. 7"

Since I am at the blog desk, let me post this article now.
This translation was also obtained through a request for disclosure of public documents, as it is one of three Japanese-to-English translations that Kyoto City paid Human Academy Inc. to produce, as per the documents pertaining to the tender I posted yesterday. The city government agreed to provide the documents voluntarily, via email.

Meanwhile, Kyoto City has published the other two pieces, but they have withheld this one, partly for reasons I touched on yesterday (Goldman Sachs et al. finance sector connections, etc.), and will refrain from going into further here. However, I will again post the URL to the original Japanese article, which is still active: 
https://kigyolog.com/interview.php?id=236

Suffice it to say, it is clear, even from the title, that they are making a belabored comparison of Kyoto to Silicon Valley, and trying to market Kyoto as a Silicon Valley competitor of sorts. It's pathetic, of course, but these people wield influence over the government. 

I will post the other two pieces in their pre-edited form eventually, but it remains unclear whether the city ever intends to publish its edited version of this, so I will publish the unedited, public domain document, here.

 

Who is Ron Read? Clue: formerly of Kurdyla and Associates, which was bought out by Human Academy, and currently heads their Osaka branch, with its "Government Contracts Division"

This is a brief follow up introducing the American running the actual company that placed the bid on the problematic tender at issue. https://hgckansai.com/contact/

I don't have time to go into the administrative proceedings that I have pursued thus far against the city and this company, but there will be a court action against Kyoto City.

Kurdyla & Associates is not only a company which I did a little work for more than 20 years ago when I was in Tokyo, but the name of the company that Joel Hastings ran in Seoul, which I worked for, was a branch of Kurdyla & Associates ("K & H" stood for Kurdyla and Hastings). 

See this blog post from 2015: https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1450811588230624925/813057494645258886

 

 

Documents on Human Academy' Inc.'s super-low bid on a somewhat dubious translation tender by Kyoto City

 As I don't have time to write a proper post describing this material and the context, I have decided to simply start putting some of the raw data up in advance. 

Theses are documents including the estimates from six companies that presented estimates in response to the small amount open-counter tender for Japanese to English translation (included a short  Japanese to Chinese PA policy statement as well). The bid was so low as to merit a complaint for suspected dumping.

I will post the source text and target text provided by Human Academy Inc. to Kyoto City, but it bears noting that the project is unusual in that it encompasses Kyoto City performing the final editing of the English text itself in consultation with its foreigner clients, including Nestle (owner of Blue Bottle). Kyoro City has refused to post the final of the three texts, and I assume that is because they don't want me to give it the thrashing it deserves as an ideological spiel by the Wall St. investors that have basically bought out the city office of the Kyoto government, and hired an assistant professor from Waseda University as a consultant.

Of course, that is just the kind of fare I prefer these days, so I will be sure to give Iriyama and the new mayor of Kyoto their just desserts. Here is the website were the translations are being posted: https://preservekyoto.city.kyoto.lg.jp/en/journal

And here is a link to the Japanese article for which they are currently withholding the publication of the finalized translation, more than 3 months after the completed translation was submitted on April 8, 2024: https://kigyolog.com/interview.php?id=236