On Manual Typewriters
Right now sitting on the couch putting iPad on my lap I am typing this entry with its very interesting sound, the sound of an old portable manual typewriter. This is my first attempt to use this fantastic app called "Hanx Writer".
As mentioned my previous entry, when I do writing, the tool I use is very important. It must be one of the distraction-free writing tools. And it must be with the nostalgic sound of a manual typewriter. This is the reason why I prefer to use WriteMonkey. And I thought it was a kind of unique, special effort among the distraction-free tool developers.
But one thing I did not expect is there is such effort even among iOS app developers. This is one of the most unexpected and yet a very exciting news.
As always, when I was searching for the best possible writing tools with the sound of an old manual typewriter, then I've encountered several articles introducing this app. According to them or even to the website of this app, Tom Hanks (Yes, that "Tom Hanks") was connected with this development.
I did not know that he was such a manual typewriter enthusiast to the extent to join this kind of app creation project. Well, in a sense if we can recall the move like "Forrest Gump", perhaps we can see a certain compatibility between a manual typewriter and his character. It looks so mechanical and stiff in a sense; at the same time, paradoxically so warm and human.
By the way, there is another movie called "You've Got Mail". In it the scene he was using his notebook computer would be interesting. However, the story is perhaps no longer romantic in this age of cybercriminal, social engineering turmoil.
Now in my case as a person who belongs to the generation X, the sensation of an old manual typewriter can still generate a series of sentimental and nostalgic memories.
I can still recall the moment when my father bought me a portable manual typewriter. It was a product of Brother. I was just thirteen years old as a junior high school student living in the suburbs of Nara, Japan. As a student, it was a very interesting device to study English. I really spent many days and nights to learn how to use it even aiming to master a touch typing method.
While spending a good time with my favorite typewriter, Japanese had faced another phase of writing tools, the so-called age of the Japanese word-processor. Unlike English speaking countries, Japan had not really experienced the full usage of a manual typewriter. One reason is there are a lot of letters used for Japanese language.
For English, total 26 letters with several symbols can be good enough for writing; thus, perfectly compatible with the design of typewriter. On the other hand, to write Japanese you need around 50 letters of hirakana and those of katakana; so totally 100 characters together with thousands of kanji (Chinese characters). That makes obviously impossible to fit all these letters and characters within the limited number of keys in the manual machine. That is why there was even the movement to use alphabets for writing Japanese called "Romazi Undo" - the movement of the romanized Japanese.
The game changer, however, was not that movement, but the technological innovation -- the introduction of the computer age. In 1980s while the computer was still primitive, there was an enough technology to create a device - advanced electronic typewriter with a set of memory containing a sufficient number of Japanese letters and characters. With this technology, for example, if you type Japanese with alphabets, then the equivalent of Japanese letters and characters (combination of hirakana, katakana, and kanji) can be automatically displayed. This system is bundled with the Japanese electronic typewriter; hence, it was called "Nihongo Word Processor".
Because of this, the writing style of Japanese language had been computerized without experiencing the phase of a manual typewriter. And I myself also had stopped using my beloved manual typewriter, and purchased a new word processor with which I was able to type both English and Japanese without fear of irreversible typo-errors.
This system is still the basis of the so-called Japanese word processing system bundled with any Japanese language packs for computers like Microsoft IME, etc. On the other hand, if you like to use a portable manual typewriter to write in Japanese, then there is only one option (not relying on the technological innovation, but adopting a new system of writing), which is using alphabets; the movement of romanized Japanese.
Actually I used to be one of the few guys who were interested in this movement. One trigger is the influence from Dr. Tadao Umesao, one of the well-known anthropologists in 1950s to 80s mainly. Aside from his own academic achievements, he was also famous as one of the "life-hacker" gurus in those old days even when such term did not exist.
One of the books he wrote in this category for general readers was "Chiteki-seisan no Gijutsu". The title could be roughly translated into something like "Skills or techniques for Intellectual Productivity". As you can easily see it from the title, this is really the book about "life-hack" if we use a current term. In it he spent many pages to explain his efforts on using his manual typewriter to write in romanized Japanese or using hirakana alone without kanji.
I was quite fascinated with those episodes he shared in the book and even tried to do it by myself. Pointing out the problem of Japanese language for which we could not use a manual typewriter, his discussion explored up to the extent of using "romanized Japanese". In another book (Asu no Nihongo tame ni) translated into "Japanese for the Future", he even shared his experiences when he was still a young anthropologist and field worker that he used his portable Hermes typewriter during his field research. According to him, he was even able to write a short report inside the car using his manual typewriter. His narrative excited and inspired me a lot.
Perhaps influenced by Dr. Umesao, there was also the time when I was quite interested in the various movement of romanized Japanese language. I also read several articles on Dr. Aikitsu Tanakadate, Dr. Takuro Tamaru, and even Takuboku Ishikawa.
Especially the book by Dr. Tamaru entitled "Romazi Kokuziron" is one of the must-read classics for the movement. Both Dr. Tanakadate and Dr. Tamaru were well-known physicists. On the other hand, Takuboku Ishikawa was a famous poet. "Romazi Nikki (Diary)" is actually considered as one of the classics in the Japanese literature.
We should also remember another famous figure, Dr. Torahiko Terada. He was also a physicist; at the same time, a well-known essay writer at that time. His essays attempted to inspire everyone's curiosity on science with the witty and profound sense of literature. Some say his essays must be the role model for intellectual essay in the modern Japanese literature. I think I read it in one of the essays by Shigehiko Toyama, he himself is also a well-known essay writer. His book, "Shiko no Seirigaku" translated into "Thinking of Organizing" is also one of the classics already, while he was known in the much recent days compared with all those above-mentioned early 20-century scholars. And he himself was not, if I'm not mistaken, part of the "romazi movement".
Only because of this fortunate encounter with "Hanx Writer", my nostalgic day-dreaming seems endless. Perhaps I should find some other time to continue this.
Thank you!
Tom
As mentioned my previous entry, when I do writing, the tool I use is very important. It must be one of the distraction-free writing tools. And it must be with the nostalgic sound of a manual typewriter. This is the reason why I prefer to use WriteMonkey. And I thought it was a kind of unique, special effort among the distraction-free tool developers.
But one thing I did not expect is there is such effort even among iOS app developers. This is one of the most unexpected and yet a very exciting news.
As always, when I was searching for the best possible writing tools with the sound of an old manual typewriter, then I've encountered several articles introducing this app. According to them or even to the website of this app, Tom Hanks (Yes, that "Tom Hanks") was connected with this development.
I did not know that he was such a manual typewriter enthusiast to the extent to join this kind of app creation project. Well, in a sense if we can recall the move like "Forrest Gump", perhaps we can see a certain compatibility between a manual typewriter and his character. It looks so mechanical and stiff in a sense; at the same time, paradoxically so warm and human.
By the way, there is another movie called "You've Got Mail". In it the scene he was using his notebook computer would be interesting. However, the story is perhaps no longer romantic in this age of cybercriminal, social engineering turmoil.
Now in my case as a person who belongs to the generation X, the sensation of an old manual typewriter can still generate a series of sentimental and nostalgic memories.
I can still recall the moment when my father bought me a portable manual typewriter. It was a product of Brother. I was just thirteen years old as a junior high school student living in the suburbs of Nara, Japan. As a student, it was a very interesting device to study English. I really spent many days and nights to learn how to use it even aiming to master a touch typing method.
While spending a good time with my favorite typewriter, Japanese had faced another phase of writing tools, the so-called age of the Japanese word-processor. Unlike English speaking countries, Japan had not really experienced the full usage of a manual typewriter. One reason is there are a lot of letters used for Japanese language.
For English, total 26 letters with several symbols can be good enough for writing; thus, perfectly compatible with the design of typewriter. On the other hand, to write Japanese you need around 50 letters of hirakana and those of katakana; so totally 100 characters together with thousands of kanji (Chinese characters). That makes obviously impossible to fit all these letters and characters within the limited number of keys in the manual machine. That is why there was even the movement to use alphabets for writing Japanese called "Romazi Undo" - the movement of the romanized Japanese.
The game changer, however, was not that movement, but the technological innovation -- the introduction of the computer age. In 1980s while the computer was still primitive, there was an enough technology to create a device - advanced electronic typewriter with a set of memory containing a sufficient number of Japanese letters and characters. With this technology, for example, if you type Japanese with alphabets, then the equivalent of Japanese letters and characters (combination of hirakana, katakana, and kanji) can be automatically displayed. This system is bundled with the Japanese electronic typewriter; hence, it was called "Nihongo Word Processor".
Toshiba JW-10, the first word processor
for the Japanese language (1971-1978)
for the Japanese language (1971-1978)
Because of this, the writing style of Japanese language had been computerized without experiencing the phase of a manual typewriter. And I myself also had stopped using my beloved manual typewriter, and purchased a new word processor with which I was able to type both English and Japanese without fear of irreversible typo-errors.
This system is still the basis of the so-called Japanese word processing system bundled with any Japanese language packs for computers like Microsoft IME, etc. On the other hand, if you like to use a portable manual typewriter to write in Japanese, then there is only one option (not relying on the technological innovation, but adopting a new system of writing), which is using alphabets; the movement of romanized Japanese.
Actually I used to be one of the few guys who were interested in this movement. One trigger is the influence from Dr. Tadao Umesao, one of the well-known anthropologists in 1950s to 80s mainly. Aside from his own academic achievements, he was also famous as one of the "life-hacker" gurus in those old days even when such term did not exist.
Dr. Tadao Umesao around 1980
One of the books he wrote in this category for general readers was "Chiteki-seisan no Gijutsu". The title could be roughly translated into something like "Skills or techniques for Intellectual Productivity". As you can easily see it from the title, this is really the book about "life-hack" if we use a current term. In it he spent many pages to explain his efforts on using his manual typewriter to write in romanized Japanese or using hirakana alone without kanji.
Umesao's Hirakana Typewriter
I was quite fascinated with those episodes he shared in the book and even tried to do it by myself. Pointing out the problem of Japanese language for which we could not use a manual typewriter, his discussion explored up to the extent of using "romanized Japanese". In another book (Asu no Nihongo tame ni) translated into "Japanese for the Future", he even shared his experiences when he was still a young anthropologist and field worker that he used his portable Hermes typewriter during his field research. According to him, he was even able to write a short report inside the car using his manual typewriter. His narrative excited and inspired me a lot.
Perhaps influenced by Dr. Umesao, there was also the time when I was quite interested in the various movement of romanized Japanese language. I also read several articles on Dr. Aikitsu Tanakadate, Dr. Takuro Tamaru, and even Takuboku Ishikawa.
Dr. Aikitsu Tanakadate
Dr. Takuro Tamaru from Romazi Kokuziron (1932)
National Diet Library, Japan
Especially the book by Dr. Tamaru entitled "Romazi Kokuziron" is one of the must-read classics for the movement. Both Dr. Tanakadate and Dr. Tamaru were well-known physicists. On the other hand, Takuboku Ishikawa was a famous poet. "Romazi Nikki (Diary)" is actually considered as one of the classics in the Japanese literature.
We should also remember another famous figure, Dr. Torahiko Terada. He was also a physicist; at the same time, a well-known essay writer at that time. His essays attempted to inspire everyone's curiosity on science with the witty and profound sense of literature. Some say his essays must be the role model for intellectual essay in the modern Japanese literature. I think I read it in one of the essays by Shigehiko Toyama, he himself is also a well-known essay writer. His book, "Shiko no Seirigaku" translated into "Thinking of Organizing" is also one of the classics already, while he was known in the much recent days compared with all those above-mentioned early 20-century scholars. And he himself was not, if I'm not mistaken, part of the "romazi movement".
Thank you!
Tom
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