Translation: It's So Quiet Right Now, Isn't It? (Hiro Yanagida)

It's So Quiet Right Now, Isn't It? (Yanagida/Matsumoto), my favorite song on the album (to start with, though I'm not so sure now; too many fantastic contenders), opens Side B. I looked it up early into my Takashi obsession because I figured a 1972 song with that title had to be awesome. It took a few listens to hear the soul in Hiro's untrained voice, but the melodies and the arrangement won me over at once (those backing vocals, ahhh!).

The first version of this translation, which was up from December 2024 to July 2025, was tone-deaf. I did a complete re-translation/re-write while lain up in hospital with a violent stomach infection. It was a really quiet room, come to think of it. But solitary. And with a lot missing. On the other hand, I did watch Episodes 1 to 10 of Shinichiro Watanabe & company's Lazarus for the first time there, so: across certain stretches of elusive time, the room was as full as I could wish.

That's not to imply the new version is perfect! This text of Takashi's is subtle, and recalcitrant! Like the ice it tells of, the poem refuses to leave its original form behind so easily. That word こうして in particular is doing a lot of (seemingly untranslatable! -- but only seemingly! surely, only seemingly untranslatable) work. 

Hiro's setting and arrangement bring out these word's nuances wonderfully, though, so at least I have a guide. I need to listen more, live with the song longer, and revisit the work every now and then. It's the verses that are slippery. Unmelted. I'll get there -- I've just got to be patient...

Edit in January 2026: Another overhaul. I think the verses are done. But that こうして in the chorus... well, on the whole, I'm getting closer & closer. 

:::

The softness of melting ice 

reverberates around us.

I don't get the sense

the ice has much to say.

It's very patient.

That's all it ever does,

is wait.

It's so quiet right now,

isn't it?

I mean, the way we are right now?

When I listen close,

I think I make out

your whispering heart.

It's so quiet, isn't it...

Come look outside the window.

See how slow

the time can flow.

It no longer feels like

anything is missing.

And you're already getting sleepy.

It's so quiet right now,

isn't it?

I mean, the way we are right now?

When I listen close,

I think I make out

your whispering heart.

It's so quiet, isn't it...

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