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Warning - super long Japanese and Japanese music/lyrics post likely of interest to hardly anyone.

When I was a music-obsessed teenager, practically all the English I learnt (before I moved to the UK) was through song lyrics. Now, I'm still music-obsessed and learning Japanese, but for a couple of obvious reasons (I am nearly half a century older, and Japanese is just not a easy to pick up as English, at least for a German speaker), this doesn't work so well anymore 😁

Having said this, I often come across a song I like and then need to find out the lyrics. This absolutely gorgeous song by 橋本絵莉子波多野裕文(Eriko Hashimoto & Yufumi Hatano), アメリカンヴィンテージ (American Vintage), I found because I love Eriko Hashimoto's latest album so was looking for some of her earlier stuff and I couldn't stop listening to it.

There is one word in all this that really confounds me (not for the first time) - 不思議 - because I can't figure out if it has positive or negative connotations, or (most likely) both - it means something like "wondrous", "marvellous", or "strange". And from the context of the lyrics it's also hard to tell - one voice says 不思議だね (it's strange/marvellous, isn't it), and the other voice replies 不思議じゃないよ (no, it isn't).

As always when I post stuff like this here, if anyone that isn't as rubbish at Japanese as me has any useful input, I'd be very happy to hear 😊

Anyway, a probably very bad attempt of a translation below. I took a few - probably misguided - liberties, since the text seems quite lyrical, so not always easy to translate literally.

船が来るから、ここで待っていよう
The ship is coming, so let's wait here
海にアイロンをかけながら
Ironing the sea as it sails in
沈みかけた太陽がほら
The sun is about to set
またのぼってくるのよ
It's rising again
不思議だね
It's strange/marvellous (*see above), isn't it.

飛行機が飛ぶから、ここで見ていよう
A plane is flying, so let's watch if from here
おもちゃみたいだから
It looks like a toy
黒髪の先生に習った
I learnt from a dark-haired teacher
金髪の外国が好きなんだ
To like blond foreigners
(* I have no idea if these 2 last lines are correct)

不思議だね
It's strange/marvellous, isn't it
不思議じゃないよ
No, it isn't
ほんとかな
Is it true?
君が言えばね
If you say so

ロケットが飛ぶから、乗ってみよう
A rocket is flying, so let's ride it
魂より速いから
Because it's faster than the soul
いつまでたっても
Forever
ボロボロの過去が好きなんだ
I love my tattered past

不思議だね
It's strange/marvellous, isn't it
不思議じゃないよ
No, it isn't
ほんとかな
Is it true?
君と居ればね
As long as I'm with you

船が来るから、ここで待っていよう
The ship is coming, so let's wait here
飛行機が飛ぶから、ここで見ていよう
A plane is flying, so let's watch if from here
ロケットが飛ぶから、乗ってみよう
A rocket is flying, so let's ride it

不思議だね
It's strange/marvellous, isn't it

https://youtu.be/FHYT_-VuP_0?si=5CWNVKm4XS66ZuOu&sfnsn=scwspmo