よくある質問
FAQ

Q. What does the name of the site mean?
A. It’s a takeoff on the title of Buck-Tick's album Koroshi no Shirabe This is NOT Greatest Hits…and it’s a general reflection of our philosophy on web content creation as it relates to the meaning of life.
 

Q. How can I request a translation?
A. Read this section, then send us an email.
 

Q. Can I re-post your translations on other websites?
A. Rather than re-posting NGS content on other sites, please post a link instead. Writing translations and such takes a lot of time, so the least you can do is offer us some free publicity by linking NGS. Read this section for more info.
 

Q. Can I re-post your kanji/romaji on other sites?
A. Sure, but please be nice by crediting us and linking back to the site. We typed up all the kanji by hand from the original album liner notes and you don’t even want to know how much time it took.
 

Q. Can I use your translations to subtitle videos for YouTube?
A. Sure, but please be nice by crediting Cayce and linking back to the site. Also, do not, I repeat, do NOT change the translations in any way. We choose every word carefully. If you alter our work without my permission, you are committing plagiarism. Somebody on YouTube has already done this. We are extremely displeased. If you don't like our translations as they are, write your own.
 

Q. What if I find a mistake on the site?
A. If you find a broken link, a typo, or any other error on the site, please email us at themadaristocrat at gmail. We will fix it asap.
 

Q. Can I re-translate your translations into a language other than English or Japanese?
A. Yes, but please read this section first. Also, if you would like to translate our work into a language other than English, we request that you send it to us for posting here on NGS, rather than posting it on your own site. We'd like to create an archive of translations in various languages, but that's hard to do if material in each language is scattered all over the internet.
 

Q. What is The Blog-Tick Phenomenon and what does it have to do with NGS?
A. The Blog-Tick Phenomenon is the official companion blog of This is NOT Greatest Site, updated and maintained by Cayce. What’s the difference between the two, you ask? The goal of NGS is to provide lyrics translations, live reports, reviews, and other serious content. Blog-Tick is for smaller bits of light-hearted fun. It is also where we post Buck-Tick related news and translations of Imai Hisashi’s blog entries.
 

Q. I wrote an article for English-language j-rock website, and I used NGS as the main resource for my research. Do I have to credit you?
A. Obviously you don’t, since you didn’t. But I know where you got your info and you could email us and thank me for going to the effort of translating the primary sources into a language you can read :P
 

Q. Can I submit my translations to your website?
A. We welcome submissions of lyrics, articles and interviews to be translated, cookies, concert tickets, bananas, money, and even Toll plushies, but we do not accept outside submissions of translations or other finished work, except for re-translations of our English translations into a third language (e.g. Spanish, Russian, Romanian). But please do send Toll plushies. We’ll post pictures.
 

Q. Can I hire you to translate something unrelated to j-rock?
A. Yes! If you like our work and would like to engage our services as a translator for your own purposes in exchange for remuneration, please email us.
 

Q. I have my own website. Can I become an affiliate of This is NOT Greatest Site?
A. If your site is professional in design and tone and you want to trade links, email us and we’ll talk.
 

Q. If I see something on your site that makes me angry, can I flame you?
A. Certainly! It will give us more material to work with in the ridicule department.
 

Q. If I don't live in Japan but I love Buck-Tick, should I join Fish Tank?
A. It depends on your priorities. Fish Tank membership costs 5500 yen per year plus a one-time 1000 yen entrance fee, so it's not cheap. Membership offers four main benefits to fans: priority reservation of concert tickets, admittance to fanclub-only live shows, subscription to the quarterly Fish Tank newsletter, and ability to purchase exclusive materials from the Buck-Tick web shop, including fanclub-only live DVDs. If you are planning on going to Japan to see Buck-Tick perform live, having a fan club membership is by far the easiest way to get show tickets. However, if you are not planning on going to Japan and do not read Japanese, in our opinion getting a Fish Tank membership just for the newsletter is not worth it - the newsletter is mostly text, not photos, and in any case generous fans tend to make the photos available online.

Prospective overseas members should also be aware that at this time, the Fish Tank management conducts all communications in Japanese only.

To become a Fish Tank member, go to the fanclub section of Buck-Tick's official web site and follow the instructions.
 

Q. I'm thinking about traveling to Japan to see Buck-Tick perform live, but I don't even know where to begin. Do you have any helpful information for me?
A. All the info you need is in this section.
 

Q. Is it true that the name 'Fish Tank' really just an abbreviation of 'Fishy Tanky Hanky Panky'?
A. Let us answer that question with another question: is everything you read on the internet true?

Q. What if I don’t want to believe Acchan’s original lyrics could possibly be as vulgar as the translation you wrote?
A. You may not want to believe it, but the man has written quite a lot of vulgar lyrics in his time. We make every effort to keep my translations as accurate as possible. If the English is vulgar, it’s because the Japanese was vulgar. But then again, we thought that very vulgarity was the reason y'all liked Mr. Acchan in the first place.
 

Q. In your last live report, you said that Buck-Tick made mistakes in their performance, but seeing as they’re gods and can do no wrong, how can saying such things be anything but heresy?
A. Flattered as we're sure they’d be to know you think that they’re gods, they are only human beings and they sometimes make miss takes when performing. Miss takes are a part of show business, as every performing artist will tell you…and sometimes they even make the show more fun. A little secret: the Japanese fans all make a special effort to go to the first stop on every tour so they can see the Buck-Tick members mess up. Why? Because they think it’s funny.
 

Q. Whatever happened to the magic potato story?
A. The magic potato story was a joke. It was intended to make you laugh. We am sorry for any undue pain we may have caused you through my attempts at humor. Please know that our intentions were innocent.
 

Q. Why don't the Buck-Tick members talk about their love lives in magazine articles?
A. In Japanese culture, people generally tend to keep their love lives private. It's largely a taboo subject except in intimate company. While there is a certainly a degree of inappropriately personal gossip in tabloid magazines, the Buck-Tick members are no longer so famous that the tabloids care about them (not trying to be mean, just telling the truth.) But the bottom line is, it's frankly none of your business. They don't want to talk about it and you shouldn't ask...plus, if you're full of obsessive fangirl fantasies, why do you even want to know?

Q. Are Buck-Tick Satanists?
A. Of course not! Japan is a very secular country and when Japanese musicians use religious references in their work, it’s usually just for fun. Depending on your beliefs, this may offend you, but we assure you it’s the truth. Auto-Mod claim to be Satanists, but we have it from a very reliable source that in fact, the only gods they worship are Ramen Noodles and David Sylvian.
 

Q. She said do you have how many boys?
A. Five.
 

Q. How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could harness the power of the sun?
A. The woodchuck would no longer need to chuck wood as the woodchuck would now have an infinite supply of solar energy and suddenly feel inspired to become more environmentally conscious and save trees.
 

Q. What is the flight velocity of an unladen swallow?
A. Somewhat slower than the flight velocity of a rampant Dalek.
 

Q. Can the things live without the hairspring?
A. No.
 

Q. What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening?
A. A herring from Chernobyl.
 

Q. Is everything you read on the internet true?
A. Yes, duh.

 

 

★★★★★