Saraba

Romaji and English translation of the song さらば (Saraba) from the album DISORDER by the GazettE.

Lyrics originally sung in English are in italics , and words or phrases I felt were implied are in [brackets] in the translation.

I also (usually) put repeats of chorus/verses/stanzas in [brackets] if they’re not written that way in the original lyrics for ease of singing along.

If he writes a word in the lyrics but doesn’t sing it, I put it in light grey to make it easier to skip when singing along.

I usually romajize katakana characters in CAPITALS, and keep punctuation and line spacing as close to the original booklet as possible. If you see me putting spaces before punctuation at the end of a sentence or writing things in mixed-case capitals, that’s because it’s how it was in the booklet.

Any comments I had during the romajization/translation process will be included as footnotes so as not to disturb the flow of the song. They’re not required reading, but Ruki does some pretty nifty things with his lyrics/kanji choices, or sometimes there’s further explanations about words or phrases in there.

Saraba: Romaji

[Saraba]

Heiwa sonomono no kono machi wa　kyou mo aozora nihonbare desu.
Kuroi hikoukigumo, yamanu kuushuu no oto.
Nihon no heiwa mo kore de owari desuka?
RAJIO ya TEREBI wa takoku no gisei sarasu
Tsugi wa wagami to kataranu JAANARISUTO
Tanin tsurashita, gizensha wa kimatte
“Sensou wa shikata ga nai” to iu.
Hansen no koe wa itsumade tattemo todokanai
Oshiete, naze onaji ningen doushi ga arasou no?

Heiwa ga itsumo hito wo amayakasu kara　gendai no nihon wa kurutteshimatta
Seiji ya keisatsu ya gakkou ya katei wa　ima ja otagai kizutsukeatteru
Fuzakeru na, yametekure　kono mama kusatte iku no ka nihon yo

Mukashi, hitobito wa kuni no tameni kuinaku shinda
Ima wo ikiru hito yo itsuka omoidashite.

Saraba kuni no tame chitte itta hitotachi yo　saraba nihon wo aishiteita hitotachi yo
Kitto kono mama dare mo nihon wo kaerenu　hinomaru itsuka shizundeshimau darou
Dakara bokura wa utau yo.

「AN ANTI WAR SONG」I will sing all together.
Kono sekai ga egao de afureru hi made
「AN ANTI WAR SONG」Sound this world.
Mou dare mo kizutsukeawanai youni
「AN ANTI WAR SONG」I will sing all together.
Mi wo gisei ni shite oshietekureta hitotachi no tameni mo
「AN ANTI WAR SONG」Sound this world.
Sekai ga shiawase to egao de afureru hi made

Saraba. Kono kuni wo nihon wo mamoru tameni inochi wo otoshita hitotachi yo.
Onaji nihon de umareta koto wo hokori ni omou.
Anata tachi ga mi wo motte oshietekureta,
Sensou no muiaji sa, kanashimi, itami, soshite shi.
Isshou wasure wa shimasen.
Arigatou. Saraba, kaze ni natta hitobito yo.
Hinomaru wa [hinomaru wa] mamorimasu.
Saraba…

Farewell: Translation

[Farewell]

Today, blue skies and the usual beautiful weather of Japan　grace this town that is the very picture of peace.
Black exhaust from planes [overhead], the sound of unceasing air raids.
Is this also how the peace of Japan will end?
We hear about the victims in foreign countries on the radio and the television
The journalists won’t tell us if we’re next
Faced with [the threat of] outsiders, the extremists appear without fail:
“War is inevitable,” they declare.
No matter how much time passes, the voices raised against war never get through
Tell me, why does mankind fight [each other] when we’re all the same?

Modern Japan has fallen into utter chaos　because her people are so accustomed to peace
Now the government, the police, the schools, even families 　are fighting each other
This isn’t a joke, so it needs to stop;　or will things continue on this way until you crumble away and die, Japan?

Long ago, people gave their lives for their country without regrets
[Hopefully] someday the people living now will remember that.

Farewell to all those who sacrificed themselves for the sake of this land　farewell to all those who loved Japan so dearly
Surely if things stay this way, no one will ever be able to change Japan　but perhaps one day the circle of the sun¹ will set entirely
So that is why we sing.

「AN ANTI WAR SONG」I will sing all together.
Until the day this world is filled with smiling faces
「AN ANTI WAR SONG」Sound this world.
So that people will no longer hurt one another
「AN ANTI WAR SONG」I will sing all together.
For those who taught us about sacrifice [by giving] their lives
「AN ANTI WAR SONG」Sound this world.
Until the day the world is filled with happiness and smiling faces

Farewell. To all those who lost their lives protecting this land, Japan.
I’m proud to have been born in the same Japan [as you were]
You taught us through your own [sacrifice]
The senselessness, grief, pain, and death of war.
We’ll never forget it for as long as we live.
Thank you. Farewell, all those people who became the wind.
We will protect the sun’s circle.²
Farewell…

Ohhh, really amazing play on words here. 日の丸 hinomaru means both “the outline of the sun (especially depicted as a red circle)” and an abbreviated form of the name of the Japanese flag (full name being 日の丸の股 hinomaru no mata, the white flag with the red circle representing the sun in the center).

So this is could be taken figuratively – as in the sun will set on the future of the country (the end of Japan), or literally if you read it as “one day the flag of Japan will fall” (which would probably also mean the end of Japan as it exists today, because usually if a country’s flag falls, it means they were defeated in war and taken over by another country). Either way, it’s not a good thing.

Incidentally, the verb in this sentence, 沈む shizumu is a really poetic choice for this particular imagery, too, because it can mean “set” as in ‘the sun is setting and it’s getting dark’, or “sink” as in ‘the sun sinks into the sea’ (and Japan is an island, so if “the sun” means “Japan” and it’s sinking into the sea…also not good), or “to descend” as in ‘a flag being run down a flagpole in defeat.’ I love Ruki’s lyrics so much. And I’m even happier when some really awesome thing is actually translatable, though comparing how many words in English I had to use to describe what he could do in just a few of Japanese is pretty amazing.
Same word as before, same deal as before – meaning either literally, “we’ll protect the Japanese flag” (the country), or figuratively “we’ll protect life,” because the sun (back to that example before) sinking means death for everyone.