Power to the people!

So today's article is the people of Osaka winning over the reformist mayor of the city in terms of who decides what services are offered where, I think anyway. I confess that the latter half of this article is a little bit vague, at least to my reading, and consequently so is my translation. 

This plays to the question to which I do not have a firm answer in that, as a translator, am I more responsible to capture the exact words of the translation or go for a more "dynamic equivalence" approach where meaning is captured at the phrase, sentence or even paragraph level? To date, I've bounced back and forth between the two approaches, since some times it seems like translating a word literally loses some of the feeling of a sentence that might be captured by a different word in English than is written in Japanese but corresponds to the obvious overall meaning of the sentence. The problem is where the overall intent of a sentence is not quite clear and translating literally leaves you with entirely correct but  impenetrable in terms of meaning. Whether this is due to my lack of overall comprehension or the original writer's lack of a well written sentence...hard to say.

All that said, my approach is becoming to try and capture meaning first at the sentence level while keeping the translation lively and not too dry and wooden sounding, which allows for more creativity while hopefully preserving the integrity of the original author's intent. Only if I'm not understanding overall intent do I fall back on literal word for word translations, adjusted only to make the grammar work out properly.

So, anyway, on to the article and my slightly wooden translation.

橋下市長:男女共同セ ンターなど一部存続

毎日新聞 2012年07月19日 23時02分 （最終更新 07月19日 23時32分）

大阪市の橋下徹市長は１９日、市民サー ビスを大幅に削減する市政改革プランで全 館廃止を決めていた男女共同参画セン ター（クレオ大阪、５カ所）と生涯学習セ ンター（５カ所）について、一部を存続さ せる方針を表明した。全廃に市民の反発が 強く、市議会第２会派の公明党の強い要 望を受け、方針転換した。

市議会常任委員会で、公明党議員の質問 に答えた。クレオ大阪は、女性の社会進出 支援を目的に、９３年から女性向けの語 学講座や育児、ＤＶ（ドメスティックバイ オレンス）相談などを実施。市政改革プラ ンでは全５カ所を廃止し、区民センターな どの施設に機能を集約するとしていた。

橋下市長はこの日、「ＤＶなどの相談は 身近な施設ではしにくい」として、「複合 化、多機能化を図りながらオール大阪のセ ンター館として１カ所を存続させる」と話 した。

http://mainichi.jp/select/news/20120720k0000m010138000c.html

Mayor Yamashita: Some gender equality centers to continue

Osaka mayor Toru Yamashita announced on the 19 th that some gender equality centers would remain open, after a reform planned to drastically cut down the number of citizen service centers including the closure of all gender equality centers (Creo Osaka – 5 locations) and lifelong education centers (5 locations). The policy was changed due to strong public outcry against the closures and the strongly voiced desires of the #2 Komeito Party in the city council.

Hashimoto answered questions from Komeito council members at a standing committee meeting of the city council. Creo Osaka supports the advancement of women in society, and since 1993 has offered classes on language study and child-rearing as well as offering domestic violence counseling. Under the city reform plan, the 5 locations would all close and these functions would be centralized at ward resident service centers.

Mayor Yamashita explained, “Counseling on things like domestic violence in familiar facilities is difficult” and therefore “the All Osaka Center will be one location that continues to serve as a combined, multifunctional facility.”