/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>33469626
And another possibly-sacred cow bites the dust. I'm changing Chang'e's name back to Jouga—the Japanese version of the name, which is the version ZUN uses.

My knowledge of fandom history isn't strong enough for me to say this confidently, but I believe the long-standing custom of referring to this character as Chang'e and not Jouga in English can all be traced back to this page. Touhou Project already makes plenty of references to Chinese mythology and folklore by the Japanese names of the folkloric elements referenced. Hourai and Tougenkyou, not Pénglái and Táohuāyuán. And the English translations almost universally preserve the Japanese names rather than re-Sinicizing them, with this being, as far as I know, the sole major exception.

My guess is that Gaku Gaku Animal Land decided to switch the name to Chang'e to make the reference to the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program work better in this scene, and that that choice stuck. It's actually not a bad decision in this isolated case, but a single reference isn't a good reason to change the character's name across the entire Touhou Project for all the rest of time. I'll take the hit and explain this reference in a translation note.

Also, Chang'e is not the definitive pronunciation of the name of this mythological figure. It's just the pronunciation that modern Mandarin happens to use. The Mandarin language is not the only or the definitive member of the Chinese language family. That is a lie. Do not listen to Pooh Bear. Free Tibet, Tiananmen Square, Human Rights, Republic of China, Dalai Lama, Uyghurstan.