May 14th, 2012

Japanese Military Honorifics

I currently am writing a piece that's set in the Japanese after world, so the time period of the honorifics isn't as important. However, the characters all take place in a military setting, so I was wondering what the honorifics would be for the various ranks. The only anime/manga that had military ranks being used that I've seen or read was Bleach where they address captain as -taichou and assistant captain as -fukutaichou, but I wanted more than one series for basis of my characters' honorifics towards each other.

The honorifics that I'd like to know are mostly, "general", "captain", "assistant captain", "___ seat" (ie 1st seat, 2nd seat, 3rd seat, etc. Up to 10th seat is needed.). I'm assuming that after a certain amount of familiarity with each other, the ranked members who see each other often enough might start addressing each other as -san, but correct me if that's wrong. I'm also assuming that a higher ranked member might use -san as well, such as a 2nd seat to a 5th seat. Would an unranked member of their division address a 4th seat in a different way than a 9th seat, assuming that the 9th and 4th ranked member were not on a -san level of familiarity yet?

I've tried to look up 'Japanese Military Honorifics', 'Japanese "Military Honorifics"', '"Japanese Military Honorifics"', 'Military honorifics in Japanese' and a plethora of other ways, but most of the sites that I come across are general honorifics or they have some mention of the military in it, like in a description of -kun. I also found about 50 results for a book called "Language and Gender in the Military: Honorifics, Narrative..." but it's about western military honorifics in English and French. I did find one source that listed -taichou as an acceptable way to address a captain, but that was the only one that I found so far and it came from an anime's forum so I also don't know how legitimate it is. I also tried using an online translator (because those work so well), but it literally gave me "Kyaputen Miyagi" and I decided that was all of the information I needed to invalidate instant translators for this.

Revealing court-ordered surveillance to suspect in the US

My novel is set in West Virginia, USA. A detective has returned fire on and killed the boy-toy of the wealthy and very well-connected son of a six-time congressman and Speaker of the House. Subsequent to being informed he may have charges brought against him, the detective finds himself under open surveillance. His best friend is researching to write a book on a closed child murder that took place in her rental house. She is partially motivated by two new murder cases with similar circumstances that have occurred near her house. Her house is ransacked and the files and interviews she obtained have been stolen. Outside her house, the detective approaches the men following him to ascertain who they are working for and find out if they also have his friend's house under surveillance since he has been living there. They are FBI. As it's not required by law, they do not have a court-order for the video surveillance of the writer's home, but they do have one for audio and a GPS transponder on her vehicle. If asked directly by the writer, do they have to reveal and present the court-order for covert surveillance? (I'm hoping for yes- and the agents are also sympathetic to the detective's case, but Daddy has pull- I can make them private goons if need be :-))

I have read lots about covert surveillance, the Going Dark proceedings, the use of informants for surveillance, privacy laws, and the FBI lawsuits brought by EFF for by-passing court orders and searched with 'legality of covert surveillance' 'court ordered surveillance' 'informed consent, court ordered surveillance' 'court ordered surveillance, informing suspect' 'requirements of revealing covert surveillance' 'requirements of revealing court ordered surveillance', those last two with 'to suspect' added. And whatever else I though up[, lolol, but I must be missing a keyword because I can NOT find the answer to my question :-)

Physical effects of being bound/confined to a small space

The setting is modern day, urban USA. The character in question is a healthy, slim man, about 35 years old. He's fit and more flexible than most men, about average height. He's been kidnapped (I'm thinking chloroformed rather than hit over the head so I don't have to complicate things further with a concussion), bound tightly with his hands behind his back and his feet together in front of him and put into a wooden crate just large enough to hold him sitting with his knees to his chest. It's not airtight but it's solidly constructed and he doesn't have enough space or leverage to get free.

My intention is for him to be kept in that state for a whole day or most of a day, though I can change that if I need to. I know there would be psychological effects as well, but I'm trying to figure out how mobile he could reasonably be within a short time of being freed. I'm sure there would be muscle spasms/pain/stiffness/soreness for some time, but once he was lifted out of the crate and rested for a short while would the character likely be able to stand and walk with assistance? I want him to refuse transport to the hospital and be able to recover with oral hydration and skilled if not professional TLC, so if I need to change the time frame I can do that.

I've googled the effects of long-term binding/bondage/confinement/physical confinement and found articles about solitary confinement in prison, physical confinement of children in school and the elderly in nursing homes, and reminders not to leave somebody tied up too long in BDSM scenarios but nothing that applies to this situation.