「~市議」「具体的」

[Kraise]

Hello there again guys, while studying for the jlpt n2 lately (mainly reading the 朝日新聞 website ) I managed to find two words that made me come back to ask for help.

the text can be checked here: 愛知・稲沢市議に「１５年か無期か死刑」求刑 中国： 朝日新聞デジタル

I'll copypaste a few parts of it, to make it easy for anyone who can't click on links right now.

スーツケースに３・３キロの覚醒剤を隠していたとして、中国当局 に麻薬運搬罪で起訴された愛知県稲沢市議の桜木琢磨被 告（７０）の公判が２８日、中国広東省の広州市中級人 民法院（地裁に相当）で結審した。検察側は「懲役１５ 年以上か無期懲役、または死刑を求める」と述べた。

複数の傍聴人や弁護士によると、桜木市議は最終陳述で「だまされた者は不運だが、罪ではない」 と１時間にわたって訴え、無罪を改めて主張した。桜木 市議の妻も弁護側の証人として出廷。「桜木はこんな人 間ではありません。良き夫、良き父親です」と涙を流し ながら訴えた。

中国の検察は求刑で具体的な量刑を求めることは少ない。同国刑法では覚醒剤と知 りながら運搬した場合、５０グラム以上で「懲役１５年 か無期懲役、または死刑」と定められており、今回も刑 法にほぼ沿った量刑を求めた形だ。

obs: The bolded words mark my questions

1 - I know its a very specific thing, and it doesnt really mess with the text comprehension, but in 桜木市議, is 「桜木」 related to the accused one?I mean, if his name was 成田 it should be called 「成田市議 」?

2 - How should I interpret 具体的? Its the first time I'm seeing this word, is it 「具体的な量刑」 = "a specific assessment of this case"


Once again, thank you everybody for the support. I've been checking my post history and there is a huge improvement in knowledge since my first one till now. If I pass the N2 this year(or the next year) I'll be able to fulfill a goal very soon.

 

[nekojita]

1. Yes, commonly a surname is given along with a title/position such as 知事、博士. Often you will see the victim/family of victim/witnesses or so on named with さん in newspapers and the accused with 被告 instead. Here, since he does have a political position they've gone for 桜木市議 instead of calling him 桜木被告 throughout (also an option).

2. 具体的 is close to the English "concrete" in many cases. If you describe something as 具体的な計画 there is some level of detail in the plan (what you will do by when in which order).

In this case, 量刑 is the sentence passed (by the judge). 求刑 is the prosecution's recommendation for the sentence. So they're saying that typically there isn't a concrete/specific recommendation for sentence from the prosecution side (e.g. asking for the longest possible sentence to be handed out, or demanding the death penalty). They instead may just ask for a sentence "in keeping with the seriousness of the crime" as we'd say over here.

Side note: good luck with N2! Remember to read something else other than news - or at least read something opinion-page-y, there's often a section in the reading which is along the lines of an advice column or two competing opinions on something. (I remember one about a woman who is scared of dogs and dealing with her mother-in-law's dog). 知恵袋 is often interesting, especially in the questions about manners/etiquette - who pays for what at a 合コン, is it okay to use タメ語 towards shop staff.

 

[Kraise]

Side note: good luck with N2! Remember to read something else other than news - or at least read something opinion-page-y, there's often a section in the reading which is along the lines of an advice column or two competing opinions on something. (I remember one about a woman who is scared of dogs and dealing with her mother-in-law's dog). 知恵袋 is often interesting, especially in the questions about manners/etiquette - who pays for what at a 合コン, is it okay to use タメ語 towards shop staff.

I got it.

Thank you for the suggestions , I'm reviewing and building vocabulary right now so that I can improve my listening as well, (reading words aloud, just like you taught me some time ago) but I'm well familiarized with the 読解 section of the JLPT and their "blog like" texts, right now I'm really afraid of the listening test, I feel like my attention span isnt good enough to hold some short term information, specially in those questions where there are no written alternatives.

Thank you for the support Neko, いつもためになるお話、ありがとう！！！

 

[nekojita]

The longer listening questions are a pain and I reckon I bombed them in n2 but you can make up for it with the quick response section.

The main thing there is to be able to answer immediately - you can't go back and the audio is played once with little break between questions. For the full experience find some example audio and sit the opposite side of the room from the speakers while a friend sitting next to you sniffles intermittently.