Sorry, I didn't want to insult anybody at all and I apologize if I did. But it is a matter of the pot calling the kettle black, really. You are telling me I'm being self-centered and wanting to let somebody else do all the work, just for a little whim of mine.
This is not the case. I'm just asking for help on this, knowing that this forum isn't the exact right place to go. But to lift a corner of the veil: for the past 7 years I've been working on a reconstruction of how the world looked like during the time of the Hundred Years War. The ultimate aim of the project I keep to myself. I've already done a great part of Europe and Africa (the parts of Africa from that time we have documentation of). I scoured the internet and libraries in search for documentation and asked the help of some historiographers to get insight in the historical demo- and topographics of the western world in this tumultuous period in human history.
Now I wanted to make a start with the east, Asia, but faced a big language barrier and didn't know how to start. I really put a lot of time and energy in this project. It has become more than a hobby over the years and it really isn't ment to make me feel a swell guy, I assure you.
I admit the way I asked for help may have seen a little thoughtless. Thank you for the suggestion. I did want to take a look at existing topography of Japan and try to compare the characters, but I fear I only can translate half the map that way...You're either vastly underestimating the time it would take (to translate/transliterate and also format into some semblance of order so that you could locate the translated words on the map - or do you expect someone to edit the image to add the romaji in?) or vastly overestimating the level of motivation (not patience) any random person on the internet is likely to have to expend time on assisting you for no return other than maybe warm fuzzies. Probably both.
Suggestion: Google Maps has both romaji and kanji on it for Japan (sometimes you need to zoom in a bit). A number of the places on the map still exist, so some of them you could find that way. Then try googling for old province names, or something similar - you might be find something with both kanji and romaji on some obscure website... List of provinces of Japan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia for example. You don't need to know Japanese to do that, just a little patience.
If you put a little effort in, you could probably figure out most of the place names on that map and learn quite a bit about Japanese geography/history at the same time.
In the second part of this Christmas holidays I have got the time to try and translate the map with this method and will be overlaying the translated words and phrases over the map. Can I come back to this forum with the map and try to find help in translating the rest of the map?
Hmm, and maybe someone is willing to translate the phrases at the bottom and left edge of the map (the white edge I mean, so outside the actual map). I feel these give me a hint on what the map exactly is about.
