私たちは、 東京は故郷なので、同郷の友です。
Watashitachi wa, Tōkyō wa kokyō nanode, dōkyō no tomo desu.
We’re both from Tokyo, so we’re friends with a common birthplace.
This sentence is a little unnatural in both languages! In Japanese, it gives one pause because Tokyo is so huge that few people would identify it as their birthplace; they would likely say something more specific, and they probably wouldn’t feel an enduring bond with another one of the millions born in Tokyo. In English, the sentence is awkward because there isn’t an equivalent expression about common birthplaces. I suppose I could have translated the phrase as “birthplace homies,” but somehow that didn’t seem appropriate when speaking of Japan!
However … Sin Nombre, the new movie by Japanese-American filmmaker Cary Fukunaga, depicts fierce Central American gang members who have apparently brought homie into Spanish. Fantastic movie, by the way. Devastating and powerful, it has lingered in my mind for days.
