events unfolding

ロシアのプーチン大統領が3月18日に編入を正式表明し、ウクライナから独立することになったクリミア自治共和国ですが、日本ではまったく別のレベルで話題になっていることをBBCが伝えています。

　　　　　　　　　　　　

Japan: Crimean attorney general inspires anime fan art

In Japan, people watching events unfolding in Crimea appear to have become captivated by the region's newly-appointed attorney general.
Clips of a press conference with Natalia Poklonskaya have been shared widely on Japanese platforms, says website Rocketnews24. She was appointed to the post on 11 March and formerly served as a senior prosecutor for the city of Simferopol.

In particular, one video in which Poklonskaya listens to a reporter's question has been viewed nearly 300,000 times since it was posted to a Japanese YouTube channel. There is no translation of her answer. Some people appear to be so taken with the seemingly charming prosecutor, they are turning out manga images and anime fan art inspired by her.

Before her appointment as Crimea's attorney general, Poklonskaya worked as a senior lawyer at the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office, in the Ukrainian capital Kiev and Crimea's Simferopol, according to Rossiyskaya

Gazeta, the official Russian government newspaper.

She has voiced criticism of the opposition protests in Ukraine, and described the change of government in Kiev as an "anti-constitutional coup". The Ukrainian government has launched a criminal case against her and stripped her of the civil service rank of "counsellor of justice".

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-26663168

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax6_2CjMbI0

これまで何度もブログ内の記事にも出てきていますが、events unfolding は、後ろに置かれたunfoldingがポイントです。unfoldingには「織り込まれて隠されているもの・ことがこれから徐々に明らかにされる」（"(Of events or information) gradually develop or be revealed"--Oxford Dictionaries)という意味があります。それがeventsを指して、「（どういう方向に向かっているのか分からず）事が起きるつどはじめて何が起きているのか明らかになるような出来事・状況」を表すときに用いられます（cf. 手品）。「固唾を飲んで事を見守る」事件、事故を伝える記事に頻出します。

西側とロシアの対立が激化する中、対岸の火事を見るような形で日本が紹介されるのは、たとえそれが一部の行為であっても至極残念なことです。（UG）