Japanese with Manga

No time to return to headquarters with 本部

Kanji Explanation: Sections and departments with 部

Manga panel from ARIA The MASTERPIECE showing example of No time to return to headquarters with 本部.
ARIA The MASTERPIECE » Volume 3 » Page 286

Akari encounters Woody while he’s out on a delivery run. He stopped to show off for some kids, but in the process, he seems to have lost his city map, and he has a terrible sense of direction. Akari asks if he has the delivery addresses, which he says he does.

ウッディー:
「でも　本部(ほんぶ)まで地図(ちず)を取(と)りに戻(もど)る時間(じかん)がないのだぁ！」
“But I don't have time to go back to headquarters to get a map!!”
Literal: “But there is no time to return as far as headquarters to get the map!!”

Key Points

1本部(ほんぶ) = headquarters
  • 本部(ほんぶ) uses 部 in the sense of an organizational division or office.
  • In this scene it means the company’s central base, so “headquarters” fits.
2まで marks the destination
  • 本部(ほんぶ)まで means “as far as headquarters” or more here “to headquarters”.
  • The line is about physically going back there to retrieve the map.
3地図(ちず)を取(と)りに戻(もど)る = go back to get the map
  • 〜に戻(もど)る here expresses returning for the purpose of getting something.
  • The fuller idea is “return to headquarters in order to pick up the map”.

Vocabulary

(Headquarters)

本部(ほんぶ) means the headquarters or central governing office of an organization.

(To take)

取(と)る means to take or obtain something. Its exact sense depends on what is being taken.

(Time)

時間(じかん) means time, an amount of time, or the interval between two points.

See Also

ARIA The MASTERPIECE © its respective creators. It is used here for educational commentary.