Oddly Pronounced English Words in Japanese

As a native English speaker, it's nice that there are so many English loan words in use in Japanese, though in practice a lot of these words aren't always rendered with 100% phonetic accuracy due to limitations of the katakana sound system. The Japanese often use English words for happy, positive concepts, and one word they like is "healthy"...however since it's pronounced ヘルシー herushii, it took quite a while for my brain to get used to it. The other day I was watching a news report that mentioned a government "think tank," but for phonetic reasons this word came out as "sink tank," made my brain want to rebel. The most elementary English word of them all, the definite article "the," is yet another example of pronunciation that must be re-learned, since it comes out as ザ za when the Japanese use it. Some other English words that come out oddly when rendered in Japanese include tune, steam, etiquette and artist, which are pronounced chune, su-cheemu, echi-ketto and ah-chist. There's also the English phrase "thank you," which for reasons of pronunciation always comes out as san kyu in Japanese. Since this sounds like the numbers 3 and 9, it's common for March 9th to be designated a day of "thanks" by some companies, including the creators of Hatsune Miku.

And don't even get me started on "Tirol" chocolates, pronounced chi-ROH-ru.

Gaijin are "KY" (Cannot Read the Air)

One theme I write about often is the Japanese idea of 常識 joshiki, translatable as the knowledge that every (Japanese) person possesses by default, a sort of "universal common sense." Joshiki is all around you in Japan, the list of knowledge and behaviors and attitudes that nearly everyone seems to share...except us poor gaijin, who are doomed to always be on a slightly different wavelength from everyone around us. I'm from San Diego where it's usually warm, so I'm more than happy to wear short sleeves on a warm day in March, though this often surprises Japanese, who are trained by their school system to only wear summer clothes from June 1 through October 1. Another bit of "common sense" in Japan is that the only time outdoor swimming is permitted is July and August, and Japanese people I knew were shocked when I went to the beach on September 1st. The combination of not being aware of these subtle cultural facts and our normal tendency to mis-understand some Japanese words means that foreigners are often viewed as "KY," slang for 空気読めない kuuki yomenai, which means "cannot read the air" (i.e. are usually unaware of subtle social situations). In the end I don't worry about trying to follow the Japanese way too closely, preferring to be マイペース ("my pace"), a phrase used to describe someone who lives life at his own pace and in his own way.

Foreigners are often on a different wavelength from Japanese.

Paper Doors and Japan

When I came to Japan my head was filled with silly stereotypes of delicate wooden houses with paper walls. The reality, of course, was...pretty accurate, at least in the case of my house, a 40+ year old wooden structure with a liquor shop built into the first floor and a second floor that was added when I moved in. Nearly all houses in Japan today combine both Western and Japanese features, for example having a 洋間 yoh-ma or "Western-style room" with a sofa and chairs right next to a 和室 washitsu or "Japanese room," with tatami mats, recessed alcoves for displaying art and other traditional features. One of the hallmarks of Japanese architecture are shoji doors, lightweight wooden frames with paper covering them which let light in yet retain heat when closed. As with many other aspects of Japanese life, shoji paper doors have a very long history, dating at least from the Heian Period (794-1185). While foreigners may love the look of these traditional Japanese rooms, they're not universally popular among Japanese people. Being made of paper, they don't provide much in the way of meaningful privacy, and children and cats love to poke holes in them. I've heard shoji paper doors are a contributing factor in Japan's "sexless" marriage problem, since who would want to do the horizontal tango with the kids or (ulp) in-laws just a paper door away?

Paper doors are a symbol of Japan.

Light Novels on iTunes!

For years, J-List customers have been buying our iTunes Japan prepaid cards which make it easy to create a Japan-based iTunes account so you can download anime, JPOP and KPOP songs, Japan-only iOS apps (many of which are released free, though you need an iTunes Japan account to access them), and so on. Now there's another great reason to get into iTunes Japan content: books! Apple's iBooks app for iPhone/iPod touch and iPad is now compatible with Japanese content, and there's a great selection of awesome manga (digitally created for highest quality) as well as light novels for you to browse. All content is compatible with any iOS device you own. 

The Japanese Love Gift Giving

There are certain things that are very important to the Japanese, including obsessing over cleanliness, making sure things as kawaii as they can be and...gift-giving. The Japanese are master gift givers, and have many customs related to giving and receiving, which provides a valuable "social lubrication" that makes all manner of personal and business relationships work more smoothly here. The most common form of gift is the omiyage (oh-mee-yah-geh), or souvenir from a specific place, and whenever J-List goes to discuss licensing eroge and visual novels with new game companies, we visit their office with a box of local treats from our home prefecture of Gunma for the staff to share. Incidentally, if you ever come to Japan, it's a good idea to bring some items to give out as gifts to people you might encounter here, as it will really make things go more smoothly. Just about anything in a box that's representative of where you're from is fine -- even cigarettes are okay, if you know that the person you'll be encountering smokes. (Supposedly Newport Menthols are a good brand.) Another good idea is Starbucks mugs from your city, since everyone loves coffee in Japan. Incidentally, J-List stocks some great Japanese snacks in gift boxes which are fun to give to others.

An Omiyage shop in Okinawa.

Managing "China Risk"

One keyword that's big in Japan these days is チャイナリスク ("China Risk"), which describes the many potential problems that countries and companies face when dealing with China in the 21st century. Seen from Japan, the list is very long indeed, including environmental problems, rapidly rising labor costs, manufacturing quality issues (there've been several food-related scares here), legal issues like international companies losing the rights to their own names because of local trademark squatters, and the huge problem with counterfeits (Asia is awash with fake Yamaha and Honda motorcycles, for example). The biggest problem Japan has faced so far was last year, when the government purchased the disputed Senkaku Islands (known as the Daiyou Islands in China) from their private Japanese owners, ostensibly to keep nationalists from both sides from landing on the islands and inflaming the situation. The plan backfired and Chinese rioted, in orderly government-sponsored demonstrations (in Beijing) and open violence elsewhere. (They also destroyed a "Japanese" Samsung factory, since Korean companies pretend to be Japanese to improve the worldwide image of their products.) An interesting drama called Made In Japan recently captured the frustration Japanese feel over China, telling the story of a struggling Japanese electronics manufacturer who halts a dedicated engineer's lithium-ion battery manufacturing project, only to see him move to China and complete the project with a Chinese manufacturer.

Balancing "China Risk" is a challenge.

Do You Have a "Childhood Friend"?

When manga and anime creators go to design a new character, they have many core persona types to start from. They might choose to create a basic pure imouto younger-sister character but tweak her personality with yandere tendencies while making her speak the Osaka-ben regional dialect randomly, or present a new take on the classic fiery-haired genki magical girl by making her a "mayoler" (a person who loves mayonnaise) just for laughs. One type of character that's quite common in anime is the osana-najimi or "childhood friend," who grew up alongside a main character and knows everything about them. I spent my own childhood moving from place to place every couple of years, so the idea of having a lifelong friend is unknown to me, though my wife grew up in the neighborhood we live in now and has several. But an osana-najimi isn't exactly a friend, it's both more and less. "It's like they're always there, and you never think about them. Since you were together from the beginning, you can't remember a time when that person wasn't around." In the (surprisingly good) new anime Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru (My Girlfriend and Childhood Friend Fight Too Much, shortened to OreShura by fans), the main character Eita is fawned over by his childhood friend Chiwa as well as the beautiful Masuzu, who becomes his girlfriend as "camouflage" to get the other boys to stop trying to date her. In one scene, Masuzu says, "You sure know everything that Chiwa is thinking, don't you?" and he replies, "Yes, well, I'm her childhood friend after all."

"Childhood friend" characters are a staple in anime.

Fun Japanese Fashion + Cosplay Items On Sale

This month J-List is having a big sale on all Japanese apparel and cosplay products, including everything from amazing Japanese socks and "socks glue" to pantsu, anime T-shirts and those wacky Horse Head masks. You've never had a better excuse to browse our Japanese Apparel and Cosplay product page than now!

Raising "Haafu" Kids Bilingually

Over the past 17 years I've helped raise two great kids who are haafu, half Japanese and half American -- well, a quarter American and a quarter British, but whatever. Since my Japanese wife and I both knew how hard it is to learn a language, we wanted to make sure our kids were raised bilingual, so we came up with some strategies to help make this possible. If the kids ever wanted something from me, they had to ask me in English, and I only purchased DVDs from the U.S. so they were forced to watch everything in English only -- I even imported dubbed anime from the U.S. and watched it in English with them, pretending there was no Japanese track on the disc. I worked hard to make sure they were exposed to American cultural icons, ike Thanksgiving and Halloween and Scooby Doo, so they had a proper link to the U.S. In the end, of course, there's no "free" way to learn a language, and both my kids had to buckle down and learn English vocabulary and grammar, which they've done very well at.

Like some of our favorite anime characters, my kids are haafu.

Understanding Japan's Military Through Anime

You probably don't think of Japan as a military power, but the country does possess a large military force with an annual budget of $46 billion dollars. The Japanese military is called the 自衛隊 jiei-tai ("Self-Defense Forces" or SDF) and was created in 1954 as a strictly defensive force after the end of the Allied Occupation of Japan. Being an all-volunteer defensive military, the SDF lacks certain features such as aircraft carriers, air-to-surface missiles, bombers and marines, and all Japanese fighter jets are modified with short-range fuel tanks to ally any fears Japan's neighbors might have of ever being attacked. One of the biggest problems with Japan's military forces is that they're basically extra-legal -- Article 9 of Japan's constitution strictly states that "land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential will never be maintained" despite the daily reality of Japan's armed forces. In the 21 years that I've lived here, there have been numerous attempts at amending the constitution to give the SDF some official legal status, but Japan's strange form of democracy, in which every little political party has the right to shout out their opinion and consensus is very hard to reach, has made this impossible so far. One popular type of obsession in Japan is "military otaku," and there are Japanese who love everything about Japan's armed forces. There's a whole sub-grouping of anime series specifically designed to appeal to these military fans, from Girls und Panzer to Muv-Luv Alternate: Total Eclipse.

Muv-Luv is an anime that appeals to Self Defense Forces otakus.

Happy Shrine Maiden Day!

When foreigners come to Japan they're immediately enthralled with the beautiful temples and shrines they encounter here. Japan has two main cultural/religious traditions which coexist side-by-side and which fill different roles for people as they go through their lives. The first is Shinto, which finds kami (spirits or gods) in things like trees or mountains and which is tied to happy life events like weddings, celebrating newborn babies or the arrival of a new year. The other tradition is Buddhism, which was imported through China and Korea and which today is mostly related to funerals and honoring family members who have gone on. While you probably can't remember the last time you saw an anime that was steeped in solemn Buddhist themes (Buddhist statue gags in Nichijou notwithstanding), you can probably think of several that feature Shinto shrines and characters wearing the trademark garb of miko Shrine Maidens. This is because Shinto seems inherently more "happy" and is more likely to find its way into popular culture and thus is more visible to us, while Buddhism is far more difficult for us to access. Incidentally, May 5th happens to be Miko-no-Hi or "Shrine Maiden Day," because "3-5" sounds like mi-ku to the Japanese. If you happen to see a Shrine Maiden, give her a hug.

March 5 is Shrine Maiden day.

J-List's Fashion and Cosplay Sale is Going On Now

Announcing the J-List Spring Fashion + Cosplay sale! Since we have so many fun Japanese fashion products + accessories plus cosplay products and anime t-shirts, we decided to have a sale on these items for you this month. Through the end of March, get 2x J-List points on all these excellent products! Click to see the most popular Japanese apparel and cosplay products, as ranked by our customers!

Developing 信頼 (Trust) in Japan

One concept that's very important in Japan is 信頼 shinrai (SHEEN-rye), meaning "trust." There are many situations when you see trust in action in Japan, for example the way Japanese bars will display dozens of bottles with customers' names written on the side. This is called "bottle keep," and the bottles have been purchased by customers who drink from them whenever they come in, trusting the establishment not to steal sips from their Yamazaki 18 Year. If it starts to rain while you're at the post office, they've got a rack of umbrellas you're free to borrow, and if you should ever lose your wallet while in Japan, just go to the nearest police station and the police will loan you train fare to get home. Once I was building a wooden deck on my house and needed a way to get the lumber from the home center to my house; happily, the store had a truck that they loan out for free, even to foreigners like me. Japanese can sometimes trust too much. Once I went to make a purchase in an electronics store but didn't have enough cash with me; the clerk actually offered to loan me the money I needed, even though she didn't know me at all. I don't know about you, but I find that being in a society where trustworthiness is valued is great, and I'm always careful to make sure I don't betray trust that anyone puts in me.

Trust is an important aspect to life in Japan. And Hibiki.

Confusing Words in Japanese: Kowai and Kawaii

When dealing with other languages there's plenty of potential for words that are similar in sound to become confused in the brain despite being totally unrelated, for example the word 盆栽 bonsai (a miniature tree) is often confused with banzai (a Japanese word roughly meaning "may the Emperor live for 10,000 years," essentially a translation of the British "God save the King"). Other words that can be confused easily are 奇麗 kirei (meaning clean or pretty, depending on the context) and 嫌い kirai (hateful); 可愛い kawaii (cute) and 怖い kowai (scary); or いっぱい ippai (to be full) and おっぱい oppai (er, boobs). Sometimes words can sound "different" when they're really the same, like Nippon and Nihon, two valid ways to say the name of Japan in Japanese (the first one sounds a little more formal/patriotic and is what's always used on NHK news broadcasts), or 腹切 harakiri and 切腹 seppuku, two words for Japanese ritual disembowelment but with the kanji in different order (the first uses the Japanese reading for the characters, the second the Chinese one). Word confusion can happen going the other direction, too, like the many Lord of the Rings fans here who believe the title is Road of the Ring (e.g. the road the ring takes to get to Mordor), or the way 99.9% of Japanese believe Pizza Hut is really Pizza Hat (the red roof even like a hat).

Is it kawaii or kowai? Or sometimes both.

Technology as Seen in Anime

One cool aspect of animation is how it can express any idea without limitation, since anything that can be drawn on paper of can be animated. This extends to technology, and it's quite common for anime to show us fanciful glimpses of possible futures, like the Fyu-Neru robot from Guilty Crown, with both legs and wheels so it can roll anywhere yet climb stairs or furniture, a great design we might actually have in our homes someday. Often the technology shown in anime becomes another "character" in the story, like the Cyberpunk tech and Tachikomas from Ghost in the Shell or the important role of cell phones in Steins;Gate or School Days. I've recently been watching the new Nitroplus series Robotics;Notes, about a school robotics club that sets out to build an actual giant robot. The series is highly influenced by iPad-like tablet computing, and shows us a future in which everyone carries these tablets for gaming, communication and interaction with "augmented reality" virtual idols.

Robotics;Notes shows us the glorious future of tablet computing and robots.

J-List is Having a Fashion + Cosplay Sale

Announcing the J-List Spring Fashion + Cosplay sale! Since we have so many fun Japanese fashion products + accessories plus cosplay products and anime t-shirts, we decided to have a sale on these items for you this month. Through the end of March, get 2x J-List points on all these excellent products! Click to see the most popular Japanese apparel and cosplay products, as ranked by our customers!

Japanese Grammar and Taxes

Language reflects the character of the people who use it, and this is definitely true of Japanese. One of the first bits of Japanese grammar students of the language learn is the verb ending ~masho, which corresponds to "let's...," as in 食べましょう tabemasho ("let's eat"), or 行きましょう ikimasho ("let's go") or タバコをやめましょう tabako wo yamemasho ("let's not smoke"). In situations where verbal or written warnings would be worded in a command form in English (e.g. do not smoke, do not ride on the escalator backwards), it's common for Japanese to express the same message with this softer "let's..." verb form, essentially placing a social expectation on individuals that they'll alter their behavior for the good of the larger group. Some examples of this might include, "let's put our telephones into vibration mode when riding on the train" (maanaa modo ni shimasho) or "when a pregnant woman or elderly person gets on the train, let's give our seat to them" (seki wo yuzurimasho). Another situation when this fuzzy "let's all cooperate" type of language is used is tax season, when the Japanese Tax Office sponsors commercials featuring TV personalities walking to their post office to mail their income tax forms while saying, "Let's all fill out our tax forms accurately and honestly."

Speaking of taxes, they have them here in Japan, of course, and they work pretty much the same in Japan as they probably do with your country. There's a National Tax Office with local offices in every city for collection of taxes, which are distributed to the various regions of Japan so they can function. (This year a new Tohoku Reconstruction Tax kicked in, to help fund the rebuilding of Northern Japan.) While most tax and accounting concepts present in the West exist here, there are a few fundamental differences. There's no concept of joint ownership of homes or bank accounts by married couples in Japan, with the odd result that the house we live in is owned by my father-in-law, but the land is owned by his wife. While the U.S. government creates programs like 401(k) and IRAs to encourage people to save for the future, Japanese actually save too much, so the government tries to erect penalties to discourage this. Finally, some common concepts in the U.S. like property being held in a living trust are totally alien here in Japan, which can cause confusion when you live with one foot in each country like I do.

"Let's file our taxes accurately, everyone!"

Cool Products Wednesday, February 27, 2013

In addition to updating this site with slice-of-life news from Japan three times a week, I have a popular Twitter feed and Facebook page where I post random anime images and links to updated J-List products. It's fun to watch and see what J-List products people are most amazed by, for example there's that Death Star ice ball maker that gets a lot of attention, or the Horse Head mask that's great for making Internet memes. Our customers squee'ed with happiness when we posted the new Japanese Green Tea Kit Kats for 2013, and so many people have tweeted about the awesome Totoro Plush Chair we can't keep them in stock.

Earthquakes and Japan

There are a few unpleasant things about living in Japan, like riding packed trains in Tokyo at rush hour, or accidentally overfilling the kerosene for your heater, spilling smelly fuel all over your family's shoes. Another aspect of living in Japan I could do without is earthquakes. While things have definitely quieted down since the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, we do still get one or two quakes large enough to notice each week. The other day the J-List staff was happily doing our work when everyone's cell phones started making a loud chirping sound none of us had heard before, and about two seconds later things started to shake. It wasn't that big a quake -- a 6.2 magnitude centered in Ibaragi Prefecture, about 75 km away -- but the unexpected alarm from our phones (which are part of Japan's new early warning system) made us think that the Big One had arrived.

Being ready for earthquakes is important in Japan.

School Backpack and Study Desk Season

In addition to hay fever season in Japan, it's also time to prepare for the start of the new school year, which begins in April. Education is taken very seriously here, and in the case of new first graders, families will go all-out to make sure the child gets off on the right foot. First, every student must have a desk to do his or her homework at, and there's a huge industry of companies selling stylish and functional study desks for kids with features such as a plastic sheet with images from the latest popular anime series that can be removed later when the child is older. Another important choice is what kind of school backpack to buy. School backpacks are called randoseru, from the Dutch word ranzel, and they're extremely well made hard leather backpacks designed to hold everything the student needs over six years of elementary school. Right now Japanese TV is being bombarded with commercials for these school backpacks and study desks, which can be quite expensive, no doubt because retailers know that well-off doting grandparents are usually the ones picking up the tab.

Poor Miku-chan forgot her school backpack was open before she bowed.