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The 44th President: The “Death Death” President?

I was happy to see the result of the election yesterday, as were the residents of Obama City, the little town in Fukui-ken near the Japan Sea.　 Apparently they had a big festival just to celebrate this wonderful same-name meaningless coincidence.

Whatever. 　I get it.　 I brag about the Dutch model Chantal Janzen, and if we happen to be cousins, the link would be about 500 years old.

chantal_janzen

But I was thinking about Japanese superstition when I noticed that Obama is the 44th president.　 In Japan that is a bad number. 　You would read it “shi shi” which has the connotation of “death death”.　 I once went to a yakiniku restaurant where there were no 4′s or 9′s on any of the shoe lockers.　 Apparently 9, or “ku”, can sound like “painful/difficult”.

The opposite is also true.　 On the years when November 22 lands on a Saturday or Sunday, the wedding places are packed out. 　This is due to the fact that 11/22 is read “ii fuufuu” which means “good couple”.　 I had to laugh when an elderly student of mine pointed out that her license plate was 87-06, “hanarero” which translates roughly to “Back the hell off”.　 Perfect license plate for tailgaters.

Anyway, not meaning to rain on the Obama parade, it’s just a superstition.　 But if only he could have been the 39th president. 　Then he would have been the “sankyuu” president which is close to “Thank you!” which is what the whole world is saying this morning.

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39 comments - What do you think? Posted by fatblueman - November 6, 2008 at 3:04 pm

Categories: General Japan Tags: fukui, obama

http://www.victorymanual.com Alex

Meh. If we’re going to mash-up cultural superstitions, most office buildings in Tokyo are doomed because they all have 13th floors.

Sling

A nice point, actually!

And then you add 1 + 3 = 4

WHOA.

Double whammy!

hehehe…

ankoku

The reason that ‘ku’ has superstition attached to it is because of 「苦」　which means “painful” or “difficult” and can be pronounced ku (generally it is the kuru in kurushii).

http://www.japanprobe.com James

Noted and corrected – thanks.

Jarvik7

More like you COULD read it as shi-shi as opposed to the correct reading, but only if you were hardcore into numerology.

Also, ku sounds like suffering, not kill.
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jeeze

You sound like someone from the pre-Obama days. Banking on getting a lot of hits by using “death” and “president” in the same sentence so soon after an election. C’mon man stop spreading fear its the new style.

Sheesh

And you sound like someone who needs to chill – if reading that blog post makes you fearful.

huh

there’s always the old “I have to 544″ joke GoShiShi or the “don’t touch my mustache” for Doitashimaste. From old Nisei’s in Southern California
The Overthinker

No, no, you’re all wrong. “Four” in Japanese in “yon” or “yotsu” – Obama is going to be the “Yo-yo President”….
(Don’t toy with him or he’ll get wound up….)
http://www.blacktokyo.com Zurui

I really do not believe in all of that but let’s use these meanings of “shishi” to shed some light on the doom and gloom:

Lion (jishi or shishi) which is used to ward of evil spirits and guard shinto shrines. The lion is the defender of law and Obama does have a law degree!

I like this meaning of Shishi, “noble-minded patriot.”

How about that for CHANGE!

fatblueman

I like that. That’s a lot better. Hey James, how about adding that to the post as an update!!
http://www.chirimotsumoreba.net/ Jordan

Switch! Well played, sir. Well played indeed.
LOD

We can also say 44 stands for yo-shi (good).

Anon

Or we can not say that because Japanese doesn’t work that way. 44. Yon-juu-yon. And Yoshi doesn’t translate to good.

fatblueman

I had some junior high school students who found it entertaining to write 夜炉死苦 (よろしく) on their papers to me (night, fire pit, death, and suffering). Nice kids.

http://www.blacktokyo.com Zurui

LOL! Great kids.

Ahhhhhh, youth!
Rob

lol. kids are brutal.
LB

Kids. Feh. They got the kanji wrong – the correct combination is 夜露死苦

Any fan of Japanese rock knows that. The Jr. High kids probably just found 露 too difficult.

The Overthinker

露 isn’t bizarre though – dew? Okay, you could claim it mean “Russia,” but that isn’t much either these days.

LB

It has other meanings – 露出 (public exposure, as in nudity, not as in sticking Russia outdoors) for example. If you want to know why it is written 夜露死苦 please ask someone from the band 横浜銀蝿 – they started it!
The Overthinker

Hmmm. “Russian public nudity outdoors at night will lead to sufferiugn and death (especially in winter)” might be the original concept….

helical

Bah, slacker kids these days can’t even get their hellos right… They have no respect for tradition, you know! Now get off my lawn!

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http://aki-akiaki.blogspot.com/ Aki

My former car had a number plate of “42 79″ (“Shini Naku” = “死に、泣く” = “cry dying”). I really hated that number.
Matt

The whole world is certainly _not_ saying “thank you” this morning.

I think the stories on Obama, JP are interesting because they provide some additional insight into a different part of Japan. I read this site to learn about all aspects of Japan.

But I don’t come here to read editorializing on American politics from a Canadian

Anyway, the election is over and I hope for a prosperous USA and a prosperous world.
http://l33tminion.livejournal.com/ L33tminion

If you’re going to read it as しし (shishi), you might well note that 志士 (shishi) means “patriot”.
bjlink

“Shi-Shi” is also the onomatopoeia for “urination”/ the Japanese equivalent of “pee-pee.”
jasje

“Shi-Shi” is also 16, and 1+6=7; a lucky number!
hroengine

44 just means its outside the realm of normalcy. Could be with the references to serious death or extreme wealth. Makes sense because it is the first black electy. Now isn’t that strange that the number corresponds with different.
hroengine

誰も、小浜のひょう入れた。
http://sleepytako.blogspot.com Sleepytako

I always try to use locker 44 for my shoes at the onsen. Sometimes there is no 44 however.
momonga

Very cool comments, esp about Yoshi(good) or shishi(patriot)
I7m trying to be positive about Obama. He is US president, so if in Japan he is the “shi-shi”( for Korea certainly he is) president, for the US,he will be No. “forty-four”, which reminds me of “fortune”. Lets hope he will bring ” good fortune” for everyone.
The Overthinker

「志士」 doesn’t just mean “patriot,” however. It refers specifically to a select band of anti-Shogun thinkers at the end of the Tokugawa regime. A lot of them were anti-foreigners, and it was shishi who killed, for example, the westerners at the Namamugi Incident. They did include some more opern-minded and progressive people, but on the whole they made the Republican right wing look like nancy-boys. In other words, they were radical conservatives. In fact, a lot of them were terrorists.

Go with 獅子 – no worries there.
Or 嗣子 – “heir”
孜孜 – “with untiring zeal” is good.
死屍 – “corpse” is really not good.
師資 – “teacher, master” is good.
市史 – “city history” is just silly.

孜孜師資、獅子如、志士嗣子….

LB

“志士」 doesn’t just mean “patriot,” … In fact, a lot of them were terrorists.”

Wait – Sarah Palin was right?!? くそっ！！！！

http://www.blacktokyo.com Zurui

one (wo)man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter (patriot)!
Anon

44 is “yon-juu-yon”, not “shi-shi”. 4 can be pronounced “Shi” or “Yon”, though because the kanji for “death” is pronounced “shi”, they usually use “yon” for numbers and time. 9 is “ku” and “kyuu”, but more commonly used is “kyuu” for the same reason. Thus, 4 and 9 are considered unlucky numbers, but 44 isn’t considered any more unlucky than 4 or 9. You don’t see people worried about the number 1,313 in cultures superstitious to 13 now do you?

And if you want to get even more into it, 11/22 is “juu-ichi/ni-juu-ni”. Or if you want to say November 22nd, “juu-ni gatsu, ni-juu-ni nichi”.

And you’re friends license plate, 87-06, is “hachi-juu-nana – rei-roku”; or even just “hachi-nana-rei-roku”.

“But if only he could have been the 39th president. 　Then he would have been the “sankyuu” president which is close to “Thank you!” which is what the whole world is saying this morning.”

39 is “san-juu-kyuu”. Sankyuu is just the adopted form of the English saying “Thank You”. You see this a lot in Japan because they do not have Japanese words for things like “Beer”, “Cheeseburger” and “Hamburger” (Biiru, Chiizubaagaa, Hanbaagaa).

Next time you want to do a piece on another culture’s language maybe you should take a class before making a complete ass of yourself.

The Overthinker

Next time you want to come across as knowing what the hell you are you talking about, take a few classes yourself. How long have you studied Japanese? Have you ever actually been to Japan and seen Japanese playing with readings of numbers in exactly the same way we have been here? All those phone numbers for businesses that end 4649 because they can be made to say “yo-ro-shi-ku”? Or how about JR West’s telephone booking number that goes 5489 (“go-yo-ya-ku”) and is even called the “JR West Japan 5489 Service? And that’s just phone numbers. Now check out all the ways dates are used. Find out what Toilet Day is and why it is when it is. Or any number of similar days set up by various groups to promote awareness.

If you had left your comment at the penultimate paragraph, you would be treated as someone who has yet to learn about this, and we would gently correct your errors. But by claiming that we need to take classes and are making asses of ourselves, you are just being insulting, and, what is more, insulting and very very wrong. And that is what making a complete ass of yourself means….

And “you’re” is wrong too.

fbm

Why thank you Overthinker. I was just going to leave it because the lack of familiarity with number play among the Japanese exposes the commenter as some brilliant moron who obviously doesn’t live here, but I think you put that well.

The 44th President: The “Death Death” President?

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