Korean “Arigatou Gozaimasu” Song
A couple of Korean guys sing the the Japanese phrases for for “thank you” and “excuse me” over and over again, dancing around in wacky manner:
The video link was sent to us by Quill in Miyazaki prefecture, who had this to say about it:
I just wanted to point you to a video of a song I heard the other day in a gift shop here in southern Kyushu. I couldn’t believe my ears. Not really sure if there is some sort of hidden political message here or if it’s just a crazy song, but the stereotypical “gojaimasu” got me wondering if there was something going on here related to the Japan-Korea love/hate relationship. It’s a Korean duo singing basically two phrases from what sounds like a beginning Japanese course’s lesson one.
One of the top-rated comments on the video’s YouTube page notes that the “za” sound doesn’t exist in the Korean language, so when written out in hangul it becomes the “gojaimasu” you hear in the song. The commenter doesn’t believe there is any intent to mock the Japanese language or portray Koreans as dumb.
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Categories: Odd / Strange
Chimpanzee Learns to Gargle
Flu season is approaching, and in Japan that means people should start regularly gargling to keep their throats cleansed and free of scary germs and viruses. Since our ape friends supposedly need this protection too, on Saturday night’s episode of “Shimura Zoo,” Pan-kun the chimpanzee was taught how to gargle:
I’m sure many of you out there read the first few lines of this post and want to point out that the Japan’s obsession with gargling is really really stupid. Sure, gargling has never been proven to prevent viral infections, but did you watch the video clip? Can’t you see how Pan-kun thinks that gargling is really important? Just follow his example, and stop trying to use rationality and science use to prove stuff, mmkay?
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Categories: Animal Videos
Japanese Store Stops Selling Nazi Costumes
For years now, I’ve seen Nazi costumes like the one above on sale at Japanese novelty stores. According to articles showing up in English language newspapers, it seems that somebody recently discovered their existence and got the Simon Wiesenthal Center to file an official complaint about it. As a result, Don Quijote stores have pulled the product from their shelves:
The outfit was on sale for about 5,000 yen (£38) in at least two Don Quijote shops in Tokyo, including one in the upscale Ginza shopping district.
Aico, a Japanese party goods maker, has made the costume for seven years and never had a complaint, said spokesman Nobuyoshi Nasuzawa.
“This was meant purely as a joke, as something that would easily be recognisable. If we have complaints we will certainly stop sales,” he said.
It was not clear if Aico would now stop making the costume.
Don Quijote said it would pull the product after receiving a letter from the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish rights organisation based in Los Angeles. The letter requested that sales at the store cease immediately, saying the swastika is a “symbol of hatred” and reminding the retailer that millions of Jews and other innocents were killed by the Nazis during World War II.
“We want to fully respond to this letter from the centre and are currently working within the company to do so,” said company spokesman Kana Kasai in Tokyo.
Oddly, the article only focuses on Don Quijote, which is just one of many different stores where these products are sold. I’m sure I’ve seen them before at other nation-wide chains like Bulldog, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were sold at Loft and Tokyu Hands as well. The costume is also readily available on Amazon.co.jp, Rakuten, and other online retailers.
Some Googling found 2-channel threads and tweets about the English language news stories, but apparently the story has not yet made its way into Japanese newspapers.
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Categories: Odd / Strange
Stationmaster Goat / Stationmaster Penguin / Stationmaster Cat
The economic success of Tama the Stationmaster Cat has convinced railways across Japan to promote their own animal stationmaster gimmicks:
- JR Kyushu has made a goat named Kyutaro the stationmaster of Umi-no-Nakamichi Station. Upon assuming his post, Kyutaro promptly ate his certificate of promotion.
- Shimane’s Ichibata Electric Railway made a penguin the honorary stationmaster of Matsue Vogel Park station for a day. The little penguin wore a railway uniform and patrolled the interior of a couple train cars.
- Two years have passed since Tama the cat assumed her post as stationmaster of Kishi Station on the Wakayama Electric Railway, and she remains very popular. Last month, a couple even held their wedding at the station! Tama blessed the ceremony with a “meow” and an extension of her paw.
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Categories: Animal Videos
Yes We Can….Speak English?
When Japanese people learn English, they tend to write out the approximate pronunciation of each word using katakana. Since this forces English words to conform to the sounds and syllables of the Japanese language, it is an absolutely horrible method of learning to speak English. It might help somebody pass a written test, but it would barely make sense when spoken aloud.
Here’s an example:
- English: Ham and Eggs
- Katakana: ハムアンドエッグス [Hamu ando Eggusu]
What a mess. The original English should be only 3 syllables, but the katakana-ized version is more than doubled that. It also adds unnecessary sounds that were never present in the original English.
A few days ago, an alternate method of learning English pronunciation was introduced on TV:
Unfortunately, it still seems to rely on katakana. The only thing that is different is that the expert who created this system prefers to shorten everything. Rather than “Hamu ando Eggusu,” we get “Hamu n Eggu.” It ends up sounding more like English, but it still results in weird pronunciation. The loss of so many unnecessary syllables speeds one’s speech up to a more natural rate, but many sounds are dropped, such as the “s” that should come at the end of “eggs.”
The highlight of the clip is a delivery of Barack Obama’s famous “Yes We Can” speech by comedian Hiroshi Tamura. Tamura had been given 2 weeks to prepare his pronunciation using the shortened katakana study method.
Rate Tamura's "Yes We Can" Speech:
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Categories: Teaching English
Will Ebizo’s Face Ever Return to Normal?
The Yomiuri has consulted with a few medical experts to determine whether or not the facial damage that actor Ichikawa Ebizo received in a drunken brawl will be serious enough to have an impact on his Kabuki career:
According to Prof. Yasushi Sugawara of Jichi Medical University, a specialist in facial restorative surgery, the maxillary sinus is only slightly bigger than a 500 yen coin, and is surrounded by one of the thinnest bones in the face. If one of the thicker facial bones such as those of the cheeks or around the eyes had been damaged, a massive operation would have been necessary, involving restructuring the fractured bones and stabilizing them with tiny titanium plates.
However, fractures of the maxillary sinuses do not require such complicated procedures. In fact, surgery on this area is common for sinus problems. In Ebizo’s case, blood was drained from the sinus through an incision in his mouth. Bone fractures in this area sometimes are treated by raising the sunken bone with a special tool.
“Bones [above the maxillary sinuses] fit together and heal naturally. In most cases, there’s no noticeable deformation,” Sugawara said.
Prof. Kiyonori Harii, a plastic surgeon at Kyorin University, said lingering effects from Ebizo’s injuries, such as facial palsy, are rare with such facial fractures.
“If the bones around the eyes are broken, it could obstruct the movement of the eyeball, making it difficult to do the ‘nirami.’ But that would be highly unlikely in a case like Ebizo’s,” Harii said.
However, Sugawara warned that “lumps from bruises could stick around, which could affect his acting career.”
The Asahi Shimbun has also commented on his possible facial disfigurement, adding some interesting information about legal developments in Japan:
He is an actor, after all, whose good looks and fine voice have made him a heartthrob. I hope his injury won’t ruin his signature “nirami” glare, a typical kabuki pose that the Ichikawa clan has elevated to art form over many generations.
Our faces determine people’s initial impressions of us. In a recent reader survey by the vernacular Asahi Shimbun, nearly 70 percent of respondents said appearances matter to men. Many people think good-looking men are not only attractive to the opposite sex, but also fare better in job-hunting and at work.
Traditionally, appearances mattered more to women than men. In fact, women have been compensated more generously than men for disfiguring accidents at work. The reason given by the labor ministry was that since women are more sensitive than men about how they look, they suffer greater damage and emotional anguish from injuries.
That changed this year. A male metal worker, whose face was burned while handling molten metal, questioned the constitutionality of sexual inequality in the awarding of accident compensations, and his claim was upheld by a court. The presiding judge ruled men suffer as much emotional anguish as women.
The government is now hastening to revise the workers’ accident compensation insurance law.
Of course, since Ichikawa’s injuries did not occur in a work-related accident, this probably won’t be handled by the workers’ accident compensation insurance law.
The “half-black” guy who delivered the damage to Ichikawa’s face remains at large, with new details about the case emerging each day. Although he claims the attack was unprovoked and he never threw a punch, there are accounts of him being aggressive and violent towards the folks he was drinking with. Examination of bloodstains at the scene of the crime have also shown that the blood came from three different people.
Update: He held a press conference yesterday so he could deliver a public apology to all his fans. His face seems to have recovered, although his eye was bruised.
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Categories: Celebrity News