飲み会 (nomikai)

This was one of the early and important words when I moved here.  Nomikai (飲み会, のみかい ) is usually translated as "drinking party" among my Japanese friends.  There's a lot of drinking in Tokyo, but I don't know that more alcohol is drunk per capita than in, say, the state of Michigan or the city of Moscow.  I don't know statistics on this.  But I feel comfortable in saying that there's been drinking (of alcohol) at every get-together I've had with friends in restaurants, izakaya and, of course, bars.  

Having a pretty great  train/subway system helps a lot.  Whenever my friends from back home come to visit, they're always sort of giddy over the fact that they don't have to drive home.  To have the freedom to drink as much as one wants. . .

I do have friends here who don't drink.  Not all that many, but they live.  The nomikai system can be financially tough on non-drinkers because generally people here split the final bill equally.  This may be unfair to those who don't eat or drink much, but it's part of the group ethic, I think.  And it can be liberating, in more than one way.  But not everyone is into it.  One of my (Japanese) friends who doesn't partake in drinks of merriment regularly says to me "I paid a lot for my Oloong tea tonight" when others (especially girls) aren't listening.  Of course drinks generally drive up the bill, so I take his point.  Generally, a night out at an average izakaya or restaurant seems to cost me in the neighborhood of 3000-4000 yen; of course, at theme places or more extravagant settings it'll be more.  To the drunken, I guess this sits as par for the course or better.  But for teetotalers, I can see how it would seem expensive.  Heavy drinkers know that it's a bargain for them, and I've known a few who take advantage of the night.

My first year here I didn't want to rock the boat or cause ill feelings, but now when I'm at a nomikai where there's someone who doesn't drink, I don't mind coming out and saying (no doubt because I'm drunk, as I do drink) to everyone that the non-drinkers should pay a bit less.  It feels like the right thing to do.

suru (する) verbs, part 3

bengo suru ( 弁護する、べんごする ) -- to defend, testify for

I like the word testify.  It reminds me of this now-classic RATM song.  Sweet that someone put Japanese subs on this version.



benkyou suru ( 勉強する、べんきょうする) -- to study


Today was the first time I've seen this lady (below) reciting Japanese on You Tube waves; she sure has a lot of viewers.  It's the video that came up at the top when I You Tubed the kanji for benkyou, I guess because of its title and number of hits.  As I started watching, at first I didn't know if I should continue till the end, but in the middle of it she breaks out a rather large slice of pizza.  I have to admit, it made me laugh.



 This is one of the verbs learned pretty early on by most people learning Japanese.  I'm sure I learned it in class, but I don't remember learning it.  I do remember hearing it in the anime below, though, because it was the first time I heard the word benkyou used outside of the classroom/textbook.  They used to air this show on the Japanese cable network back home, a long time ago, and I watched it once or twice.  It was back when I used to get really excited hearing a word I'd learned being spoken in the outside world.  I'd practically jump out of my seat, "I know that one!"

Anyway, this anime is about a boy named Kintaro who's cycling around Japan in search of new experiences.  He's a good-hearted guy but so uncool around women, especially beautiful women.  He loses control, although not in a dangerous way.  When he gets worked up, he'll cycle furiously repeating to himself "Benkyou benkyou benkyou!"  He often uses "Benkyou ni narimashita!", which basically means "I learned something," or "It was educational," etc.

Just to warn you, the humor is a little erotic.  It isn't a violent eroticism, but definitely at least PG-13.  (For those outside of America, PG-13 is one of the categories to which movies are assigned in the ratings system.  It means "Parents Strongly Cautioned. Some Material May Be Inappropriate For Children Under 13"; the PG originally meant Parental Guidance suggested.)  It's also unapologetically cheesy.  The Japanese I find somewhat easier to understand than a lot of other anime, perhaps because it's everyday life (instead of robots or pirates or some of the more otherworldly themes that populate much of Japan's animated realm).
 





benshou suru ( 弁償する、べんしょうする) --to compensate, repay for loss

tenjikai (展示会)

Tenjikai ( 展示会、てんじかい ) is an exhibition, e.g. an art or fashion exhibit.  My friend just had one today for his new company.  It was held in Omotesando, one of the more upscale areas in Tokyo.  I had a hard time finding the place, so I was happy when I finally did. . .A lot of stores and businesses in Omotesando and Harajuku are housed in places that don't look like stores or businesses.  This was the front end of the exhibition, which I think could easily pass for a kids clubhouse.

Inside, it looked like this

Lasonic--a boombox for the i-Pod.  It has a karaoke function

a table with built-in speakers, pretty good sound

 

 

suru (する) verbs, part 2

anshin suru (安心する, する) --to be relieved, to feel secure

antei suru (安定する, あんていする) --to be steady or stable

bakuhatsu suru (爆発する, ばくはつする) --to explode, burst, blow up


I looked around for some visual examples of these words.  For anshin suru, I was surprised at how many pet videos there were.  I guess people like to see their dogs relax.



 
                
                    
 

K.Y. (kuuki ga yomenai)

K.Y. (kuuki ga yomenai) means that a person can't lit. "read the air," or can't tell what's happening with the people in the room.  For example, if the K.Y. person were a comedian and making jokes that no one is laughing at, s/he (the comedian) would have no idea that no one's laughing and might think that the comedy gig is going fine.

In an everyday life example, it might be someone at a party making offensive jokes.  But s/he wouldn't know that people were being offended, and so s/he would be K.Y.

The first time I heard this phrase, several years ago, it was at a nomikai (lit. a drinking party).  There was a guy telling stories about his trip to China, and he went on for a long time.  He thought everyone was fascinated with his tales and details, but when he went to the bathroom, someone said, "Kare kuuki ga yomenai ne. . ." and I asked for a translation.

Anyway, I don't think that K.Y. is ever intended as a compliment, in Japanese.  The closest that I could imagine it to being a compliment would be when used by someone who knows that KY is the abbreviation for Kentucky, if that person like Kentucky Fried Chicken (which here is abbreviated as "KEN-tah-kee," not KFC).

Anyway, some video examples.  From a drama:



 A video I didn't really understand, to tell the truth. . .


 And something else that I didn't understand, because the subtitles were in Spanish.  But I thought the video was visually interesting.

suru (する) verbs, part 1

A long long time ago a friend gave me a list of suru verbs.  An American, he said that after he memorized this list he started to understand the (Japanese) news.  It's not a very sexy list, but I have faith that the vocabulary is practical.  I have yet to learn all the words, so getting them down visually in this blog is partly for my own sake.

Another friend taught me the Rule of 3, suggesting that it was a helpful thing to keep in mind when trying to remember something.  A former marine, he said that most human brains are wired to grasp concepts up to a limit of three at a time.  Of course, we can all focus on more than three things at once, but doing so compromises one's ability to properly concentrate on these things; in other words, going past three can spread us thin.  He told me that's why, in the military, when they send someone out into the field they try to limit the tasks to three.  He also said that it's an old rule, going back at least as far as the Roman Empire.  I've heard other versions of the Rule of 3 (e.g. in writing, advertising, etc.), but anyway. . .

The first three suru verbs:

aiyou suru ( 愛用する、あいようする ) --to use regularly, to give one's patronage

anji suru ( 暗示する, あんじする ) --to hint, suggest

annai suru ( 案内する、あんないする ) --to guide, lead

shareru / shareteiru ( しゃれる / しゃれている)

A followup on おしゃれ -- there are different verb forms.   

おしゃれ する is a way to say that someone is being おしゃれ.

Another verb, shareru ( しゃれる), can also be used for certain situations.  (Present progressive is shareteiru ( しゃれている ), past tense shareta ( しゃれた ).  My friend was trying to explain to me the nuance, the connotation, and it sounds like shareru would be used, for example, to describe a retro or vintage look. . .She said it can also be used ironically, like when you think that someone is being too ostentatious or blingy.　　I have to ask around more about that one.  Nuance is one of the harder things for me to figure out, especially when different Japanese speakers have different conceptions of words.

おしゃれ (oshare) and おしゃんてぃ (oshanti)

To some of my Japanese friends, this is the singly most important word in the lexicon:
Oshare (おしゃれ, オシャレ ) means fashionable, sharp, stylin, and the like.  It's used to describe clothes, accessories, shoes, handbags, etc. but can also be used to describe places, like cafes and restaurants.

A couple of years ago, my high school and college students taught me oshanti (おしゃんてぃ,  オシャンティー), a newer term meaning the same thing.  

If you YouTube おしゃれ, the results are so dominated by this TV show called おしゃれイズム which, although I haven't asked anybody about this, sounds like a katakana version of おしゃれ-ism.  Here are a couple of samples from the show.  The statuesque lady in the videos is Izumi Mori, a fashion model, actress, and talento.  I haven't seen much of her stuff, but I have quite a few friends (mostly women) who adore her.






Not that I'm trying to promote the show, but if you're interested in it, the website is at
http://www.ntv.co.jp/oshare/

Oshanti brought up some. . .different results:


 

よこばら (yokobara, 横腹）

よこばら (yokobara, 横腹）is the Japanese word for love handles.  Yoko (横) means side or width, and bara comes from hara (腹), the word for stomach.  So よこばら is like the sides of your stomach, or more accurately, the sides of your waist or core.

The word came up last week.  Back from winter vacation, at school we talked about the holidays, which quickly led to talking about what we did on Dec 31 and Jan 1--happens pretty much every year.  New Year traditions in Japan, the symbolic meanings of eating soba, osechi, and hatsumode.  Most years, someone in class will ask about Western traditions for celebrating the New Year.  I say drinkin' for some people, on New Year's Eve.  The countdown of course, which isn't exclusively in Western culture any more, if it ever was.  For millions of Americans the bowl games.  And, in Hawai'i, we set off firecrackers and fireworks to celebrate, more so on Dec 31 than July 4.  Twenty years ago New Year's Eve in Honolulu looked as smoky as a war zone in a war movie.  But that tradition is dying out as new and stricter laws curb the activities. 

And then we come to New Year resolutions.  Students get it immediately; my first example is the Smoker who lights up during the minutes prior to the Countdown and sucks it in before quitting. We go through a few more examples, then try setting resolutions ourselves.  Although this resolutions discussion can get repetitive for some teachers (I think especially for teachers in eikaiwa schools, but in high school and college English classes perhaps less so.  At least, for me.  Probably because when I was teaching in eikaiwa schools, I'd do it with all my classes, but in high school and college it only fits in with a few.  Also, it seems to be new to most high school and college students, young and newer to this world as they are).

(In teaching NY resolutions, one kind of extension that can make it more challenging and concrete is S.M.A.R.T., or something along those lines.  An example:)


Anyway, in one of my classes, we were doing resolutions.  This class has only one male student, almost a dozen females.  When we go around the room to share our goals, he says, "I want to rid of my yokobara."  Every girl laughs, affectionately.  "How do you say yokobara in English?" he asks me.  This is a teenager, not a middle-aged man, so it doesn't immediately hit me that he's self-conscious about his weight or amount of body fat.  Once he gestures to his love handles, though, I understand.  I try to assure him that No, man, you don't have to worry about that.  He sticks to his guns with his goal, so what can I say?  It's his resolution.  I said that I thought overall cardio activity and keeping track of saturated fat intake might help; and for strengthening and toning I like the Plank.

My goodness, there are a lot of You Tube videos about getting rid of よこばら.  Here are a few different exercises:




                      

I think they all look pretty good, but I just do the Plank.

チャレンジする and チャレンジャー

The way that "challenge" is used in Japanese seems to have its roots in English, but in application can be a bit different. 

チャレンジする (charenji suru), which is generally a transitive verb in English (e.g. "I challenge you to a contest"), is often used as an intransitive verb in Japanese.  This can lead to problems in direct translations, since in English it would be awkward to say, "I'll challenge!"  A better translation, one closer to its intended meaning, would be to say, "I'll try something new" or "I'll do something I've never done before."

From this comes the word チャレンジャー, which describes a person who is willing to try new things.  The first time I came across this word was seven or eight years ago.  I saw a product in a hundred-yen store that, according the picture on the packaging, seemed to be a kitchen deodorizer.  It looked like I was supposed to put it in my drain, but I wasn't sure.  I asked someone at work what  I should do with it, and she explained its function to me.  That night, she emailed me to say that she was perplexed at why I didn't know what to do with this thing that I myself had bought.  "You bought it, didn't you?  Why didn't you know what it was?"  I replied that, from the picture on the packaging, I had an inclination that it was for my kitchen, but I wasn't quite sure what it was but wanted to try it.  She wrote back, "I understand.  You are チャレンジャー!"

I think that it's generally seen as a good thing to be a チャレンジャー.

Apparently it's the name of a video game, too. Interesting how people post themselves playing video games. You Tube has just about everything! The other day I met a guy who learned how to solve the Rubik's Cube on You Tube.

あけおめ！ことよろ！

「明けましておめでとうございます！　今年もよろしくお願いします。」
 　あけましておめでとうございます　　　　      　ことしもよろしくおねがいします
Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu!  Kotoshi mo yoroshiku onegai shimasu.

These are of course the traditional phrases for the New Year in Japan, to be said after the clock has struck twelve.  Although we're sort of past the New Year grace period -- I'm told that the first few days of the year is the time for such well-wishing -- people still use it when they have their first January encounters with friends and family.  ( I think February would be a bit late in the year.)  I'll go back to work tomorrow, and I expect that I'll be exchanging these phrases with a number of people, both students and colleagues.

Akeome (あけおめ ) is the shortened form for 「明けましておめでとうございます」 and
Kotoyoro ( ことよろ ) stands for 「今年もよろしくお願いします。」

People taught me the shortened versions during my first New Year holiday in Japan, back in 2002.  At the time, I think these were considered new expressions, even "trendy," as my younger students told me.  My older students had no idea what they meant; when I explained what had been explained to me, I had the tacit impression that they didn't approve of this new language.

The next New Year, when I tried using あけおめ and ことよろ, my younger students were like, "Don't say that any more, it's old.  We don't say that any more."  But then the next year it came back, and folks all around me were saying it.  Over the years these abbreviations seem to have become part of the lexicon and I hear them everywhere.

Below are a few example usages: 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n28VXMjL90

 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8ldt9f8h2c

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoDwj4s2PvU
 

 And some English explanation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhV3xbiu3qk