かまちょ (kamacho)

My students taught me this a few days ago, although I can't recall the context in which it came up.  This word, usually written in hiragana, is a fusing of the verb 構う (かまう、kamau, which means to take care of someone or something), and  ちょだい (chodai, or please).  Therefore 構うちょだい (kamau chodai) expresses the sentiment "please take care of me," or something to that effect.  My students inferred that the word portrays someone who doesn't like to be alone.  In other words, a somewhat needy person, someone who wants to be cared for.

There is a song entitled 「かまちょ」,  not really the kind of music I usually listen to, but anyway here it is:



The other result that consistently comes up is the You Tube channel of a young woman who goes by the name せりまかこ (Seri Kamacho, or Serika for short).  Her channel can be found at

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpQZ8F_1wcFAm6fzYz_YNZg

and this is one of the videos on her channel

アイアイ傘 (love umbrella)

Although a phonetic translation of  アイアイ傘 (ai ai gasa) might suggest "love love umbrella," as ai (愛) means love, a kanji writing of the term is 相合傘, which does not use the character  愛.  Enter 相合傘 into a translator (such as can be found at http://ejje.weblio.jp/content/Japanese-English+dictionary) and a definition will come up along the lines of "Umbrella under which a couple of man and woman walk close together."

I learned this from one of the Japanese teachers of English at a school where I  teach.  He had on the previous day seen a couple of our students, one male and one female, sharing an umbrella.  He was good-naturedly teasing them as he used the anecdote to teach me this phrase.  

When I checked for what kind of images this term would procure on the internet, I came across this picture:

And I thought to  myself, Wait a minute, isn't that Yoona from SNSD (aka Girls' Generation, the megapopular Kpop group)?  I clicked to go to the webpage, at 

http://ticket-news.pia.jp/pia/news.do?newsCd=201207250001

and I realized that yes, it was her and her co-star from the drama Love Rain. I saw it sometime last year, and I recall that the yellow umbrella was an important device for the bonding of two main characters.  I don't know if there's an equivalent phrase in the Korean language, but I'll ask some of my Korean friends and/or students.

In the realm of Japanese media, it seems that there's a song called  アイアイ傘 performed by a boy-duet, テゴマス (Tegomass).  The original video was hard to find; the links seem to be largely disabled or deleted, perhaps a decision by their record label.   All I could find was this handheld camera video of a TV screen.

 

It's not the kind of music I generally listen to, but there were some karaoke covers which I found impressive for the singing.

          


                                      

写メ（しゃめ）

I just learned this from a friend yesterday, a fellow teacher.  We had just finished teaching a reading class, our chalkboard filled by our students with main points and more detailed information about Matilda, the Roald Dahl novel.  Someone had done some incredible illustrations of the chapter "The Platinum-Blond Man."  I was thinking that it would seem a waste to erase everything without first taking a photo, and my fellow teacher agreed.  "So!" she said to the class.  "If you want to, why don't you 写メ?" Half a dozen students took her advice, smart phones clicking away.   Hopefully  they'll remember that they took these pictures when final exams come around.

My friend and fellow teacher explained to me that 写メ（しゃめ, shame）is short for 写真メール, a する verb.  The 写 (sha) is the first part of 写真 (shashin), and メ (me) the first part of  メール (mail).  Technically, it means to take a picture of something and then email it to someone.  But maybe people are using it liberally, ignoring the email half of the definition.  

When I searched it on YouTube, a lot of the top results were pretty pornographic.  Not meaning to judge or condemn nudity or sexuality, but this isn't intended to be that kind of website, so I'm not posting those particular videos.  But if you want to see them I think searching 写メ on YouTube will probably bring some interesting results.  Searching 写メール actually brought me to quite different, more mainstream and family-friendly videos (i.e. lots of commercials with 写真メール in their descriptions, a number of them dating back to 2002).  It seems that 写真メール is the older version of the even further shortened 写メ.  I wonder if 写 will ever become an actual word.


Below is a G-rated video that came up from my 写メ search.  Believe me, this wholesome an example wasn't all that easy to find!

膝かっくん (ひざかっくん、hiza kakkun)

My favorite Japanese phrase is hiza kakkun.  My fondness for it is rooted in several things:

1)  I have loved doing it since the age of nine.
2)  When people do it to me, as well, I can't help but laugh.
3)  This is a prime example of something that can be defined in a single word/phrase in Japanese, but which I think requires a subject-verb-predicate sentence in English.  There are quite a lot of these, and I often find them somehow charming.
4)  As I just learned (from searching for visual examples), there seems to be a sort of trend in making domino-like videos of this phenomenon.

So, first of all, I was taught this phrase some years ago.  One of my students was standing right in front of me, leftward leaning so perfectly as if to be saying, "Hit the back of my knee!  Hit the back of my knee!"  I (gently) used my knee to nudge the student's.  Someone behind me burst out,  「ひざかっくんだ！」。 ひざ, of course, is the knee.  I guess かっくん is what we do to the back of the knee.  As a verb, we would say ひざかっくんする, so it's a suru verb.  My students asked of me the English equivalent, and the best I could come up with was "hit 'em in the back of the knee."

 When I Googled it, the second result was an app on iTunes; someone actually made an app out of it:

In case the description in the screen capture is too small to make out, it's written thus:

Description

It's a silly game.
But very famous game in Japanese kids.
We have made this game as an app!

         --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This one is just, you know, how it's usually done.  One person sneaks up on his/her friend.  If the person about to be tapped is standing properly, balance evenly distributed, then go for the backs of both knees. 

But here it's taken it to another level.  I feel that the groupness of the culture shines through clear and bright.

 

 

This is how they do it in the animal kingdom.  

My beagle actually did it to me once or twice--just ran up and threw her body into the backs of my knees.  I wish I had video of that.

 
And, of course, it needed to be made into a song.  The world would be a darker place otherwise.       

 

_____ ハラ

A followup to the entry about manga kissa...

In the documentary, one of the salarymen mentions パワハラ, literally translated as power harassment, or an abuse of power within a hierarchy.  ハラ (hara), as you can imagine, is short for harassment.  A more common term, which just about anyone who lives in Japan is bound to hear, is せクハラ (sexual harassment).

manga kissa (漫画喫茶、or まんが喫茶、orマンガ喫茶, in hiragana, まんがきっさ）

This is one of those terms that I would probably not have learned in a Japanese language class back home, mainly because the manga kissa (short for manga kissaten) doesn't exist there.  Manga, of course, is comic or comic book, and kissaten is the Japanese word for cafe.  I've only been inside a few times, and the setup was like, they assign you a booth (or sometimes a desk, depending on the place) where you have access to a computer, unlimited soft drinks, and a mountainous library of manga.  If my reading skills had been better, it might've seemed a dangerously alluring paradise, since I like some manga quite a lot.  But I don't want to become addicted and lost in the world of the manga kissa.

Anyway, I feel like it is something to see and experience if you're in Japan.  When traveling to Bangkok, Seoul, Ho Chi Minh, I used to find a lot of internet cafes, which were godsends in the days before widespread wi-fi.  I don't find strictly internet cafes in Tokyo; instead, there is the more lavishly equipped manga kissa.  It can be used just for computer and internet; years ago, when I was in the middle of changing internet providers at home and needed to email a report to work, I used a manga kissa called Manboo, which is huge over here.  I seem to see them everywhere.

Below is a short documentary about one of the darker and sadder elements of the manga kissa.  For me, it was super interesting because I think a lot of this goes on near my house. I just walk past those places and go about my business.



If you're interested in reading the accompanying article, you can find it at
http://mashable.com/2015/03/14/japan-internet-cafe/

mojibake (文字化け)

Mojibake is the word for gibberish text characters or garbled text.

The first part of the first paragraph in Wikipedia's article on mojibake states:

Mojibake (文字化け) (IPA: [mod͡ʑibake]; lit. "character transformation"), from the Japanese 文字 (moji) "character" + 化け (bake) "transform", is the garbled text that is the result of text being decoded using an unintended character encoding.^[1] The result is a systematic replacement of symbols with completely unrelated ones, often from a different writing system. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojibake

The article goes on to specify problems that come up when running Japanese software on an English OS. 

In Japanese, the phenomenon is, as mentioned, called mojibake 文字化け. It is often encountered by non-Japanese when attempting to run software written for the Japanese market.

I've found that this can be a serious issue with living in Japan.  I want English OS machines because, well, computers are hard enough for me to deal with in my own language.  But in setting up internet connections, there are invariably mojibake occurrences.  So far, good, smart, and nice people have helped me through them.  But they can be a frustration.

Someone posted a video on how to get rid of it in a Chrome situation.  I thought that was nice.  The things that people do!





And this person gives an anthropomorphic view of the concept of mojibake:

 

一発屋（いっぱつや）, or "One-Hit Wonder"

Some former students taught me this one.  When I checked a Japanese-English online dictionary, it defined いっぱつや as "one-shot gambler," but I don't think I've ever used that term.  Anyway, other friends here confirmed that it is in fact what we would call a "one-hit wonder," in English.

When I did a search on One-Hit Wonder lists, there certainly was no shortage.  This one, though, caught my attention,
https://medium.com/cuepoint/the-complete-list-of-true-one-hit-wonders-21a953ecc455

the reason being that this list contained the song "Sukiyaki," a.k.a. "Ue o Muite Arukō" originally recorded by Kyū Sakamoto, released in 1961.  To tell the truth, although I've heard various versions of this song, I never knew who the original artist was until tonight.  I never knew that Selena and Utada Hikaru did covers too.  I never knew that it was one of the best-selling records of all time, upwards of 13 million.  The Wikipedia article says that the song went to number eighteen on the R&B charts; I'm amazed that Japan had an R&B chart in 1961!  Even more amazing to me is that the song reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard charts in  June 1963. . .I never knew that a Japanese-language song had entered the Top 40. . .And I never knew that the song's singer, Kyū Sakamoto, was a one-hit wonder, no disrespect intended to him or to any other one-hit wonders.  Show business sounds like a hard life, and the older I get, the more I respect people who hung in there to make a noise in this world.

The original version:

 

By the late singer Selena:
 

 Utada Hikaru's cover:



4pm's version, which was the first one that I remember ever hearing:



 And this is a reprinting of a list of other versions, as written on Wikipedia:

• In 1963, Brazilian vocal music Trio Esperança, then child singers, released a cover of the song in Portuguese, called "Olhando para o céu" ("Looking at the sky"), on their debut album "Nós somos sucesso" ("We are successful"). The lyrics in Portuguese were written by Romeo Nunes.
• In 1963, the Dutch-based Indonesian duo Blue Diamonds recorded the first evident English-language rendering of "Ue O Muite Aruko", featuring lyrics written by Decca Records executive Martin Stellman of Belgium: in the Netherlands the Blue Diamonds' English-language version of "Sukiyaki" charted in tandem with the Kyu Sakomoto original and two versions of the Dutch rendering subtitled "In Yokohama" (see below) with a #13 peak. Blue Diamonds' English rendering of "Sukiyaki" was overlooked in release in both the UK and the US.
• In 1963 a Dutch rendering subtitled "In Yokohama" was recorded by Wanda [de Fretes]; the title was also used for an instrumental version by Tony Vos (nl). Charting in tandem with the Blue Diamonds English-language remake (see above) and the Kyu Sakomoto original version, these versions reached #13 in the Netherlands.
• In 1963, Blue Diamonds (see above) reached #2 in Germany with a German-language cover of "Sukiyaki".
• In 1963, The Ventures did a gentle instrumental cover of the song on its album release "Let's Go!"
• In 1963, Canadian singers Claude Valade and Margot Lefebvre recorded a French version, "Sous une pluie d'étoiles" ("Under a shower of stars").
• In 1964 Lucille Starr introduced the English rendering of "Sukiyaki" by lyricist Buzz Cason on her album The French Song: this version would be a 1966 single release by Jewel Akens as "My First Lonely Night" (see below).
• In 1965, the Hong Kong-based band The Fabulous Echoes (later known as Society of Seven) recorded the song.
• In 1965, Czech singer Josef Zíma recorded Czech version of the song named "Bílá vrána" ("White crow")www.whosampled.com
• In 1966, US soul singer Jewel Akens released the song as "My First Lonely Night" as part of his double A-side single "Mama, Take Your Daughter Back"/"My First Lonely Night" on ERA records. The track had debuted on Akens' 1964 album The Birds and the Bees with its earliest recording being by Lucille Starr in 1964 (see above). This is probably the nearest translation to the original; although not a literal translation, it tells a similar story of a lonely man walking through the night, after losing his love.
• In 1967, the Ginny Tiu Revue recorded this on their self-titled first album.
• In 1975, the Hawaii-based duet Cecilio & Kapono recorded a markedly different English-language version in their album Elua released on Columbia Records.
• In 1981, Hong Kong singer Teresa Carpio covered this song in Cantonese.
• In 1982, a Brazilian humour-punk group Joelho De Porco recorded a cover version for the double album Saqueando A Cidade.
• In 1983, a collaborative album by Peter Metro & Captain Sinbad with Little John, called Sinbad & The Metric System included "Water Jelly" on the Taxi Riddim by Peter Metro. The melody was adapted to reggae and it featured new lyrics in Spanish and English.^[15]
• In 1983, Finnish singer Riki Sorsa recorded the song with original Japanese lyrics as "Sukiyaki (Ue O Muite Aruko)".
• In 1989, Selena recorded a Latin-influenced cover.
• In 1989, Hong Kong singer Anita Mui covered this song in Cantonese.
• In 1993, rapper Snoop Dogg used the theme from the song for his song "Lodi Dodi" on the album Doggystyle.
• In 1995, a reggae version by Sayoko both in English and Japanese featuring Beanie Man.
• In 1995, Jackie and the Cedrics recorded a surf version, "Sukiyaki Stomp", as the B-side of "Scalpin' Party", with "Justine" as the third song on the 7" vinyl EP. They also performed the song as part of their live set, including when they appeared in NYC in 1999.
• In 1996, Brazilian axé singer Daniela Mercury recorded "Sukiyaki" with its original Japanese-language lyrics. The song was released outside Brazil only, as an international bonus track on her 1996 studio album Feijão com Arroz.
• In 1996, freestyle trio The Cover Girls recorded a version for their album Satisfy.
• The Haitian band Boukman Eksperyans used the melody in the track "Sevelan/Sukiyaki" on their 1998 album Revolution.
• In 1999, Utada Hikaru covered as live recorded from the album, First Love
• In 2000, solo violinist Diana Yukawa recorded "Sukiyaki" on her best-selling debut album (known as Elegy in the UK and La Campanella in Japan). Yukawa also performed "Sukiyaki" various times on the mountainside where her father, Akihisa Yukawa, died in the Japan Airlines Flight 123 crash with Sakamoto.
• In 2000, Big Daddy released a smooth retro version which appeared in their compilation album, The Best of Big Daddy (the song had originally appeared on the Japanese release of their 1991 album Cutting Their Own Groove).
• In the Philippines, Aiza Seguerra and Sir Johannes Mines covered the song in 2013 for the album Eastwood.
• In 2008, interpreted by Hiromi Uehara and her group Sonic Bloom in the album Beyond Standard
• In 2012, Sweet Sister Pain released a cover featuring Japanese lyrics on their album The Seven Seas of Blood and Honey.
• In the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the Suntory beverage company released several versions of a television commercial featuring many famous Japanese singers and Tommy Lee Jones each doing part of the song, followed by the title caption "ue wo muite arukou," or, roughly, "let's walk with our heads up."^[16]
• In 2013, Missy Elliott protégée Sharaya J sampled a portion of the original tune, alongside A Taste of Honey's version, for her single "BANJI".^[17]
• In 2013, an Oxford duo SweetnSour Swing recorded and released a special single "Sukiyaki", dedicated to British jazz musician Kenny Ball.
• In 2014, during his Japanese tour, Olly Murs performed the song in English named "Look at the Sky", featuring lyrics written by Yoko Ono.^[18]

 And finally, this is a link to a nice write-up of what the song meant, in the context of its time:
http://www.npr.org/2013/06/28/196618792/bittersweet-at-no-1-how-a-japanese-song-topped-the-charts-in-1963

Yamato Nadeshiko

According to the Wikipedia entry on "Yamato Nadeshiko":

Yamato nadeshiko (やまとなでしこ or 大和撫子) is a Japanese term meaning the "personification of an idealized Japanese woman", or "the epitome of pure, feminine beauty".^[2] It is a floral metaphor, combining the words Yamato, an ancient name for Japan, and nadeshiko, a delicate frilled pink carnation called Dianthus superbus, whose kanji translate into English as "caressable child" (or "wide-eyed barley").
The term "Yamato nadeshiko" is often used referring to a girl or shy young woman^[6] and, in a contemporary context, nostalgically of women with "good" traits which are perceived as being increasingly rare. However, Nadeshiko Japan is also widely used as the name for the Japanese national women's football team.

For a certain  generation of people, the term is synonymous with a certain Fuji television drama.  It's about a flight attendant who grew up extremely poor, the result of which is that she's resolved to marry a rich man.  It's also about a talented but timid math scholar who has given up his career goals to take over the family fish market when his father dies.  The two characters meet, of course, and they love an hate each other.  There are other characters; although some of them are kind of iffy during the series, they pretty much all turn out to be likeable (to me).  This is a link to drama.net, where you can see it:

www.drama.net/yamato-nadeshiko

The theme song is "Everything" by Misia, who has been called (by some of my students) Japan's greatest soul singer.  Below is a video and compilation of some scenes from the show:


Note:  Yamato Nadeshiko is not to be confused with another drama, Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge, which I've never scene but which comes up high on Google and other search engine results.

Two ways to define futamata (ふたまた)

I came upon this sign the other week.

I was　slightly stunned at first.  Several years ago, one of my female friends taught me the word futamata as she related the story of when and why she broke up with her boyfriend.  She'd caught him with another girl, and instead of apologizing or begging forgiveness or promising repentance, he asked her to. . .she wasn't sure how to phrase it as she jumped back and forth between Japanese and English. . .he asked her to let him futamata, or be in a relationship with two girls at the same time.  She refused and resolved that he was scummy.

So when I saw this sign for the Ikebukuro Futamata Koban (koban, of course, being "police box") I wondered what the hell kind of koban it was.  When I got home I googled futamata and found the first of the two definitions that I now know:

Literally: “Double groin“. If you knew the parts of the word,you might be able to guess that it means “having relations with more than one lover.” Typically one of the relationships is illicit.
 
By extension, this word can also be used to describe someone who tries to satisfy two opposing sides of an issue.--from the website Nihon Shock, which I just discovered and quite like, from what I've seen. (url for its entry on futamata: http://nihonshock.com/2010/04/%E4%BA%8C%E8%82%A1/)

That excellent explanation is accompanied by the kanji, 二股、which is different from the 二又 on the sign.

When I looked up ふたまたin an online dictionary, it came up with one definition:  two ways.  That seems fit for a street sign, and for a police box.

hisabisa (ひさびさ)

One of my students told me that hisabisa is a common variation of hisashiburi.  It'd be something like "Uo, hisabisa!", her accent on the second syllable.  Right after she told me that, her friend (standing next to her) said nobody actually says that.  When I checked it on the internet, it turned out that there are people who use it.

You can hear how it sounds as she says the word 9 seconds into the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMquYIS7gCU


ひさびさ is used just in  the title of this one; but I included it because I thought she came up with some impressive Japanese tongue-twisters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72bzHJjTRHA