| p.11 |
| gyūnyū |
means milk. But the “miruku” which comes with coffee and tea in Japan is often an artificial-tasting type of cream. |
| hatachi |
means twenty (years of age). It is irregular because the usual word for 20 is ni-jū. Similarly, the 20th of the month is hatsuka, rather than ni-jū-nichi. |
| mizu, yu |
Mizu means water and yu means hot water, so the noun actually changes despite it clearly still being water. This is different from English where we just add an adjective. (Until you get to frozen water, which we call ice, or water falling from the sky which we call rain, or frozen water which we call snow, or half-melted water on the ground which we call slush etc.) |
| kome, gohan |
Uncooked rice is kome, boiled rice is gohan. (Fried rice is raisu.) Comparable to bread and toast. |
| yaki imo |
Baked sweet potato, sold from vans that circulate neighbourhoods when the weather is cold. (Rather like ice cream vans in summer.) |
|
| p.13 |
| “cake viking” |
is a cake buffet, the word “baikingu” (viking) being widely used to mean an all-you-can-eat buffet. |
| shikata ga nai |
“It can’t be helped” or “there’s nothing that can be done”... Possibly the most overused expression in the Japanese language. The opposite shikata ga aru doesn’t exist, apparently. |
| chotto soko made |
“Just over there” is the standard, evasive, answer to “Where are you off to?” The English equivalent of, “Just popping out for a bit”. |
|
| p.14 |
| Winnie the Pooh is Kuma no Pooh-san (“the bear Pooh”), Shaun the Sheep is Hitsuji no Shaun (“the sheep Shaun”) but Mickey Mouse is, basically, the same in Japanese (because “nezumi” would draw attention to the fact that he is a “rodent”). |
|
| p.15 |
| Waka-Taka boom |
A golden period for sumo, in the early 1990s, when the Japanese economy was still relatively good and the young brother wrestlers Wakanohana and Takanohana inspired interest in the sport. |
|
| p.18 |
| toki |
Also called the Japanese Crested Ibis. A symbol of Japan, though the last “native” toki died in 2003. The bird has since been reintroduced to Japan from China. It remains an endangered species. |
| furusato |
“Hometown”, though it may mean the place where one’s family is from and where ancestral graves are, rather than where one was born. |
|
| p.19 |
| Seto Ōhashi bridge |
Hashi means bridge, so it is a sort of redundancy to call it the Seto Ōhashi bridge (the “Seto Great Bridge bridge”) but we did so for clarity. |
| dōtaku |
Decorated bronze bells which were produced in large quantities for ritual purposes in the Yayoi Period in Japan. |
| Izu no Odoriko |
A popular fictional story by Yasunari Kawabata, also called “The Dancing Girl of Izu”. |
| Botchan |
The classic novel by Sōseki Natsume. The word is difficult to translate, implying “a boy from a privileged background” (though one early translation of the book was titled Boy). It can be used to refer politely to someone else’s son, as in “Otaku no botchan wa ogenki?” (“How is your botchan doing?”) |
| Akō Rōshi |
The (true) story of the 47 rōnin. |
|
| p.21 |
| bunsuirei |
Watershed. I always assumed that Mr Doi meant that his getting into Waseda represented a watershed moment. |
| fureai |
Approximately means “making an emotional connection” though this makes the term sound clumsy. Used quite widely in Japanese. Going for a walk in the countryside? A fureai with nature. Going to the theatre? A fureai with culture etc. |
|
| p.25 |
| honne-tatemae |
A key concept in Japanese culture, in which true feelings (honne) are dissembled by a public facade (tatemae). In doing this, of course, Japanese are not unique or even unusual. They are just a bit more aware of doing it. |
|
| p.26 |
| ginjō-shu, daiginjō |
Sake is graded, with daiginjō being the highest grade produced from highly polished rice. This makes it more refined but, according to one theory, strips it of some of its flavour. Ginjō-shu is one grade below. |
| geiko |
Kyoto geisha insist they are called geiko. Arthur Golden’s novel Memoirs of a Geisha enraged Kyoto geisha (or geiko, I should say) by referring to them geisha instead of geiko. Also, he wrote about how they sell their virginity for money. |
|
| p.27 |
| ee janaika |
”It’s good isn’t it?” |
|
| p.29 |
| Tongue twisters: |
| Tokyo tokkyo kyokakyoku |
Sadly, the “Tokyo Patent Office Permission Department” doesn’t actually exist. |
| basu gasu bakuhatsu |
“Bus gas explosion” |
| Incidentally, the cruellest English language tongue twister for Japanese is ”red lorry, yellow lorry”. |
|
| p.30 |
| hitotsu no seki de futatsu no tori |
The correct version is isseki nichō (“to kill two birds with one stone” or “one stone, two birds” as the more economical Japanese version has it). |
| hatarakanai saru wa mono taberarenai hazu |
My badly mangled version of hatarakazaru mono kūbekarazu, meaning “he who doesn’t work shouldn’t eat”. (My version translates as “the monkey that doesn’t work shouldn’t eat stuff”.) |
| Edokko et al. |
means “child of Edo”, Edo being the old name for Tokyo (pre-Meiji Restoration), so Kobekko is child of Kobe. Naniwakko is child of Naniwa (an old name for Osaka; there is still a Naniwa Ward in Osaka). |
| Dosanko |
A native of Hokkaido, the word forming from the characters “do” (the last part of Hokkaido), “san” (born) and “ko” (child). |
| Incidentally, it is quite fun to quiz Japanese who are learning English on what people from various places in Britain are called. Start with London, before moving on to Bristol, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow and Birmingham. Most people will be stunned into despair at the absence of any regular pattern. |
|
| p.33 |
| For the record, the “unruly daughter” is now a very well-behaved five-year-old. Proof that the behaviour of two and three-year-olds is not indicative of their eventual characters. (Or that the “witches threat” is very effective.) |
|
| p.36 |
| gogatsu-byō |
The main symptom of “May Disease” is lethargy, but of a particularly worrying, soul-numbing kind. Apparently, the main trigger is that people have had time off over Golden Week and, rather than returning to work refreshed, feel depressed at the long slog ahead of them. |
| ...wake ni ikanai |
A useful and easy-to-grasp construction to mean “can’t very well”. e.g. “I can’t very well go on a stag weekend while my girlfriend is recovering from surgery” or “We can’t very well ask to borrow money of him since we didn’t pay him back the last time” or (a Japanese version) “I can’t very well take a day off work just because I have influenza, can’t hold down breakfast and can barely stand up.” |
|
| p.37 |
| inaka |
Often translated as “countryside” but not necessarily green rolling fields and frequently used in a negative way. “Bedtowns” such as Urawa and even provincial industrial cities can be called “inaka”. Might be better to think of it as meaning “not the big city”. |
|
| p.44 |
| watashi no kara kimashita wa Brazil desu |
Comprehensible but incorrect Japanese for “I come from Brazil”. “watashi wa Brazil kara kimashita” would be grammatical. |
|
| p.45 |
| daijōbu / zenzen / ichiban |
Okay / not at all (or “absolutely” depending on context) / Number One. But you probably knew that... |
|
| p.46 |
| niteiru / sukoshi niteiru / niteinai |
Alike / a bit alike / not alike. |
| dochira demo ii desu / doko demo ii desu / nan demo ii desu |
Either is okay / wherever is fine / whatever will be alright |
| komatteimasu |
“I’m in trouble” or “I need help”. (A slightly over-dramatic opening gambit.) |
| okanemochi no aji |
Aji is “flavour” but okanemochi is only “rich” in the pecuniary sense. |
| buatsui |
“Dense” rather than “thick”, hence not applicable to soup. I used this incorrectly several times over several years before realising, which inspired the title of my blog on this website (https://www.sankenbook.co.jp/blog) |
| furui |
means “old” but more like “long ago”. Hence you can have a “furui hanashi” (an old story) but a “furui hito” would not mean an elderly person but an old-fashioned or outmoded person. |
|
| p.47 |
| “oyaji gag” |
Oyaji is a pejorative term for middle-aged man. An “oyaji gag” is therefore the type of joke your embarrassing uncle would make; or the Japanese term for a pun. |
| yōfuku |
“Western clothes” |
| Igirisu no kimono |
This is a contradiction in terms. Although the Japanese word “kimono” literally means “things to wear”, in usage it means “Japanese traditional clothing”. So “English kimono” makes no sense. |
|
| p.48 |
| amaeru, amae |
Another key Japanese concept. Although Westerners tend to see Japan’s “strict hierarchy” as objectionable, it is also possible for underlings to take advantage of this by acting helpless and presuming on the protection and help of a superior. I have never worked out how to say this in English without invoking a description involving children trying to get out of trouble with their parents. |
| bujoku |
Insult |
|
| p.49 |
| honto da to ii no ni naa |
If only that were true...
Clive James, who once said in a radio interview that this was his killer sentence, is famous for introducing the TV show Za Gaman to a British audience in the 1980s (he showed clips from Endurance, as he called it, on his weekly programme). To this day, many British people of a certain age think that Japanese humour consists of people being subjected to various forms of mild torture. |
| kō itten |
“A splash of red” to mean a lone woman in the company of several men. A party where the balance hasn’t quite worked... |
| kimodameshi |
Kimo means “guts” and tameshi (dameshi) means “test”. A game in which Japanese children might have to negotiate an “abandoned” house in the dark or other such scary situations. |
| o-na |
The standard Japanese word for vegetables is yasai. I still don’t know for sure if o-na is an old word, a rare word or a word that only scholars know. |
|
| p.50 |
| uten |
Literally, rainy weather. But not used in normal conversation. |
| ryūchō ni hanaseru yō ni naritai |
I want to be able to speak fluently. |
| pera pera ni naritai / jōzu ni naritai |
More natural ways to say the above phrase. |
| hijiri |
Like o-na above, it’s in the dictionary but few Japanese seem to know the word. The normal word for saint is seijin. |
| suigara-ire |
Please don’t bother to learn this word. It’s “cigarette butt receptacle”. Learn “ashtray” (haizara) instead. |
| asadachi |
Morning glory (in the vernacular, not the flower) |
|
| p.51 |
| ashi ga hayai / te ga hayai |
“Fast legs” means someone is a fast runner but “fast hands” means someone is a pick-up artist. |
|
| p.52 |
| saki ni dōzo / dōzo, saki ni |
Both mean “after you”. (Equally clear, equally valid.) |
| todoite morau / todokete morau |
I meant to ask “do you get it delivered?” but used the transitive instead of the intransitive. She gently corrected me. |
|
| p.54 |
| he / ne-he |
Breaking wind / breaking wind while asleep |
| maemuki ni kentō shimasu |
“We will consider it in a positive manner” but in fact a polite way to say that “we” don’t intend to go ahead with this. |
| kūki yomenai |
“Can’t read the air” or can’t pick up the vibes. |
|
| p.57 |
|
| p.58 |
| happōshu |
A beer that doesn’t meet the strict definition of beer according to Japanese brewing law and is also taxed at a lower rate. |
| onzarokku |
On the rocks, as in “whisky with ice”. |
| kui-nige |
“A diner dash” in American English. |
|
| p.59 |
| gari-ben |
A swot |
| de-modori |
A child who has left the family home but returned. Typically, a daughter who has divorced. Literally a “left and returned”. |
| poi-sute |
Chucked away. |
|
| p.60 |
| gyaku-gire |
“Reverse anger”, used when the person in the wrong feigns indignation. |
| zuru-yasumi |
A “crafty day off”. A “sickie” in English. |
|
| p.61 |
“Could have boiled tea in my belly button”
A translation of the Japanese “heso de cha o wakasu”, meaning to laugh really hard.
|
|
| p.63 |
| go-jōsha arigatō gozaimasu |
Thank you for riding the train.
It is used specifically for journeys. The Japanese for “thank you for coming to our shop” would be go-raiten arigatō gozaimasu. The closest to “thank you for your custom” would be go-riyō arigatō gozaimasu (literally, thanks for making use of us). |
| Hankyū Rokkō degozaimasu |
This is Hankyu Rokko station. (In Kobe, the nearest station to where I lived and studied.) |
|
| p.64 |
| higaeri |
“Day trip” or in this case “non-staying customers”. |
|
| p.65 |
| ryokan |
Japanese-style inn |
| sentō |
Public bath facility |
| Dōzo, shower gurai nara |
“Go ahead, as long as it’s just a shower.” (After all that effort...) |
|
| p.68 |
| tanuki |
A raccoon dog. Not to be confused with a raccoon. Or a dog. It’s neither. Ceramic tanuki are often placed outside shops as a kind of good luck charm. They smile, wear hats, carry bottles of booze, have pot bellies and (usually) massive testicles. The ceramic ones, that is. |
|
| p.72 |
| amido |
A net frame attached to a window to prevent mosquitoes and other insects from coming in when the window is open. Not to be confused with amado (“rain doors”) which may also be in window frames and can be shut when the rain is very heavy or to prevent the blazing sun from waking you at 4.32 am in mid-summer. |
|
| p.136 |
| saodake |
A pole which fits into brackets on the balcony of Japanese apartments and from which you can then hang clothes or drape your bedding to air. Vans drive around Japanese neighbourhoods offering these for sale. This is a mystery, as the poles can easily last five years so how can people be buying them so often that it makes sense for someone to circle the streets offering them for sale? |
| 20 nen mae to onaji... |
The vans all have the same recording, which says that the price is “the same as 20 years ago”. This must have been quite an amazing claim once, but since Japan has now been in deflation for 20 years it is today rather disappointing. |
|
| p.138 |
| “cool biz” |
A government campaign which pressured companies to permit workers to wear light jackets and short sleeves to work and for offices to use less air-conditioning, thereby reducing energy use. A classic example of the government having to get involved in something that workers and employers ought to have been able to arrange themselves. |
|
| p.140 |
| Amerika-jin da / gaijin ga iru / YOU ga iru |
It’s an American / There’s a foreigner / There’s a YOU
Very roughly speaking, white people in Japan were assumed to be American from the time of the Occupation until the late 1990s. A friend has a theory that Japan’s participation in the 1998 World Cup and co-hosting of the 2002 World Cup made Japanese more aware that not all foreigners were American. In the last couple of years, a popular TV programme has rechristened foreigners who visit Japan as “you”. |
|
| p.151 |
| kogomi / komatsuna |
My research indicates that kogomi is “fiddleheads” (of the ostrich fern, not to be confused with fiddleheads of the Japanese flowering fern) and komatsuna is “Japanese mustard spinach”. Probably just easier to call them kogomi and komatsuna. |
| omiyage |
a souvenir / present from a trip |
| kitsune / tanuki / yamazaru |
fox / raccoon dog / mountain monkey |
| zaru soba |
zaru is the bamboo draining board on which cold soba noodles are served. (Apparently a law full of loopholes is called a zaru-hō, after this item.) |
|
| p.152 |
| Kawa no nagare no yō ni |
Like the flowing waters of a river (approximately). The popularity of this song is partly explained by the fact that it was Misora’s swan song. She died in 1989, the year of its release. |
| gorintō |
A tower or stele of five parts (“rings”) representing the five elements according to Buddhism (earth, water, fire, air and the ether). |
|
| p.153 |
| Somei Yoshino |
the most common type of cherry tree, planted all over Japan. This is the type used when forecasters predict the blossom and explains why it is possible to see beautiful cherry blossoms weeks before and weeks after the “official” hanami period; other types may blossom earlier and later. |
|
| p. 154 |
| In the Japanese version of the book, I erroneously wrote that Somei Yoshino cherry trees are in Windsor royal park (as well as Washington DC). I misremembered a news report I had once seen. The cherry trees in Windsor Great Park are from Japan but are, in fact, types of yae-zakura (notable for their dense petals). I am embarrassed by the error, which we have removed from the English version, but was pleased to hear that the domination of the Somei Yoshino is not as extensive as I thought. |
| michi no eki |
A “roadside station”, which is much more than a service area. It will have rest areas but also tourist information and an excellent range of local produce. |
| dogū |
Humanoid figurines from the Jōmon Period, of unclear purpose but presumably made for some magical purpose. They range from cute to scarily alien and can be fairly simple or very intricate but show remarkable craftsmanship. |
| musha-gaeshi |
Literally, warrior-repeller, to mean castle walls. |
|
