Every year the words and phrases that are most searched for by internet users around the world are published in Google’s Year-End Zeitgeist. As the name suggests, the report is a snapshot of where the world’s curiosity and interests currently lie, and as such offers a fascinating insight into global internet usage and the national psyche of the countries that are also listed individually.
Thanks to Google’s awesome Google Analytics software I have installed on Big on Japan, I too can take a peak at what internet users around the world are searching for and how they arrived at my site. And as with Google’s report, the bigonjapan.com year-end zeitgeist indicates the popularity of a number of topics, albeit generally restricted to ones relating to Japan. The top 10 for 2008 follows, with last year’s position in brackets: (more…)
While watching Japanese TV I’ve noticed that it’s extremely difficult to distinguish one channel from another. OK, so it’s easy enough to spot public broadcaster NHK’s two channels from their programming (boring!), but the commercial networks all seem the same to me. For one thing, they all offer the same mix of light entertainment programmes (mostly wide shows=variety shows) featuring the same TV stars on every channel. More significantly though, Japanese TV channels rarely feature any previews/trailers of forthcoming programmes, schedules telling you what’s going to be on the channel later that night, or information about which channel you’re watching. (more…)
The best things I’ve found on other people’s blogs recently:
An amusing piece called ‘Japanese Ebonics’ appeared on Becky’s T-Blog a while back. The post focuses on a book called ‘Off The Hook’ by Randall C. Miller Jr that attempts to educate the Japanese reader in the nuances of African American slang. With phrases like “gimme some dap”, “did you wear a raincoat?”, “I ain’t no playa hater” and “you startin’ to sound like a biotch”(?!) it’s certainly more entertaining than most of the textbooks I’ve been forced to teach in the past. On the other hand, I’m not too sure when Japanese students would be in a situation that would require such vocabulary. Apart from attempting to blend in while on a homestay in South Central or Harlem that is.
Ask any Japanese student returning from a homestay or holiday (US=vacation) in England what they thought about the food there and you’ll invariably get the response “mazui” (tastes bad). Compared to food in their own country English food understandably seems basic, lacking the variety of ingredients and cooking styles that sets Japanese cuisine apart from that of most nations. (more…)
Definition: Turbo(noun) a compressor that increases the power of internal-combustion engines found in cars, motorbikes etc. Shandy(noun) A drink made by mixing one part beer and one part lemonade (American English=soda)
Turbo Shandy: An extra-potent shandy made with one part beer and one part alcoholic lemonade, which ‘increases the power’ of the beer.
Example sentence: “If you lot have been out since 5 o’ clock I’ve got a bit of catching up to do. I’d better get on the turbo shandies right away.”
Explanation: In contrast to Japanese laws regarding the consumption of alcohol before driving, British laws are less strict about the amount of alcohol you can drink before getting behind the wheel(1). The exact amount varies depending on factors such as the person in question, whether they’ve eaten anything, the speed with which they consume the alcohol and the type of drink consumed. In the case of beer, approximately two pints is the maximum amount most people can drink before driving. (more…)
For more Axe commercials, see below. Also, three more ads can be found here.
One of the downsides of living in Japan for me has been the unavailability of good deodorant, particularly during the extremely humid summer months when temperatures soar to around 35c. The handful of Japanese deodorants that are available - such as those in Mandom’s Gatsby range, if the word ‘range’ can actually be used for such a limited selection - are a waste of time, being little more than lightly-scented air. Because of this, I’ve had to resort to stocking up on large quantities of deodorant when on overseas trips, something which has in the past resulted in some alarmed looks on the faces of shop clerks when I’ve done this during winter. (more…)
Beer vocabulary and measurements in England, Australia and America
As the world’s most popular alcoholic drink, beer has countless variations of taste, strength, colour, price and ingredients around the globe. In addition, there are thousands of beer brands, numerous sizes and types of container or vessel it’s sold in, and a wealth of beer-related vocabulary. Even among England, Australia and the US – three countries that share a common language and a great many cultural similarities – there are some surprising differences when it comes to ordering a beer. (more…)
この記事の日本語版はこちらをご覧下さい The introduction to this series of articles can be found here
Definition: Mentalist(noun) A person who engages in strange or crazy behaviour; Mentalist(adjective) strange or crazy
Example sentence: “I’ll never go to the Log Kit Hamburger Restaurant in Sasebo ever again. I had to wait an eternity for my food, the hamburgers were average and the owner is a total mentalist”
Explanation: Unlike most of the expressions on the My Favourite Slang list – which have no direct translation or widely known equivalent in Japanese language – ‘mentalist’ is basically the same as the word henjin in Japanese, meaning a ‘strange or crazy person’. There are actually numerous ways to convey this idea in English, varying in intensity from ‘eccentric’ to ‘weirdo’ to ‘freak’; ‘Mentalist’ falls somewhere between ‘weirdo’ and ‘freak’, ranging from mildly derogatory to mildly offensive depending on the context it’s used in. (more…)
この記事の日本語版はこちらをご覧下さい The introduction to this series of articles can be found here
Definition: A child who is shocked by the sight of foreigners, staring at them in amazement and sometimes becoming frozen to the spot.
Example sentence: “Most kids in Kyoto are used to seeing foreigners all the time so they don’t bat an eyelid. If you go to Kagoshima though, it’s a different story - they’re all Gameboy Droppers down there.”
Related expressions:Adult Gameboy Dropper (noun) - The same as a Gameboy Dropper, but older and less likely to drop whatever they’re holding.
Explanation: Because they live in such a racially-homogenous country kids in Japan are used to seeing only Japanese people around them, especially since most of them have never been overseas and rarely see foreigners on TV. As a result they’re often visibly shocked when they see a foreigner, their amazement manifested in stares, paralysis or remarks to their parents. (more…)
Every year the words and phrases that are most searched for by internet users around the world are published in Google’s Year-End Zeitgeist. As the name suggests, the report is a snapshot of where the world’s curiosity and interests currently lie, and as such offers a fascinating insight into global internet usage and the national psyche of the countries that are also listed individually. 
